IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 55, NO.

5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 4507

A Simple Approach to Conductor Sizing and

Prolonging the Thermal Life of Electrical
Cables Below 1000 V for Industrial and
Commercial Applications
Brandon R. Meier , Student Member, IEEE, and Badrul Chowdhury, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract—Electrical conductors are, arguably, the most impor- selection of conductors becomes a fine balancing act of meeting
tant component of industrial and commercial electrical distribution the minimum code requirements for minimum ampacity and the
systems as electrical conductors, or just conductors, facilitate the economics of choosing aluminum versus copper. This can lead
interconnections between a source (e.g., generator, renewable en-
ergy source, utility, electrical distribution panel, etc.) and load (e.g., to conditions where conductors are not adequately sized for the
wall outlet, control panel, motor, etc.). However, for typical elec- conditions they are exposed to, which can result in premature
trical system installations, electrical conductors are rarely given failure of cable insulation.
the attention deserved. In general, the selection of the conductors In 1957, Neher and McGrath published “The Calculation of
becomes a fine balancing act of meeting the minimum National
the Temperature Rise and Load Capability of Cable Systems”
Electric Code (NFPA 70) requirements for minimum ampacity
and the economics of choosing aluminum versus copper. This can [1]. The Neher–McGrath method of determining cable ampacity
lead to conditions where conductors are not adequately sized for has become the cornerstone of our modern ampacity tables
the conditions they are exposed to, which can result in premature published in the National Electric Code (NEC) [2] and IEEE
failure of cable insulation. This paper presents a simple approach 835 [3] and is widely used in the computer-based models of
to proper conductor selection, with an emphasis on maximizing the
cable ampacity studies.
thermal life of cable insulation.
Generally, an electrical cable operating in an industrial or
Index Terms—Cable ampacity, industrial power systems, power commercial power system has an installed lifetime of 20–30
cable installation, power cable insulation, power system cables, years, although the cable life of 40 years is not unexpected. In
power system distribution, power system protection.
terms of insulation life, or thermal life, the insulation of a cable
is about halved, and the average rate of thermally caused service
I. INTRODUCTION
failures is about doubled, for each 5–15 °C increase in the normal
A. Background and Motivation daily load temperature [4].
LECTRICAL conductors are, arguably, the most impor- Problems arise in instances where conductors are undersized
E tant component of industrial and commercial electrical
distribution systems as electrical conductors, or just conduc-
or exterior effects are not considered. The typical methodology
of conductor sizing is to add margin to the circuit loading.
tors, facilitate the interconnections between a source and load. The added margin accounts for the momentary overloads and
However, for typical electrical system installations, electrical load inrush that may occur on the circuit. One approach that is
conductors are rarely given the attention deserved. In general, the commonly employed is to match the cable ampacity of the circuit
to the continuous rating of the overcurrent devices. Because
the overcurrent devices are sized with margin considerations of
Manuscript received February 17, 2018; revised August 17, 2018; accepted their own, mainly to prevent nuisance tripping, it is thought that
September 19, 2018. Date of publication July 11, 2019; date of current version matching cable size to the overcurrent device rating is an easy
August 14, 2019. Paper 2018-PSEC-0163.R1, presented at the 2018 IEEE/IAS
54th Industrial and Commercial Power Systems Technical Conference (I&CPS), approach for selecting the cable sizes. As will be presented later,
Niagara Falls, ON Canada, May 7–10, and approved for publication in the IEEE this approach can lead to applications that do not adequately
TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS by the Power Systems Engineering consider environment effects, proximity to other conductors, or
Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society. This work was supported
by the Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC) of the University of short-circuit capability. Thus, the temperature rating of the in-
North Carolina at Charlotte. (Corresponding author: Brandon R. Meier.) sulation could be exceeded and lead to premature cable failures.
B. R. Meier is with Honeywell Industrial Safety, Charlotte, NC 28269 USA Due to the complexity and multitude of installation config-
(e-mail: [email protected]).
B. Chowdhury is with Energy Production and Infrastructure Center, Uni- urations, only the most basic, and widely implemented, instal-
versity of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223 USA (e-mail: lation will be considered; which is a single cable or multiple
[email protected]). cables, routed in conduit or wiring trough, in free air. Cable
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. installations in underground duct banks, in cable trays, and for
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIA.2019.2928238 medium-voltage applications (above 1000 V) are outside the

0093-9994 © 2019 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.

