11.applying - IEC - 60909 - Short-Circuit - Current - Calculations 2023
11.applying - IEC - 60909 - Short-Circuit - Current - Calculations 2023
11.applying - IEC - 60909 - Short-Circuit - Current - Calculations 2023
I. INTRODUCTION
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system the maximum asymmetry is produced by a short- the instant of contact separation of the first pole to open
circuit that begins just before a voltage zero. of a switching device.
In order to produce this waveform from equations it is Note: This defines how to measure the r.m.s value of the a.c.
necessary to specify, the voltage amplitude, frequency, X/R component at the point in time that is relevant to switching
ratio and impedance of the system plus the decay constant for devices. This only differs from Ik” near to generators where
the a.c. waveform. The decay of any d.c. component is set by the a.c. component falls with time.
the X/R ratio. • The steady-state short-circuit current Ik is the r.m.s.
This resultant a.c. and d.c. components then must be value of the short-circuit current after the decay of
added together to produce the total waveform and the peak. transient phenomena.
Unfortunately in real power systems the reactance near to Within the IEC system, these five parameters are used to
a generator is a function of time. Also in power system define all short-circuit tests and the calculation of the potential
components the resistance is a function of frequency due to short-circuit currents in power systems.
the skin and proximity effects interacting with the large
physical dimensions. IV. OTHER SHORT-CIRCUIT CURRENT PARAMETERS
Whilst the equation parameters can plot simple system
responses, large complex systems cannot always be easily Outside of the IEC sphere of influence, other parameters
reduced to simple equations with only a few parameters. The will be found that describe short-circuit currents.
results of complex calculations and tests need to be easily
measured and reported in a manner that allows system • The Asymmetrical r.m.s. short-circuit current is often
calculations to be compared with test data in a manner that defined as the r.m.s. value of the first half-cycle of an
correlates with how the short-circuit currents react with asymmetric current.
equipment. Note: This is calculated from initiation until the current
changes sign and can be 65% larger than the symmetrical
III. IEC 60909 SHORT-CIRCUIT CURRENT r.m.s. current (a.c. component) of the same waveform in
PARAMETERS highly reactive circuits where it lasts a similar percentage
IEC 60909 describes how to calculate and measure the longer.
resultant short-circuit current waveform at a specified location
in a network and at a specific time, either the point of initiation V. SHORT–CIRCUIT CARRYING CAPACITY
of the short-circuit or contact opening of switchgear.
• A prospective (available) short-circuit current is the The short-circuit strength of power system components
current that would flow if the short-circuit were replaced can be specified in a number of ways:
by an ideal connection of negligible impedance without • Rated short-time withstand current Irms together with rate
any change of the supply. peak ip withstand current.
Note: This is not the current that would flow during a short- • Rated prospective short-circuit withstand current Irms
circuit test on equipment that has impedance or produces a • Rated conditional short-circuit current Irms
voltage but the current that would flow in a bolted fault at its • Rated fused short-circuit current Irms.
incoming terminals. This allows for the equipment to change The specified Irms current must occur for at least 0.1
the current to help it survive. (For example fuses and current seconds and the specified ip achieved during through fault
limiting circuit breakers are specified using a prospective tests for withstand current ratings in many equipment
current that never flows during a test due to the arc voltage standards.
limiting the current.) For prospective current ratings, the specified Irms occurs
• The initial symmetrical short-circuit current Ik” is the at the input terminals of the device and the actual test current
r.m.s. value of the a.c. symmetrical component of a can be smaller due to the natural impedance of the device
prospective (available) short-circuit current applicable at (busbar or switchboard).
the instant of the short-circuit. For the conditional and fused ratings, the protection
Note: This is an r.m.s. value of only the a.c. component, not specified is allowed to limit the actual current during testing.
the total waveform, and is measured between the top and The value of ip determines the peak mechanical forces in
bottom envelopes of the current waveform. It is defined at the equipment and is therefore a major parameter in failure
instant of short-circuit because the a.c. component can decay mechanisms.
for near to generator faults and a defining value is required. It is common however that the test station cannot achieve
• The decaying (aperiodic) component idc of a short- both the specified Irms and the corresponding value of ip
circuit current is the mean value between the top and required by the equipment standard at the same time. This is
bottom envelope at the time the short-circuit starts. because the X/R ratio assumed in the equipment standard
Note: This describes how to measure the value from a and the X/R ratio of the test station circuit rarely match.
measured or calculated waveform. Test stations therefore commonly perform a peak test of a
• The peak short-circuit current ip is the maximum few cycles followed by a thermal test.
possible instantaneous value of the prospective Irms needs to be achieved at the start of the short-circuit
(available) short-circuit current. for a prospective rating and for up to 0.1 seconds for a
Note: This is not the peak value for a particular event but the withstand rating. Remember the a.c. component decays in
highest value depending on X/R and the phase angle when generator test stations.
