EE - 474 DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS LECTURE NOTESDISTRIBUTION SWITCHGEAR 1. INTRODUCTION One of the main reasons making electrical power so popular is because it is very easy to control the power flow. Conrol of power is not only limited to tum on and off but also it is necessary to protect the system and equipment from overeurrents (asir1 akin) which takes place whenever the current exceeds the maximum load current. Overcurrents can be in the form of overloads (ayirt yak) which can occur in healthy circuits such as motor switching but most be cut off if it persists for a long time and, short-cireuits (kisa devre) resulting from a failure of insulation between live conductors or/and live conductors and ground which requires immediate cut off. Further, means of isolation should be provided for maintenance, All of these functions are usually carried out through the appropriate equipment collectively known as switchgear Switchgear is a general term covering switching devices and their combination with associated control, measuring, protective, and regulating equipment, and also assemblies of such devices and equipment with associated interconnections, accessories, enclosures and supporting structures, intended in principle for use in connection with generation, transmission, distribution and conversion of electric power. Ifthe switch-gear is designed only for installation within a building or other housing, where itis protected against adverse weather conditions such as wind, rain, frost, snow, ice, abnormal dirt deposits and abnormal condensation, it is said to be indoor (dahil) type. Ifit is capable of withstanding these conditions, then itis referred as an outdoor (harici ) type Metal enclosed (metal muhafazali) switchgear are switchgear assemblies with an external metal enclosure intended to be grounded, and complete except for external connections. On the other hand, metal clad (metal bolimliy) switchgear is a metal enclosed switchgear in which components are arranged in separate compartments with metal enclosures intended to be grounded. This is an improvement and extension over the metal enclosed switchgear through the use of internal metal partition, thus preventing a fault in one compartment affecting the equipment in other compartments. There will be separate compartments at least for the following components: each main switching device; components connected to one side of the main switching device, e.g. feeder circuit; and components connected to the other side of the main switching device, e.g, busbars. Low voltage swictchgear is normally metal enclosed while the medium voltage switchgear can be either metal enclosed or metal clad. There are some old MV installations where the switching equipment is installed inside a cell with a grounded metal door which are gradually being replaced.2. SWITCHING DEVICES Switching devices are those devices, in the order of increasing complexity, performing at least one of the following functions: = electrical isolation (isolator), = local or remote electrical switching of load currents ( switch, or more properly, load- break switch ) and, = electrical protection for fault clearing (circuit breaker ). Electrical isolation is normally taken as the basic capabillity. In the given order, any function assigned to the switch-gear may have capabilities which are preceeding it. Thus a switch can also perform isolation, while a protective device if itis a circuit ~breaker can be used for switching as well as isolation. The symbols used for the various types of switches are given in Fig. 1 \ N Ne Ye fe “) @ a) Isolator__b) Switch (1), remote controlled (2), ¢) Cirouit-breaker (1) and with and with isolating capability(3) isolating capability (2) Fig. 1 Symbols used for the switches. As will be seen from the foregoing definitions, the most versatile switching device is the circuit breaker, as this is the only equipment capable of interrupting short-circuit currents and the restoring supply @ number of times without requiring maintenance or replacement of any parts. The least versatile device is the disconnector which is only capable of 1g short-circuit currents and has to be operated off-load. ‘The fundamental characteristics of switches can be specified by: 1. Rated operational voltage is the voltage at which the switch has been designed to ‘operate, in normal ( undisturbed ) conditions.2. Rated continuous current is the maximum value of current that a switch can carry indefinitely at an ambient temperature usually taken to be 40 degrees C, without exceeding the specified temperature limits of the current carrying parts. A distinction should be made between the continuous current and the rated operating current of the switchgear. The latter depends upon the type of duty (continuous, intermittent or short-time) as well as the characteristic of the load for which itis used 3, Rated short-circuit current carrying capacity in the cases of isolating and load break switches, and breaking capacity in the case of circuit-breakers, is the highest value of current that the switch is capable of carrying or breaking (prospective) without being damaged. This value of current quoted in the standards is the rms value of the a.c. component of fault current, ie., the d.c. transient component (which is always present in the worst possible case of short-circuit ) is assumed to be zero for calculating the standardized value 2.1 ISOLATING SWITCHES Isolating switch ( aymicr ) which is also referred as disconnecting switch, is a mechanical device which provides in the open position an isolating distance ( gap ). There must be an unambiguous indication of position of the switch (either visual or through an indicator solidly welded to the operating shaft of the device) with ability to be locked in OPEN position, The gap has a higher dielectric strength than that of between phase and ground in accordance with the specified requirements. It is principally used to separate a circuit or apparatus from the remainder of the system which is energized, in order that personnel may carry out work on the isolated part in safety. For this purpose, all circuits independent of voltage level, should have a means of isolation. For minimum power disruption, itis preferable to provide a means of isolation at the origin of each circuit. An isolating switch is capable of opening and closing a circuit when negligible current (current not exceeding 0,5 A such as the charging current of busbars, bushings, etc.) is broken or made, or when no significant change in voltage across the terminals of each of the poles of the disconnector occurs. It is also capable of carrying currents under normal service conditions and carrying for a specified time (1 second) currents under abnormal conditions such as those of a short circuit Grounding switch (topraklama bicagr ) is a special form of the 1solating switch, one side of which is connected permanently connected to ground, which therefore forms a convenient means of grounding the system conductors when necessary to allow work to be safely carried out on the electrical system.\& Isolator I can be opened or closed with the circuit-breaker open \ Lay only. Isolator 2 (bus-bar coupler) can be opened or closed when ae both busses are energized \. ~ Oo Y \ < Fig.2 Possible switching operations with an isolator. 2.2 LOAD-BREAK SWITCHES ‘A load-break switch ( anahtar) is a mechanical switching device which is used to control the flow of power in a circuit, i., making, carrying and breaking currents under normal conditions, which may include specified operating overload conditions. When closing a switch to energize a circuit, there is always the possibility that a short-circuit exists on the circuit. For this reason, a load-break switch must be capable of making onto a short- it and carrying it for a specified time ( 1 second). However, they are not designed for interrupting the short-circuit currents. An upstream protective device (fuse or circuit- breaker) is used for this purpose. Contactors are remote-controlled switches which are operated and held in the closed position by the current creating a magnetic force in a solenoid. They are used mainly with high operating frequencies for switching equipment under fault free conditions, including normal overloads. They are capable of interrupting currents. 6-8 times the rated current and the upstream short-circuit interrupting device characteristics should be chosen so as to fully benefit from this capability. A contactor used with a thermal relay is referred as a discontactor, Contactors are commonly controlled remotely by on-off pushbuttons, The solenoid must be able to work perfectly within the limits 85 % and 110 % of the nominal control voltage which can be either de or ac. Ifthe control lines are long, it is possible that the contactors will not respond to a command on closing because the voltage drop is too large, or on opening because the capacitance of the line is too high. A voltage drop of 5 % maximum is permitted for calculating the length of control lines. Star-delta starting of an induction motor using contactors and push-buttons is given in the Appendix.Bistable switches are similar in nature to contactors and extensively used in the control of lighting circuits where depression of a pushbutton at a remote control position will open an already closed switch or close an open switch in a bistable sequence. Control Power, \ cireuit cirouit Contactor Bistable switch Fig. 3 Symbols for contactor and bistable switch 2.3 CIRCUIT BREAKERS A circuit-breaker ( kesici ) isa mechanical device, capable of making, carrying and breaking currents under normal conditions and also making, carrying for a specified time (1 second ) and breaking currents under specified abnormal circuit conditions such as those of short circuits. All circuit breakers have to be able to close and open satisfactorily under all. conditions of service. In particular they must interrupt all currents from zero to full rated breaking current with all combinations of power factor, current asymmetry and recovery voltage that occur. Circuit breakers are always associated with two current ratings; the nominal current that it can carry continously without over-heating. as in a load break switch and the rated breaking current. The rated breaking current is usually many times that of the continous current, and therefore, the design and mode of operation of a circuit-breaker tends to be dominated by this requirement. As an example, if the maximum interrupting current is specified as 16 kA rms, then the minimum nominal current rating is limited to 630 A rms at 36 kV voltage level.3. CURRENT SWITCHING Any switching operation under voltage will always be accompanied by an electric arc. In the case of closing an open switch, the dielectric between the contacts will breakdown at one point, and the electrical closure through an arc will be made before the actual mechanical closure. On the other hand, in the case of opening a closed switch, an electrical arc will form because of the ionization due to intense heat devoloped at the contacts which permits the current in the circuit to continue flowing after the contacts have parted, until a suitable current zero occurs. This is essential because, if current flow ceases even at some small current Io known as chopped current, stored energy is left in the inductance of the system which will then oscillate between the inductance and the inherent capacitance of the system, giving rise to very high voltages. Neglecting the resistance of the system, this can be expressed mathematically; 2 % Llo=% CVe or, Ve =] LIC'lo = Zo Io where Zo = [L/C is known as the surge impedance of the loss-less system which is, for the transmission lines between 300 — 600 ohms ( the higher the volage, the lower the surge impedance), 2000-5000 ohms for transformers, 3000-8000 ohms for motors. The initial voltage across the capacitance is the product of the chopped current and the surge impedance of the apparatus which will then gradually decay as a result of the the resistance or core losses. Thus, the sudden cessation of current flow at any time, other than very close to a natural zero, has very undesirable consequences, and therefore, the existence of the arc as a natural commutating device is a very important factor in the operation of circuit-breakers. This arc can be extiguished in two different ways: 1. Inan AC system, the arc will extinguish at each natural current zero. If the gap between the cotacts is not sufficiently large and ionized particles due to are are not swept away , the arc will usually reignite after passing current zero and, therefore continues to bum. In order to succesfully interrupt the arc current, re-ignition after the current zero has tobe prevented. AC arc quenching thus consists of de-ionizing the gap between the contacts to such an extent that the voltage across the two contacts (recovery voltage) cannot cause the arc to be re-established 2. A current zero can be enforced by external means if the voltage drop across the are (plus the anode and cathode voltage drops) can be made to be greater than the supply voltage, then the current will cease to flow. This is the principle of operation of air circuit-breakers and itis the only way of interrupting d.c. currents as there is no natural current zero. A sufficiently high arc voltage can be built in low and medium voltagesystems, To extinguish the d.c. arcin d.c. high-voltage circuits, the voltage must be lowered and/or artificial current zeros must be created by inserting a resonant circuit. Once the arc current is extinguished by either means, then it turns out to be a race between the rate of increase of the dielectric breakdown of the gap and the rate of rise recovery voltage across the gap. If the former is higher, then a succesful electrical breaking is made. If not, there will be restriking of the arc, and it will continue to burn until the next current zero. The recovery voltage and its rate of rise will be different types of loads ( hence the different utilization catogories defined for the load break switches). When a purely resistive current is interrupted, current zero and voltage zero coincide (in phase). The recovery voltage across the breaker terminals rises sinusoidally with the system frequency as shown in Fig. S.a. The gap between the contacts has sufficient time to recover. On interrupting an inductive load (Fig.5.b), the breaker voltage oscillates to the peak value of the recovery voltage. The breaker must be able to cope with the recovery voltage’s rate of rise and its peak value. Once the arc is quenched, the dielectric strength between the contacts must built up faster than the recovery voltage rises, if restriking is to be prevented, Finally, when switching off a capacitive load (Fig.5.c), following interruption of the current, the supply side of the voltage oscillates at system frequency between + Vs while the breaker terminal on the capacitor side remains charged at - Vs It can be seen that switches are least stressed in high power factor loads, The load power factor in an actual system varies from 0.7 -0.9 lagging, therefore there is not very much of a problem with load break switches except for capacitor switching in which case the contact gap should be able to withstand twice the system voltage . On the other hand, when there is a short-circuit, the power factor can be as low as 0.1-0.2 lagging. The circuit breakers will be most stressed and the high rate of rise of recovery voltage imposes problems. The circuit breaker designed to interrupt very large currents under such conditons, may have diftuculties interrupting light inductive currents. The available arc extinguishing effort may tend to force the current to zero prematurely ( chopped current ). These conditions normally arise when switching transformers and motors at no- load.