SIEMENS

September, 2003

Technical
.

I2t vs. I4t - What's the

difference?
Prepared by Ray Clark,
Senior Application Engineer

current and the clearing of the

circuit. "

Everyone knows that one of

the purposes of a circuit
breaker is to provide overload
protection of conductors. Most
people know that this relates to
the thermal capacity of the
conductors, i.e. the circuit
breaker must trip before the
conductors get hot enough to
be damaged. Many people
know that the term "I2t", or
ampere-squared-seconds, is an
expression of the energy, or
heat, generated by electrical
current.

The term "I2t" is most often

seen in conjunction with
electronic trip circuit breakers,
in a lot of cases it's marked
right on the front of the trip
unit itself. Several trip
functions found in modern
digital electronic trip units
determine tripping based on
calculation of I2t. Generally
offered are long time delay,
short time delay, and ground
fault delay.

IEEE standard 1015-1997,

"IEEE Recommended Practice
for Applying Low-Voltage
Circuit Breakers Used in
Industrial and Commercial
Power Systems", paragraph
2.1.19 defines I2t as:
"An expression related to the
energy available as a result of
current flow, meaningful only
for adiabatic conditions. With
respect to circuit breakers, the
expression refers to the I2t
between the initiation of fault

The I4t function is of course

based on a different calculation
and provides different trip
timing for a given current, but
is simply an extension of I2t.
The generally slower trip time
might provide a benefit in
getting a particular load online,
but doesn't in itself usually
provide an advantage. The I4t
function does offer an
advantage in another area.
Both the I2t and I4t functions
are useful in the area of
selective trip coordination.

The log-log plot of an I2t delay

function more closely matches
the sloping curve shape of a
thermal-magnetic circuit
breaker or a fuse. It therefore
provides a better "fit" in many
instances. The overlap of the
trip curves may be eliminated
and selective trip coordination
achieved in that region.
However, as the ampacity of
two overcurrent devices grows
closer, the chances of an
overlap grow greater. The
graph in Figure 1 shows just
such an overlap between a fuse
and a downstream circuit
breaker with an I2t long time
delay. In Figure 2 the
advantage of the I4t long time
delay is clear, even with all
other settings remaining the
same, the miss-coordination is
eliminated.
Four of the WL trip units offer
both I2t and I4t long time delay
functions to allow the user
greater flexibility in selective
trip coordination.

I2t vs. I4t - What's the difference?

Technical

September, 2003

..

Figure 1 - I2t Long Time Delay

1000

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 100

CURRENT IN AMPERES AT 480 VOLTS

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1000 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10000 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1000002

3 4

1000

700

700

500
400
300

500
400
300

200

200

70

50
40
30

50
40
30

20

20

10

10

5
4
3

5
4
3

.7

.7

.5
.4
.3

.5
.4
.3

.2

.2

TIME IN SECONDS

100

70

TIME IN SECONDS

100

.1

.1

.07

.07

.05
.04
.03

.05
.04
.03

.02

.02

.01

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 100

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1000 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10000 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1000002

3 4

.01

CURRENT IN AMPERES AT 480 VOLTS

Figure 2 - I4t Long Time Delay

1000

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 100

CURRENT IN AMPERES AT 480 VOLTS

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1000 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10000 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1000002

3 4

1000
700

500
400
300

500
400
300

200

200

100

100

70

70

50
40
30

50
40
30

20

20

10

10

5
4
3

5
4
3

.7

.7

.5
.4
.3

.5
.4
.3

.2

.2

TIME IN SECONDS

700

TIME IN SECONDS

. Journal .

.1

.1

.07

.07

.05
.04
.03

.05
.04
.03

.02

.02

.01

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 100

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1000 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10000 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1000002

3 4

.01

CURRENT IN AMPERES AT 480 VOLTS