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Motor Starting - Direct On Line
Published by Steven on Aug 18, 2011 at 2:38 AM
Estimating power demand is combination of
science and art. It is an area of electrical Contributors Page
Published by Steven on Aug 16, 2011 at 2:11 AM
engineering where there is no correct answer.
Plug the figures in your preferred method of Motor Starting - Introduction
calculation and then as an engineer you need Published by Steven on Aug 11, 2011 at 4:28 AM
to relay on instincts to say if the answer feels
Back to basics - the Watt (or kW)
right or not. Published by Steven on Aug 4, 2011 at 4:13 AM

Depending where you are, different methods, Updates via Email

figures and procedures are used to estimate Published by Steven on Aug 1, 2011 at 3:07 AM

the power demand of an installation. This is a

look at one method inline with what could be View More Posts RSS
considered IEC practice. To get going it is
diagram reproduced from Schneider's
useful to understand some basic definitions:
'Electrical Installation Guide - According to
IEC International Standards'

voltage V - the voltage of the electrical system

load current Ib - the current required to operate an item of equipment
apparent power kVA - the product of the voltage V and load current Ib
real power kW - the actual power consumed by the load or equipment
power factor - the ratio of the real power to apparent power (kW/kVA)
utilisation factor ku - see below
simultaneity factor ks - see below

In estimating power demand this is normally carried out using either apparent or real power. I prefer
real power as it gives me the actual kW required. Many people will use apparent power. As we are
dealing with estimates (ball park figures even), using real or apparent power will yield usable results.
In this post I will stick with apparent power.

Utilisation factor ku - name plate ratings invariably list higher values of current than will be seen in
use, motors rarely run at full load, etc. A utilisation factor can be applied to these ratings to establish
a more realistic load current, thereby not overestimating the demand.

Simultaneity factor ks - not all equipment runs a the same time; for example one motor may be duty
and the other standby. The same applies to installations; for example a group of houses or
apartments will not all consume the full design current at the same time. Applying a simultaneity factor
takes care of this. Often the term diversity is used and has the same meaning.

The diagram illustrates how the utilisation and simultaneity factors are used to estimate the power
demand of an installation. Click on the image for a larger version.

Following the diagram, the apparent power of the load or equipment is multiplied by the utilisation
factor to give a realistic power demand to be supplied by a distribution board. Summing these power
demand figures gives the total connected apparent demand (at that board). The distribution board
would normally be sized for this demand.

An appropriate simultaneity factor is applied to the connected apparent demand at the distribution
board and this [diversified] load is carried upstream to higher levels boards. Repeating this procedure
will lead to an expected total demand for the full installation.

In a nutshell, that’s all there is to it - in principal at least. There are often problems in deciding what
simultaneity factor to use and here experience can be really useful. For anyone who is interested in a
little more depth, we have a couple of pages on the site looking at the same topic:

Maximum Demand Estimation - Wiki Page

Maximum Demand for Buildings - Post

1 of 2 8/18/2011 7:02 PM
Estimating Power Demand Using IEC Methods http://myelectrical.com/posts/archive/2011/07/28/estimating-power-de...

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Posted Jul 28, 2011 4:46 PM by Steven

Comments

aymenomer wrote re: Estimating Power Demand Using IEC Methods

on Aug 1, 2011 9:29 PM

Hi,

How can I pick the values for Ku and Ks

Steven wrote re: Estimating Power Demand Using IEC Methods

on Aug 2, 2011 1:00 AM

We have some typical values in the Wiki

- see /wiki/maximum-demand-estimation.aspx for example

Ku depends on situation and often I tend to leave it at 1. If I know the mechanical/process guys
are over sizing I may use a lower figure. Ks is the same as diversity - besides the typical given
in the Wiki, people have their own they like to use or sometime supply Authorities require
certain values. A good starting point for finding values are the Siemens building applications
manuals, which I think you can download from their site.

ahmed01451 wrote re: Estimating Power Demand Using IEC Methods

on Aug 2, 2011 1:24 PM

If you could give me calculation step giving with one example if i have 6 motors each 15kw , out
of which 5 duty and 1 standby , how i can apply ks and ku .one example so that i can implement

Steven wrote re: Estimating Power Demand Using IEC Methods

on Aug 3, 2011 3:15 AM

With the given information I think it would be unlikely that the motors would be critically sized
and I would be tempted to use ku=0.8. You may even consider lower if you have some
background as to how the motor duties have been selected. On diversity you could use ks =
0.83 (5/6). This would give a diversified load of 60 kW (6x15x0.8x0.83).

I would size the individual supplies to each motor for 15 kW. If these are being supplied by an
MCB or DB it would be sized for the connected load 72 kW (15x6x0.8). For any upstream
switchboards I would assume they need to supply an average of 60 kW for these motors.

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