\e | - ‘ fo ~ lo Fig.S Recovery voltages developed across the circuit breaker contacts for different loads4. DIFFERENT TYPES OF MV CIRCUIT-BREAKERS ‘An ideal circuit breaker is one which acts as a perfect conductor until current zero is reached, at which point it becomes a perfect insulator. As no practical circuit-breaker meets this condition, the result is modified to a greater or lesser degree by the circuit breaker characteristics. The objective of the circuit-breaker designer is to create the necessary conditions to sweep away the ionization products in the contact gap at current. zero and replace them by a medium which will stand the application of a very rapidly rising voltage of considerable amplitude, the transient recovery voltages. At the distribution voltage levels considered ( < 36 kV), the arc extinguishing media are oil, air, SF6 gas and vacuum. 4.1 OIL CIRCUIT-BREAKER Inan oil circuit-breaker, heat is generated when the contacts start parting initially which vaporizes the oil and decomposes it into hydrogen and carbon along with increasing pressure, The hydrogen thus generated is then thermally ionised which act as current carriers across the contacts in the form of an electric arc. As the current reaches current zero, these gasses are displaced by clean oil which ensures a dielectric strength sufficient to withstand the rapidly rising transient recovery voltage. The effort required to extinguish the arc increases as the current rises, but so does the energy injected into the electric arc. Consequently, the extinguishing effort rises to match the increasing fault current. Ina bulk oil (tam yag) circuit-breaker, the contacts are in a common tank, whereas in a minimum oil (az yagli) circuit-breaker each phase has its own separate tank or ‘pole’, with air as the insulating medium between the phases. The main advantages of the minimum oil circuit-breaker over the bulk oil type are the reduction in the quantity of oil required (one tenth of bulk oil) and the confining the gas generated during arcing produces higher pressures and thus increasing the arc-quenching abilities leading to higher ratings. However, minimum oil breakers do not have the integral grounding facility of bulk oil breakers and have to be used with an isolating switch. Since both the oil and the gasses released during arcing are flammable, there is a tendency to use safer designs today. The longer life without maintenance of the new technologies is another attractive feature. They are no longer manufactured in Turkey, however quite a lot of them exist around in various installations,4.2 AIR CIRCUIT-BREAKERS ‘The basic principle of an air circuit breaker of elongating the arc so that a very high arc voltage is generated eventually exceeding the supply voltage. Then the current flow cannot be maintained and the arc is extinguished. This is usually achieved by either forcing the arc to extend itself close to solid materials which extract heat from the arc, or by breaking the arc into a series of arcs in which case the anode and cathode voltage drops are added to the total arc voltage to assist the desired objective, Designs are available where both methods are used in combination ‘The interrupting technique of the air circuit-breaker is the only one thar does not depend onthe presence of a current zero, Ifthe arc voltage can be made to exceed the supply voltage, the arc will be extinguished whether the current is a.c. or d.c., so that itis suitable for the control and protection of d.c. circuit. 4.3 SE6 GAS CIRCUIT-BREAKERS SF6 is a heavy, chemically inert, non-toxic and non-flammable gas which is odourless and colourless. At atmospheric pressure, its dielectric strength is between two to three times that of the air, while at an absolute pressure of 3 bars, this equals to that of insulating oil. The superior arc quenching ability of this gas is partly attributable to the fact that itis electronegative, which means that its molecules rapidly absorb the free electrons in the arc path between the circuit-breaker contacts to form negatively charged ions which are relatively ineffective as charge carriers because of their greater mass. This electron gathering results in a rapid build-up of dielectric strength at current zero. The operating principle of arc quenching with SF6 gas is very similar to that of the minimum oil breakers. The arc formed when the contacts open causes de-ionization of the SF6 gas, but unlike the hydrogen emitted by decomposition of the oil, the SF6 gas recombines after extinction of the arc at a current zero, with minimal by-products, giving a much longer life than the oil. Relative movement between the arc and the gas can be achieved in three different ways. In one type, known as the puffer type, the arc extinguishing energy is supplied by the cb operating mechanism in which pressurized fresh gas is injected over the arc which helps in extinguishing. In the rotating arc type, a magnetic field is employed to create the rotation of arc between suitable electrodes The other method of arc extinction uses the thermal energy of the arc to create in increase in gas pressure. The contacts part in a chamber of which the only opening is blocked by the moving contact at the early part of the opening travel. Thus the pressure inside the chamber rises until the tip of the moving contact passes through the opening and the gas flow is released. A strong de-ionising action is created along the arc path, causing interruption at the next current zero 104.4. VACUUM CIRCUIT-BREAKERS ‘The vacuum circuit-breaker is a sealed vessel (referred as the bottle ) with insulating ‘walls which contains the fixed and moving contacts in vacuum. The performance of the cirouit-breaker is dependent on three factors: the existence of hard vacuum inside the bottle; the selection of suitable contact material, and the provision of some form of magnetic control for the are. The vacuum circuit breaker has a contact gap of the order of 20 mm at 34.5 kV level. Therefore, the operating power is much reduced than the traditional designs. When operating within its designed current limit the contact gap in the vacuum circuit-breaker recovers its full dielectric strength within one micro-second of current zero which makes it extremely efficient. 4.3 COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT MV CIRCUIT-BREAKER TECHNOLOGIES ‘Because of the fire hazard and the extensive maintenance requirements, the oil circuit- brekers are out of consideration although they are simple, cheap and well understood by the users Air break switching has a number of advantages: there are no transient over-voltage problems caused by swiching or ‘current chopping’, itis simple and robust, maintenance is straightforward and the technology is easily understood, and the safety is guaranteed by the use of air as an arc quenching medium, which lacks the fire hazard of oil or the sealing requirements of vacuum and SF6. However, the units are open to environmental pollution, are bulky, noisy,and expensive, have higher breaking energy, and require more maintenance than modem techniques — essentially because air is a very inefficient arc quenching medium, Therefore the utilization of ‘air circuit-breakers will be limited to higher ratings outside the range of modern technologies. In vacuum circuit-breakers, the very high dielectric strength of vacuum implies that a contact gap of only a few millimeters is required to withstand voltage, leading to a very short contact travel and as a a result a very compact unit, Vacuum bottles are sealed for life, thus maintenance is minimal and limited to operating mechanism. Vacuum circuit-breaker generates more severe transients than the other types because of its very efficient current interruption, Therefore, surge suppression using ZnO lightning arresters and wave shaping devices (resistor-capacitor) to limit the rate of rise of transients are normally employed where overvoltages cause problems, The vacuum circuit-breaker is ideally suited to onorous duties where frequent switching is required such as motors. Unlike other switching devices, there is no need to keep them vertical and stationary and therefore can be used on moving machinery. u‘SF6 switchgear will dominate the HV switching, as this is where the exceptional insulating properties of SF6 gas have no equal. In the MV range, it provides an alternative to oil and vacuum for distribution, They are compact, comparable dimensionally to vacuum, and requires low maintenance. There is no fire hazard and can be used in polluted atmospheres since the contacts are sealed, Its simple construction ‘enables increasing local content, whereas vacuum bottles are all imported cluding The pricing where the tender system favors initial cost rather than the total cost maintenance, will make sure that the SF6 breaker is the choice if it meets the requierments which are less stringent than are possible with vacuum breakers, 5, LOW-VOLTAGE CIRCUIT-BREAKERS All low voltage cireuit-breakers are air-break type, and therefore circuit breaking ‘component comprises of the fixed and moving contacts and arc dividing chamber. The fundemental difference from a high voltage circuit-breaker is that they are normally equipped, as an integral part, atrip-mechanism actuating device consisting of either a thermal-magnetie (/ermik-manyetik) device, in which a thermally operated bi-metal strip detects an overload condition, while an electromagnetic striker pin operates at current levels reached in short circuit conditions or electronic relay operated from current transformers , one of which is installed in each phase. Moreover, they can, by means of auxillary units, provide a wide range of other functions, for example : indication ( on-off tripped on fault) ; undervoltage tripping ; remote control ..etc ‘As far as clearing short-circuit currents are concerned, circuit-breakers compete with fuses, The main advantages of circuit-breakers over fuses are a) Switching of all poles. e.g. prevention of single phasing of motors. b) For small over-currents and small short-circuit currents, the breaking time is shorter than the breaking time of fuses. ©) After the fault has been cleared, the circuit breaker can be switched on again 4) The possibility of interlocking with other circuit-breakers via auxiliary switches and auxiliary releases. ¢) Remote tripping with shunt and under-voltage trp. Circuit breakers are divided into moulded case and air break types, depending on their construction. The components of moulded case breakers are contained in a casing of insulating material, Breakers of this kind are available for rated currents up to about 3200 A. Air-break circuit-breakers have no insulating enclosure. They are manufactured up to 6300, 125.1 TRIP RELAY CHARACTERISTICS A thermal relay normally consists of three bi-metallig elements, one on each phase, each “of which is heated by the individual phase current (I°t ). It must allow normal operational overload currents to flow, but it must interrupt these currents before the permissible loading period is exceeded, the higher the current, the shorter the time of Interruption. They have a memory which provides shorter tripping times when an overload is applied following a period of normal running than the tripping time stating from cold. A typical time ~ current characteristics is shown in Fig. 6 Short circuit currents arising from insulation failure or a faulted switching operation can damage equipment through which they will flow and place the operating personnel in danger. Short circuit tripping relays ( instantaneous or slightly time delayed ) are intended to trip the circuit breaker rapidly on the occurrence of high values of fault current, . The tripping threshold Im, can be fixed or adjustable ‘The advent of new semiconductor techniques over the past few years has led to the development of static over-current protection units. These units are self contained and are mounted on the circuit-breaker, since they require no auxiliary supplies. They provide highly reliable and accurate means of protection, in addition to offering greater degree of flexibility. An air circuit breaker fitted with such a solid-state unit can be adjusted to any one of curves as shown typically in Fig.7. mine tes Seconde 3 \, > mothisks of ; Roo oe ful load Corrent Fig.6 Typical thermal overload relay characteristics -LONG-TIME CURRENT PICKUP mn pact CLEANS TH LONG-TIME Tie DELAY sof eh minim 3 fae 5 ee instantaneous Cunt Rinerion . [ 0.10 seconds as shown in Fig. 11. When fuses are used in series, they generally function selectively if the major fuse (upstream end) has a higher rating than the minor fuse. However, with very large short- circuit currents, this is no longer true, and the total operating time ta (pre-arcing + arcing) of the minor fuse must be less than the arcing time ts of the major fuse. In this case selectivity is assured only if the critical value ta of the smaller fuse is lower than the I*ts of the preceding fuse. This condition is normally satisfied by grading the fuse ratings in the ratio 1 : 1.6. Ifthe above condition can not be satisfied, it may be necessary to change the configuration of the distribution circuit as shown in Fig. 12. A similar consideration may apply to the circuits protected by circuit-breakers if full selectivity is to be provided under all circumstances Finally, with the residual current circuit breakers (RCCB), discrimination is only possible through time delays (instantaneous, 50 ms, 250 ms. 500 ms). Further, as the leakage current increases towards the source, current sensitivity of the RCCB must be increased (30 mA, 100 mA, 300 mA, 500 mA, and I A), 205 F G Dl bec _—________., Fig, 11 Coordination of fuse wit a circuit-breaker = wot Ty A BISA So 63 A A Fig. 12 a, Fuse protected circuit Fig .12b. Modified system for selectivity reasons. 2APPENDIX STAR-DELTA STARTING OF INDUCTION MOTORS WITH CONTACTORS aan Hf | Power circuit Control circuit, Contactors KIM, K2M should have 2NOHINC auxiliary contacts, Contactor K3M should have INC contact. Time relay K4A should have INC delayed contact. 22CABLING 1, GENERAL. 