IDEA Page : 1

POWER CONDUCTOR CALCULATION Date :

Industrial Designer &
Engineer Association

The cross-section of power conductor is determined considering the following factors :

 Permissible voltage drop. For very long supply lines, also the inductive parts of the supply impedance must be
considered, not only the resistive part.

 Permissible temperature rise due to electrical load and the mechanical strength of conductor.
These two conditions each provide a minimum cross –section, the larger being the one to be selected.

A. CALCULATION CONSIDERING PERMISSIBLE VOLTAGE DROP

When calculating the voltage drop, the most favorable position of hoisting appliance in relation to the supply point must be
considered.
When calculating the permissible voltage drop on a supply line used by several hoisting appliances, the start-up current ( Is ) and
rated current ( In ) of the motors operating simultaneously must be considered.

 In this clause, the considered rated current In should not necessarily mean the nameplate current of the motor, but the
current drawn by the motor at full rated load.
 For squirrel-cage motor, start-up current Is refers to manufacturer catalogue. In case the motor is controlled by electronic
drive ( soft-starter, frequency inverter, etc), the maximum current during any phase of operation should be considered as
start-up current, although the highest current does not necessarily occur when starting the motion. With direct starting, the Is
is typically 5 to 10 times In. With frequency converters, Is is typically bellow 2 times In.
 For drive with n-motors in parallel, apply n * Is or n * In.
 In case 2 or more hoisting appliances are working together, they should be considered as one appliance by using the sum
current ( Is or In ) of each joint motion.
 In case the power supply also feeds other continuous load, such as lighting, hydraulic pumps, lifting magnets or other
equipments, the current drawn by these devices need to be considered.

Number of cranes on Of all cranes together

one bus-bar line
Biggest motor 2nd. biggest 3rd. biggest 4th biggest

1 Is cos s In cos n

2 Is cos s Is cos s

3 Is cos s Is cos s In cos n

4 Is cos s Is cos s In cos n In cos n

The cross-sections are determined taking account a maximum permissible voltage drop of 2,5% for crane tracks + 2,5% for crane
bridge. The principal factors are the starting current of the largest motor + the nominal current of the next smallest motor. For
motors connected in parallel, the currents must be added together.

For three phase power supply, the required minimum cross-section A of copper conductors can be calculated with the formula :

3 * Ig * L * cos 
A =
 * U
A = cross section in mm2
Ig = sum of calculated current ( Is and In ), see table in Ampere
L = Effective distance of appliances to the feed point in m
cos  = power factor
U = permissible voltage drop in Volt
 = electric conductivity in m / (  * mm2 )
 IDEA Page : 2
POWER CONDUCTOR CALCULATION Date :
Industrial Designer &
Engineer Association

Selection of conductor : Type of conductor

Actual cross section area A1 in mm2
Impedance R1 in Ohm

Calculation of actual voltage drop :

r * cos 
Ua = 3 * Ig * L * ( + x * sin  )
A1

3 * Ig * L * cos 
Or : Ua =
 * Ai

Ua = Actual voltage drop in Volt

Ig = sum of calculated current ( Is and In ), see table in Ampere
L = Effective distance of appliances to the feed point in m
cos  = power factor, if exact figure is not available, cos  is taken = 0,8
Ai = actual cross-section in mm2
r = impedance per unit length in mm2 / m = 0,0225 mm2 / m
x = reactance per unit length in m / m = 0,08 m / m

B. CALCULATION CONSIDERING PERMISSIBLE TEMPERATURE RISE

The cross-section is determined in accordance with the table :

Cross-sectional area in Permissible current for insulated conductor at ambient temperature 40 degC
mm2 for a duty factor of :

100% ED 60% ED 40% ED

A A A

1.5 18 18 20
2.5 26 26 30
4 34 34 40
6 44 44 50
10 61 61 75
16 82 87 105
25 108 120 145
35 135 145 175
50 168 180 210
70 207 240 270
95 250 270 330
120 292 310 380
150 335 350 430