Sunteți pe pagina 1din 4

DETERMINING CROSS SECTION AREA OF THE PROTECTIVE CONDUCTOR FOR A PARTICULAR CIRCUIT

This report is to declare that 1.5mm2 copper conductor is sufficient to use as protective conductor for a circuit which is having 1.5mm2 live conductor. Cross section area of protective conductor is determined so as it (protective conductor) should be able to withstand the dissipating heat energy by the earth fault current until the tripping device is operated without any damage to the cable. Simply said, for a particular earth fault current the protective device takes a time to operate. Until that, earth fault current is going through protective conductor. It means amount of heat energy is dissipated within that time period inside the protective conductor. The protective conductor should have the capacity to withstand that dissipated heat amount without damaging to the cable. This is indicated in IEE wiring regulation (latest 17th edition) in clause 543.1.3 as follows, From clause 543.1.3 of IEE wiring regulation 17th edition

1 Where S I t k is the minimum protective conductor cross-sectional area (mm2) is the earth fault current (A) is the opening time of the protective device (s) is a factor depending on the conductor material and insulation, and the initial and maximum insulation

further above equation can be elaborated as follows S2k2 is heat capacity of the protective conductor. I2t is the energy let through to protective conductor before the protective device is operated. So it is obvious that S2k2 must be greater than I2t. S2k2 I2t hence so then minimum cross section area of protective conductor is

Data Measured earth fault loop impedance of Havelock city is 0.19. Theory Maximum earth fault current can be occurred in the system 2

Where U0 Zs is nominal r.m.s. voltage of the system, here it is 230V is the earth-fault loop impedance

Calculation from equation 2, maximum earth fault current of the Havelock city is I = 230/0.19 =1211A

For a circuit using 1.5mm2 live conductor, circuit protective device is 6A MCB or 10A MCB. In a 6A MCB/ 10A MCB tripping time for above fault current is less than 0.01s as illustrated in figure 01. So form equation 1, I t k =1211 A =0.01 s =143 for copper conductors.

Value for k is taken by table 54.2 of IEE wiring regulation, (refer figure 02) for copper conductors. S =((1211)2 * 0.01)/143 = 0.85 mm2 Minimum cross section area of the protective conductor needed is 0.85mm2. So it is obvious 1.5mm2 protective conductor is enough for a circuit having 1.5mm2 live cable to carry the earth fault current without damaged to protective conductor cable until the tripping device is operated.

Figure 01: tripping characteristics of a MCB which is comply with EN 60898

Figure 02: values for k, table 54.2 of IEE wiring regulation

Conclusion 1.5mm2 copper conductor can be used as protective conductor for a circuit having 1.5mm 2 live conductor when the cable and protective devices are comply with relevant standards.

S-ar putea să vă placă și