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4508 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 55, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

scope considered here. Although, the same procedural steps TABLE I

CIRCUIT LOADING MULTIPLICATION FACTORS
can be followed for more complex installations, there are ad-
ditional considerations that must supplement the final cable size
selection.

B. Single Stress Versus Multistress

Quantifying the thermal life of an electrical cable, or the life
of the cable’s insulation, is challenging. Stresses that contribute
to the insulation life include electrical, thermal, mechanical, or
environmental [5]. Aging factors are highly dynamic and depend
on the operating conditions of cables. Except in very specific
applications, a simplified single-stress model is acceptable to
reasonably estimate the cable life within the scope of this paper.
Insulation resistance testing cycles should occur between one
to three years, depending on the operating and environmental
conditions [6]. Because of this, additional stresses that contribute
to aging factors of cables will show up during the insulation
resistance testing.

C. Paper Organization
This paper analyzes each component of selecting the proper
conductor size based on the circuit loading, ambient tempera-
ture conditions, proximity to energized conductors, short-circuit
current capability, and voltage drop. Then, an evaluation of
the thermal life of cable insulation is performed. A simple
example is completed to illustrate the cable sizing process and
the evaluation of insulation thermal life.
Fig. 1. Mamb versus Ta .
II. CONSIDERATIONS OF CONDUCTOR SIZING
A. Circuit Loading
The first step in properly selecting a conductor is to determine ambient air temperatures, cables can be uprated. The following
the load(ing) on the circuit. Understanding of a circuit loading equation is used to determine the corrected ampacity for ambient
can be a daunting task, particularly, for large industrial or com- air temperature [2]:
mercial facilities. 
 Tc − T  a
With an understanding of the load, the base ampacity, Ibase , is I =I× (1)
calculated to set the minimum current carrying capability of the Tc − Ta
conductor. It is typical to apply multiplication factors to account where
for margin in the actual operation of a load such as potential I the corrected ampacity (in amperes);
overload and inrush. I ampacity for a given Tc or Ta (in amperes);
Typical multiplication factors are provided in Table I to de- Tc conductor temperature for which I is calculated (in °C,
termine Ibase , which is based on the load characteristics and typically 60, 75, or 90);
generally align with the industrial standard recommendations for Ta ambient temperature for which I is calculated (in °C);
the minimum conductor sizing, where I is the rated continuous Ta new ambient temperature (in °C).
current that may be available from the nameplate information
of motors, transformers, heaters, and chargers, etc., where a
continuous load is considered to operate for three or more The second term of (1) is the factor applied for derating (or
hours [2]. uprating) the ampacity of a particular cable. This is referred
to as MAMB . It is important to have an understanding of the
environment in which the cable is being installed. When cables
B. Ambient Air Temperature (MAMB ) are routed on exposed on roofs or in very warm climates, such
The dc resistance of a conductor changes as a result of the as the south west U.S., there is a greater possibility of having
ambient temperature in which the conductor is installed. With undersized cables due to higher ambient temperatures. Fig. 1
a change in dc resistance, there is a change in the ampacity illustrates how Mamb changes for varying ambient temperature
of the conductor too. To account the reduced heat transfer at conditions of 60 °C, 75 °C, and 90 °C insulation, reference Ta
higher temperatures, cables must be derated. Likewise, for lower of 30 °C [2].