2. THERMAL LIMITS 3. VOLTAGE DROP 4 PROTECTION 5. NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN CABLES 6. WORKED EXAMPLESCABLING 1. GENERAL ‘The link between the bulk-power supply (i., transformer substation ) and the loads is the cabling which may have to extend to several levels with distribution-boards and sub-distribution boards in between them, The cabling at each level must satisfy the following conditions at the same time, in order to ensure a safe and reliable installation ~ carry the permanent full load current and normal short-time overcurrents without any reduction in useful life. = ensure that it does not cause excessive voltage drops giving rise to an inferior performance of the electrical loads, Closely associated with the cabling are the protection devices used ( circuit-breakers and fuses) which must protect the cables and busbars for all levels of overcurrents, up to and including short-circuit currents. Moreover, at the low voltage distribution level, their operating times should be sufficiently low ( instantaneous region for circuit-breakers ) so that persons are protected against indirect contact hazards, particularly in TN- and IT- earthed systems, If the length of the circuit is sufficiently high, this may limit the magnitude of short-circuit currents, and therefore delay automatic disconnection and require an RCD. It should be remembered that TT-earthed installations are obligatorily protected at the origin by an RCD, generally rated 500 mA. In an extensive system, the criteria given above can be satisfied in several different approaches to the choice of the size of the cable. Through trying out different alternatives, itis possible to minimize the cost of cabling 2, HEATING EFFECT The energy from electrical power loss is converted to other energy forms, almost entirely heat. This heat energy tends to increase the temperature of the conductor and the surrounding insulation. High temperatures can result in premature ageing of the insulation, while excessive temperatures can result in conductors or insulation melting with dangerous consequences. The general equation of heat balance in a conductor at any point in time is the heat generated in the conductor due to losses equals to the heat emission from the conductor plus the heat stored in the conductor, ie., Pidt = m*cd0 + S*a* Odt a) EB-ATS Dstibuton Systems 2where P; = heating power m = mass of conductor @ = (conductor temperature)- (ambient temperature) d0 = temperature rise during time dt s surface area specific heat heat emission constant a When the duration of the overload is less than 5 seconds (i.e. short-circuits ), all of the heat produced is assumed to remain in the conductor causing its temperature to rise (adiabatic process). This assumption is not exactly true since some of the heat produced ‘will pass on to the surrounding insulation, and therefore the results will be pessimistic. Under these conditions, the last term in the equation covering heat emission can be neglected, giving the temperature rise, Que, due to short-circuits as Oc = Pit t/(m*e) (2) Usually 04. is known and the maximum short-circuit current that a cable can withstand as ‘a function of time is required. Given that P) = 17 R, the above equation can be re- arranged and re-written as ( assuming the resistance to be independent of the temperature over the period of time concerned ) for the maximum acceptable short-citcuit current ; Te = KAt™? G) where A = the cross-sectional area in mm’, t= duration of short-circuit in seconds, and K_ is a constant which depends on the initial temperature assumed and the final ‘temperature allowed for the cable under consideration. For an initial temperature of 65° C, and a final temperature of 250° C for paper and XLPE insulated cable, and 150° C for PVC insulation, the appropriate values of K are given in the Table 1 ‘The maximum short-circuit current carrying capacity of copper / XLPE cable combination with a conductor cross-sectional area of 95 mm? and protection operating in 0.6 seconds, is le = 150*95/ 0.6"= 18.4 kA [BE-€74 Dierhation Systems 31 | Conductor Material PYC Insulation Paper XLPE Copper 110 150 150 Aliminium, os 100 100 Table 1. Cable short-circuit capability constants ‘As a second example, assume a 100 kVA, 34.5 /0.4 kV distribution transformer is to be supplied from a system with a short-circuit current of 16 kA, and protected by a circuit breaker which would operate in a time ( relaying + circuit-breaker operating time ) of 100 msec, Minimum cross-sectional area of the 34.5 kV XLPE type of cable between the breaker and the transformer is required ‘The rated steady-state current that can be drawn from the transformer is Basa sists i= 1004 a Normally, the minimum standard size of 3x 1.5 mm? cu with a rated current of 18 ampers under standard conditions should be sufficient for this application. However, the short-circuit current requirement is, A= 1600807 or the standard size of 35 mm’, As a matter of fact, cables of lower cross-sectional area at this voltage level are not manufactured due to the effect of short-circuit currents, 1 130=33 un" Circuit-breaker operating time of 100 msec is the minimum obtainable at medium or high voltage levels. For selective operation of the successive circuit-breakers, the operating times should be incremented by 0.3 or 0.4 sec. Therefore, as a rule, the medium voltage cables are dimensioned to meet the required short-circuit current. This should be limited to keep the cable sizes small and / or in view of the cost of the switch-gear. The short- circuit current value may be kept small by sectionalizing the whole network, choosing feeder transformers with a corresponding impedance voltage, and by operating the transformers separately. In the Turkish system, short-circuit is normally limited to 16 kA at the medium voltage level. The operating times of the cable protective equipment ( circuit-breakers and fuses ) for short-circuits is very small at low voltage circuits, and therefore low voltage cables are rarely checked for short-circuits The steady-state current carrying capacity of a cable is derived directly from the amount of heat it can liberate when it is running at its maximum operating temperature [BE-474 Distribution Systems 7appropriate to the insulating material involved and dissipating that heat into surroundings which are at a stated ambient temperature, In this case, the term m*c*d0 , describing the change in the heat stored, is zero. Thus the difference between the final conductor and the ambient temperature is given by Or = Pi/(S* a) (4) Given that the installation conditions are the same as for those assumed for the determination of the ratings, there is no margin on the conductor temperature-rise. If anything changes to reduce the amount of heat which can be dissipated, then the cable will become overheated and its expected life is reduced. The most likely causes of overheating are high ambient temperatures and installation conditions, especially cables in groups. ‘The derating factors due to the methods of installation are given in the appendix. 3. VOLTAGE DROP ‘The correct operation of an item of load depends on the voltage at its terminals being maintained at a value close to its rated value, The energy loss involved in distributing electrical power takes the form of reduction in voltage at the receiving end of each cable run, This reduction is dependent on the impedance of cable, It is necessary, therefore, to dimension the circuit conductors, and hence the impedance between the sending and receiving ends such that, at full load current, the load terminal voltage is maintained within the limits required for correct performance. ‘The voltage level at the customer intake point is one of the most important constraints on distribution system design. This is particularly important for the vast majority of customers taking supplies at low voltage as they have no means of adjusting the voltage received. The classical voltage drop calculations involve the calculation of the voltage difference between two points, namely the sending and receiving ends. Effect of addition of a new load on the source side is not taken into account by treating it as an infinite bus, and thus, the calculations are kept at a minimum.This seems sufficent for distribution systems as the idea is to keep the voltage not at a specified value but in a band of voltages. Calculations are based upon balanced, steady-state operating conditions and worked out on a line to neutral basis on the equivalent single line system. As shown in Fig. 1, the circuit has resistance R, reactance X, sending- end voltage Vs and receiving end voltage Ve. It carries current I lagging by an angle g on Vr. The shunt capacitace is generally neglected because of the low levels of voltage. EE.474 Distribution Systems 5Ilo + Av - Vs Val | [LOAD Fig. 1 Equivalent circuit for voltage drop calculations The voltage drop phasor AV for a line having an impedance Z = R + jX and carrying a current Lis given by V=Z*1 (3) ‘The phasor diagram for the system is given in Fig.2. As can be seen from the above equation, voltage drop is in reality a vectorial quantity. However, the transmission angle 3. is very small ( usually a few degrees ) and for most practical cases the approximation ~y is acceptable, so that the phasor relationship can be written as Fig. 2 Voltage drop phasor diagram Vs = Vr + RI Cos@ + XI (6) ‘The voltage drop AV on the line is given by AV = Vs - Vr = RICos@ + XTSing (7) FF-474 Disuibton Systems 6In AC circuits neglecting the effect of their phase angles amounts to taking the worst case. Actual circuits may have a lower voltage drop than is given by a such a simple approach, In single phase calculations the resistance and the reactance of the return path must be included in R and X. For three-phase systems the line to line voltage drop can be calculated from (8) = (PR+QX)/V (9) = P(R+Xtang)/V (40) where V is the line voltage and P and Q are the total active and reactive three-phase power. For cable sizes upto about 50 mm? , the impedance is practically equal to the DC resistance of the conductors, but above this size, especially with single core cables the inductance becomes increasingly important and at the largest sizes is the dominant component. Since the inductance decreases only logarithmically with conductor diameter, it becomes more and more difficult at these large sizes to reduce the voltage drop by increasing the size of conductor and splitting the circuit into two or more independent parallel paths may be necessary. Circuit inductance increases as conductors are separated so that from the point of view of voltage drop it is best to keep single core cables as close together as possible. Further, tre-foil arrangement is better than flat arrangement. The resistance of a conductor R=I*p/A= I/(x*A) ql) where 1 = total length of the conductor A= cross-sectional area of conductor p= specific resistance ( at 20 C ) x = 1/p= conductance q = temperature coefficient Values of p or x are specified for a temperature of 20°C, For other temperatures O Po = po(1 +q(8—20)) (12) And hence the conductor resistance Ro=(1/ A) pro (1 +q(8-20)) (13) EEA74 Distribution System 7‘The resistance of 100 meters of copper conductor of with a cross-sectional area of 25 mm? at 20° C, is Ryo = 100 * 0.01754 / 25 = 0.07016 ohm ‘The resistance of the same conductor at 90° C ( XLPE insulated ) will be Ryo = 0.07016 * (1 + 0,004 ( 90 -20)) = 0.08980 ohm which is an increase of 28 %. This is one of the reasons the Turkish distribution system suffers from high voltage drops because during the initial design stage the resistance value used for conductors are not temperature corrected and are those of the values specified at 20° C. Although the equations for the voltage drop are defined for flows along a line, they are also appropriate for determining the voltage drop through any item of equipment in a network, knowing the equipment resistance and reactance and the load current and power factor. The above study covered the case where the load was concentrated at the receiving end of a line section. Practical situations with several load points along the line can be solved by a series of similar calculations, obtaining the voltage drop due to each load point in turn, The total voltage drop is then the sum of the individual voltage drop due to each load point, assuming @=7 . Ifthe loads do not peak at the same time it is necessary to apply a coincidence factor to the loads to avoid obtaining too high a value for the voltage drop due the simultaneous demand of the group of loads. In some cases the load can be assumed to be distributed homogeneously along the line. In this situation the resultant voltage drop along the line will be one-half the voltage drop obtained with the load equal to the total loading and concentrated at the end of the line. A single radial lightly loaded circuit represents conditons analogous to the above load distribution, Here the homogenously distributed phase-earth capacitance feeds reactive power to the circuit proportional to the circuit length. If the resistve load is small enough, there can be a rise in voltage in moving from the sending end to the receiving of the circuit In networks with low load density the cross-sectional area of the conductors is determined by the permissible voltage drop as a rule. The maximum load worked out on the basis of the maximum permissible conductor temperature is of importance only in areas with high load density (urban networks, industrial plants). The voltage drop within the cable network should not exceed 3 % between the low voltage terminal of the transformer and the house service fuse, as the service value of the voltage sensitive appliances depends on a stabized full voltage level. In exceptional cases -BR-A74 Distribution Systoms 8where high expenditure is not justified, ie, with remote consumers, the voltage drop may be allowed to reach 5 to 7%. The additional drop within the house wiring system normally amounts to approximately 2 % and must also be taken into account. ‘A knowledge of the voltage at different locations can indicate the strong and weak parts of a network and the voltage reduction is a direct indication of energy loss involved in distributing electrical power. If Eq. 5 is multiplied by the complex conjugate of the line current, Aver =Z*E*P=(R+jX) [I]? (4) which are the active and reactive line losses. The smaller the voltage drop on the line , smaller would be the losses. Highest causes of losses in the descending order are the low voltage distrbution lines, MV / LV distribution transformers and finally the medium voltage lines. Iris normally assumed that the sending end voltage is equal to 400 Volts ( voltage at the transformer terminals ), 5% voltage drop corresponds to 400 * 0.05 = 20 Volts giving 400 - 20 = 380 volts line-to-line or 380/s3=220 volts line to neutral which are the utilization ( load ) voltages. The utilization voltage in the European Union countries has been upgraded to 400 / 230 volts since 2001. Such a work has yet to be started in Turkey, 400 volts at the transformer terminals is the open circuit (‘Thevenin ) voltage of the transformer. The correct way to handle the system representation is to include the source side equivalent impedace (normally taken to be inductive ) and the transformer impedance as shown in the Fig. 3. The three-phase short-circuit fault level in kA or in MVA is given by the power supply authority concerned, from which an equivalent impedance can be calculated. Referred to the low voltage side of the transformer, the thevenin's impedance is given by Z= VI Seo (1s) where V= low voltage line-to-line voltage in volts Scc= HIV 3-phase short-circuit fault level expressed in MVA Z, = thevenin’s impedance expressed in ohms Z, = transformer impedance in ohms. ‘The upstream (MV) resistance Rs is generally found to be negligible compared with the corresponding Xs, the latter being taken as the ohmic value for Z,. If more accurate calculations are necessary, Rs may be taken to be equal to 0.15 Xs which will inrease the impedance by 1%, E74 Distnaton Stems 9Fig. 3: Thevenin’s equivalent at the transformer low voltage terminals, 4. PROTECTION OF CABLES The functions of circuit protection is to prevent currents greater than the rating of a cable for a duration long enough to cause damage. There are two types of such overcurrents; those which arise in a healthy circuit because of an excessive load ( over-load ) and those resulting from a faulty condition such as a short-circuit A property designed circuit should be sized such that it will be capable of safely carrying the highest expected load, However, due to unforeseeable conditions, there is always a risk, no matter how small , that the design load could be exceeded. It is a general requirement, therefore, that all circuits must have overload protection, chosen so that an excess current cannot persist long enough to cause damage Overload protection is not a problem with thermal-magnetic circuit-breakers as the thermal relay could be set to the highest expected current and any current above this