Calculation of losses in electric power cables as

the base for cable temperature analysis

I. Sarajcev1, M. Majstrovic2 & I. Medic1

1
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Split, Croatia
2
Energy Institute Hrvoje Pozar Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

Power losses refer to the heat generated in cable conducting parts (phase
conductors and sheaths) and in cable insulating parts. It is necessary to know the
exact data regarding heating powers for the calculation of heath transfer and
cable temperatures. Heating power in phase conductors and sheaths mainly
depend on current values. Exact calculation of those powers is very difficult.
This paper develops a mathematical model of heating power calculation in three
phase single-core cable conductors and sheaths. This model is used to determine
filament currents and heating powers in phase conductors and sheaths.
Geophysical features of the cable route are also considered. Three-phase single
core electric power cables of 35 kV rated voltage are taken as an example. Two
laying conditions (trefoil and flat formation) are considered. Sheathes are bonded
and grounded at both ends. Calculation results for cables in flat configuration
show that heating powers in cable sheaths do not have equal magnitude and
increase with distance. The least heating power occurs in the sheath of the
middle cable. Heating powers in sheaths of outer cables are of unequal
magnitude too. Thereby, the cable sheath of the lag phase has a higher power.
Our research has shown that in some cases heating powers in sheaths could be
greater than heating powers in phase conductors. The method presented in this
paper is used to determine heating powers of all filaments over the cross-
sectional area. Calculation results show that sheath filament heating powers are
not radial symmetric.
530 Advanced Computational Methods in Heat Transfer VI

1 Introduction
Heating power is identical to an electrical power loss and occurs during the cable
operation. In general, there are two types of powers generated in a cable: current-
dependent powers and voltage-dependent powers. Current-dependent powers
refer to the heat generated in metallic cable components (conductors, sheaths
etc.). Voltage-dependent powers refer to the powers in cable insulation. These
powers belong to two groups: dielectric powers and powers caused by the
charging current. The energy generated by the above- mentioned powers is
converted to other energy forms, predominantly heat. This heat energy tends to
increase the temperatures of the associated electrical and unelectrical
components.
The heating powers produced in cable insulation depend on operation voltage.
In general, their calculations are simple, especially for single-core cables. They
will not be analyzed in this paper. Current-dependent powers are composed of
conductor powers and sheath powers. They are a function of the load current.
Skin and Proximity Effects, Cable Components, Laying Conditions and Sheath
Earthing have to be taken into account when making the heating power
calculation. Exact calculation of current-dependent powers is very complicated.
The mathematical model of heating power calculation in conductors and sheaths
is developed in this paper. The transmission line is composed of three single core
cables with sheaths earthed at both ends. This method is based on the
segmentation into filaments of both the conductor and the sheath cross-sectional
area. The filament has a small cross-sectional area thus we can assume the
uniform density of currents flowing through the cross-sectional area of each
filament. The method of Geometric Mean Distance is used too. Electrical and
thermal characteristics of soil are also considered.

2 Mathematical model
The transmission line composed of three single-core cables in a quasi-stationary
operation is considered (Figure 1). This line is a part of the directly earthed
network. The sheaths of these cables are earthed at both ends. Conductors and
sheaths are divided into Np and Ns filaments, respectively. The total number of
filaments is N=3·(Np+Ns). Unknown currents ( Ii, i=1,2,…,N) flow through
these filaments. The cables are connected to the huge Power System (infinite
connection point) with three phase voltages

VR=VR /φR , VS=VS /φS , VT=VT /φT (1)

Three-phase passive network is connected to the other cable terminals. This

network is represented by impedance ZRl, ZSl and ZTl. This approach enables the
application of various load types. Zeg and Zel are earthing impedances at
generator and load cable terminals, respectively (Figure 1).
 Advanced Comupational Methods in Heat Transfer VI 531

Unknown filament currents are calculated in the loop frame of reference. The
independent loop consists of the filament with earth return. Matrix equation can
be written as follows:
V =Z·I (2)
where
V - column vector of loop voltages
Z - matrix of self and mutual impedance of filaments with earth return
I - column vector of filament currents

Figure 1: Single-core cable circuits with earthing arrangement of cable sheaths.

Elements of matrix Z are calculated as follows:

- filaments of phase conductors

z ik = Z ik + Z α (i,k ) + Z ge + Z le (3)

where α(i,k) are: for R 1 ≤ i,k ≤ Np, for S Np+1 ≤ i,k ≤ 2·Np, for T 2·Np+1 ≤
i,k ≤ 3·Np.

