Evaluate Protection Distances of Low-Voltage

SPD
I.Introduction
If surge protection devices (SPDs) are installed without consideration of the concept
of lightning protection zones, the equipment to be protected might be damaged
despite the correct energy coordination of SPDs. This damage is induced by the
reflection phenomena on the cable connecting an external SPD and the load
protected. These reflection phenomena depend on the characteristics of the output of
the external SPD, the input of the loads, and the cables between the load and the
external SPD. Therefore, the SPD has an effective protection distance under the
condition of the specific load and the specific voltage protection level of SPD. In this
paper, the equipment with different load characteristics and SPDs with different
voltage protection levels are analyzed combinatorially under the operation of the
surge combination wave. The influence of voltage protection level on the effective
protection distance is discussed. Moreover, the effective protection distance of the
SPD with the same parameter in a different voltage protection level is also analyzed
in detail. The analyzed results show that the effective protection distance would be
very long if the impedance of equipment is close to or smaller than the characteristic
impedance of the connecting cable.
II. Evaluation
Installation of surge protection devices (SPDs) for low-voltage power supply is
important to ensure the survival of electric or electronic devices and systems. If SPDs
are installed without considering the lightning protection zones concept, the
equipment to be protected will be damaged despite of the correct energy coordination
of SPDs. The reason is that there are reflection phenomena on the cable between an
external SPD and the load protected. These reflection phenomena depend on the
characteristics of the output of the external SPD, the input of the load and the cable
between the load and the external SPD. Effective protection distance means the
maximum distance between a SPD and an equipment protected, at which the SPD can
suppress the overvoltage on SPD and load lower than the required safe value. If the
distance between the SPD and the protected equipment exceeds this effective
protection distance, the equipment can not be protected well. In that paper, only the
equipment of the overvoltage category I was considered and the parameters of the
SPD is just matched this voltage level according to IEC60664-1 is the most rigorous
requirement for the protection effect of the SPD
But from the point view of the SPDs, their characteristics are mainly determined by
the maximum continuous operating voltage and the voltage protection level . For the
normal 220 V/380 V low-voltage system, there are three types of systems: TN
system, TT system and IT system. The overvoltage of these systems is different from
each other. The maximum continuous operating voltage of the SPDs should be higher
than the maximum continuous operating voltage that may occur in the system. In
some TT systems, will be at least 1.5 (where is the rated phase voltage of the system).
In TN system and other TT system, will be at least 1.1 . In the IT systems, will be at
least as high as the line-to-line voltage (1.732 ). On the other hand, the voltage
protection level of SPD characterizes the performance of the SPD in limiting the
voltage across its terminals, which also reflects the overvoltage withstanding capacity
of SPD to the equipment protected. Therefore, the selection of SPDs must consider
their environmental conditions and the acceptable failure rate of the equipment and
the SPD. Different voltage protection level determines the protective effect of the
SPD. The effective protection distance of the SPD under different voltage protection
level might be different from each other and must be analyzed in detail.
The selection of SPD has been described in detail in IEC61643-11-2002 [3] and
IEC61643-12-2002 [4]. IEC61643-11-2002 has recommended the preferred values of
voltage protection level and the preferred values of r.m.s. or d.c. maximum
continuous operating voltage . The manufacturer would produce the surge protective
devices following this standard. For the 220/380 V low-voltage devices, the voltage
protection level and the corresponding are categorized into four levels as listed in
Table I, according to the values recommended in the Annex B in IEC61643-12-2002.
Therefore, the effective protection distance of the SPD maybe change with the loads
and the voltage protection level of SPDs. Practically, the coordinated SPD protection
is used to provide more efficient protection. The efficiency of a coordinated SPD
protection depends not only on the proper selection of the SPDs, but also on their
correct installation. Aspects to be considered include: location of the SPDs,
connecting conductors, the protection distance due to oscillation phenomena, and the
protection distance due to induction phenomena.
When a SPD is installed, two criterions will be considered:
+ The closer a SPD is to the entrance point of the incoming line, the greater the
amount of equipments within the structure which is protected by this SPD, this
means economical advantage.
+ The closer a SPD is to the equipment being protected, the more effective its
protection, this means technical advantage.
The model of single-phase low-voltage distribution system in this paper is similar to
the model in paper [1], as shown in Fig. 1. This model is a simple presentation of the
distribution line of a building. In this model, only the phase line and neutral line is
included. The combination wave of current and voltage is used to simulate the
lightning surge.
The maximum voltage across the load is analyzed under different protection
distances and different loads. The length of the cable connecting the SPD with the
load is varied until the maximum voltage across the loads is higher than the specific
voltage protection level. Therefore this length is the effective protective distance of
the SPD under the specific voltage protection level. It should be noticed that the
effective protection distance is related

