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TECHNICAL NEWS Issue 5

Please circulate to

Quarterly Technical
Newsletter of Australia's
leading supplier of
low-voltage motor control
and switchgear.
SET THE
PROTECTION
The risk of circuit faults
arising at initial "switch
on" of an installation can "Failure to pre-set
be quite high. Failure to
pre-set adjustable trip adjustable trip units
units can result in can result in
unnecessary damage unnecessary
occurring. The "try it
damage occurring"
and see" approach is a bit
like checking a parachute
on the way down.
The adjustment range can
Simple procedures
be infinitely variable from
beforehand can prevent a
63 per cent to 100 per MCCB fitted with
major mishap.
cent of the nominal rating electronic trip unit.
The majority of moulded of the circuit breaker.
case circuit breakers Adjustment of the The flexibility of these
(MCCBs) available offer magnetic or short circuit adjustments enable the
some form of adjustment protection is also protection to be tailored
to the tripping provided in larger frame to suit the load and
characteristics. The sizes. Here the upstream protection
flexibility of the adjustment is typically devices.
adjustment is dependent from 5 to 10 times the
on the style of "TRIP nominal rating of the trip Magnetic
UNIT" fitted. Trip units unit.
offered are as follows. only
Electronic
Thermal Magnetic trip units offer
trip units short circuit protection
• Set the protection 1 magnetic only. Not having any
Electronics provides the form of overload
• Protection This style of trip unit maximum flexibility for protection, this trip unit
considerations 2 provides adjustment for adjustment. Current has limited applications
the pick-up current of the pick-up and time and can only be used in
• Case study 4 thermal or overload functions may be back-up situations where
•TemCurve 4 characteristics in a similar
fashion to a motor
adjustable for overload
and short circuit
overload protection is
provided by another
overload relay. protection. (See Figure 1.) device.
 (

{continuedfrom page 1} high fault levels they may have The peak current during
the same trip time. starting should also be known
The main application is in so that any adjustable
motor control units. These 1.2 Cable protection
instantaneous trip units in the
trip units are chosen to avoid In simple installations the circuit breaker can be set close
premature tripping of the prime purpose of the circuit to, but not below this current.
circuit breaker during "run-up" breaker is to only protect the
of the motor due to the high wiring. To do this, the over
starting current. 1.4 Generator protection
current protection must match
In this application overload the cable rating. The cable The use of generators provides
protection is provided by the rating is determined by the an added burden on the
motor overload relay. temperature rise and this will protective device. Systems
vary depending on the method that derive power from the
Other of installation. If the cable is supply utility usually only need
(
surrounded by thermal to consider protection of what
protection insulation, or bundled with is connected down stream, as
other cables, the rating can be there is always another
It is also quite common to much lower than when protective device upstream.
include other forms of installed in free air. In the case of, say, a standby
protection relays and these generator, this is not the
include phase failure, earth 1.3 Motor protection situation and the circuit
fault, phase reversal and The full load current of the breaker must also provide
reverse power. Many of these motor must be known so that upstream protection for the
relays will also have adjustable the overload relay can be set. generator itself.
settings and need to be
correctly set. Fig 1. Electronic adjustment
range . .,..
If a consultant has been
involved in the specification of
the installation he should have
detailed the settings required
for all devices. In all cases,
however, somebody must be
accountable for the installation Fig 2. Generator decrement Faun trip'
and the specification of setting curve. 'Y Ground Faun Current
requirements. Some of the
factors to be considered in
"'
.
setting the specification are :- '"
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It is normal to expect that a
fault on a branch circuit will ~ ,"
not cause the upstream ",,
protection to operate. In some
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installations this causes little C.Xs

concern, but if power to a ""

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select circuit breakers of a ""'• • • :1 ~ 3 .C&ll§ ~ ~ ~ M§ u~~ M ~ ~ ~UmD i fi nuDH~
different thermal rating, as at cuggE:NT ~A)

NHP Technical News, issue 5

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(continuetffrom page 2) 1.5 Setting the protection (b) If the connected load is a
motor, check that the motor
The generator performance The supplier of protective
overload protection matches
during a fault is significantly elements may have been
the motor full load current and,
different to that of a normal consulted on the correct device
if the relay provides adjustable
transformer supply, as it will selection and settings for a
time settings, that these match
be non linear. This can mean project, but it should never be
the expected run-up time.
that a generator might only be assumed the devices have been
capable of delivering a short delivered pre-set to any (c) If the electric supply is
circuit current of, say, four particular setting. It is from a generator, the
times its full load rating and essential that every adjustable protection must be set below
this may be below the element is checked just prior to the generator decrement curve.
instantaneous setting of the turning the installation on.
circuit breaker. The generator The ideal situation is to have (d) The grading between all
( may be damaged before the all settings clearly marked on protective elements can be
circuit breaker trips. the drawings, but all too often checked by plotting the: time
the settings are left to the last current characteristics on the
The characteristic of the minute. same graph paper. For
generator under overload/fault thermal magnetic trip units
If settings have not been
conditions should be available there is little that can be done
specified, the following needs
in the form of a decrement if the initial device selection
to be checked :-
curve. The protective device was wrong. For fully
should be set to ensure that it · (a) Overcurrent pick-up adjustable electronic units the
operates in the region under settings need to match the wide range of possible settings
this curve. An example is thermal rating of the protected makes it very important to
shown in Figure 2. circuit. check the grading.