2
the short-circuit starts. The joule integral or I t of the test also needs to exceed
2
• The symmetrical short-circuit breaking current Ib is the rated Irms times the rated time, which may be specified or
the r.m.s. value of an integral cycle of the symmetrical come from the equipment standard. The Joule Integral of the
2
a.c. component of the prospective short-circuit current at current, ∫i ·dt, is a measure of the heat dissipated in the
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resistances of the system and therefore determines the of the arcing column and the rate-of-rise of voltage-withstand
temperature reached by the components. of the extinction mechanism after current zero, it also sets the
The rated short-circuit current Irms therefore defines three rate of rise of the voltage applied by the circuit.
parameters of a piece of equipment, which need to be It is therefore important, at the instant of contact
satisfied by test: separation, to have the rated symmetrical breaking current of
• Irms(required) > Irms(specified) the switchgear greater than Ib, the symmetrical a.c.
• ip(required) > ip(specified) component of the prospective short-circuit current.
2 2 The peak current ip affects switchgear in a number of
• Irms T(required) > Irms T(specified)
ways. During a making test, after the contacts pre-strike, ip
VI. COMPARING SPECIFIED CAPABILITY WITH defines the maximum pressure the mechanism must
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS overcome to force the contacts to metallic closure (i.e.
mechanism strength). During the asymmetrical opening tests,
Whilst the equipment capability is proven by test, the it sets the maximum pressure in extinction chambers. The
system requirements need to be calculated in accordance three tests:
with a standard that relates to the tested equipment capability. • Irms(rated) > Irms(calculated)=Ik”
On a new power system, the rated Irms of the equipment • ip(rated) > ip(calculated)= ip
2 2 2
is normally selected from the R10 range of numbers with a • Irms T(rated) > Irms T(calculated)= Ik” Tk
reasonable margin above the calculated Ik” or prospective are therefore equally important in establishing the suitability of
short-circuit current of the system. switchgear.
On an existing power system where the calculated short- They are not the only criteria however. Some switchgear
circuit current is approaching the ratings of some of the suffers from minimum and/or critical breaking current issues.
equipment much more care is required. All three tests need to High voltage back-up fuses will explode if subjected to
be applied to prevent equipment failure. currents below their minimum breaking current. (When not all
• Irms(rated) > Irms (calculated)=Ik” of the notches in the parallel elements initially clear, this leads
• ip(rated) > ip(calculated)= ip to restrikes inside the fuse cartridge, excessive energy
2 2 2 dissipation and eventual rupture.)
• Irms T(rated) > Irms T(calculated)= Ik” Tk
The peaking factor in equipment standards (such as Oil circuit breakers have critical breaking currents that
IEC61439 [2] and IEC62271 [3] for switchgear and require special tests that need to be monitored.
controlgear) may be lower than that in the system due to the
assumed X/R ratio, so a simple Irms test is not sufficient. VIII. UNBALANCED SHORT-CIRCUITS
If reclosers are used, the heat generated cannot dissipate
in the time between recloses so the sum of all the reclose Whilst three-phase equipment normally has only one
durations is required. rated short-circuit current, it relates not only to three-phase
To compare with the equipment rated values, IEC60909 faults but two-phase and single phase faults as well and the
calculates Ik”, the initial r.m.s value of the symmetrical equipment standards often set out extra tests to cover the
component, ip the maximum value of the peak current and different types of fault current.
2 As well as the initial symmetrical (three-phase) short-
Irms Tk where Tk is the sum of the durations of each short-
circuit current. circuit current, IEC 60909 sets out how to calculate:
If any of the rated values are conditional, the applications • Line-to-earth short-circuit currents Ik1”.
engineer must ensure that the conditions (protection required) • Line-to-line short-circuit currents Ik2”
comply with what was used during the certification testing. • Line-to-line-to-earth short circuit currents
If American equipment is being used, the applications o Ik2EL2”
engineer must ensure he does not compare the asymmetrical o Ik2EL3”
fault-current rating of a piece of equipment with a calculated o IkE2E”
symmetrical short-circuit current because these are two Note: In line-to-line-to-earth short-circuits the currents in each
different things with significantly different values. The phase and earth all have different amplitudes.
asymmetrical value includes the two IEC60909 components As well as the different currents in the fault, each of these
of symmetrical a.c. and decaying d.c. components into one unbalanced faults has different current transformation ratios
combined value, which can be 65% larger than the value of across transformers depending on the vector group of the
the a.c. component value. transformer.