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MEIER AND CHOWDHURY: SIMPLE APPROACH TO CONDUCTOR SIZING AND PROLONGING THE THERMAL LIFE OF ELECTRICAL CABLES 4509

TABLE II TABLE III

PROXIMITY EFFECT MULTIPLICATION FACTORS FAULT CURRENT CAPABILITY OF SMALL CONDUCTORS

The short-circuit capability of conductors is assessed using

the following equation [10]:
⎡   ⎤1/2
C. Proximity Effect (MPE ) 0.0297 log TT21 +234
+234

I = A⎣ ⎦ (3)
When multiple current carrying conductors are routed within t
the same raceway (i.e., conduit or wiring gutter), there will
or in terms of the cross-sectional area for a known fault current
be additional heating effects. Furthermore, the magnetic fields
in one set of the current carrying conductors will induce a I
A=  
1/2 (4)
T2 +234
magnetic field in the nearby current carrying conductors. With 0.0297 log T1 +234
the presence of multiple current carrying conductors, within t
a single raceway, derating factors must be applied to account
for an increase in resistance due to the added heat. Conductor where
impedance depends on many factors involving the conductor I short-circuit current in amperes;
itself, conductor spacing, harmonics, frequency, etc.; therefore, A conductor area in circular mils;
quantifying the electromagnetic field of conductors with differ- t how long the short circuit last in seconds (total clearing
ent configurations is complicated [8]. As a result, the proximity time);
effect is challenging to determine. Within the scope of this paper, T1 conductor insulation temperature, typically 75 °C or 90 °C;
NFPA 70 [2] provides industrial standard derating factors to be T2 maximum short-circuit temperature of 250 °C. Consult
applied to the base ampacity to account for more than three with cable vendors for the maximum insulation tempera-
current carrying conductors within a single raceway or cable. ture, some insulations, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
Table II summarizes proximity effect factors from [2] and the (150 °C), have a lower short maximum short-circuit tem-
variable MPE is assigned to represent the multiplication factor perature [11].
due to the proximity effect.
It is a good practice to check the fault current capability of a
cable. If the approach is taken to choose a conductor size based
D. Minimum Circuit Ampacity (Iamp ) on the continuous rating of the overcurrent devices, situations
Iamp is the minimum ampacity of the circuit factoring in could arise where the cable insulation could be damaged during
ambient air temperature (MPE ) and proximity effect (MAMB ). a short circuit. Additional attention should be paid to smaller
The following equation is used to calculate Iamp : cable sizes (e.g., less than 4 AWG) to ensure that the cable and
the interrupting time of the short-circuit current are adequate
Ibase for the installation. Table III shows the fault current capability
Iamp = . (2)
MAMB × MPE for 75 °C copper conductors using the cross-sectional area, A,
from [2] and three cycle interrupting times. Many applications
exist where the fault current capability of the conductors is not
E. Fault Current Capability
adequate.
Heat generated by a cable is proportional to the square of
the current within the conductor; during normal operation, load F. Voltage Drop
currents may be in the 10 or 100 s of amperes. During a short
Excessive voltage drop has many negative effects on the elec-
circuit, currents of 1000 or 10 000 s of amperes will flow in
trical system such as increased motor torque, reduced lighting
the same circuit. Because the short-circuit current is interrupted
lamp life, and reduced pull torque of ac solenoids [4]. General
either instantaneously or in a short time by an overcurrent
industry practice is to prevent drop exceeding 3% to the load
protective device, the amount of the heat transferred from the
and the overall voltage drop not to exceed 5% [2].
metallic conductors outward to the insulation and other materials
Voltage is found as the product of the current and impedance
is small [9]. As a result, there will not be an instantaneous heat
of the circuit (V = IZ). Based on this, the amount of the voltage
transfer from the conductor to the insulation, however, for a
drop can be determined in (5), if the power factor is known.
sustained short circuit, the amount of the heat transferred from
the conductor to the insulation will rise considerably. VD = I ∗ L (R cos ϕ + X sin ϕ) (5)