Fig 3. Grading exercise using TemCurve. T

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NHP Technical News, issue 5

 NHP Electrical

I
Engineering Products
Pty ltd A.C.N. 004 304 812
Internet http://www.nhp.com.au
MELBOURNE
43-67 River Street,
Richmond, Vic. 3121
Phone: (03) 9429 2999
Fax (03) 9429 1075
SYDNEY
30-34 Day Street North,
Case study Computer made on protection
schemes incorporating
Silverwater, N.S.W. 2128
Phone: (02) 9748 3444
A large generator burnt aided many of the common Fax: (02) 9648 4353
BRISBANE
protection components
out due to a short circuit.
grading on the Australian market.
25 Turbo Drive,
Coorparoo, Old. 4151
Cause - circuit breaker (See Figure 3.) Phone: (07) 3891 6008
protection was not Fax: (07) 3891 6139
In the past the TemCurve is designed to ADELAIDE
matched to the generator preparation of grading 50 Croydon Road,
characteristics. operate on IBM Keswick, S.A. 5035
schemes has been time compatible PCs and is Phone: (08) 8297 9055
The generator had a consuming, hand drawing available by contacting Fax: (08) 8371 0962
maximum short circuit circuit breaker curves and your nearest NHP office. PERTH
re-drawing until the 38 Belmont Ave.,
current output of eight Rivervale, W.A. 6103
desired result was
times the rated current
and a limited overload achieved. Computer
Summary Phone: (08) 9277 11n
Fax: (08) 9277 1700
NEWCASTLE
versus time output. based programmes now 575 Maitland Road,
make this task less time The modem circuit Mayfield West, N.S.W. 2304
The circuit breaker had consuming. breaker is a very Phone: (02) 4960 2220
been installed with the sophisticated protective Fax: (02) 4960 2203
The graphics capability TOWNSVILLE
instantaneous or short device, too often taken 62 Leyland Street,
circuit protection set at of computers enable the for granted. They offer Garbutt, Old. 4814
12 times the rated user to select devices and high interrupting Phone: (07) 4n9 0700
change settings, then Fax: (07) 4775 1457
current. With the output capacities and flexibility ROCKHAMPTON
of the generator limited print or plot the results in of adjustment and 208 Denison Street,
to eight times, clearly the a fraction of the time, protection features never Rockhampton, Old. 4700
with a smaller margin of Phone: (07) 4927 22n
protection would never seen before. However, Fax: (07) 4922 2947
trip on short circuit error than hand drawn with all the functions TOOWOOMBA
schemes. Cnr Carroll St. & Struan Crt.,
protection. The long available, safeguarding of Toowoomba, Old. 4350
time delay or overload the distribution system Phone: (07) 4634 4799
characteristics was set TemCurve can only be assured if the Fax: (07) 4633 1796
CAIRNS
with a 20 second delay. protection functions are 14/128 Lyons Street,
The setting should have To assist in the set to match the Bungalow, Old. 4870
been two seconds. requirements. Phone: (07) 4035 6888
preparation and checking Fax: (07) 4035 6999
of grading schemes NHP Installation "as supplied" DARWIN
The result - lack of
has available the cannot guarantee 3 Steele Street,
generator backup and the Winnellie, N.T. 0820
high cost of replacing the TemCurve programme. protection. Phone: (08) 8947 2666
generator. A phone call, This stand alone Fax: (08) 8947 2049

fax. and a few"minutes programme allows Agents: '

work would have grading studies to be HOBART

199 Harrington Street,
prevented this damage. Hobart• Tas. 7000
Phone: (03) 6234 9299
Fax: (03) 6231 1693
LAUNCESTON

Contact NHP for all your 59 Garfield Street,

Launceston, Tas. 7250
Phone: (03) 6344 8811
Fax: (03) 6344 4069

switchgear requirements BURNIE

6 Wellington Street,
Burnie, Tas. 7320
Phone: (03) 6432 2588
Fax: (03) 6432 2580
from the one source
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Editorial content: - Please address all enquiries to 'The Editor - 'NHP Technical News'
PO Box 199, Richmond Victoria 3121.
~~ ~~
-
QUALITY
S YST( lot
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NHP Technical News, issue 5