value would operate the circuit-breaker. In the case the relay is not adjustable, the cable rating should be be chosen as equal or above the circuit breaker rating. However, when fuses are utilized, the problem is complicated because of the behaviour of fuses under overloading conditions. Experimental work and field experience shows that a PVC-insulated cable can safely withstand overload currents upto 1.45 times its continous rating. However, it is essential to realize that such currents can only be tolerated if they occur for a strictly limited duration and only very occasionally, say not more than a few times during the life of the installation. Most other cable materials can withstand this treament, so the rule limiting the overload to not more than 1.45 times the cable rating has been adopted generally for all wiring. Therefore the continous rating of a cable I,, should be chosen such that the long time operating current the fuse that is providing protection is less than 1.45 * I, 6-476 Distbuion Systems 10Selection of an appropriate combination of protective device and cable is illustrated in Fig. 4. Having estimated the maximum sustained load ( design value ) Tb, a circuit protection device which has a rating I,, equl or greater Iy. A cable size is then chosen so that its rating, corrected for grouping and ambient temperature, Iz is equal to greater than 1s, and furthermore 1.45 times [, is equal to or greater than the long duration operating current (melting current ) of the fuse, Is. The condition I < 1.45* 1, will be valid for gL type of fuses when In 25 A, f= 1.10 (Note that 1.11.45 = 1.6 which is the factor used for the minimum fusing current. ) The cable will then be capable of carrying the design load safely and can also withstand infrequent overloads which will not be cut-off by the protective device. The general tendency has been to determine the load current and then choose a conductor which will pass this current without overheating ( thermal verification ). Finally the protective fuse size is chosen so that it is slightly less or equal to the cable's steady-state rating. This may not satisfy conditions with the long time operating current and if the fuse size is chosen by some other factor, it may leave the cable unprotected against overcurrents as in the following example. In power factor correction schemes, due to initial inrush current whenever the capacitors are switched, the fuse sizes have to be chosen high ( roughly, twice the rated current of the capacitor ) to prevent the fuses from operating, The fuse is required also to protect the cable and therefore, the cable between the fuse and the capacitor has to be increased to a size which can be protected by the fuse. ‘Asan example, suppose a three-phase load requires 55 Amps. Protective element of the cable supplying the load can either be a circuit-breaker or fuse with a rating of 63 Amps. Assume derating factor is equal to unity. This would require a3x 6 mm? cu XLPE cable which has a rating of 66 A if circuit breakers are used or 3x10°* mm cu XLPE cable with arating of 87 A > 1.1 *63 = 693A EE-474 Distribution Systems uLan le L, * mf [Seem] Tame ew | alee Secrarenate | a cigmet te caic | Lia ol and the faa: es | a + Beier ie : asco irene setae dee = Betemine te rove sectional neu a const forte etons cre Viethen higher « tage opi we ee (/ Wienpterns Dor, ec ten pti devi ene (SS Ge reqcel ie en ca ie Mol or ancided Satan dome Fig. 4 Flow-chart for the selection of low voltage cable size 12 [HE-A74 Dati Systems5, NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN CABLES With the increasing demand for ‘safe’ living and working environments, attention is now being focused on the non-current carrying performance of cables during a fire. Tt is now recognized that smoke and poisonous fumes are often a far greater risk to life and property than the fire itself. This has given rise to the development of new types of cables for which the terminology is not clear cut yet, ‘When standard PVC which is used widely for insulation and / or sheathing material, burns it gives a number poisonous gasses, in particular hydrogen chloride (HCI ). This gas when combined with moisture forms hydrochloric acid, The damage caused by ‘burning PVC is twofold; firstly dense smoke will obscure exit routes with the fumes choking people. The second and less recognized problem is that the acid gas produced penetrates electronic equipment settling on printed circuit-boards and over a period of time gradually eats through circuit causing random, unpredictable failure. The fire may even have been extinguished within minutes with no great risk to personnel, but the damage to equipment may be very high. In view of these problems, there has been a shift in recent years to using newly developed compounds that emit less of the harmful gasses, particularly halogens, but still perform ‘well in other respects. The cheapest alternatives are modified PVCs, these are termed RP ( Reduced Propagation ) or in some cases LSF (Low Smoke and Fume ). Ordinary PVC emits approximately 28% HCI, while a modified PVC could give off a high 22 % and still be sold as LSF. In order to make certain that the harmful effects are avoided in the case of a fire, insulation and sheathing materials should be of the type that does not emit any significant amounts of halogens and have reduced smoke emission properties. These are termed LSHF ( Low Smoke Halogen Free. ), OHLS ( Zero Halogen Low Smoke ), LSOH or LSZH ( Low Smoke Zero Halogen ). These products must not emit more than 0.5 % HCL. Sometimes, standard PVC cables are over-sheathed with an LSHF jacket. When the jacket burns through, the PVC inner sheath or insulation will give off poisonous gasses in just the same way as if the LSFH jacket was not there. These cables should be avoided. Flame Retardant cables retard or slow down the progress of fire and flame along the cable, This is achieved through the use of materials that do not readily burn and will tend to self-extinguish when the source of heat is removed. A common misunderstanding is that LSF or LSHF cable is also flame retardant. This is not necessarily true, the cables may spread the fire even though minimal fumes are emitted. Polyurethane is popular as it emits very low levels of smoke and fumes: Unfortunately in its standard form it burns ferociously and drips burning material onto anything below with the potential to rapidly spread the fire. There has been a recent move to name flame retardant types as FRNC (Flame Retardant Non Corrosive ), "HE-474 Dintation Systeme 13Finally, Fire Resistant. cables are those typos of cables that continue to function while under the influence of fire. They are designed to maintain circuit integrity of those vital emergency services during the fire for a time of 3 hours. The individual conductors are wrapped with a layer of fire resisting mica/glass which prevents phase to phase and phase to ground contact even after the insulation has been burnt away. The fire resistant cables, if required, may exhibit the same performance even under fire with water spray or mechanical shock situation, Applications of fire resistant cables include indoor hydrant equipment, sprinkler equipment, automatic fire alarm equipment, emergency alarm and announcing, equipment, guide lamp, smoke expelling equipment, emergency plug sockets, and fireman’s lift /elevator. [As with the most developing products the durability of the new safer compounds is improving all the time with cost penalties reducing as the market grows. LSHF compounds are significantly more expensive than PVC and are considerably slower to extrude, with resulting production costs being substantially greater ( roughly 20 % higher for the time being). Similarly, the cost of fire resistant cables is another 20 % higher over the normal ones. EB-474 Distribution Systems 14GROUNDING GENERAL SYSTEM GROUNDING 2.1 UNGROUNDED SYSTEMS 2.2 RESISTANCE GROUNDING 2.3 REACTANCE GROUNDING 2.4 SOLID GROUNDING EQUIPMENT (PROTECTIVE) GROUNDING GROUNDING IN LV SYSTEMS 4.1 CAUSES OF OVERVOLTAGES IN LV SYSTEMS, 4.2. TN SYSTEMS 437T SYSTEMS 4.41T SYSTEMS 4.5 COMPARISON OF GROUNDING SYSTEMS PHYSICAL CONNECTION TO EARTH 5.1 EARTHING RESISTANCE 5.1 TOUCH AND STEP VOLTAGES 5.2 EARTH RESISTIVITY PRACTICAL GROUNDING SYSTEMS MEASUREMENT OF RESISTANCE TO EARTH 7.1 THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS 7.2. MEASUREMENT METHODS E74 DiaibtionSytsGROUNDING 1, GENERAL Grounding or earthing is normally understood to be the connection of various exposed conductive parts ( which are not current carrying under normal operating conditions ) of equipment together and to a common terminal (main grounding terminal ) which is in turn connected by the earthing conductor to an earth electrode. There are two misconceptions in this statement, First, grounding is not only limited to equipment but also involves the electrical power system, the two being related and may refer to the same physical installation in some cases and, secondly, the term grounding which is used interchageably with earthing, are not the same thing. Note that in a high-rise building, the top floor would have a ground bus, although the earth is some tens of meters away. While in an airplane, one cannot think about earthing at all as there is no involvement with the earth to start with, although there is a grounding system. Therefore, grounding should be called earthing if it really involves the physical earth and in case of a mul-functioning of some part of the system, some of the current returns back to the source through the earth, 2. SYSTEM GROUNDING System grounding ( isletme ‘opraklamasr ) is an intentional electrical interconnection between the electrical system conductors and ground (earth), forming part of the operating circuit. Examples of system grounding are : connection of the neutral points of windings, earth leakage coils, neutral point resistances and conductors, high voltage windings and capacitors of voltage transformers. The objective is two-fold = Maintain the voltage at any part of the network at a definite potential with respect to earth, and, - Provide sufficient relaying current in the case of a ground fault so that only the faulted circuit is isolated 2.1 UN-GROUNDED SYSTEMS If there is no such connection except for the potential indicating devices or other very high impedance devices, the system is said to be un-grounded. Even under these circumstances, the system is coupled to ground through the distributed capacitances of the the network elements. When the system is operating properly with a reasonable balanced load, the neutral point of such an ungrounded system will be held at the ground potential through these capacitances However, when there is a line-to-ground fault on one of the phases, the line-to-ground Potential of the remaining phases will be raised to line voltages which will be sustained ‘throughout the fault duration. It should be noted this will over-stress the insulation to ground of the healthy phases, especially so in machines and transformers in which the space is EEATA Diab Systeme 2limited, and the likely-hood of a second line-to-ground fault is increased. Even if there is no immediate fault, the expected useful life of the insulation will be reduced, ‘The continuity of the system is impaired as the system will go on operating because the fault current is limited to capacitive current of the healthy phases which will be very small. This is the advantage of an un-grounded sytsem. However, asecond line-to- ground fault on another phase, the probability of which is increased due to the voltage rise, even if they are not on the same feeder will give rise to double line-to-ground fault and all involved circuits will have to be interrupted. Therefore itis essential that a line-to-ground fault in an un-grounded system is identified and removed before second fault occurs. Such a system would require continued attendance. i.e.. personnel should be available to remove the fault before the second one occurs. Otherwise, the advantage is lost An ungrounded system having a line-to-ground fault behaves as an LC circuit with very little damping, and this can give rise to severe transient overvoltages in case of intermittent contact ‘pround fault (arcing ground ) or a high reactance connected from one line to ground, in addition to the sustained ones. The following approach can limit the transient overvoltages. AL A, ll K a) Healthy system voltages b) Faulty system voltages and currents Fig. 1. Healthy and faulty systems in ungrounded circuits 22. RESISTANCE GROUNDING Resistance-grounded systems employ an intentional resistance connection between the electrical system neutral and ground. This resistance appears in parallel with the system-to- ground capacitive reactance and forces the circuit impedance closer to a resistive than a capacitive one in case of faults involving ground. This will limit the very high transient overvoltages associated with un-gounded systems to safe values ( <2.5 pu). However, it will not prevent the sustained 73% overvoltages on the two healthy phases during the presence of a line to ground fault on the third phase. ‘Resistance-grounded systems can be in either of the following forms depending upon system operating requirements 1. High-resistance grounding, or, 2. Low-resistance grounding -BE-474 Diaittion Sytem 5High-resistance grounded systems do not require immediate clearing of a ground fault since ‘the ground-fault current is of a very low magnitude. ( some tens of mA to a few ampers ). The protection associated with this type of grounding is usually detection and alarm rather ‘than immediate clearing in the case of the first fault. The ohmic value of the resistance is of the same order (or lower than ) as the total system-to-ground-capacitance ( Xco /3). In this case, the fault current is at least equal to the total system charging current. ‘On the other hand, low resistance grounding requires a grounding connection of very much lower resistance. The strategy in this case is to provide fault current sufficient for selective tripping of the faulted circuit and yet protect the system from the harmful effects of very high ‘ground-fault currents such as burning or melting of equipment, high mechanical stresses, and pressures developed inside the equipment. Thus, the resistance value is tailored to provide a ‘ground-fault current acceptable for relaying purposes. Typical values used range from 200 A on systems using sensitive torroidal current transformer ground fault sensor relaying up to 2000 A in the larger systems using ground fault current responsive relays connected in current transformer residual circuits. In mobile electric excavating machinery operating at MV levels, much lower levels of ground -fault current (25~50 A ) are required to limit the dangerously high ground potential rises and thus, keep the personnel safe. This is obtained at the expense of reducing the sensitivity of the ground-fault detection. ‘The current values given above are those produced with the full line to-ground potential available, This voltage may vary from 0 to full value in the case of Y connected systems and 50% to full value in delta connected systems. 