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IT systems
The basis for reliable power supply
FA01en/01.2004
Technical information No. 01
The advantages of sophisticated industrial systems can only be of use, if high availability of power supplies and time and costeffec-
tive fault location and clearance is guaranteed. Already when selecting the appropriate power supply system and the associated
protective and monitoring devices, the basis for reliable personnel protection and protection of property and fault-free operation
can be established.
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Technical information No. 01
IT systems (unearthed systems) either are supplied from an isola- As far as the safety of the power supply is concerned, the IT system
ting transformer or an independent voltage source, such as a bat- offers the most advantages. That is the reason why it is used in a
tery or a generator.The pecularity of these systems is that no active lot of areas where a maximum of reliability and safety of the power
conductor is directly connected to earth. In the event of a short- supply is required. These are for example control circuits according
circuit to exposed conductive parts or to earth, only a small fault to EN 60204: 1998-11, power supply systems for medically used
current will flow, owing to the lack of a return path, dependent on rooms according to DIN VDE 0107: 1994-10, mobile generators
the value of the insulation resistances RF and the capacitance Ce according to DIN VDE 0100-551: 1997-08 and other application
of the conductors to earth. The difference between the earthed fields. Apart from this, IT systems with insulation monitoring are
system and the unearthed system in the case of an insulation fault increasingly used in industrial systems with variable-speed drives,
becomes clear by comparing the figures 2 and 3. in complex production systems or electronic data processing sys-
On the occurrence of a direct earth fault RF, an earth leakage cur- tems, because an unexpected failure of the power supply may
rent Id equal to the short circuit current IK will flow in earthed sys- cause considerable costs.
tems (TN/TT systems). The series-connected fuse blows, and the When operating an IT system, it has to be considered that „a first
power supply is cut off (figure 3). By way of contrast, the unearthed fault“ changes an initially unearthed system (IT system) into an
system (IT system) (figure 2). It is obvious that in the event of an earthed system (TN or TT system) and that a further fault may lead
insulation fault 0 < RF < ∞ only a limited capacitive current flows to the tripping of circuit breakers and hence lead to disconnection.
through the line to earth capacitances. The series-connected fuse Experience has shown that the single-pole fault (first fault) is the
will not react in this case, which means that the power supply is most likely type of fault to occur (> 90%) and the risk of hazards
guaranteed in case of a single fault to earth. due to a second fault are regarded to be very unlikely. This fact is
taken into account in the standard IEC 60364-4-41 where it is re-
commended that a first insulation fault should be eliminated with
the shortest practical delay.
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Technical information No. 01
Advanced information through insulation monitoring Modern measuring principles for modern electrical loads
According to IEC 60364-4-41, an IT system must always be equip- The measuring principle described before, can be used when the
ped with an insulation monitoring device. The insulation monito- connected loads exclusively are AC consumers. However, recently
ring device, which is connected between the active conductors and there had been changes in the structure of the electrical loads. In
earth, superimposes a DC measuring voltage onto the system. On many cases there are drives or loads with switched-mode power
the occurrence of an insulation fault, the measuring circuit between supplies (e. g. personal computers, electronic control gear). Whilst
system and earth closes via the insulation fault RF, so that a DC on the one hand there are the advantages of limited power loss,
measuring current Im proportionate to the insulation fault is pro- smaller dimensions, and less weight, on the other hand problems
duced. This DC measuring current causes a voltage drop which is may arise through harmonic components caused by switched-mode
evaluated by the electronic circuitry. If this voltage drop exceeds a power supply units and influence by DC leakage current. Insula-
certain value, which is proportional to the insulation resistance, an tion monitoring devices using the measuring principle of super-
indication is given via alarm LEDs and alarm contacts.The small sys- imposed measuring DC voltage may cause false alarms due to DC
tem leakage capacitances Ce existing in the system are only charged components. The reason for that is that in case of a fault these
to the value of the measuring DC voltage and do not influence the extraneous voltages occur additionally to the measuring voltage
measurement after the brief transient response (figure 2). A detai- and therefore either lead to an increased measuring current and
led description of the requirements for an insulation monitoring hence to increased response sensitivity or lead to lower measu-
device is given in IEC 62557-8: 1998-05. Thanks to the insulation ring current what means that tripping is prevented (figure 6).
monitoring device, the operator of the electrical installation is pro- High system leakage capacitances, which often exist in the form
vided with the necessary advance information which gives him of interference suppressor filters (EMC) between system and the
effective support for preventive maintenance measures (figure 5). earth, are also a source of interferences for insulation monitoring
devices with DC measuring voltage. When switching the IT system
on, for the DC measuring voltage these capacitances represent a
low-ohmic connection to the earth so that a high measuring DC
current (load current for Ce) will flow which results in an alarm
message through the insulation monitoring device.
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FA01en/01.2004 5
Summary Written by
Nowadays, the increasing complexity of industrial systems places Dipl.-Ing. W. Hofheinz
extremely high demands on the reliability of power supply, where Managing director
even a short power failure may be expensive due to production Dipl.-Ing. W. Bender GmbH & Co. KG
stoppage and malary function. With the application of IT systems Londorfer Straße 65 • 35305 Grünberg • Germany
a tool is available that effectively helps to solve this problem.
Literature
IEC 61557-9: 1999-09 EN 60204-1: 1997-12
„Electrical safety in low voltage distribution systems up to 1000 V „Safety of machinery – Electrical equipment of machines – Part 1:
a.c. and 1500 V d.c. – Equipment for testing, measuring or monito- General requirements (IEC 60204-1: 1997)"
ring of protective measures – Part 9: Equipment for insulation fault
IEC 60363-3:1993-03
location in IT systems“
„Electrical installations of buildings; Part 3; Assessment of general
EN 61557-9: 1999-11 characteristics“
„Electrical safety in low voltage distribution systems up to 1 kV a.c.
DIN VDE 0100-551 (VDE 0100 Teil 551): 1997-08
and 1.5 kV d.c. – Equipment for testing, measuring or monitoring
of protective measures – Part 9: Equipment for insulation fault Electrical installations of buildings – Part 5: Selection and erection
location in IT systems (IEC 61557-9: 1999)“ of eletrical equipment – Chapter 55: Other equipment Section 551:
Low-voltage generating sets (IEC 364-5-551: 1994); German version
IEC 60364-4-41: 1992-10 HD 384.5.551 S1: 1997
„Electrical installations of building; Part 4: Protection for safety;
DIN VDE 0107 (VDE 0107):1994-10
chapter 41: Protection against electric shock“
Erection of low-voltage installations – Requirements for special
IEC 60364-5-53 Second edition: 1994-06 installations or locations – Part 710: Medical locations
„Electrical installation of buildings – Part 5: Selection and Erection
W. Hofheinz: Protective measures with insulation monitoring,
of electrical euquipment – Chapter 53: Switchgear and Controlgear,
2nd Edition
clause 532.: Insulation monitoring devices“
VDE-Verlag, Berlin
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