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How To Calculate Short Circuit

Current Using Point to Point Method

Introduction
Point to point method method of short circuit calculation is one of the basic method in finding
the short circuit current in any point in the system. Before an engineer use a computer software
to determine short circuit current it is recommended that he needs to understand the basic
principle and know how to do the manual calculation.

The example as shown in the figure above can describe the step by step procedure in calculating
the short circuit calculation. Before we begin the short circuit analysis let us first discuss the two
important formula, viz:

1. Short Circuit Current at the terminal of transformer.

Ixfr-1p = S / VLL , Full load ampere rating of single phase transformer

Ixfr-3p = S / (1.73 x VLL) , Full load ampere rating of three phase transformer
Ixfr-sc = Ixfr / % Z

where:

Ixfr = Current rating of transformer (1p for single phase and 3p for three phase)
Ixfr-sc = short circuit current of transformer at the terminals
% Z = percent impedance of the transformer

2. f - factor (the impedance of the cable or busbar between two points where the fault is
calculated)

f = 2 x L x Isc-x / ( C x n x VLL) , for single phase installation

f = 1.73 x L x Isc-x / ( C x n x VLL), for three phase installation

where:

f = f - factor
L = length of the conductor relative to the immediate upstream fault point.
Isc-x = fault current at any point in the circuit.

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C = conductor factor and the values are given in the table below.
n = number of parallel run of conductor.
VLL = Line to line voltage

3. M- factor (Multiplier to be used against the value of the fault current in the immediate
fault point)

M = 1/ (1 +f )

Consider This System

Now we will perform the point to point short circuit calculation based on the diagram
below.

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Calculation of Fault Currents

Fault at Point 1:

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The short circuit that can be calculated at this point is coming from the transformer alone. The
fault current that we can get is a symmetrical 3 phase fault current. Imagine we will bolt the three
terminals of the secondary terminals altogether.

Ixfr = 500 kVA / (1.73 x 480 ) = 602.11 Amperes

Isc-1 = 602.11 / (.04 x 0.9) = 16. 7 kA

The 0.9 exist in the equation since the transformer has +/- 10% tolerance and we take the
negative value so that we can take the maximum fault current. Take note that the lesser
the impedance the higher the fault current.
If the tolerance is +/- 5% then the factor that will appear in our equation will be 0.95.

Fault at Point 2:

Point 2 has 400 ft. length conductor with 2 conductor per phase. We can apply formula number 3
and 4 at this point, thus:

f = 1.73 x L x Isc-x / ( C x n x VLL), for three phase installation

In this case we can use conductor factor C = 22, 965 based on the following data

the conductor size is 600 kcmil

Operating at 480 V which is under 600 V category
EMT which is a kind of a steel conduit

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The conductor is made of copper

(please refer to the table below)

Table 1. Table of Conductor Factor in Short Circuit Calculation

Therefore,

f = (1.73 x 400ft x 16.7 kA) / (22, 965 x 2 x 480) = 0.524

M = 1 + (1 + f ) = 1 / 1.524 = 0.66
Isc-2 = M x Isc-1 = 0.66 x 16.7 kA

Isc-2 = 11 kA

Fault at Point 3:
Again we will use the same process and refer to the table given above for the value of conductor
factor C.

f = (1.73 x 500 ft. x 11 kA) / (16, 673 x 1 x 480) = 0.476

M = 1 / 1.476
Isc-3 = M x Isc-2 = 0.68 x 11 kA

Isc-3 = 7.48 kA

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Fault Point 4:
In fault point 4 we can use the same process but we need to add the locked rotor current of the
motor during fault condition.

During fault condition the motor whether it is synchronous or induction motor, it

will pump electric current to the fault point.
During fault condition the supply voltage of the motor will be zero and the rotor
of the motor still have the effect of inertia, thus it will continue to rotate for
sometime.
This rotation together with the induced voltage in the rotor just before the fault
happened will transform the motor into a generator and that is the reason why it
can pump current to the fault point.
The value of the current that the motor can contribute during fault condition is
equal to the locked rotor current LRA of that motor which is equal to 400% to
600% of the full load amperes of that motor.

In this case the motor is rated 20 HP, operating at 480 Volts, thus:

FLA = (20 HP x 746) / (1.73 x 480 x 0.85 x 0.8) = 26 Amperes

LRA = 26 x 600% = 158 Amperes
The value of LRA is the contribution of the motor to the fault current during fault
condition.
The effect of LRA during fault condition based on the rating of the motor, thus we can
say that large motors have significant effect on the system during fault condition.

Calculate the fault current at point 4,

f = (1.73 x 200 x 11 kA) / ( 20, 867 x 1 x 480) = 0.38

M = 1 / 1.38 = 0.72
Isc-4 = (M x Isc-2) + LRA = (0.72 x 11 kA) + 158 = 8, 078 Amperes or 8.1 kA

Isc-4 = 8.1 kA

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Summary of Results:

Short Circuit Current at Point 1 = 16.7 kA

Short Circuit Current at Point 2 = 11 kA
Short Circuit Current at Point 1 = 7.48 kA
Short Circuit Current at Point 1 = 8.41 kA

After getting these values the next step to do is to find the appropriate KAIC rating of your
circuit breaker or fuse to withstand the mechanical and electrical stress as a result if ever a short
circuit happen.

And make sure we will perform the analysis for selective coordination in order to localized the
fault in case there is a short circuit.

References:

Schneider Electric
General Electric
Cooper Busman

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