- filaments of sheaths

z ik = Z ik + Z ge + Z le (4)
532 Advanced Computational Methods in Heat Transfer VI

Mutual impedance between i and k circuits is calculated as follows:

ω⋅µo ⋅ l ω ⋅ µ o ⋅ l  658 ρ e 
Z ik = + j⋅ ⋅ ln ⋅ (5)
8 2⋅π  d ik f 


where j = − 1 , ω = 2 ⋅ π ⋅ f - angular frequency, f - frequency of system, Hz,

µ o = 4 ⋅ π ⋅10 −7 , Vs / Am - vacuum permeability, l - length of the cable route,
m, dik - geometric mean distance between filaments i and k, m, ρe - earth
electrical resistivity, Ωm.
Self impedance of the circuit filament with earth return i is:
ω⋅µo ⋅l ω ⋅ µ o ⋅ l  658 ρ e 
Z ii = R i + + j⋅ ⋅ ln ⋅ (6)
8 2⋅π  d ii f 


where Ri - resistance of filament i, Ω , dii - geometric mean radius of filament i,

m.
The resistance of filament i is, as follows:
ρ ⋅l
Ri = f (7)
Ai
where Ai - cross-sectional area, m2 , ρf - filament electrical resistivity, Ωm.

Unknown filament currents are from eqn (2):

I = Z-1 · V (8)

These currents are taken into the heating power calculation. The heating power
of filament i is:

2
Pi = I i ⋅Ri (9)

Heating powers of conductors and sheaths are:

Np 2Np 3N p
PR = ∑ I i ∑ ∑
2 2 2
⋅ R i , PS = Ii ⋅ R i , PT = Ii ⋅Ri
i =1 i = N p +1 i = 2 N p +1
 Advanced Comupational Methods in Heat Transfer VI 533

3N p + N s 3N p + 2 N s N
∑ ∑ ∑
2 2 2
PsR = Ii ⋅ R i , PsS = Ii ⋅ R i , PsT = Ii ⋅Ri
i =3 N p +1 i =3 N p + N s +1 i = 2 N p + 2 N s +1

(10)
Total heating power is as follows:

T T
P= ∑ Pi + ∑ Psj (11)
i =R j= R

Once we have calculated the heating power the quasi-state heat transfer and
temperature field can be calculated either by electrical analogue procedure
(Ohm’s law) or by finite element method.

3 An Example
The method presented is applied in the transmission line of three single-core
cables. Electric power cable is of IPHA 04, (FKS [6]) type. Cross-sectional area
of the copper stranding conductor is 400 mm2. The sheath is made of 1.5 mm
thick aluminium pipe with outside diameter of 44.6 mm. Oil-impregnated paper
tape insulation is 8 mm thick. 2 mm thick PVC is used for non-metallic outer
sheath. External diameter Dk=48.5 mm. Rated voltage is 35 kV. The cable route
is 1000 m long. Three single-core cables are connected to the “infinite power”
buses. Their voltages are: VR=20.207/0 kV, VS=20.207 /4π/3 kV, VT=20.207
/2π/3 kV. Three-phase balanced load is connected to the other terminal. The load
impedance is: ZRl = ZSl = ZTl =43 +j 0 Ω. The current rating of cables in flat
formation with the separation of so=70 mm is 450 A. For cables in trefoil
formation the current rating is 500 A. Conductors and sheaths are divided into
five (Np=5) and sixty filaments (Ns=60), respectively. The stranded conductor
contains 61 (1+6+12+18+24) wires whose diameter is 2.9 mm. The conductor
filament resitivity at 60oC is ρf =0.01995 µΩm. The sheath filament resitivity at
55oC is ρs=0.03241 µΩm. The earth electrical resistivity is ρe =50 Ωm.
Cables in flat (Figure 2) and trefoil (Figure 3) formation are analyzed. During
the calculations the cable separation is changed for cables in flat formation as
follows: so=0 mm and so=70 mm and so=140 mm. Earthing impedance at
generator and load cable terminals are neglected (Zeg = Zel =0+j0 Ω).
In the case of laying cables in flat formation the calculation results show that
the electromagnetic symmetry exists for y=0 and it does not exist for xo=so+Dk
flatness. Heating powers of sheath filaments per unit length (one meter) are
presented in Figure 4. Cable separation is so=0 mm. For laying cables in trefoil
formation these powers are presented in Figure 5.
Calculation results of total heating powers in conductors and in sheaths are
presented in Table 1. These powers calculated again this time using IEC
recommendation (IEC [7]) are shown in Table 1, too. A good agreement is seen
between the two ways of calculation. We have got the same results for heating
534 Advanced Computational Methods in Heat Transfer VI

powers of three phase conductors for cables laid in trefoil formation. A similar
conclusion can be drawn for sheaths.

