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Low vol tage swi tchboard wi th ci rcui t breakers (i ncomers, feeders)
Asif Eqbal
Sizing of power cables for circuit breaker controlled feeders
(part 1)
The following three criteria apply for the sizing of cables for circuit breaker controlled feeders:
I. Short circuit current withstand capacity
This criteria is applied to determine the minimum cross section area of the cable, so that cable can
withstand the short circuit current.
Failure to check the conductor size for short-circuit heating could result in permanent damage to the cable
insulation and could also result into fire. In addition to the thermal stresses, the cable may also be
subjected to significant mechanical stresses.
II. Continuous current carrying capacity
This criteria is applied so that cross section of the cable can carry the required load current continuously at
the designed ambient temperature and laying condition.
III. Starting and running voltage drops in cable
This criteria is applied to make sure that the cross sectional area of the cable is sufficient to keep the
voltage drop (due to impedance of cable conductor) within the specified limit so that the equipment which is
being supplied power through that cable gets at least the minimum required voltage at its power supply
input terminal during starting and running condition both.
1. Criteria-1 Short circuit capacity
The maximum temperature reached under short circuit depends on both the magnitude and duration of the
short circuit current. The quantity I2t represents the energy input by a fault that acts to heat up the cable
conductor. This can be related to conductor size by the formula:
A = Minimum required cross section area in mm2
t = Operating time of disconnecting device in seconds
Isc = RMS Short Circuit current Value in Ampere
C = Constant equal to 0.0297 for copper & 0.0125 for aluminum
T2 = Final temp. C (max. short circuit temperature)
T1 = Initial temp. C (max. cable operating temperature normal conditions)
T0 = 234.5 C for copper and 228.1 C for aluminum
Equation-1 can be simplified to obtain the expression for minimum conductor size as given below in
equation-2:
Now K can be defined as a Constant whose value depends upon the conductor material, its insulation and
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boundary conditions of initial and final temperature because during short circuit conditions, the
temperature of the conductor rises rapidly. The short circuit capacity is limited by the maximum
temperature capability of the insulation. The value of K hence is as given in Table 2.
Boundary conditions of initial and final temperature for different insulation is as given under in Table 1
below.
Table 1
Insulation material Final temperature T
2
Initial temperature T
1
PVC 160 C 70 C
Butyl Rubber 220 C 85 C
XLPE / EPR 250 C 90 C
Table 2
Material Copper Aluminum
Insulation PVC Butyl Rubber XLPE / EPR PVC Butyl Rubber XLPE / EPR
(K) 1 Second Current
Rating in Amp/mm
2
115 134 143 76 89 94
(K) 3 Second Current
Rating in Amp/mm
2
66 77 83 44 51 54
In the final equation-2 we have determined the value of constant K. Now the value of t is to be determined.
The fault current (ISC) in the above equation varies with time. However, calculating the exact value of the
fault current and sizing the power cable based on that can be complicated. To simplify the process the
cable can be sized based on the interrupting capability of the circuit breakers/fuses that protect them.
This approach assumes that the available fault current is the maximum capability of the breaker/fuse and
also accounts for the cable impedances in reducing the fault levels.
The fault clearing time (tc) of the breakers/fuses per ANSI/IEEE C37.010, C37.013, and UL 489 are:
For medium voltage system (4.16 kV) breakers, use 5-8 cycles
For starters with current limiting fuses, use cycle
For low voltage breakers with intermediate/short time delay, use 10 cycles
For low voltage breakers with instantaneous trips, use 1 cycle
Alternatively let us consider that feeder is for any large motor which is being fed from LV 415V or 400V
switchgear having a circuit breaker with separate multifunction motor protection relay (For this calculation it
is assumed to be SIEMENS made 7SJ61).
The instantaneous protection feature of this relay will be turned ON as and when any fault occurs.
However, the selected cable shall have the capacity to withstand the maximum fault current for a finite
duration (that is fault clearing time of the circuit breaker).
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The minimum faults withstand duration necessary (for the instantaneous setting) for cable is calculated as
under:
Si. No. Parameters Time in ms Source/Back up
1 Relay sensing/pickup time 20 SIEMENS 7SJ61 technical data
2 Tolerance/Delay time 10 SIEMENS 7SJ61 technical data
3 Breaker operating time 40 L&T make C-Power breaker have typical opening
time of 40 ms and closing time of 60ms)
4 Relay overshoot 20 GEC handbook Network Protection & automation
Guide
5 Safety Margin 30
TOTAL TIME IN MILI SECONDS 120
Therefore the cable selected for a circuit breaker controlled motor feeder in 415V or 400V switchgear shall
be suitable to withstand the maximum rated fault current of 50kA for at least 120msec. However taking
allowance of 40 Mili seconds in the opening time of circuit breaker due to aging, frequent number of
operation, increase in contact resistance of circuit breaker and finally to cover the variation due from
manufacturer to manufacturer.
Hence the cable selected for a circuit breaker controlled motor feeder in 415V or 400V switchgear shall be
suitable to withstand the maximum rated fault current of 50kA for at least (120+40) 160msec. Many
consultants recommend for use operating time of disconnecting device as 200msec also. Value of t more
than 160 seconds is a conservative design.
A = (Isc x t)/K = (50000 x 0.16)/94 = 212.766mm
2
Next standard cable size: = 240 mm
2
Although it may appear that selection of minimum cross sectional area of cable conductor as 240 mm
2
is
only just large enough for the duty, the actual fault current in the motor circuit is generally less than the
switchboard fault withstand rating of 50kA, hence the selection of cable of cross sectional area 240 mm2 in
practice offers sufficient design margin.
The minimum cross sectional area of cable required for 415V or 400V switchgear motor feeder from fault
withstand point of view shall be 240mm
2
.
We have considered for circuit breaker controlled motor feeder and analyzed the duration of
short circuit/fault withstanding time in seconds for the same. Exactly the Same holds true for Circuit breaker
controlled (Please see the below figure) outgoing transformer feeder.
However operating time of disconnecting device is slightly different for circuit breaker controlled incomer
and tie feeders. Duration of fault withstanding/operating time of disconnecting device for incomer and tie
feeder is 1 and 0.5 second respectively. This is because of additional presence of inverse definite
minimum time delay protection relays along with instantaneous protection. The inverse definite time delay
protection has time settings greater than 0.5 for incomer feeders and about 0.5 for tie feeders.
For all different type of feeders the operating time of disconnecting device is indicated in figure below:
The final cable size shall be selected considering the other two criteria that is continuous current carrying
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Typi cal val ue of t (faul t cl eari ng ti me). Al l the connecti ng cabl es has to be si zed for short ci rcui t durati on (t)
i ndi cated i n the di agram above
capacity & voltage drop criteria which would be continued in part-2 and part-3.