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FaultRatings

FaultRatings
ElectricalEnclosurescontainingbusbars,ofthetypemanufacturedbyRolla,arenormallyassigneda
faultratingorshortcircuitrating.Thisisabriefandsimpleintroductiontotheconceptsinvolved.
Allourproductsaredesigned,testedandmanufacturedinaccordancewithinternationalstandards,
eitherBSEN604391:1999orthenewversionBSEN614392:2011(andgeneralrulesBSEN
614391:2011).Thesestandardsdefineashortcircuitcurrentas"overcurrentresultingfromashort
circuitduetoafaultoranincorrectconnectioninanelectriccircuit".Inthecaseofatypical
switchboardormotorcontrolcentre,theresultingshortcircuitcurrentcanbeverylargethereforethe
busbarsystemandsupportingstructuremustbestrongenoughtowithstandtheeffectswithoutitself
failing.

Mostofourproductsareconnectedtoa3phase
gridsystem,fedviaastepdowntransformer.In
theUKthiswilloftenbethe11kVlocalnetwork
(11,000V),downto400Vnominal.Thesizeofthe
transformerwillbedeterminedbytherequired
load,whichwillinturndeterminetheprospective
faultmagnitude.Thetablebelowshowssome
typicaltransformersizes,associatedloadsand
prospective3phase(symmetrical)faultlevels.
(Approximatevaluesonly)

3PhasePowerTransformer

Transformersize(kVA)

TypicalLoad(A)

TypicalFaultLevel(A)

315

400

8000

500

630

14000

800

1000

22000

1000

1250

28000

1250

1600

35000

1500

2000

41000

2000

2500

55000

2500

3200

69000

3000

4000

83000

Ascanbeseenfromthetable,anMCCwithaloadofupto1000A,hastobeabletowithstandupto
22,000Aintheeventofashortcircuitfault.
Underfaultconditions,thereare2majoreffectswhichthesystemhastowithstand:Themagnetic
effectswhichtranslateintomechanicalforces,andthethermaleffectsduetothehighcurrentcausing
ariseinbusbartemperature.
Magneticeffectsactonthebusbars,andbetweenthebusbarsandthesurroundingsteelwork.There
isaninitial"hit",atthestartofthefault,calledapeak,andthensuccessivehitsatthesystem
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fequency(50HzintheUK).Allthishappensveryfast,andtheforcesinvolvedareoftenlargeenough
tobreakweldsorshearbolts,hencetheneedtotest.
Innormalcircumstances,itisexpectedthattheprotectivedevice(fuseorcircuitbreaker)willactto
disconnectthesupplyintheeventofsuchafault.Theswitchgear,however,stillhastocarrythefault
forashorttimeinordertoallowtheprotectivedevicetooperate.Modernprotectivesystemswill
normallyoperateveryquicklyandanAirCircuitBreaker,forinstance,shouldclearalargefaultin
around50mS(0.05Seconds).Historicallythiswasnotalwaysthecase,andeventodayweassume
alargesafetymarginbytestingtheswitchboardforafaultratingwithstandof1second.

Graphofcurrentagainsttimeundershortcircuit
conditions.

Rollastandardvaluesforshortcircuitratings
testsare:
25kAfor1second(UCCproduct,400Ato
1000A)
26kAfor1second
50kAfor1second
50kAfor3seconds
80kAfor1second
100kAfor1second

Boardundertest

Theeffectsofsuchlargecurrentsareproportionaltothesquareofthecurrent,meaningthatfora
doublingofcurrent,theeffectisquadroupled.Thisiswhyyoucannotextrapolatetestresultsoutside
thevalueswhichhavebeentested.Forexample,itisoftenbelievedthatifaboardistestedwith
1000Abarsat22kA,fitting2000Abarsshouldincreasethecapabilityto44kA.Thisisnotthecase
anditisalwaysnecessarytocarryoutatestforincreasedfaultratingastheeffectsaremultipliedby
4.Putanotherway,thehammerbloweffectwhichtriestobreakthesystemisnow4timesthe
magnitudeandhasnotbeenprovenunlesstested.
Oneofthemostdifficultfaultstodealwithisashortcircuittoearth(singlephasefault).Inthiscase
thefaultcurrentwillreturnthroughtheearthbar,andalsothesteelworkofthecubicle.Ifthestructure
isnotstrongenoughorthefixingsarenotsubstantial,theearthbarwillbecomedetachedandthe
faultmaynotbecleared,leavingaverydangeroussituation.AllRollaearthbarsystems(mainand
dropperbars)aretestedatthesametimeasthephasesforasinglephasefaultconditionthus
ensuringtotalsystemintegrity.

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TestStationconnectionsforshortcircuittests.

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