2.3 REACTANCE GROUNDING Reactance grounding is not normally employed in distribution systems because the permissible reduction in ground fault current is approximately 25 % of the three-phase fault ‘current without the risk of transient overvoltages. Lower levels are available with low resistance grounding and therefore, preferred, In over-head systems for which faults in air are relatively frequent, a reactor which has a high impedance, and connected between the neutral of a system and ground, known as the sground-fault neutralizer ( Peterson coil ) is sometimes employed. When a line-to-ground fault ‘occurs on one of the phases, the fault current has three compnents : 1) a capacitive component through the un-faulted phases, 2) an inductive component through the reactor and, 3) aresistive component due to fault resistance, insulator leakage and corona. If the inductive reactance is chosen such that the inductive and capacitive components of the current cancell each other (i., tuned ), the only remaining current is the resistive component which will be small. Further, the current and voltage will be in phase, and therefore, the rate of rise of the recovery voltage is very low. As a result, the arc is extinguished without re-striking, and, the flash-overs are quenched without removing the faulted section from service. Itshould be remembered that whenever a line section is taken out of service, the resonance conditions are altered. Therefore ground-fault neutralizer reactor is usually tapped to change the connected capacitive reactance. 1-474 Dain Systems CFig. 2 Ground fault neutralizer equivalent circuit 2.4 SOLID GROUNDING In solidly grounded systems, there is no intentional impedance between the system neutral and the ground (earth ). However such a connection may not always warrant the benefits expected from a solid grounding, i.e., freedom from transient and steady-state overvoltages, This can be achieved, if, for all system conditions ; Xo<3X1 and Ro< Xi where X1 is the Thevenin’s equivalent of the positive sequence reactance of the complete system with the subtransient reactance of the rotating machinery, then itis said to be effectively grounded. In this case, the line-to-ground fault current is at least 60 % of the three-phase fault level. The higher the ground fault in relation to three-phase fault current, the sreater the degree of effectiveness of solid grounding in the system. With some generators, the line-to-ground fault current may exceed the three-phase fault current. In such cases, reactance grounding is employed to bring the ground fault current of the generator in line with that of the three-phase rating. If the system is effectively grounded, then the surge (lightning ) arrestor voltage rating may be chosen as 80% line-to-line voltage. In all other types of grounding systems, this rating should be 100 % The Turkish HV and EHV transmission systems are all effectively grounded. Athigh voltages, the cost of grounding equipment is high. In addition, large magnitudes of the sground-fault current generally does not affect electrical equipment as they are overhead lines and may be desirable to secure optimum performance of phase over-current trips of protective relays,On the other hand, the MV systems which used to be also effectively grounded, are gradually being transformed to low resistance grounding because of the reasons given in Section 2.2. ‘The ground-fault current is limited to 1000 A’ ( R= 20 ohms at 33 kV sytems ) in cable systems while in over-head line or mixed systems, the ground-fault current available is 300A Finally, the LV (230 / 400 V ) system is generally solidly grounded which may be effective or not. In some rare cases where the continuity of supply is essential, high resistance ‘grounding is employed although it is referred as an un-grounded (IT ) system, These are discussed in detail in Section 4 3. EQUIPMENT ( PROTECTIVE ) GROUNDING. Equipment grounding, referred also as protective grounding from which the Turkish translation gets its equivalent ( koruma topraklamast ), is mainly for the prevention from dangerously high shock voltage exposure ( Table 1) that may exist when there is an ‘unintentional contact ( fault ) between an energized electrical conductor and the metal frame or structure that might either encloses it or be nearby. Therefore, equipment grounding, in contrast with system grounding, is not a part of the electrical operating circuit under normal conditions ‘When an insulation failure occurs along an electric power circuit, causing an electrical ‘connection between the energized conductor and a metal enclosure, this connection may be either temporary (arcing fault ) or solid, In either case, the electrical system will try to raise the enclosure to the same electrical potential that exists on the power conductor. Unless all such enclosures have been connected with a system of conductors and busses that will provide alow impedance path back to the source, an insulation breakdown will cause dangerous, electric potential to appear on the enclosure giving rise to an electric shock hazard to anyone touching it. Further, the equipment grounding is not limited to electrical installation, but to all metallic parts which may be accessible simulaneously. Also, the energy released during an arcing ground fault may be sufficient cause a fire or explosion, By intentionally grounding the metallic encloures in a manner that assures a low value of ground fault circuit impedance, an adequate ground fault current capacity will be created for relaying purposes. In this case, the flow of ground fault current be interrupted by the circuit-breaker or fuse and thus avoid electric shock and fire hazards, Therefore, the main purposes of equipment grounding are as follows: = To maintain low potential difference between metallic members, ensuring freedom from electrical shocks to personnel in the area ~ To avoid fires from volatile materials and the ignition of gasses in combustible atmospheres by providing an electric conductor system for the flow of ground fault currents and lightning and static discharges to essentially eliminate arcing and other thermal distress in electric equipment. = To make sure that the electrical protective system operates, EE-A74Distitutin Systems 6Table I. Theoretical maximum disconnecting time limits 8) dry conditions b) wet conditions Assumed Maximum disconnecting Assumed — Maximum disconnecting touch time for the protective touch time for the protective voltage device ( seconds) voltage device ( seconds) volt A Di Colts AC DC <30 5 5 25 5 3 50 3 5 50 048 5 75 0.60 5 5 030 2 90 0.45 3 90 0.25 0.80 120 034 3 110 O18 0.50 150 027 1 150 0.12 0.25 220 017 0.40 20 0.05 0.06 280 0.12 030 280 0.02 0.02 350 0.08 0.20 500 0.04 0.10 All electric cunductor housings (for example, metallic conduits, cable trays, junction boxes.ete ), equipment enclosures, and motor frames shold be interconnected by an equiment ‘grounding conductor system that will satisfy the above requirements. Obviously, the system of conductors should be sized so that they are capable carrying the full fault-current without ‘overheating throughout the fault duration and, represent an impedance sulliciently low so that shock hazard voltages are not created Equipment grounding is independent of the nature of system grounding, and must be practiced even in ungrounded systems to limit shock voltages with respect to an infinite earth, ‘The zero potential reference ground to which the shock exposure magnitudes are expressed, ‘may be the earth itsef as in an out-door substation area, or most likely, be the electric circuit ‘metallic grounding conductor. The two may have quite different values.4. GROUNDING IN LOW VOLTAGE SYSTEMS ‘The grounding systems used in LV installations are stadardized and refer to the method ‘grounding the neutral point of the HV / LV transformer (system grounding) and the means of ‘grounding the exposed conductive parts of the the electrical equipment (equipment grounding ). ‘The choice of any one of the schemes governs the means of protection from dangerously high electrical shock voltages that may exist in the case of an insulation failure in ‘an electrical equipment. Different schemes can co-exist in an installation if found necessary. 4.1 CAUSES OF HIGH VOLTAGES IN LV SYSTEMS, Insulation failures which give rise to faults and shock voltages, generally occur as a result of overvoltages, These may be due to electrical faults, lightning strokes, switching and method of grounding employed in the HV /LV substation. The most important ones as far as LV systems are concerned are discussed below. One of the worst type of faults in a distribution system is an insulation failure between the high voltage and low voltage windings ofthe transformer. In this case a very high voltage ‘would be applied to the LV side giving rise to large fault currents. These should be cleared immediately by the fuse or ground fault relay on the high voltage side. The method of connection of the ground fault relay is shown in Fig. 3 a / be i Fig. 3 Transformer internal fault protection system (Restricted earth fault protection ) ‘This relay will operate only when there is a phase to earth fault on the high voltage winding of the transformer or on such faults described above. Since any line to ground fault on the low voltage side will appear as line to line fault on the high voltage side, the operation of this relay is independent from the low voltage side Therefore the operating time of this relay should be instantaneous Another fault similar in nature is the case of a HV line touching a LV line in O/H distribution systems with a common pole ( miisterek direk ). These faults should be cleared by the ED-AT4Distiaton Sytem ifcorresponding CB or fuses installed on the system. However, this might take time, and the damage would be done anyway. ‘The best way to protect against such faults is to install ZnO surge arresters on the incoming supply to the consumer. ‘The occurance of the above two types of faults is very rare. A more commion cause of overvoltages is atmospheric in origin. A lightning stroke may terminate on the line or a stroke terminating on a nearby object may induce high voltages on the low voltage O/H lines Protection against these overvoltages is again to install ZnO surge arresters, Switching surges as a result of fault interruption or line energization normally produces overvoltages below 3.5 pu and are not normally considered in the design of distribution systems, “ Finally, if the equipment grounding of the HV side and the system grounding of the delta ‘wye connected distribution transformer share the same grounding resistance in a substation (Fig. 4), a phase-to-ground fault on the high voltage side can produce dangerous levels of overvoltages on the LV system which is kown as the transferred potential. With a fault current If= 1000 amps, and a substation grounding resistance of 10 ohms . the ground potential will be raised to: V = 25000 = 10,000 Volts which is very high, Note that this voltage is applied to the neutral point on the low voltage side of the transformer. Low voltage distribution cables leaving the substation will transfer this potential to the consumer installations. It should be observed that there will be no LV insulation failure between phases or from phases to neutral since they are all raised by the same potential. It is probable that insulation between phase and earth of a cable or some part of an installation would fail. u a Si ene es) eee i nN Fig. 4. Transferred potential E74 Disributon Stems 9Earth faults on high voltage systems can produce dangerous voltage levels on low voltage installations because of the transferred potential, LV consumers and operating personnel can bbe safe-guarded against this danger by 1, Reducing the magnitude of the high voltage ground fault currents. Unless deliberately. restricted, the ground fault current is comparable to three-phase fault current. In practice, using a system grounding resistor (20 ohms at 34.5 KV), this current is limited 10 1000 amps. Further reductions of the ground fault current are possible, but in this case, relaying, sensitivity is lost 2. Reducing the resistance Rs of the grounding, system. 3, Separating earth electrodes of system and equipment grounding. Ideally, the seperation distance should be infinite as will be seen in the next section. ‘The Turkish regulations specify a minimum distance of 20 meters. This may not be possible in most cases. 4.2 TNSYSTEMS. A relatively high transferred potential cannot be entirely avoided by the methods described above, Therefore the following strategy can be adopted ‘The equipotential earthing installation at consumers premises represent a remote earth (ie., zero potential). However, if this earting installation were to be connected by a low impedance conductor fo earth electrode at the substation, then the equipotential conditions existing in the substation would also exist at the consumer installation. This is known as the TN system of grounding, The first letter denotes the system grounding ( solidly connected to earth, or Terra ) while the second refers to equiment grounding ( Neutral ), There are three different versions of TN systems ‘The easiest and most economical way of achieving this interconnection would be simply to connect the neutral wire to the consumers equipotential installation, which is recognized as the TN-C (C meaning Combined, ie., neutral and earth combined ) as shown in Fig. 5. The neutral conductor is referred as PEN ( Protective Earth and Neutral ) conductor. Fig.5. TN-C System ATA Diaibson Sytem 10In a’TN-C system is geneally associated with a Protective Multiple Earthing (PME) scheme, in which the neutral conductor is earthed at intervals along its length ( every third or fourth pole on a LV overhead line distributor ) and each consumers service entrance. It can be seen that a network of neutral conductors radiating from a substation each of which is earthed at regular intervals constitute a very effective low resistance earth electrode. The combination of restricted earth fault currents, equipotential installations, and low resistance substation earthing, results in greatly reduced levels of overvollages and limiting stresses of phase to earth insulation. ‘An improved version of rhe TN-C system would be the to isolate the the protective earth (PE) and the neutral conductor CN) in the consumer's premises connected to an upstream system designed as TN-C as shown in the Fig 6 and referred as the TN-C-S (S for Separate). ‘The neutral of the power supply system is earthed just once at the upstream end of the installation, This system has its advantages over the TN-C which Fig.6. TN-C-S System ill be given later. a Finally, ifthe consumer has a dedicated trasformer substation, the PE conductor can be extended all the way to the transformer substation, avoiding the TN-C system altogether and this is known as TN-S scheme (Fig. 7). Fig.7. TN-S System 0-474 Dario SytemIt should be noted that in all of the different types of TN systems, the effect of the substation earthing resistance is minimal as itis by-passed (shorted) by the PE or PEN conductor. 