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4510 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 55, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

where Yc component ac resistance resulting from the skin effect and

V voltage drop in the circuit, line-to-neutral; proximity effect;
I current flowing in the conductor; Rca effective thermal resistance between the conductor and
L length of the conductor; surrounding ambient.
R line resistance for one conductor in ohms;
X line reactance for one conductor in ohms; Substituting (7) into (6) yields the “weighting” factor RTC in
φ angle whose cosine is the load power factor. terms of the current flowing in the cable as follows:
log10 [RTC (I)] = b∗
In applying (5), the following should be considered.
 2 
1) The power factor of the load is needed to find cosφ and I ∗ (Rdc ) ∗ (1 + YC ) · ∗Rca + Ta − TZ
sinφ. If the PF is unknown, a good estimate is 0.85 [2]. .
([I 2 ∗ (Rdc ) ∗ (1 + YC ) · ∗Rca + Ta ] + 273) ∗ (TZ + 273)
2) The conductor used in the circuit, to obtain R and X (8)
values. Cable manufacturers publish R and X values or
refer to industry standards [2]. Note, R and X values are Note, (8) has a component that is strongly dependent on the
typically given as per 1000 feet or per kilometer (km) current in the circuit and there is a component to the ambient air
quantities. temperature that impacts the RTC.
3) The current within the load and length of the circuit. For The last variable needed to determine the impact of loading on
a three-phase circuit, I is multiplied by the square root of cable insulation is the time spent at a specific loading condition.
three. For the single-phase circuit, I is multiplied by 2 (to In the absence of real-time monitoring data of the electrical
account for conductors from the source to the load and system, the time aspect is left up to reasonable assumptions.
back to the source). For simplicity, load operation can be broken down into contin-
4) Rated voltage within the circuit to determine the percent- uous and noncontinuous. A reasonable assumption is 3 h for
age of voltage drop. noncontinuous loads. For continuous loads, the operation of the
facility must be considered. If the facility operates 24/7, such as
G. Thermal Life Consideration a hospital or data center, the time of operation should be 24 h a
day, 365(1/4) days per year or 8742 h/year. If the facility operates
From [12]–[14], it is reasonable to assume an operating life- Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM, the operating hours will
time of 175 200 h (e.g., 20 years) of an electrical cable based be much lower compared to a 24/7 facility.
on the thermal stress and Arrhenius model, considering 24/7 The life loss (LL) can then be calculated by multiplying (6)
operation at the rated conductor temperature. The challenge of or (8) by the operating time as a specific condition, as
determining the end of the life of electrical cables is the operation
of an electrical power system, big or small, is highly dynamic. LL = RTC (Tc ) ∗ t or LL = RTC (I) ∗ t (9)
The authors in [12]–[14] presented a “weighting” factor-based where
conductor operating temperature, understanding that a higher t time in hours.
conductor temperature will cause a more rapid decrease in the
life of the cable insulation. Some common operating conditions to be considered when
From [12], the following equation is used to determine the evaluating the cable insulation are overload and short circuit.
relative time coefficient (RTC), which is the “weighting” factor: From [12], insulation has an emergency overload not to exceed
(TC − TZ ) 100 h at a given time or 500 h over the life of the cable at 105 °C
log10 [RTC (TC )] = b ∗ (6) for 75 °C PVC or 130 °C for 90 °C PVC insulation. From (6),
(TC + 273) ∗ (TZ + 273)
overload corresponds to a cumulative LL of about 8–15% of
where
the cable life. Methods to increase the thermal life of a cable
b parameter used in the Arrhenius model, a value of 6279.93
include increasing the size and using an insulation with a higher
is used for 75 °C PVC insulation; “b” may vary depending
temperature rating, such as 90 °C instead of 75 °C. From [12],
on the chemical properties and failure testing of specific
because interrupting times are so short, the LL component is
materials;
generally very small, and therefore, negligible. However, if a
Tc conductor temperature (°C);
cable has been exposed to numerous short circuits, its insulation
Tz rated temperature of the cable (75 °C);
should be evaluated for loss of operating life.
I current flowing in the cable.
H. Conductor Size Selection Procedure
In terms of the current flowing the cable, Tc can be subbed
for an expression containing the current from [2], as Follows: Based on the considerations of the previous sections, the fol-
lowing is a simple procedure to follow when sizing an electrical
Tc = I 2 ∗ (Rdc ) ∗ (1 + YC ) · ∗Rca + Ta (7)
conductor.
where 1) Determine Ibase , which is the base ampacity from the
I current flowing in the cable; circuit load(ing).
Rdc dc resistance of the conductor at rated temperature for one 2) Determine MAMB , which is the derate (or up-rate) factor
foot of the conductor length; based on the ambient air temperature.