III. Effective protection distance

1. Resistive Loads
If the equipment can be handled as a resistive load, nine different resistive loads were
analyzed, which include 10 ohm , 50 ohm , 80 ohm , 100 ohm , 110 ohm , 150 ohm ,
200 ohm , 250 ohm and 300 ohm . The maximum overvoltage amplitude over the
load changes with the distance between the SPD and the load as shown in Figs. 2–5.
According to the voltage protection level of SPDs, we can obtain the effective p
protection distances under different voltage protection levels.
It is shown that, when the resistive load is smaller than the characteristic impedance
of the connecting cable, the SPD can protect the equipment very well and the
effective protection distance is unlimited. If the resistive load is greater than 150 ohm
, the effective protection distance decreases rapidly. Generally, the effective
protection distance is shorter than 10 m.
The effective protection distances obtained are summarized in Table II. Although the
voltage protection level of the SPD or the overvoltage withstanding capacity of the
equipment, are different from each category, the corresponding effective protection
distance of the SPD is the same approximately when the resistive load is higher than
200 ohm . When the resistive load is in the range from 82.4 ohm (the characteristic
impedance of the cable) to 200 ohm , the effective protection distances change
largely with different overvoltage category
2. Capacitive Loads
If the equipment can be treated as a capacitive load, the voltage across the load has a
strong oscillation and the oscillating frequency is rather higher than power frequency.
For different voltage protection levels of SPDs, the analyzed result shows that the
transient voltage cross the load does not satisfy the voltage protection level unless the
connecting cable is shorter than 3 m. This means the effective protection distance of
SPD is shorter than 3 m when the equipment can be treated as a capacitive load. In
addition, the high frequency oscillation can bring strong damage for the protected
equipment. Therefore the SPDs must be installed near the protected equipment for
capacitive loads.

3. Inductive Loads
If the equipment can be treated as an inductive load, six inductive loads are analyzed,
which include 1 H, 5 H, 10 H, 20 H, 50 H and 100 H. The
cable length is 1 m, 10 m, 100 m and 200 m. Additional cable lengths are added to
find the critical cable length. The maximum overvoltage amplitudes over the loads
change with the distance between the SPD and the load as shown in Figs. 6–9,
according to the voltage protection level of SPDs.
IV. CONCLUSION
According to the overvoltage category of the low-voltage system, different type of
system has different overvoltage level. This leads to the selection of different voltage
protection level of SPDs. The effective protection distance of SPD under different
voltage protection levels was analyzed in detail, and the equipments were simulated
by loads with different impedance characteristics. If the equipment can be treated as a
resistive load, when the load is not greater than the characteristic impedance of the
connecting cable, the SPD can effectively protect all resistive equipment and the
effective protection distance is unlimited. If the resistance of the load is greater than
the characteristic impedance of the connecting cable, the effective protection distance
is shorter than 7 m in general. However, if the impedance of the resistive load is close
to the characteristic impedance of the cable, the effective protection distance for
different overvoltage protection level of SPDs changes largely. If the equipment can
be treated as a capacitive load, the voltage across the load has a strong oscillation and
the oscillating frequency is very high relative to power frequency. The effective
protection distance of the SPD is smaller than 3 m. For a capacitive load, the SPD
should be installed near the protected equipment. If the equipment can be treated as
an inductive load, when the inductive load is relatively small, the SPD can protect the
equipment effectively and the effective protection distance is unlimited. If the
inductive load is greater than 50 μH or 100 μH, the effective protection distance is
shorter than 10 m or longer than 50 m.
When the maximum continuous operating voltage of the SPD is determined, the
higher the voltage protection level of the SPD is, the longer its effective protection
distance is. The highvoltage protection level of the SPD requires the equipment with
the high overvoltage withstand capacity. Therefore, the SPD should be selected to
satisfy not only the technical requirements but also the economical requirements. In
the practical engineering, the characteristic impedance of the equipment has a
reasonable range although that impedance can not be designed exactly. Therefore the
SPD will have an effective protection distance in this range of the load impedance
with a certain type of the distribution line. On the other hand, the multi-branch will
also influence the protection distance of the SPD. All these considerations will
influence the installation of the SPD. The extended research will use a model of TN
(C, S) or TT system to present the practical distribution system and resolve these
challenges.