THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

Academic Year-2019/2020
EEX4434 - ELECTRICAL INSTALLATIONS

Assignment Deadline – 08th September 2019

Important Notice - Use both sides of the A4 size paper for the answer script
Data sheet is available on Moodle/MyOUSL

Note: You need to study first half of the Unit 1: Installation and design i.e. from Session 1 up
to Session 12 in order to answer this assignment.
Use your own words when giving explanations – read what is in the course material,
understand the concept and when answering explain what you understood (Do not copy and
paste what is in the course material)

1. a. What is an Electrical Installation? Explain in your own words.

b. In order for a typical domestic circuit consisting of a wire, socket outlet and an iron (cloth
iron) – to become an “Electrical Installation”, what requirements does it have to fulfill? What
components are missing in that to be considered as an “Electrical Installation”? Please discuss
in your own words.

c. What was the first electricity regulation legislation in Sri Lanka? In which year it was
established?

d. At present, what is the law regulating the electrical related activities in Sri Lanka? Which year
it was last amended and what’s the amendment number?

e. As per the powers given by the Act mentioned in Item “d”, what are the types of licenses
issued by the regulating authority? Which license category has only one licensee? Which
authority/board bears that monopoly license?

2.
a. What is the latest version of the IET Wiring regulation? What’s the color of the cover page of
that?

b. The latest IET Wiring regulation – to how many parts it had been divided? How many
appendices are there?
c. What is the nominal voltage of the installations covered by the IET wiring regulation?
d. What was the requirement for protection against electric shock in terms of socket outlets in the
earlier version of the IET Wiring regulation? In the new version what is the protection
requirement for the socket outlets and domestic luminaires?
e. What is the reason for having that specific rating of the RCD for socket outlet/luminaire
protection?
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 f. What is the meaning of “Threshold of Let Go” current? What is the typical value of that
current?

3.
a. There is a typical house supplied with a 230V supply at 50Hz by CEB. There is a 15A socket
outlet circuit protected by a 20A Type B MCB BS EN 60898. This socket outlet circuit has an
internal resistance of 0.08 Ohms. The external earth fault loop impedance of the house is 0.6
Ohms. The home owner connects an electric oven to the circuit and that oven has a ground
fault which has an effective resistance of 1.8 Ohms across the oven (the load).
(Use the data tables given in MyOUSL and you are free to use any reasonable assumptions).
Calculate,
I. Calculate the prospective earth fault current flowing through the oven
II. The prospective earth fault voltage across the oven
III. The time taken for the fuse to blow
IV. Assume that the house owner accidently touch the metal part of the oven which has the
ground fault by the time he switch on the oven . What type of contact the house owner is
getting in this instance (Direct or Indirect)? What is the current that is flowing through his
body?
V. What form of a shock will the house owner would get?
VI. As per the BS 7671 IET Wiring regulation, what is the missing component in this circuit?

b. As per IET Wiring regulations there are two types of protections defined i.e. basic protection
and fault protection. Explain what is meant by basic protection. List down the protective
measures which can be taken to provide basic protection and explain each with a sketch or
using your own words.
If you are using an IP rated enclosure, what type of protective measure you are applying? What
is the highest IP rating equipment you can obtain in the market? What does that IP rating
provide protection against?

c. Explain what is meant by fault protection?What are the 5 measures listed in IET wiring
regulations with regard to fault protection?
Assume that you need to install a shaver socket outlet in a bathroom of a hotel room. The
preferred location for the shaver socket outlet is near the wash basin which is 2.5 feet away
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 from the shower. Explain what factors you would consider when selecting the shaver socket
outlet.

4.
a. In a house there is a water pump circuit which is protected by a Type B MCB of 16A. The
normal running current of the motor is 12A. But when the motor is attempting to start, the
circuit breaker trips. So an electrician is hired to correct the wiring and what he did is replace
the MCB with a 32A Type B MCB. Now the motor operates without tripping but the house
owner wants your opinion whether what electrician has done is the safe and technically correct
thing.
Do you agree with what the electrician has done? Give your reason.
What is the correct way to solve this issue?

b. In the above example in 4(a), the house owner request you to replace the MCB with a Semi-
enclosed fuse BS 3036 as he has a stock at home. What would be your approach to the
problem if you are replacing the 16A MCB with a 15A BS3036 fuse?

c. There is a fire pump at a factory. Obviously by providing over current protection to the fire
pump would create a greater danger if it gets tripped during a fire. So the power supply to the
fire pump is given from the transformer incoming without a circuit breaker in between (no
overload protection). In this instance, what kind of protective measure system would you
recommend instead?

5. From CEB a three phase 400V supply is providing power to a three phase power panel at a
house. The power panelhas a total calculated resistance of each phase 0.08Ω and the reactance
0.03Ω.
a. Calculate the symmetric 3-phase short circuit current at the panel board
b. If this power panel supplying power to an in-house circuit which is protected against short
circuit by a 40A 4P Type B MCB, calculate whether this circuit satisfies the requirements of
an adiabatic equation. The power supply conductor to the circuit is 10 mm2XLPE cable
(Thermo setting) @ 90deg. C.

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