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MEIER AND CHOWDHURY: SIMPLE APPROACH TO CONDUCTOR SIZING AND PROLONGING THE THERMAL LIFE OF ELECTRICAL CABLES 4511

TABLE IV
FACTORS USED TO DETERMINE Iamp

TABLE V
FAULT CURRENT CAPABILITY CHECK

Fig. 2. Example single-line of electrical distribution system.

Note:
1) The transformer secondary fault current: 1 665 A (KVA/(sqrt(3) × 480 × 5%)).
3) Determine MPE , which is the derate factor for proxim-
ity effect, based on the interaction with multiple current
carrying conductors, choose a conductor size.
4) The ambient air conditions are as follows: motor (38 °C),
4) Determine Iamp and select an initial conductor size.
transformer (pri) (35 °C), transformer (sec) (40 °C),
5) Check that the selected conductor size is adequate for the
lighting panel (40 °C), and motor control center or MCC
available fault current. Adjust the conductor size up as
(25 °C).
needed.
5) All circuits are routed in individual conduits, except for
6) Check that the selected conductor size yields adequate
the transformer primary and lighting panel conductors.
voltage drop. Adjust the conductor size up as needed.
6) The three-phase fault contribution from UTIL-0001 is
7) Determine the thermal life of cables; consideration should
12 000 A at the MCC.
be given to increasing the size of the conductors or us-
7) Interrupting times are three cycles for the MCC and five
ing conductors with a higher insulation temperature to
cycles for the branch circuits.
increase the thermal life.
8) The power factor for each load is given as: motor (0.8),
transformer (0.85), lighting panel (0.9), and MCC (0.85).
III. EXAMPLE OF CONDUCTOR SIZE SELECTION 9) The facility operates 24/7.
10) All loads are continuous, unless otherwise noted.
A. Given Information
Table IV summarizes the results of following the Steps 1–4
A simplified 480-V, three-phase, electrical distribution system (see Section II-H), culminating with the base circuit ampacity
is shown in Fig. 2. The cable lengths, continuous rating of the (Iamp ) to be used for the initial conductor size selection.
circuit breakers, and nameplate information for the motor and Step 5: Fault Current Capability (See Section II-H): From
transformer are shown. Using the considerations presented in the results shown in Table IV, the fault current capability of
this paper, the cable sizes will be determined. the selected conductors is checked using (3) and summarized in
Other given information is as follows: Table V.
1) 100-A lighting panel has 20 A of noncontinuous load and The transformer (pri) conductors appear to be undersized,
50 A of continuous load. with regard to the fault current capability. Using (4), to solve for
2) Low-voltage panel is assumed to have a continuous load a minimum circular mils based on 12 000 A of the fault current
equal to the secondary transformer full load amperes or for five cycles, the minimum circuit mils size is 52 332. This
FLA. concludes that for a 12 000-A fault, the minimum acceptable
3) 75 °C insulation, maximum short-circuit temperature of conductor size is #3.
200 °C, and copper conductors. The new transformer (primary) conductors are sized as #3.

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4512 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 55, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

TABLE VI TABLE IX
VOLTAGE DROP RESULTS AND FINAL CONDUCTOR SIZES RESULTS OF THERMAL LIFE EVALUATION IN TOTAL YEARS

Note:
1) X and R values assume aluminum conduits and uncoated copper conductors.
2) The transformer (pri) conductor is #3 from Step 5 (see Section II-H).

