The University of New South Wales
School of Electrical Engineering
and Telecommunications
Industrial and Commercial Power Systems
Topic 5
FAULT
CALCULATIONS
short-circuit faults in supply system.
very
high fault current causing equipment
damage, fire, injury, etc.
require protection systems
to detect fault currents and
to take remedial action.
need to establish methods of calculating fault
current in any particular location of the electrical
installation.
Difficulties:
many types of fault in three phase systems
must know impedances of all system components
fault impedance itself may be non-zero, value =?
difficult to estimate accurately earth impedance
fault current contribution from machines etc.
DC offset in initial cycles of fault current
DC system faults also include inductance effects
Possible fault types:
three phase (symmetrical) faults
three phase to earth fault
single phase to earth fault
phase to phase fault
phase to phase to earth fault
We consider only symmetrical 3-phase faults.
Often, this type gives maximum fault current level at
any location and represents worst case situations.
Prospective s/c current and fault level (power):
important parameter that designer of an electrical
installation needs to know.
Can be obtained from electricity distributor
prospective short-circuit current = current which
would flow as a result of a bolted 3-phase fault.
"Bolted" refers to the phases being connected via
a zero impedance connection.
Inreality this is not physically possible, since
there will always be a resistive component with a
fault occurs.
Typical value at point of supply for 230/400V NSW
distribution systems
Suburban residential areas: 10 kA
Commercial and industrial areas: 25 kA
Knowing fault level:
impedance of upstream circuit and devices (e.g.
transformers, conductors) can be derived.
The prospective fault current varies at different points
in the supply
1
PER UNIT SYSTEM
normalize electrical quantities
express voltage, current, kVA and impedance as
percentages (per unit values) of their base values
simplify calculations substantially.
transformer treated as a simple impedance (no
need for ratio).
Per unit values:
need to specify two base values, and the other
two base values can be derived.
usually, specify VB and SB
and thus:
normally, VB is taken as rated system voltage.
SB is arbitrarily specified (say 10 or 1 MVA), or
use rating of a major system component, e.g.
supply transformer.
Three-phase systems
calculationsdone on a single-phase basis using
per unit phase impedances in the one-line
diagram.
VB is line voltage and SB is three-phase kVA
and note:
Example:
Example:
2
EFFECTS AND REQUIREMENTS
Knowing fault levels enables determination of:
over-current protection requirements
peak electromagnetic forces
thermal heating effects
maximum fault current (and minimum fault
current)
timediscrimination requirements of protection
operation
touch voltage on earthed object (personnel safety)
Sources of fault currents:
electrical utility supply grid system
any in-house generation systems operating at
time of the fault
any motors operating within the system at time of
the fault
anyelectrical storage elements in the system (e.g
capacitors)
Fault impedance variation:
for
the utility supply, source impedance is
constant (a stiff source)
for in-house generators or motors, impedance
is time-varying, depending on the time after the
short circuit:
sub-transient reactance (Xd”) (First cycle)
transient reactance (Xd’) (1.5 to 4 cycles)
synchronous reactance (Xs) (30 cycles)
Synchronous motors sustain fault current longer
than induction motors
DC offset:
offsetcan increase initial current levels
substantially
magnitude of DC offset level governed primarily
by X/R ratio of faulted circuit
alsodependent on angle on voltage waveform at
which fault occurs
The physics behind is not easy!
The system X/R determines how rapidly the DC
decays.
Faultsthat occur at a current zero crossing don't
produce a DC offset
Those that occur at a current max or min produce
the largest DC offset that circuit will produce.
The actual DC offset will range between those
values and will be different in each phase.
3
FAULT CALCULATION METHODS
Assumptions:
Procedure:
convert all impedances to per unit values
draw single line diagram of fault circuit,
all
possible sources are modeled as ideal voltage
source with their source impedance
simplify circuit and reduce it to
4
FAULTS IN DC SYSTEMS
Sources:DC generators, synchronous converters,
DC motors, rectifiers, battery banks, UPS
only resistance elements determine steady-state
fault current.
L/R time constants usually long enough that
steady state fault current will not be reached
before protection operates.
arc interruption is much more difficult for DC than
for AC
5
FAULT CALCULATION DATA
AND EXAMPLE
Example:
Required to find fault
current at location A.
Use 20 MVA base.
Example (Students try in groups)
An 11kV, 10MVA, 50Hz, three-phase generator of 0.08 per unit
reactance and negligible resistance, is connected to an 11/33kV,
12MVA transformer of 0.02+j0.05 per unit impedance. A line
having a series impedance of 2+j4 ohms/phase is connected to the
33kV side of the transformer.
A symmetrical fault of zero impedance develops at the far end of the
line. Calculate the fault current. How much energy would be
dissipated in the system if the current remained at this value for 8
cycles?
Solution
11 kV 11/33 kV (2+j4) Ω
10 MVA 12 MVA
X = 8% Z=0.02+j0.05 pu
Choose S base
= 10 MVA, Thus :
2
V S
For V = 11kV : Z = base
= 12.1Ω ; I = base
= 525 A
3 ×V
base base base
S base base
2
V S
For V = 33kV : Z = base
= 108.9Ω ; I = base
= 175 A
3 ×V
base base base
S base base
Thank you