42 TT SYSTEM Another widely used system of grounding known as the TT system, the equipment in the consumers’ premises is grounded through an earth electrode separately an completely independent from the substation earth (‘Terra-Terra) as shown in Fig 8. This means that the transferred potential will not stress the phase to phase insulation of the consumers equipment, but the phase to earth ( and neutral to earth ) of all three phases will be subjected to overvoltage. The strategy in this case is to ~resirict the value of the HIV earth fault current, = reduce the resistance of the substation earth electrode such that the standard value of 5 second withstand voltage to earth for low voltage appliance and equpment will not be exceeded = If the above two means are not applicable (which is generally true), isolate the fault in the shotest time. This will require special type of circuit-breaker based upon residual current (RCCB ). ut be Fig8, TT system 43. IT System If the continuity of supply is very important as in a hospital operating room or in a computer center, then the system is ungrounded (/solated ) while the electrical equipment is grounded through a set of earth electrodes ( Terra). Although referred as an IT system, the system grounding is usually realized as high resistance grounding through a resistor of 1000 ~ 2000 ohms (Fig, 9) on which the voltage across could be used for detection of earth faults. EEATADiaribaion Stent 12Fig. 9 High resistance grounded LV system 4.4 COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT LOW VOLTAGE GROUNDING SYSTEMS AIL LV grounding schemes are equally satisfactory with some limitations provided that they are correctly implemented. The grounding scheme must satsly, in various degrees, the following basic requirements ~ protection against electrical shock, - protection against fires of electrical origin, + continuity of power supply, + protection against overvoltages, ~ protection against electromagnetic disturtvances In view of the design and operation of the system, the best solution may involve different rounding schemes for different parts of the installation, 4.4.1 TN Systems ‘An insulation failure in TN systems result in very high ground fault currents, of the order of KA, because the earth electrodes are not effective and the fault current can be assumed to flow entirely in the PEN or the PE conductor. Any insulation fault can be considered as a phase to neutral fault. The fault current can give rise to shock voltages exceeding 50% of the phase to neutral voltage at the fault position during the disconnection time of the supply. During a LV insulation fault, the supply voltage will drop, electromagnetic disturbances and the risk of damage (fire, motor windings and magnetic frames ) is high. During a HV insulation fault, a current will flow through the earth electrodes of the LV neutral and a power frequency voltage will appear between the exposed conductive parts of LV equipment and the distant earth, ‘Therefore, automatic disconnection is essential in the case of an insulation fault which can be provided by fuses or circuit breakers in a time less than 0.1 second. As a result, with a circuit breaker, the loop impedance must be such that the resultant fault current should be higher than the instantaneous trip setting of the CB. In the case of fuses, the fault current must largely BATA Diernion Systane 13exceed than that necessary to ensure the positive operation of the fuse. This consideration will generally limit the maximum circuit length available in TN schemes and should be taken into account during the initial design and whenever extensions are necessary. Protection against electrical fires for arcing faults (faults that are not transformed instantly into solid short-cireuits ) in TN-C schemes cannot be provided. Since an insulation fault to earth also constitutes a phase to neutral short circuit, residual current devices can not be used. However, this is not so with TN-S schemes because insulation faults can be separated from the protection against phase-phase or phase-neutral short circuit. With a TN-S system, a residual current device rated 500 mA is usually installed at the origin of the circuit which ‘would eliminate the risk of fire ‘The neutral point will be shifted during a ground fault in a'TN-C system and the volage between the phase and the exposed conductive parts of the installation exceed the phase to neutral voltage. In practice, this value is roughly equal to 1.45 Vn In a TN-C system, the connection of extraneous conductive parts of the building to the PEN conductor creates a flow of current in the structures, resulting in a risk of fire and electromagnetic disturbances. When a PEN conductor is installed in a building, regardless of its length, it leads to a power frequency volage drop under normal operating conditions, creating potential differences and therefore the flow of currents in any circuit formed by the exposed conductive parts of the installation, the extraneous conductive parts of the building, coaxial cable and the shielding of computer or telecommunication systems, ‘These voltage drops are modified in modern installations by the increased usage of equipment generating 3rd order harmonics. ‘The magnitude of this harmonic is tripled in the neutral conductor instead of as being cancelled out as in the case of the fundamental During insulation faults, these circulating currents are considerably increased, As a result, ‘TN-C systems are prohibited in premises where the risk of fire or explosion is high Under normal conditions, PE conductor in a TN-S scheme is not subjected to voltage drops and all the resultant drawbacks are eliminated. ‘IN-C systems with their inherent drawbacks are not recommended, while TN-S systems is normally recommended for installations that are not subject to extensions or ications or have a high level of surveillance. 442 TT System Ina TT system, the neutral point of the distribution transformer is connected solidly to earth, while the housings of the electrical equipment as well as the extraneous metal work are connectected to a PE conductor as in a TN-S system, which is in turn connected to an earth. electrode, generally completely independent of the system earth electrode. ‘The ground fault current will be normally less than the protective element ( circuit-breaker or fuse ) rating because the two earth electrodes will be in series, ie, to afirst approximation If= 220/(Rs*Re) EF-874 Diario Sent 4As a result, the accompanying disturbances including electromagnetic ones, and the impulse voltage that appears on the PE: conductor is low and can be considered negligible. The shock voltage in the case of an insulation fault will depend on the grounding resistance and may be quite high. The fault current cannot be normally detected by the protective element and the interruption of the fault current must be achieved by a residual current device. ‘This is in the form of a relay added to the existing circuit breaker, or in the case of fuses, a residual current circuit breaker. The use of a residual current device with operating currents <500 mA helps prevent fires of electrical origin ‘The TT scheme is the simplest, and very easy to implement. It is recommended for installations that have a limited surveillance as in a public distribution system, or installations which may be modified or extended without due concern to the engineering work necessary. 443 IT System ‘The neutral point of the transformer is isolated from earth or earthe through a resistance and ‘an overvolage limiter. ‘The function of the overvoltage limiter is to prevent the rise of potential between the live parts and the housings that could exceed the withstand value of the LV equipment in the case of a fault originating in the high voltage installation. ‘The neutral point potential is held to the value existing in the non-current carrying parts by the ground capacitance of lines and equipment. All housings and other metal work in the installation are connected to the buildings earth electrode by set of PE conductors. The sizing of the PE conductor is for the highest fault current that can occur (i.e. double earth faut), ‘The fault current in the case of the first ground fault is very low (in the range of mA’s ) with negligible electromagnetic interference. It does not represent a shock hazard nor produce any voltage drop on the mains supply and the equipment continues to be supplied with power as in anormal system However, the occurence of a second fault on a different phase should be made highly improbable ( even though the standards allow the occurence of this case ) by installing an insulation monitoring device that will detect and indicate the occurence of the first fault which can then be promptly located and cleared, Otherwise the advantage of the IT system would be completely lost. ‘The IT system offers the best guarantee to the availability of power, and it is recommended if the continuity of supply is essential. 1-74 Ditton Systema 15. PHYSICAL CONNECTION TO EARTH {tis normally assumed that the resistance of the earth to the electrical current is zero. This is ‘rue in general because as the resistance of a conductor is given by 2. PY >) As Ais very large, R > 0, even though p, the specific resistivity of earth in ohm-meters, is very large and varies immensely. Therefore, it may be thought that the earth may Lack in quality, but it makes up with volume. However, this ig not true at the point where the current enters into the earth because the current has to travel starting from an area immediately around the electrode which is gradually increasing in size and eventually reaching to very large values. 5.1 EARTHING RESISTANCE Pysical connection to earth is achieved through an electrode ( usally a metal rod or plate ) or asset of interconnected electrodes buried in the soil. ‘The grounding resistance of the clectrode(s) is made up of the resistance of the metal electrode, contact resistance between the electrode and the soil, and, resistance of the soil, from the electrode surface outward, in the ‘geometry set up for the flow of current outward from the electrode to infinite earth. ‘The first two resistances are very small fractions of an ohm and can be neglected for all practical purposes, ( This is the reason why the soil around the electrode should be compacted and the second resistance in the case of a buried horizontal metal plate underneath of which the soil has slipped away would definetely be not negligible, As a result, all plates aue buried in a vertical position for grounding purposes. ) Therefore, the third factor is the one to be discussed in here using a hemi-spherical electrode Although hemi-spheres or spheres are not used as ground electrodes, the properties are best illustrated for these simple electrode configurations and the results can readily be extended to complex cases. Assume the current I enters the ground through a metallic hemi-sphere of diameter D, embedded in the surface of the earth as shown in Fig, 10, If the earth is uniform, every hemi- spherical surface in the earth about the center of the electrode carries the same current of density J. The earth current is, for any distance x from the center: T2207 x*T ) ‘Thus the current density is Jz Ff/enne (ay And the electric field strength, as voltage per unit legth is é- p> pi/eax™ (4) 188-474 Dtsibaton Sytem 16grooad Sor foce \ eguepotential hanes Fig, 10 Flow of current into earth from a metallic hemi-sherical electrode The voltage V produced by the current I in the ground resistance between the electrode and at any point of the interior or surfce of the earth at adistance x is ‘ Ve {eave BF (R-L) Die 27 ‘DD x If x>> D (or better still x > cg where the true earth potential of 0 volt exists) then, Ve pT/nyp 6) ‘Therefore 2-%- Pao 9) is a magnitude independent of the current and the distance x and only given by the resistivity of the ground and diameter of the hemi-spherical electrode. This is the resistance of the ‘grounding electrode caused by the concentration of the spreading current around the ground electrode. For any shape of the earth electrode, the voltage to far distant points and thus the ground resistances, are given by a similar formulation. The resistance is always proportional to the resistivity p of the soil and inversely proportional to the main dimension of the electrodes. As an example if a rod L meters long and of radius r, driven into the soil of resistivty p, Ris sven by Re (4% (i) - 1) (8) Note that the effect of the rod radius ris slight on the resistance found. This choice is largely determined by the rigidity of the rod which is to be driven into the soil The resistance given by Eq. 7 can be visualised as the sum of a series of resistances of virtual hemi-speres of earth located progressively outward from the electrode, The hemi-spere nearest the electrode has the highest resistance . Successive hemi-spheres outside this one have larger areas, and progressively lower resistances. This is illustrated in Table 2 E74 Ditibaton Stems v7‘This fact is much more apparent in the case of a practical grounding electrode, a 3-m rod with aradius of 15 mm as shown Table 3. Table 2. Variation of grounding resistance with distance for a hemi-sphere electrode. D=1 meter, p= 100 ohm - meter R=p/(. *D)= 31.83 ohms Distance from electrode % of surface (m_) total resistance 06 16 07 28 08 37 1.0 50 1s 67 2.0 2 50 90 100 95 ‘Table 3 Variation of grounding resistance with distance for a vertical rod. L=3 meters, r= 15 mm, p= 100 ohm meter 30.15 ohms Distance from electrode % of surface (m_) total resistance 0.03 21 0.06 32 0.09 39) ous 44 030 38 13 74 30 80 30.0 88. 300.0 99, IFit is required to reduce earthing resistance, two obvious choices are evident from Eq. 7. ‘The effect of the specific resistivity of the soil will be discussed later. The other altemative. the increasing of the main dimension of the electrode, in most cases, may be non-economic. Reduction of grounding resistance is normally achieved by the parallel connection of electrodes However, if two parallel ground electrodes are placed within their spaces of high field strength as shown in Fig, 11, they experince a mutual interference which should be taken into account in the calculations. ESTA Disb Systeme 18<——__ 22 ———> Fig 11 Two hemi-spherical electrodes in parallel. ‘The total potential at the surface of either hemi-shpere with respect to an infinite point is given by ve PE 4 Pt (4) oo 2a (22) Hence the resistance of two hemi-spheres in parallel in the the earth, carrying a total current, 21, is: R- fo«t (l+'4,) (lo ) 2tr 2 ‘The first term can be recognized as the the contribution of one hemi-sphere acting alone. The contribution of the second electrode depends on the value of z If z > ¢% then the resistance is reduced by a factor of 2. However, for close electrode spacing, for example : ye C+ uy = 34 (iw ‘The resistance is reduced to only 75 % of the resistance of one electrode. ‘Thus distant electrodes are mutually independent in their resistances, and the equivalent resistance can be obtained with well known rules. Close electrodes in parallel, however, experience an. increase of the ground resistance by mutual interference. 