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General Technical Information: Circuit Breakers

This document provides technical information on circuit breakers, ingress protection ratings, and causes of nuisance or unwanted tripping in residual current devices (RCDs). It discusses calculating and estimating prospective fault current, the relationship between fault current and circuit breaker ratings. It also outlines the IP protection codes for enclosures and explains that intermittent tripping in new installations may highlight potential problems, not necessarily be nuisance tripping. Standing leakage current from appliances can contribute to unwanted tripping if the total current exceeds the RCD's threshold.

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Rajendra Prasad Shukla
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101 views5 pages

General Technical Information: Circuit Breakers

This document provides technical information on circuit breakers, ingress protection ratings, and causes of nuisance or unwanted tripping in residual current devices (RCDs). It discusses calculating and estimating prospective fault current, the relationship between fault current and circuit breaker ratings. It also outlines the IP protection codes for enclosures and explains that intermittent tripping in new installations may highlight potential problems, not necessarily be nuisance tripping. Standing leakage current from appliances can contribute to unwanted tripping if the total current exceeds the RCD's threshold.

Uploaded by

Rajendra Prasad Shukla
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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General technical information

Circuit breakers

Ingress protection

Nuisance / unwanted tripping

Subject to technical change.

General technical information


Circuit breakers
Prospective Fault Current
Calculation of Prospective Short Circuit Current

Several excellent proprietary computer programs are now available


for calculating the prospective fault level at any point in the
installation. They are also able to select the correct size and type of
cable and match this with the correct circuit protective device.

Estimation of Prospective Fault Current

Actually calculating prospective short-circuit current is not in itself


difficult but it does require basic data which is not always available
to the electrical installation designer.
It is therefore usual to use a simple chart as shown in FIGURE 1
to estimate the prospective short circuit current. This type of chart
always gives a prospective fault level greater than that which would
have been arrived at by calculation using accurate basic data.
Therefore it is safe to use but sometimes may result in an over
engineered system.

Figure 2
Example in figure 2
1 Project 40m of cable length across on to the 240mm2 cable curve.
From this point project down onto the 28kA curve. From this point
projecting across we note that the prospective fault level at the
panelboard is 24kA.
2 Project 60m of cable length across onto the 70mm2 cable curve.
From this point project down on to the 24kA curve. From this point
projecting across we see that the prospective fault level at the
MCB distribution board is 10kA.

Figure 3

Figure 1

The relationship between probable short-circuit current and service


short-circuit breaking capacity is explained. The probable short
circuit is the type of short circuit which is most likely to occur; this is
nearly always at the extremity of the protected cable and more often
than not a single phase or earth fault.
Figure 3 shows a typical 3 phase 4 wire 400V system fed by a
1000 kVA transformer. The transformer is adjacent to the main
switchboard so the prospective short-circuit current (PSCC*) on the
main switchboard busbars is estimated as 30kA. The probable shortcircuit current on the panelboard feeder circuit is estimated as 24kA,
if it were a 3 phase symmetrical fault, or 12kA for a phase to neutral
fault, which in fact would be the most likely type of fault. (Note:
when estimating a phase to neutral prospective short-circuit current,
the length of conductor is doubled.) Therefore for this application
the main switchboard incoming circuit breaker (A) should have an
Ics 30kA and an Icu 30kA. The panelboard feeder circuit breaker (B)
should have an Icu 30kA and an Ics 24kA.

Subject to technical change.

General technical information


Circuit breakers
Fault loop impedance
With the introduction of AS/NZS 3000:2007 there are new wiring
rules for electrical contractors and electrical consultants to consider
when designing an electrical installation.
This guide is only concerned with one new area, fault loop
impedance, and its affect on the choice of conductor and
circuit breaker for a given circuit. Voltage drop and overcurrent
requirements should also be given consideration.
An earth fault situation is caused when an active conductor comes
into contact with an earthed conductor - fault current then flows.
Contractors and consultants must make sure that the conductors
in a circuit will allow sufficient energy to flow to cause the circuit
breaker to trip in the required time (disconnection time for 230V
supply is 0.4s for socketoutlets up to 63A, or handheld Class 1
equipment intended for manual movement during use. 5 seconds
for other circuits including submains and final sub circuits supplying
fixed or stationary equipment (clause 1.5.5.3)
To make sure that this fault current is large enough to trip a circuit
breaker in the required time the fault loop impedance (Zs) must be
below a certain value. If Zs is too large then the circuit breaker may
take too long to trip(> 0.4s) or may not trip at all.

- Circuit length: Circuit impedance increases


with the length of a circuit.
- Cross-sectional area of cable: The smaller the cross -sectional
area of a cable, the higher its impedance per meter will be.
- Thermal and magnetic settings of a circuit breaker: Hager circuit
breakers have both rated current and magnetic characteristics.
The higher the rated current and magnetic settings, the more energy
is required to trip the circuit breaker in the required time (< 0.4 s ).
So a circuit breaker with a magnetic setting of 14 x In will require
more energy to trip it (in the required time) than a circuit breaker with
a magnetic setting of 7.5 x In.
If more energy is required to flow, then a larger cross-sectional area
cable may be needed. If this is not possible then installing a Hager
RCD will provide a simple and economical solution.
So circuit length, cross sectional area of the cable and circuit
breaker settings all need to be taken into account to ensure correct
function of a circuit.

