Cable selection Calculation

Posted by Johan column May 30 - 397 views - Filed in Power Systems When a current is passed through a conductor it causes it to rise in temperature.

HEAT I N CABLES When installing circuits it is important that the correct size current carrying conductor is selected to carry the current required without causing the cable to overheat and that the voltage drop caused by the resistance of the cable is not greater than is permissible.

The following calculations are designed to compensate for conductor temperature rise. We must first calculate the design current that the circuit will have to carry (Ib). Calculation is

(I being design current). A protective device must now be selected (In) this must be equal to or greater than Ib. If the cable is to be installed in areas where environmental conditions will not allow the cable to cool, correction factors will be required. Ca is a factor to be used where ambient temperature is above or below 30C. This factor can be found in Table , appendix 4 of BS7671. If a BS3036 rewirable fuse is needed Table 4C2 should be used.

 Cg is a factor to be used where the cable is grouped or bunched (touching) with other cables. This factor can be found in Table 4B1, appendix 4 of BS7671. Ci is a factor for use where a conductor is surrounded by thermal insulation and can be found in Table 52A part 5 of BS7671. Cr is a factor for rewirable fuses and is always 0.725. This factor must always be used when rewirable fuses protect a circuit. The reason for the factor will be explained at end of the chapter. These factors should be multiplied together and then divided into In. Therefore the calculation is

The current carrying capacity of the cable must be equal to or greater than the result of this calculation. It should be remembered that only the correction factors that effect the cable at the same time should be used.

EXAMPLE A circuit is to be installed using 2.5 mm2, 1.5 mm2 twin and earth 70C thermoplastic cables, it is 32 metres long and protected by a BS 88 fuse. The load to be supplied is a 4.2kW kiln, the circuit is to be installed in minitrunking containing one other circuit at an ambient temperature of 35C. Maximum permissible volt drop is 7 V. Supply is a T N S system with a Ze of 0.7 . Calculate the minimum cable that may be used. Design current

Protective device In (18.26), nearest BS 88 is 20 amperes. In the example, the cable is installed in plastic trunking. From BS 7671 Table 4A1 Installation methods, number 8, method 3 matches the example.

The cable is installed in trunking which will contain one other circuit. Correction factor for grouping (Ca) is required from BS 7671 Table 4B1. It can be seen that for two circuits in one enclosure a factor of 0.8 must be used. The ambient temperature is 35C. A correction factor for ambient temperature (Ca) from Table 4C1 must be used. Thermoplastic cable at 35C a factor of 0.94. Using these factors, it is now possible to calculate the minimum size conductors required for this circuit.

Calculator method 20 (0.8 0.94) = 26.59 This is the minimum value of current that the cable must be able to carry to enable it to be installed in the environmental conditions affecting the cable. From Table 4D2A columns 1 and 4, it can be seen that a 4 mm2 cable has an It (current carrying capacity) of 30 amperes. A cable with 4 mm2 live conductors will carry the current in these conditions without overheating, but will it comply with the voltage drop requirements? From Table 4D2B columns 1 and 3, it can be seen that 4 mm2 cable has a voltage drop of 11 (mV/A/m) or millivolts load current length of circuit. As the value is in millivolts, it must be converted to volts by dividing by 1000. The circuit length is 32 metres and the load current is 18.26 amperes. Calculation

The voltage drop in this cable will be 6.42 V which is acceptable as the maximum permissible for the circuit is 7 V. The calculations which have been carried out up to this point have been to select a cable to comply with the current and voltage drop requirements for the circuit. This is only part of the calculation. It is now important that a calculation is carried out to prove that the protective device will operate within the time required if an earth fault were to occur on the circuit. The load is classed as fixed equipment, this will have a disconnection time not exceeding 5 seconds (regulation 413-02-13). The resistance of the cable must now be calculated: A 4 mm2 twin and earth cable will have a circuit protective conductor (CPC) of 1.5mm2. From Table 9A in the On-Site Guide, it can be seen that this cable will have a resistance of 16.71 milli-ohms per metre at 20C. As the cable could operate at 70C the multiplier from Table 9C in the On-Site Guide must be used to adjust the resistance value from 20C to 70C. Calculation

The resistance of the cable at operating temperature of 70C is 0.64 . Zs (earth loop impedance) must now be calculated. Zs = Ze + (r1 + r2) From the information given in the example, Ze (external earth loop impedance) is 0.7 ohm . Therefore, Zs Zs = 1.34 = 0.7 + 0.64

This value must now be checked against the value for maximum permissible Zs. This is in BS 7671 Table 41D for 5 second disconnection. It can be seen that the maximum Zs for a 20 A BS 88 fuse is 3.04 . As the circuit has a calculated Zs of 1.34, this will be satisfactory. Download (BS 7671:2008) Books

Source: Electrical Installation by A.J.Watkins Prepared by: zone4info Team