5.2. STEP AND TOUCH VOLTAGES Ifa man or an animal is walking in the neighbourhood of an earth electrode which is carrying current I, a voltage Vs given by the line integral of the electric field strength (Eq. 4 ) over the step length L will be impressed between the two feet assuming that the field is undistorted Ce, infinite resistance ) Vex [Caer (45) E474 Distibtion Sytem 19a Fig 12 Step and touch voltages, At a distance x from the electrode, large compared to of step length T au Vs~ (2 4, at xe decreases inversely to the square of the distance. In the close proximity of the electrode, the step voltage will rise to a maximum as given by x =D / 2 by Ns 2ptl [a (o(ot2ey) (I) ‘Thus the step voltage depends not only on the ground current and the distance from the grounding point, but also on the step length and the resistivity of the ground, and increases with both of these values. Similarly, the touch volage Vt is defined as the potential difference shunted by the hand touching the object which is assumed to be connected to the ground electrode immediately below it, and the two feet. Assuming the electric field is undistorted by the presence of the body resistance, the touch voltage for the feet standindg L meters away from the ground electrode is given by Dp +e 2a ( Ves Edy zs ——— ts) =o Dh (Dd (% +L) 2 ‘The touch voltage is always the greater of the two and should be the one taken into account in designing grounding systems, Also, the touch voltage is more harmful because the resultant current will flow through the vital organs (heart and lungs). Actually itis the current through the body which gives rise to harmful effects. ‘The degree of danger to a person receiving a shock voltage is a function of the magnitude of current, the duration of the current flow and the parts of the body through which the current passes. In TEC Publication 479-1 four zones of current magnitude / time duration are defined for the different pathophysiological effects expected as shown in Fig, 13 E474 Diibtion Systems 20seco Fig. 13 Current-magnitude / time-duration limits which must not be exceeded (IEC-479-1) ‘The threshold of perception for the human body is about 0.5 milliampere at 50 Hz, Larger currents ( up to 25 ma) can be painful and affect the muscles so that the energized object cannot be released. Still higher currents ( to the right of curve Cl) can affect breathing and ‘may cause fatalities if the duration is long enough. The point 500 ms / 100 mA corresponds to a probabilityof heart fibrillation of the order of 0.14 %. Currents above this level may cause heart paralysis, inhibition of breathing and bums. Fortunately, in most situations, the breaker clearing time is fast enough (instantanous tripping) to protect against currents up to ventricular fibrillation values. Accordingly, itis usually those levels of current that may lead to ventricular fibrillation that form the basis for potential gradient limitationin the design of the grounding systems. Itis obvious that the potential gradients produced in the earth as a result of earth faults can be reduced by restricting the available ground fault current to a level still sensible for earth fault relay (low resistance grounding). This can be achieved at the source (generator or transformer) by introducing a resistance to neutral and in those cases where generator or transformer operate permanently in parallel , some of them may be left ungrounded ( danger of ungrounded systems if the grounded transformer is taken out ). As a second means of reducing potential gradients is to reduce the grounding resistance by increasing the length and/or number of electrodes which will reduce the voltage rise. As most of the resistance takes place in the close vicinity of the rod, special low resistance soils can be introduced in the space surrounding the electrode I the area covered is large as in a substation or switchyard, the grounding system can be meshed which will provide a close approximation to an equipotential at the ground surface (Fig. 14), Provided that the mesh sizes are appropriately dimensioned, the maximum values of the gradient at the highest expected ground fault will not be exceeded. The potential ‘gradients will be high atthe periphery. These can be reduced by choosing smaller mesh sizes at the periphery and/or by application of rods which will also decrease the grounding resistance, Placing rods within the periphery will not appreciably reduce the grounding resistance below that of peripherial rods. 1-474 ition Systeme aNe Fig. 14 Grounding grid ‘A simple means of reducing the potential gradient at the surface of the earth is by insulating the driven rods over the upper section so that contact with the earth is prevented. This can be taken as a depth of one meter as shown in Fig. 15 ce Vv top end / potential top end level meter beled uth Svcface sur frce Fig. 15 Reduction of potential gradients with a single rod. More commonly measures are taken to reduce the current passing through a person’s feet by providing an insulated floor covering (indoors) such as plastic tiles, rubber mats, etc., while for outdoor locations, high resistive surfaces, such as crushed rock, thick layers of asphalt, or clean gravel or pebbles are frequentllly used. Gravel or pebbles provide a very effective high-reasistance surface, even when wet, providing the stones are clean. Leaf mould, or mud et, between the stones greatly reduces the insulating. performance of such surfaces 5.3 SPECIFIC RESISTIVITY OF SOIL ‘The resistivity of earth is a prime factor in establishing the resistance of the grounding electrode. It varies with depth from the surface, with the moisture and chemical content and with the soil temperature. ‘The soil is aa very poor conductor of electricity, the specific resistivity of which is many thousands of that of copper even at best of conditions. Table 2 illustrates the specific resistivities of some of the different types of soils met at practice, and it changes with moisture content ( Table 3 ) and temperature ( Table 4 ). ATA Diaiion Ste nTable 2. Specific Resistivities in Ohm-meters of Different Types of Soil Type of soil Average resitivity Variation levels Fills, ashes, cinders, brine waste, salty marsh 25 6-70 Clay, shale, gumbo, loam 40 10-160 ‘Same with added sand and gravel 160 15-1350 Gravel, sand, stones with little clay or loam| 1000 600 - 5000 Table 3. Effect of Moisture Content on Soil Resistivity ( ohm-meters ) ‘Moisture content % by weight) Top Soil Sandy Loam 0 lo 10 25 2500 1800 5 1650 430 10 530185, 1s 190 105 20 120 63 30 64 42 Table 4, Fiffect of Temperature on Soil Resistivity Temperature (C Resistivity (ohm — meters ) 20 2 10 99, 0 ( water) 138 0 (ice) 390 ol 790 +15 3800 1-74 Dian Sytem 23An analysis of the’ above Tables reveals that the water content of the soil is very important ‘The seasonal changes in the humidity of the soil can be significant at depths of up to 2 meters. Atadepth of | meter, the value of the resistivity p can vary in the ratio of | to 3 between a ‘wet winter and a dry summer in temperate regions. Frozen earth can increase the resistivity of the soil by several ordres of magnitude, ‘This is one of the reasons, together with that noted above, for recommending the installation of deep electrodes, Soil is not uniform throughout its depth and occurs in layers with different types and humidity levels, and therefore with different specific resistivities. It is always a good idea to have a site survey made to find out at what depths suitable conditions prevail. This can easily be done with a 4-probe ground resistance tester. The four test electrodes are driven into the ground in a straight line, the center being at the point at which the soil measured. The spacing between the rods are equal as shown in Fig. 16. The rods need only to be driven into the ground to a depth of 30 cm for a resistance value of less than 1000 ohms. ‘The current generated by the ground tester is applied to the two outer electrodes and the voltage is measured across the inner electrodes. The ratio is read on the meter directly in ohms, Ra. This is average resistance of all layers of soil between the surface and the depth D. This depth D is taken to be 75% of the spacing A between the rods. ‘The reading of the earth tester is then converted to a value expressing the average resistivity of the soil, vertically, between the surface and a depth equal to 75% of the spacing A and horizontally between the potential electrodes. Resistivity = 2*9* Ra ohm-meters ‘The resistivity of the soil for successively greater depths can be found out by increasing the spacing A, Fig. 16 Determination of earth resistivity 6. PRACTICAL GROUNDING SYSTEMS In Fig. 17, atypical grounding system for an instalation is given. ‘The protective conductors should be as close as possible to the power conductors, otherwise its inductance will increase siving rise to high volage drops during a ground fault, EE-ATA Diaibtion Syston 4Underground metallic pipes for heating, gas and water are natural ground electrodes and should be connected to the main ground bus at the entrance of the building, Driven rods are more satisfactory and economical where bedrock is 3 or more meters below the surface, while buried strips or conductors are preferred for lesser depths, It is important that the bare conductor should be in close with the soil that has low specific resistivity. Further, they should be buried at least 1 meter below the surface to prevent from the effects of frozen soil The conductors used may be : = copper— bare cable or multiple strip > 25 mm ~ stainless steell cable or multiple strip > 35 mnt, - galvanized-steel cable > 35 mm Coppers the most expensive material, but, from the point of corrosion, itis the most suitable, Utilization of different materials should not be allowed, since elementary primary cell will be formed in the damp eart electrolyte, However, steel reinforcing bars in concrete have approximately the same galvanic potential with that of copper and can be connected to copper clectrodes without the danger of corrosion and this is strongly recommended. On the other hhand, steel rods in soil will corrode if connected to steel rods in concrete. The electrode or the vertical rising conductor to the grounding bus should not be in contact with the foundation, concrete, This means that all the connections to the ground electrode must be insulated. ‘The approximate resistance of the electrode is given by Qe 2P IL rm (ac) where L is the length of the conductor. If the upper layer of soil dries out in the summer, this can only be countered by deeper penetration into earth, and grounding rods must be employed. ‘These rods are usually copper clad steel, usually 2-3 meters in length. They are provided with screwed ends and sockets to reach considerable depths. It is often necessary to use more than one rod and if they are spaced 3 or more times their length, then the total resistance is approximately equal to the resistance of one rod divided by the number of rods. E-AT4 Dito Systeme 23meleal condevte and pipe sorte pipe ons Insuloled Poors | main protective Candlvetor Ground in ova removable tink for messure ment ground electrodes Fig.17 Typical grounding system E74 Didsuion Systeme7. MEASUREMENT OF RESISTANCE TO EARTH. ‘The reliance on the formulas for the calculation of earth resistance should not be exaggerated as there are too many variables which can change drastically such as the moisture content, temperature, different layers of earth, depth of penetration, etc. The only certain way to determine the resistance to earth is to measure it after it has been installed ( or better still, after the installation of each electrode ). Itis important that specified or lower resistance to be obtained, since all calculations for personnel and egipment safety are based on the specified rounding resistance, The margin of safety will be reduced if the resistance exceeds the specified value Ground resistance can be measured by commercially available, self-contained instruments, which give readings directly in ohms. These instruments are small in size and very easy to use because they require no external power source. They are equipped with either batteries or agenerator. Ifnecessary, however, approximate results can be obtained with a portable AC ammeter and voltmeter where power supply and transformer with nominal 230 V secondary to isolate the ground system under test from the grounding system of the power supply ) is available at the location where meaurements are to be made. However, itis not easy to obtain accurate results with an ammeter and voltmeter at energized stations. Either alternating current of commercial frequency or direct current may be used, However, stray AC or DC currents ( galvanic or leakage currents from power and communication networks, etc.) may give rise to false readings. The effects may be minimized by taking a reading in one direction, then reversing the polarity and taking a reading with the current flowing in the other direction. An average of these two readings will be an accurate value. In order to avoid errors due to stray earth currents the test current should be AC, but at a different frequency to that of the power system or any of its harmonics. Instruments using hand driven generators to make these measurements usually produce an AC voltage at a frequency between 85 Fz and 135 Hz 7.1 THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS x —— Fig. 18 Measurement of ground resistance The points to watch out in the measurement of the earthing, resistance can be be seen by studying the circuit arrangement shown in Fig. 18 which involves two hemispherical electrodes. By applying Eq. 5 to both systems around the hemispheres of radii_a and b, superposition gives the voltage between the two electrodes. Thus their total resistance is, Q.v. £ Tr BE474 Dsibution Systems 27Three important observations are deduced readily from the above equation |. Any measurement made will involve the sum of the resistances Ra and Rb proper of the two electrodes. 2. If the separation distance x is not sufficiently large, the value of the overall resistance R. is smaller than the sum of the resistantces Ra and Rb of the two electrodes. 3. The smaller the expected grounding resistance, the greater must be the separation distance x between the electrodes to give the same percentage error in reading ‘The different methods of measurement all make use of two, rather than one, auxillary ‘electrodes in addition to the one under test and are discussed below. 7.2 MEASUREMENT METHODS In the first method, the resistance to earth of the electrode under test and the two auxillary electrodes is measured two at a time, in series. Applying a voltage between Rtest and Ra, and measuring the resulting current Reese Ra = “/z, and similarly, between Riest and Rb Reet hye “a/r And, finally, between Ra and Rb hates = If, Vie Vis Vee Vale, and subtracting the final equation from the sum of the first two, yields meee be yO) Fig. 19 Arrangement of Rtest , Ra, and Rb For accurate results, the auxillary ground rods and the electrode under test should be of the same order of magnitude, and the results may be meaningless ( such as zero or even negative resistances ) if the two test electrodes have more than 10 times the resistance of the electrode under test. ‘This method is suitable for measuring the resistance of tower footings, isolated [E474 Dssbtion Sytem 28‘ground rods or small grounding installations, It is not suitable for measurement of low resistance grounds such as the grounding grid at large substations. The distance between the electrodes (x > 10 meters ) is not critical because of big resistance values involved and may be in different directions from the electrode being tested, according to site convenience. A number of tests at different spacings and directions are generally made for cross-checking the test results The second method referred as the fall of the potential method, has an area of application of similar to the one discussed above. It involves the passing of current of known magnitude through the electrode (or grounding network ) under test and an auxillary current electrode and measuring the influence of this current in terms of voltage between the electrode under test and a second auxillary potential electrode.as shown in Fig, 20.a. Depending upon the distance and the soil conditions between the electrodes, the potential gradients in the soil will be as shown in the Fig. 20.b and c. Resistance measurements are made along the x axis, and a curve of resistance as a function of xis drawn. The point where the curve flattens off is the resistance of the ground under test. If there is no levelling off the curve, the current electrode should be moved further away and new measurements should be taken. 