VII. SWITCHING EQUIPMENT Whilst with the common delta/star vector group a three-
phase current transforms with the ratio of the high-voltage to
Whilst switching equipment must be capable of carrying a low-voltage phase-to-phase voltages, a single-phase current
through fault current when it is not called upon to close or trip, transforms with the ratio of the high-voltage phase-to-phase
there are many more issues to consider than the fault current voltage to the low-voltage phase-to-earth voltage in two of the
withstand requirements for cables, overhead lines, three high-voltage lines.
transformers, busbars and the busbar systems of With unganged high-voltage fuses, after the first fuse
switchboards. clears in a three-phase low-voltage fault, this leads to a
Except for the asymmetrical breaking current test (test reduction of current in the remaining high-voltage fuses.
duty 5), all the breaking current tests are carried out with There has been at least one case where the second and third
symmetrical currents most of which are directly related to fuse never cleared and manual tripping was required hours
Irms, the rated symmetrical current of the device. later.
This defines one of the most significant parameters of With a delta/star transformer, a low-voltage phase-phase
current extinction, di/dti0 or the rate of change of current at current transformed to high-voltage line currents becomes, in
current zero. Not only does this define the rate of contraction one phase twice and two phases once times the high-voltage
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phase-to-phase voltage divided by the low-voltage phase-to- Calculation of minimum short-circuit currents are required
earth voltage. to ensure protection will pick-up and trip with the setting
The different transformation ratios for different faults can applied. The protection also must not explode because the
lead to grading issues. current is below the minimum breaking current of some
equipment.
Delta/Star transformer IEC 60909 introduces the concept of a voltage factor “c”
With delta phase-to-phase V = star phase-to-earth V to calculate the maximum and minimum short-circuit currents.
For the maximum short-circuit current cmaxUn is equal to
the highest system voltage Um from IEC 60038 (standard
I2Φ=1←, I1Φ=1→ voltages) or the highest voltage for equipment and represents
I2Φ=1→
the highest voltage that should appear under normal
I2Φ=2→, I1Φ=0 conditions at any location in the network at that voltage level.
I2Φ=1←
For the minimum short-circuit current, cminUn is the lowest
I2Φ=1←, I1Φ=1← I1Φ=1→ supply or utilization voltage from IEC 60038 at that location in
the network.
I1Φ=1← The two voltage factors should be used with the most
I3Φ=√3 I3Φ=1 likely impedance of each component. If accurate data is not
available the most likely value rather than an extreme value
should be used. In other words be conservative once not
Fig.2 Transformation of unbalanced fault currents across a conservative, conservative, conservative.
delta star transformer. The impedance correction factors are derived for the
maximum case and need to be applied with thought for the
IX. IEC 60909 CALCULATIONS minimum cases.
The supply network is not the same for the maximum and
The IEC 60909 calculation method uses an equivalent minimum cases.
source voltage at the short-circuit location driving into the For the maximum case, the following data should be
short-circuit impedance of the network with all other voltage included:
sources set to zero. • cmaxUn
Symmetrical components are used to define the positive • The maximum short-circuit current the supply authority
sequence, negative sequence and zero sequence reserves the right to provide to the premises. (new
impedances of the system and its components in order to transformer just outside)
calculate the unbalanced short-circuit currents. • All parallel transformers in service
Any power system with multiple voltage levels and • If there is a ring main it should be closed
voltage control using transformer tap-changers and power • Calculation performed at input terminals of a low voltage
factor control, has many different configurations per day let switchboard
alone per year.
The standard sets out how to derive what is the most For the minimum case, the following data should be
likely prospective maximum and minimum fault currents at included:
that location even though tap ratios, loads and power factor
• cminUn
correction are continually changing.
• The minimum short-circuit current the supply authority
This involves procedures for deriving the short-circuit
guarantees to provide that connection.(Together with
impedance of the various system components including
voltage control this can be derived from minimum
impedance correction factors, which ensure that results both
capacity)
near equipment and out in the network represent the most
probable outcomes. • Minimum parallel transformers in service (At least one out
This allows transformer impedance to be calculated in the of service if it can run that way)
main tap-changer position and shunt capacitance and non- • If there is a ring main it should be open
rotating loads to be neglected. • Transformer to switchboard impedance included
This reduces a million different calculations to one • Calculation performed at end of a low voltage
maximum and one minimum. switchboard, where an arc will run to and burn
It should be noted that most of the data required is often • A calculation including the influence of the arc voltage for
not available and default values are required. These are low voltage.
provided in the different parts of IEC 60909.