TABLE VII TABLE X

Tc FOR CONTINUOUS AND NONCONTINUOUS OPERATION COMPARISON OF TOTAL THERMAL LIFE

TABLE VIII
B. Example Results
RTC FOR CONTINUOUS AND NONCONTINUOUS OPERATION Following the procedural steps, all final conductor sizes are
acceptable with regards to ambient air temperature, proximity ef-
fect, short-circuit capability, and voltage drop. The short-circuit
capability revealed that although the conductor size is adequate
for ambient air temperature and proximity effect, the capability
of the insulation to withstand the short-circuit current was not.
Therefore, the conductor size for the transformer (pri) had to be
increased.
For the thermal life evaluation, the transformer (sec) cable
has the lowest expected life, compared to the other circuits.
Knowing this, measures could be taken to limit the amount of
“ON” hours for the circuit or insulation–resistance testing should
occur annually as the conductor approaches the end of its service
life. Another approach is to specify 90 °C insulation for this
circuit, observing the temperature limitations in [2] will limit
Step 6: Voltage Drop (See Section II-H):: Voltage drop of the the ampacity to 75 °C.
selected conductors is checked using (5) and is summarized in The thermal life analysis results are more profound when
Table VI. compared to the typical approach of sizing conductors to the
Step 7: Thermal Life Evaluation (See Section II-H):: The con- overcurrent device continuous rating. Table X shows this com-
ductor temperatures for continuous (Cont.) and noncontinuous parison.
(Non-Cont.) operation are shown in Table VII. Equation (7) is It is evident, from the results in Table IX, that the approach
used to solve for Tc . presented in this paper offer a marked increase in the thermal
RTC for each conductor is calculated using (6), and the results life of electrical cables. The method prescribed is vital for
are shown in Table VIII. applications with increased ambient air temperatures, higher
Finally, the life loss (LL) per year in hours is calculated from loading on circuits, and 24/7 operation. Considering the thermal
(9) and the total life in years is determined, assuming 175 200 h life of an electrical cable will minimize the risks associated with
of operation, including 500 h at overload. The results are shown arc flash and reduce unplanned outages due to premature cable
in Table IX. failure.

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MEIER AND CHOWDHURY: SIMPLE APPROACH TO CONDUCTOR SIZING AND PROLONGING THE THERMAL LIFE OF ELECTRICAL CABLES 4513

IV. CONCLUSION ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This paper presented a step-by-step approach that should be The views presented in this paper do not necessarily reflect
followed when selecting electrical conductors. This approach those of the authors’ affiliations.
is applicable to industrial and commercial power systems op-
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resistance as much as 20% for very large cables [7]. Energy, Pisa, Italy, May 2015, doi: 10.1109/IYCE.2015.7180738.
[20] G. Fioriti, A. Sturchio, M. Pompili, and L. Calcara, “Thermal behavior
Shield eddy currents and circulating currents generally apply of distribution MV underground cables,” in Proc. AEIT Int. Annu. Conf.,
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4514 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 55, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

Brandon R. Meier, PE (S’17) received the B.S.E.E. Badrul Chowdhury (S’83–M’87–SM’93) received
degree from Gannon University, Erie, PA, USA, in the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Vir-
2004, and the M.S.E.E. degree from the University of ginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA, in 1987.
North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA, in He is currently the Duke Energy Distinguished
2010. Professor with the Department of Electrical and Com-
He is currently with Salisbury by Honeywell, puter Engineering with joint appointment with the
Charlotte, performing electrical system studies and Department of Systems Engineering and Engineer-
teaching NFPA 70E arc flash and shock hazard ing Management, University of North Carolina at
awareness classes. His current research interests in- Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA. His current research
clude power system modeling and analysis, arc flash interests include power system modeling, analysis
studies, and electrical distribution system protection and control, and renewable and distributed energy
and coordination. resource modeling and integration in smart grids.
Mr. Meier has been a registered Professional Engineer since 2010, and is
registered in multiple states.

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