3) Bones of snfvence Overlapping test potertial Current electra electrowe electrode. {2) §) wide spocing Fig. 20 Fall of potential method ‘The third method is suitable for measuring very small earthing resistances such as those found in large substations, indusrial plants, and the generating substations where the grounding network is usually less than 1 ohm. Itis similar to the second method described above except that the potential and current electrodes are in the opposite ends of the electrode (or grounding network ) under test as BE.AT4 Dissibtion Syston 29shown in Fig. 21. For a large grounding network under test, both current and potential electrodes should be placed as far from the grounding network under test as practical (depending on the geography of the surroundings ), so that they are outside the influence of | the ground to be tested and each should represent a resistance less than 500 ohms. In order to obtain the required accuracy, a distance of 250 - 350 meters or more from the grounding network is recommended for grounding mats with dimensions of the order of 100 x 100 meters, After checking the resistance of the aunxillary electrodes, the potential electrode, should be driven at anumber of points. Resistance readings are then plotted for each point as a function of distance from the grounding network, and a curve is drawn similar to the method described above, . The value in ohms at which the plotted curve appears to level off is taken as the resistance of the grounding network under test. When it is found that the curve is not leveling off, the current electrode should be removed further from the grounding electrode under test. _ current electrode petestral electrode. Fig. 21 Resistance measurement of large grounding networks After the first test is completed, connections at the instrument is reversed to take another reading. The difference in the readings should be less than 15%, otherwise auxillary electrodes should be moved away from the ground network under test. In a TT — grounded system , a simplified measurement of the ground electrode resistance is possible using an ohm-meter. It consists in measuring the impedance between the earth electrode and the neutral conductor. Tt equals the sum of the consumer ground electrode resistance and the low voltage distribution system ground electrode resistance ( Fig. 8). The measured value is always pessimistic but the distribution system ground electrode resistance is generally less than 5 ohms because of the earthing at many points, This method is used in those cases where it is necessary to know only that a given electrode’s grounding resistance to earth is below a stipulated value, say 25 ohms or less. In case of doubt, the general methods are used EEATA Ditton Systeme 30DISTRIBUTION TRANSFORMERS GENERAL, 2. TYPES OF TRANSFORMERS 3. PERFORMANCE 3.1 LOADING 3.2 LOSSES IN TRANSFORMERS 3.3 DETERMINATION OF THE OPTIMAL TRANSFORMER SIZE 4. HANDLING OF TRANSFORMER LOSSES: 4.1 COOLING OF TRANSFORMERS 4.2 COOLING OF TRANSFORMER CHAMBERS TAPS AND CONNECTIONS PARALLEL OPERATION OF TRANSFORMERS PROTECTION OF DISTRIBUTION TRANSFORMERS MAINTENANCE EE = 474 Diibtion StemsDISTRIBUTION TRANSFORMERS 1. GENERAL Power distribution in Turkey, before the final consumer voltage, is at voltages between 63 and 34.5 kV. The lower medium voltage ( M.V. ) levels, i.c., 6.3, 10.5, and 15 kV, are being rapidly replaced by the 34.5 kV level on economic grounds. The distribution transformer is the link between M.V. and the final consumer voltage of 380 / 220 volts. ‘The rated power of a transformer is the continous complex power in kVA which can be delivered under normal operating conditons without exceeding the specified temperature limits and normal loss of life. This is the input power which is equal to the output power and the losses. The other design parameters and the construction of the transformer is based on this value, The distridution transformers cover ratings from 25 kVA to 3200 KVA (R10 series), They may be suitable for ground mounting or pole top mounting in rural electrification schemes. ‘The rating of pole-mounted designs is limited by weight considerations, and units up to 400 kVA are utilized. ‘The impedance volage Uk is defined as the voltage at the rated frequency when applied to the primary side would result in the rated current through the short-circuited secondary terminals. ‘The rated impedance voltage is usually expressed as a percentage of the voltage rating V of the winding to which the voltage is applied. It should be noted that this is also the percent series impedance of the transformer. Too small a value of the impedance voltage would give rise to high short-circuit currents, while a large value would although limit short-circuit currents, voltage regulation can be a problem. For distribution transformers, this value is around 4% upto and including 630 kVA, and 6% for higher ratings (Table 1) Rated secondary voltage is the open circuit value. The source side impedance at the MV. level is usually negligible and the single phase Thevenin’ s equivalent circuit, referred to the secondary side, is a voltage source, the magnitude of which is the line to neutral rated value, in series with Uk in ohms. All of the transformers used in ribution systems are of two winding design, three winding and auto-transformers are limited to transmission systems. Rated insulation levels are given by over-voltage withstand test values at power frequncy, and by high-voltage impulse tests which simulate the lightning discharges. At the voltage levels which make-up the distribution systems ( <36 kV ), overvoltages caused by switching surges are generally less severe than those due to lightning, so that no tests for switching-surge withstand capability are made. These are given in Table 2. BE 474 Dieibton Syms 2As can be seen from Table 2, two levels of impulse witstand voltage are defined as Lists J and 2. List 1 values are mostly for systems using underground cable and are low when compared to List 2 as there is no exposure to lightning strokes, List 2 is used for overhead distribution systems as well as when extra reliability is required. In Turkey, only List 2 values are used for insulation regardless of distribution system make-up Table 1. Typical distrib mn system transformer characteristics Losses Cos | Rating | No-Load | Load (75"C) | % Uk |“Efficiency Voltage Drop L (kVA) | __ (wy) wy), _ ), (6) | 50 230 1050 45 97.47 226 100 380 2100 45 97.65 2.06 125, 420 2400 45 98.79 2.00 160 4802800 45 98.99 1.83 250 700 3500 45 98.13 1.70 400 900 5850 45 98.34 1.55 500 1250, 6750 45 98.42 1.44 6301350 8000 45 98.53 1.39 3001820, 9700 60 98.61 4.38 4000 1600 12200 60 98.63 1.36 1250 1950 14000 60 © 98.74 1.29 1600 2350 16500 60 98.8 1.20 2000 3000 21000 60 © 99.85 1.20 2500 3800 24000 60 99.85, att ‘Table 2. Rated insulation levels of distribution transformers vtaxmum vage | Reted toting mpuse | Rates power forapparatus ms) | witstandvotage (e88) | anand yohage Ust4 List 2 (rms) KV kV KV 7 KV 36 20 40 10 72 40 60 20 2 60 75 28 178 75 95 38 4 95 125 50 36 145 170 70 EB 474 Dsitution SystemsIn those cases in which dual medium voltage levels are utilized (¢.g., 34.5 - 6.3 kV), the power transformers between these voltage levels are also taken to be part of the distribution system. On the other hand, transformers between the transmission and distribution systems (e.g., 154 ~ 34.5 kV) are considered to be part of the transmission system. Therefore, any distribution authority will buy power (and energy) from the low voltage terminals of this tranformer and supply each one of the individual consumers’ requirements using the distribution system. 2. TYPES OF TRANSFORMERS There are two basic types of distribution transformer. In the first one (conventional ) the core and the windings are enclosed in an oil filled tank which provides insulation and cooling while in the second one ( dry type ) the core and the windings are cladded with a moisture-resistant epoxy resin and directly cooled by air. Copper is the usual material for windings in Turkey, although aliminum is equally good and preferred in the old Soviet Block. ‘The low voltage winding is nearest the core, and the primary ( high voltage ) winding is wound around the low voltage winding, The oil used in the conventional transformers is a flammable liquid. Although most of the faults in the transformer windings result in a discharge of oil, it is possible for it to be ignited if] strong are occurs during the fault. For this reason, oil-immersed distribution transformers are usually situated outside the buildings within a fence enclosure or a separate building of its own The oil expands and contracts with the load. The expanding oil goes into the cylindirical expansion vessel (conservator ) which lets out some air into the atmosphere and thus keeps the pressure constant. During reduced load conditions, the air is drawn back into the conservator through an oil bath and then through dehydrating crystals known as silica-gel, to remove the moisture. The silica-gel crystals should be replaced when two thirds of the silica-gel crystals have changed color from blue to pink Itis obvious that if the movement of air to and from the transformer is prevented, then the oil contamination created as a result, would stop. In this case the tank should be designed to withstand the pressures developed by the oil with the changing load. This is possible if corrugated steel panels are used for making-up the tank. The tank is completely filled with oil and expansion of the oil is accomadated by flexing the tank walls, It has no contact with the atmosphere, ie., hermetically sealed. This method of constructing the tank reduces maintenace problems, Installation is easier because the high and low voltage terminals are not obstructed by the conservator. When oil filled transformers are situated within an occupied area, itis usual to provide some type of safety precautions in the form of fire walls, oil-soaking pits or automatic fire extinguishing equipment, The additional cost of the civil engineering work should be considered and may lead to uneconomic situations. In these instances, a dry-type EE 474 Disitution Systeme 4transformer or a transformer filled with a high fire point (not used in Turkey ) should be selected. Dry-type transformers are designated as fire-resistant but this does not mean it will not burn. It refers to a temperature at which the material continues to burn when subject to a flame on the surface. The fire should extinguish when the source of heat is removed. ‘The epoxy resin encapsulated transformer is more expensive ( some 80 % more ) than an oil filled transformer and usage should be limited to indoor installations. It needs to be housed within a water-proof building and sited within an enclosure to prevent physical contact with the live parts. ‘An advantage of the dry type transformer is that it can be taken to the erection site dismantled, ie., limbs separate. This is invaluable with the high rise buildings where the distribution transformers are placed other than the groung floor. It is not necessary to take out the complete transformer for repair works, windings can be replaced on site. 3. PERFORMANCE 3.1 LOADING ‘Transformers used in the public distribution systems are not normally expected to be loaded upto its full capacity but left at some point between 80 to 90 % of its rating depending upon how closely it is monitored. The remaining capacity is there as a margin for the unexpected load increases which cannot be controlled Itis possible to overload the transformer keeping in mind the thermal behaviour. At the rated output, the temperature increase inside the transformer should stay just below the point above which the insulation will deteriorate faster than normal. If, initially the transformer is loaded below the rated output, the internal temperature will be quite low. The temperature can be brought to maximum allowable limit by increasing the load. With the rated load, the time taken will be theoretically infinite, The higher the loading, the shorter in time it will take reach the critical temperature. The behaviour is similar to a thermal relay charateristics Once the allowable time has elapsed, the loading should be reduced to the rated value or below. The overloading characteristics is best obtained from the transformer manufacturer or can be calculated as given in by the approriate standards. If overloading cyclically is anticipated at the time of installation, consideration must be given to the extra demand put on the switchgear and cables. ‘The settings of the protective relays should be adjusted to account for cyclic loading, and this will reduce the protection against continous overloads. E474 Dinuibation Systoms 5Table 3. Overloading capability of an oil immersed transformer Overloading factor; Overloading duration for an Overloading duration for a overload /rated load initially unloaded transformer 50 % loaded transformer 1.00 2 o 1.10 3 hours 55 minutes 2 hours 52 minutes 1.20 2 hours 25 minutes Lhour 34 minutes 130 Lhour 37 minutes 55 minutes 1.40 Thour 7 minutes 32 minutes 150 48 minutes 16 minutes 3.2. LOSSES IN TRANSFORMERS The transformers total losses Pt are made up of two components, the no load losses (iron) Po and the load (copper) losses Pc, at the rated load (Table 1). The no load losses are composed of the hysterisis losses and eddy-current losses inthe iron, and leakage losses in the dielectric. These losses are not affected by the load. The load losses comprise the resistance losses in the windings and the eddy currents inside and outside the windings, vary as the square of the load Pi= Po + 2 Pc Si/Sr loading of the transformer under consideration Sr = rated transformer power where Losses comprise the major running cost of a transformer. They have to be paid for, yet result in heat which is normally dissipated to the atmosphere. Transformer losses also make-up an important part of the over-all losses occuring in distribution systems, between 1.0 to 2.5 % of the total load served. The effects of the iron and copper losses is best appreciated through an example The transformer chosen has a rating Of 1,000 kVA with the iron losses being 1.6 kW and the copper losses, 12.2 KW at full load. If the transformer is in service continously throughout the year ( normal case ), the annual no-load losses are 365*24*1,6 = 14,016 kW-hr For the load losses, the load-duration curve is required. A normalized piece-wise linear approximation to a typical annual load duration curve for a residential area transformer is given in Fig. 1. In this curve, itis assumed that the transformer is loaded to its peak EE 474 Diition Systems 6Se Load 100% 80%. 40% 20% 3) 365 1095) 3285 8760 ig. | Linearized load duration curve for the calculation of losses value for | hour a day, 80% fortwo hours, 40.% for 6 hours and finally 20 % in the remaining 15 hours, The load losses for this case is 365*12.2* (1*1.07 +2*(0.8)? +6*(04)? +15*(02) ) = 17,099 kW-hr It can be seen that the load and the load losses come out to be similar. If the distribution transformer is planned to be operated at 80 % of its rated output during the peak hours, the no-load losses remain the same, but the load losses reduce to 365*12.2* (1* (0,8)? + 2*(0.64)? + 6* (0.32)? + 15* (0.16)? ) = 10,943.7 kW-hr which is 22 % less than the no-load losses. Ina developing system, the initial load is small when compared to the rated and therefore the no load losses dominate. In order to reduce the effect of the load losses, itis necessary to discourage the consumers using electrical power during the peak hours (multiple tariff structure system ) and shift the demand towards off-peak hours. Although the load losses would increase, its percentage with respect to total energy served will be reduced ‘The most effective way of reducing the no load-losses is to replace the conventional grain oriented magnetic steel core material with an amorphous magnetic steel core material, This technology reduces the core losses by 60-70 %, but has not found wide acceptance yet because of its cost. [HE —474 Distribution Sytem 7