XI. THE INFLUENCE OF ARC VOLTAGE ON SHORT-
X. MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM SHORT-CIRCUIT CIRCUIT CURRENT
CURRENTS
The impedance of an electrical supply network is mainly
Maximum short-circuit currents need to be calculated inductive with a small resistive component and the impedance
because they determine the rating required for the equipment of loads is mainly resistive with an inductive component (0.8
on the system. They should allow for foreseeable system power factor). This keeps the system losses within reasonable
upgrades that could occur independently of repeating the levels.
calculations and confirming ratings. The voltage across an arc is however in-phase with the
Whilst IEC 60909 does not call for it, it is useful to also current and out-of-phase with the reactive- impedance
calculate a present maximum, which is needed to check voltage-drop.
present protection grading and investigate incidents. Whilst arcs on parallel electrodes tend to produce a sine
wave like voltage waveform (with plenty of distortion), they are
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not resistive because of the negative v/i characteristic. (From
zero to around 1000 Amp(instantaneous) the arc voltage/cm Arc Voltage Influence on Current
falls to around 10V/cm and thereafter rises slowly with 1000 20000
current. This dominates behaviour which is different to a 800
resistor where the voltage increases with instantaneous 15000
current.) 600
10000
The arc voltage is also only a weak function of electrode 400
separation and therefore system voltage. The sine wave like
5000
waveform is due to the arc lengthening and shortening during 200
each cycle and the same behaviour dominates over the 0 0
influence of electrode separation.
-1000 -500 0 500 1000
-200
-5000
The following vector diagram shows the influence of a
-400
350 Vrms equivalent arc voltage (fundamental frequency -10000
component phase-to-phase) on a 20,000 Amp bolted short- -600
circuit in a nominal 460V system with an X/R of 10. It was -15000
-800
calculated at the utilisation voltage minimum of 424V.
-1000 -20000
-20000 -10000 0 10000 20000
Arc Voltage Influence on Current
1000 20000
Impedance voltage with arc Arc Voltage Drop
800
15000
600 Toatal voltage with arc Total voltage without arc
10000
400
s/c current with arc s/c current without arc
5000
200
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350V equivalent arcing volts phase-phase, the minimum [4] D. K. Sweeting, The Electric Arc, PhD Thesis School of
current falls to 11.2 kA or 56% of the maximum prospective Electrical Engineering, University of Sydney, 1969
current and 68% of the minimum non-arcing current.
It is a completely different story for a 20kA bolted short- XV. VITA
circuit at the maximum 4.44 kV in a nominal 4.16 kV system
with the same X/R of 10. The minimum voltage of 3.6kV drops Dr. David Sweeting graduated from Sydney University
the short-circuit current to 16.2kA. with a Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Engineering and a
The 350V equivalent phase-phase arcing voltage only Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering [4]. He spent
reduces the 16.2kA to 16kA or 99% of that when arcing four years in Switzerland with Brown Boveri on Circuit Breaker
voltage is not considered. This is because not only is the arc Development and testing before returning to Australia to join
voltage ten times smaller in relation to the system voltage it is Sydney County Council, an electrical distribution authority
now at 79° to it and therefore has an even smaller influence. where he held positions in substations, overhead transmission
and ran the high power testing station. In 1980, he joined
XII. ARCING HAZARDS Bassett Consulting Engineers where he became an Associate
Director. In 1989, he formed Sweeting Consulting, which is a
With the normal time graded protection on distribution specialist High Voltage Electrical Engineering Firm. He is an
systems, the largest arc energy is normally produced by the Honorary Fellow of The Institution of Engineers Australia, a
minimum arcing fault current because the influence of the senior member of IEEE and IAS and a member of Consult
increased time for the protection to trip exceeds the influence Australia and CIGRE. David has been a member of a number
of the smaller arcing current. This is the reason that minimum of International CIGRE Committees, International
short-circuit currents including the arc voltage influence is an Electrotechnical Commission, IEC, working groups and
essential calculation. Standards Australia’s committees covering short circuit
In some systems the minimum short-circuit current during currents and power quality. Dr. Sweeting is a visiting
arcing may not trip the protection at all. Professor at the University of Wollongong. David has
This is not only a case of insufficient current to pick up the published 65 papers on circuit breakers, electric arcs, testing,
protection. The waveform of low voltage fault currents can switching over voltages, cable fault location, motor failures,
include periods where all three currents remain near zero for computer-aided design, standards, safety, standard voltages,
a number of cycles before the insulation fails again. The power quality and electric arc burn hazards.
protection must be able to detect such discontinuous
waveforms without resetting.
XIII. CONCLUSIONS
XIV. REFERENCES
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