The tables below are a guide to the maximum circuit length for a given Hager circuit breaker. Using these tables will help ensure that the
disconnection time for a 230V a.c. supply is met according to AS/NZS 3000:2007.
Conductor size

Protective device
rating

Hager circuit breaker (AS/NZS60898)

Active

Earth

mm

mm

MCL (max circuit length in meters)

91

Type C

Type D

55

10

55

33

1.5

1.5

10

82

49

1.5

1.5

16

51

31

2.5

2.5

16

85

51

2.5

2.5

20

68

41

2.5

25

67

40

2.5

32

52

31

2.5

40

48

29

10

50

62

37

16

63

76

45

16

80

59

36

25

80

66

40

25

100

53

32

35

10

100

85

51

35

10

125

68

41

50

16

125

106

63

50

16

160

83

50

70

25

160

126

75

70

25

200

100

60

Maximum circuit length (MCL) and maximum circuit impedance (Zs) for Hager MCBs
(MSNxxx, NTxxxC & NDNxxxA ranges).
Where: MCL = Maximum circuit length
Above table based on supply of voltage of 230V (AS/NZS 3000: 2007)

Subject to technical change.

General technical information


Ingress protection
The first character numeral

indicates the degree of protection provided by the enclosures with


respect to persons, also the equipment inside the enclosure.

The second character numeral

indicates the degree of protection provided by the enclosures with


respect to harmful ingress of water; a third character may be used
to indicate mechanical strength. An x signifies that no test has been
carried out.

The second character numeral :

The first character numeral :

protection against liquid substances

protection against solid substances

IP
0
1

Designation
Non - protected
Protected against solid objects
greater than 50mm

IP

Designation

Non - protected

Protected against dripping water

Protected against solid objects


greater than 12.5mm

Protected against solid objects


greater than 2.5mm

Protected against dripping


water when tilted up to 15o

Protected against solid objects


greater than 1.0mm

Protected against spraying


o
at an angle up to 60

Dust protected

Protected against splashing


water from any direction

Dust - tight
5

Protected against water jets

Protected against heavy seas

Protected against the effect of immersion

Protected against submersion


to limits set by manufacture

Subject to technical change.

General technical information


Nuisance / unwanted tripping
RCD Nuisance tripping or Unwanted tripping ?
It is very tempting to describe RCD tripping due to intermittent electrical fault as Nuisance Tripping. However,
Nuisance Tripping probably best describes an RCD that trips for no electrically based reason whatsoever.
Intermittent tripping that typically occurs after a new installation,
maintenance or wiring modification would suggest that
the RCD is performing the very function for which it was
designed / installed for (i.e. fault detection & protection). This
intermittent or Unwanted Tripping can actually highlight
potential problems within the installation, turning the simple
exercise of fitting of an RCD, into a huge fault finding
exercise. This is not a relished thought for any sparky!

Typically Unwanted Tripping on RCDs can stem from misplaced or


combined Neutrals. At times, Neutrals intended for protection by the
RCD are incorrectly wired to the pre-RCD Neutral bar. Other times,
current is accidentally shared between the pre-RCD Neutral bar
and post-RCD Neutral bar (e.g. via a common bond that should not
exist in the first place). Another important consideration is the effect
of Standing Leakage Current & how it relates to Unwanted Tripping

Standing Leakage Current & how it relates to Unwanted Tripping on RCDs.


Standing Leakage Current is inherently present in all electrical
appliances due to the RFI filters and suppressors inside
switch mode power supplies on modern appliances such as
LCD TVs, Hi-fi systems, PCs and Laptops. This also occurs
in leaky cable appliances with pre-existing poor insulation
resistance, or an insulation breakdown developed over time.
Typically Unwanted Tripping is blamed on the RCD being overly
sensitive. More often than not, it is the Standing Leakage Current
that is the problem. The steady state sum of Standing Leakage
Current in the circuit must be significantly less than the RCD tripping
threshold. If this is very close to the RCD tripping threshold, then
even the slightest transient disturbance will cause the RCD to trip.
Generally, RCDs may trip at any value in excess of 50% of
the rated residual current (e.g. 15mA on 30mA RCD). Further
care should be taken on installations that are susceptible
to high transient disturbances or where particularly leaky
appliances may be connected. The recommended Standing
Leakage Current steady state threshold is less than 33%
of the rated residual current (i.e. 10mA on 30mA RCD).

A list of appliance types and corresponding


Standing Leakage Currents are listed below:
Appliance type

Standing Leakage Current


up to (mA) / unit

Handheld tools and


portable appliances

0.75 mA / unit

Other household appliances

0.75 mA / unit

Information Technology
(Portable)

0.75 mA / unit

Lighting Appliances

Information Technology
(Stationary)

3.5

Electric Stove / Oven

Up to 0.75 / kW

As an example, for a 30mA RCD to stay under the threshold


and avoid Unwanted Tripping, it is recommended that a
maximum of four computers (desktops/towers) are connected to
a single RCD circuit at any one time. The number of computers
may need to be further reduced if they have particularly
high Standing Leakage Current or when the installation
is particularly susceptible to transient disturbances.

Subject to technical change.

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