Figure 2: Cables in flat formation.

Figure 3: Cables in trefoil formation.

The calculation of laying cables in flat formation has given the similar results
for three-phase conductors. Influence of the separation so on the powers is
negligible. However, heating powers in sheaths differ among different sheaths
and they depend on separation so. These powers increase with the increase of so.
It is possible that in some cases these powers are greater than conductor powers.
The least power occurs in the sheath of the middle cable. The sheath powers of
external cables are not equal and they depend on the phase order. This order is
presented in Table 2. For each phase order the cable with the greatest heating
power is marked with a bold-italic letter (gray cells). In Figure 2 cable positions
are marked I, II, III, respectively.
 Advanced Comupational Methods in Heat Transfer VI 535

Table 1: Conductor and sheath total heating powers per unit length.

Flat formation Trefoil formation

Error Error Error Error
Calc. IEC Calc. IEC Calc. IEC Calc. IEC
(%) (%) (%) (%)
so
0 70 140 0
(mm)
PR
11.223 11.233 0.09 11.211 11.222 0.10 11.205 11.215 0.09 11.239 11.249 0.09
(W/m)
PS
11.242 11.253 0.10 11.226 11.236 0.09 11.217 11.227 0.09 11.239 11.249 0.09
(W/m)
PT
11.238 11.248 0.09 11.216 11.226 0.09 11.206 11.216 0.09 11.239 11.249 0.09
(W/m)
PsR
6.013 6.196 3.04 11.877 12.166 2.43 14.969 15.238 1.80 3.799 4.002 5.34
(W/m)
PsS
2.808 3.034 8.05 8.979 8.807 -1.91 13.002 12.869 -1.02 3.799 4.002 5.34
(W/m)
PsT
8.448 8.304 -1.70 17.280 16.952 -1.90 20.910 20.519 -1.87 3.799 4.002 5.34
(W/m)
P
50.972 51.268 0.58 71.789 71.609 -0.25 82.509 82.284 -0.27 45.114 45.753 1.42
(W/m)
536 Advanced Computational Methods in Heat Transfer VI

Figure 4: Sheath filament heating powers of cables in flat formation.

Figure 5: Sheath filament heating powers of cables in trefoil formation.

 Advanced Computational Methods in Heat Transfer VI 537

Table 2: The greatest sheath heating powers in phase order function.

I II III
R S T
R T S
S R T
S T R
T R S
T S R

4 Conclusion
The mathematical model presented in this paper provides an exact calculation of
conductor and sheath heating powers in the transmission line composed of three
single-core cables. Thereby, there are no constraints by cable laying. Heating
powers can be calculated for both cases of balanced and unbalanced quasi-steady
loads since they are not affected by power factor. The least heating power occurs
in the sheath of the middle cable in flat formation. Furthermore, heating powers
in sheaths of outer cables are not of equal magnitude. Between them the cable
sheath of lag phase has a higher power than the other one. In some cases heating
powers in sheaths could be greater than heating powers in phase conductors. This
knowledge is important for cable temperature analysis because these powers are
acting as heating sources. The method described in this paper is used to
determine filament heating powers over the cross-sectional area of power cables.
It can be considered also as the first step in calculations of temperature rise for
more complex, nonhomogeneous bodies. The calculation includes lack of radial
symmetry of sheath filaments heating powers.

References
[1] Heinhold, L. Power Cables and their Applications, Siemens: Berlin, 1979.
[2] Sarajcev, I. Gubici snage kabelskog prenosa, Ph. d. disertation,
Elektrotehnički fakultet: Zagreb, 1985.
[3] Carson, J.,R. Ground Return Impedance: Underground Wire with Erth
Return, Bell System Tech. J., Vol. 8, p84, 1929.
[4] Siemens. Formel-und Tabellenbüch fur Starkstrom-Ingenieure, Girordet:
Essen, 1965.
[5] Haznadar Z., Matjan J. Određivanje raspodjele struja i proračun gubitaka i
impedancija u sustavima ravnih vodiča, X Savjetovanje elektroenergetičara
Jugoslavije: Dubrovnik, 1970.
[6] FKS. Kataloški podaci tvornice kabela “Moša Pijade”, FKS:
Svetozarevo, 1985.
[7] IEC. Publication 287/ 1969.
[8] Anders G., J. Rating of Electric Power Cables, IEEE Press: New York, 1997.