ME5507 - Electrical Services

9 Fault protection

9.1 BS7671 – ‘Wiring Regulations’

BS7671 provides for protection of people, property and livestock.

This involves protection of the electrical installation, e.g. “overcurrent protection” and
protection of us from the electrical installation, e.g. electric shock protection.
Overcurrents can be either fault or overload currents.

9.1.1 Status
BS7671 is not a statutory document, but it is cited in various statutory regulations. It
serves as the industry standard for low-voltage electrical installations in buildings.
The Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002 (ESQCR) cite non-
compliance with BS7671 as one of the grounds for the electricity distributor to refuse
to supply electricity to a consumer.
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (EWR) do not mention BS7671 but the
EWR memo of guidance published by the HSE states that any installation complying
with the IET Regulations is “likely to comply” with EWR [8].
Note: BS 7671only applies to low voltage installations, but fundamental principles
overlap with the EWR, which is statutory and applies to any voltage.

9.1.2 Fundamental principles

BS7671 provides for protection against:
• electric shock
• thermal effects – e.g. burns, and ignition of flammable materials
• overcurrents and fault currents
• voltage disturbance and supply interruption

A key part of use to us is Appendix 4.

9.2 Fault current

Protection of property extends to prospective fault conditions. We are required to

assess the prospective fault current and arrange for fault current protection.

9.2.1 Short-circuit
Short circuit is the condition where live conductors at different voltages have come
into contact as a result of some fault, e.g. phase1 to phase 2 or phase to neutral.
Protection of the installation against the effects of short circuit is achieved through
the usual protective devices, often the same devices providing overload protection.

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First, the magnitude of the short circuit current is found and then the speed of
operation of the device determined.
The speed of operation is likely to be a fraction of a second so, when evaluating the
thermal effect of the current, the so-called ‘adiabatic equation’ is used. That is, it is
assumed that there is not time for significant heat loss from the cable.

The adiabatic equation is: I 2t = k 2S 2

where I is the fault current in Amps.

t is the duration of the fault in seconds.
S is the conductor cross-sectional area in mm2.
k is a constant for the type of cable and installation.
The R.H.S. is the inherent withstand capability of the cable, and the L.H.S. is the
maximum permitted heating effect of the fault current, i.e. the maximum permitted
‘let-through energy’ of the protective device.
Example values of k for common cable and
protective conductor types, from BS7671 [5]

Conductor Insulation Assumed initial k

material material temperature
(°C)

70 115
PVC
Copper 30 143

90 143
XLPE
30 176
Steel
PVC 60 51
armour

All of the conductors and devices in the circuit must be capable of withstanding the
fault current for the duration t. The protective devices must be able to break the
Prospective Short Circuit Current (PSCC) and all switching devices must be able to
make, i.e. close on to, PSCC.
The PSCC is calculated from the lowest impedance that could occur and, hence,
gives a highest value. The lowest impedance occurs when the circuit has been
unloaded and the conductors are at the ambient temperature, normally taken as
20 °C. Note that PSCC at the point of supply is declared by the distributor for low-
voltage supplies, as required by the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity
Regulations 2002 [1].
(See http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2665/regulation/28/made)

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Typical values are:
PSCC
Service cut-out
rating single- three-
phase phase
100 A 16 kA 24 kA
200 A 24 kA 28 kA
400 A 30 kA 30 kA

This can be used to calculate the lowest value of impedance of the supply. To
calculate the highest fault current one may assume that the supply impedance is
inductive.

9.2.2 Earth fault

The earth fault loop is different from the short circuit loop, and will be considered in
detail in part 10. The circuit protective conductor (cpc) is now in circuit and, though it
is not given overload protection, it requires fault current protection. Therefore the
cpc must be checked for compliance with the adiabatic equation. Note that different
k values may apply.

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Tutorial Questions

Prospective short-circuit current

9.1 The three-phase electrical supply to a building is derived from the low-voltage
winding of a transformer, as illustrated in Figure 1.
The transformer is rated 11kV/433V, and has the following impedance per
phase referred to the low-voltage winding:
resistance: 3.8 mΩ, reactance: 17.3 mΩ

Intake
Switchboard

Feeder
Sub-main
Load

Figure 1. Single-line Schematic of LV Supply

The feeder and sub-main cables are PVC/SWA/PVC, details are given in
Table 1.

Table 1. Cable Details

Conductor impedance per unit
Cable Type Circuit length length at 20°C
Resistive Reactive
Two 4-core
Feeder cables in 20 m 0.075 mΩ/m 0.075 mΩ/m
parallel
One 4-core
Sub-main 50m 0.866 mΩ/m 0.084 mΩ/m
cable

Calculate the values of prospective short circuit current at the Intake

Switchboard, and at the Load. [13.4 kA, 4.7 kA]

9.2 A single-phase circuit is to be installed to feed a distribution board containing

circuit breakers with 6 kA rating. The source of supply is 240 V, 50 Hz with a
declared value of prospective short-circuit current of 10 kA. The conductors
of the cable specified for the circuit have an impedance of 1.28 mΩ/m at the
ambient temperature.
What is the minimum circuit length if the 6 kA rating is not to be
exceeded? [12.5 m]

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9.3 A building takes an electrical supply at 415 V, 50 Hz for which the DNO has
declared a prospective short circuit current value of 24 kA. A circuit is to be
installed from the supply intake position to feed a three-phase distribution
board. The circuit route length is 30 m and the distribution board contains
MCBs with a breaking capacity of 6 kA. Calculate the minimum value of
conductor impedance per unit length that can be used without exceeding the
MCB breaking capacity [1.29 mΩ/m]

Adiabatic equation

9.4 In a particular circuit the conductors are protected by a 20 A MCB with a total
let-through energy of 65×103 A2s. The cable used comprises PVC-insulated
copper live conductors.
(a) Determine the minimum value of cross-sectional area of the live
conductors if they are to be fully protected against fault current by the
MCB. [2.2 mm2]
(b) If the circuit protective conductor takes the form of a separate cable,
how could the size be reduced below that calculated in (a) above, and
yet still be fully protected against fault current?

9.5 The three-phase electrical supply to a building is fed by a PVC/SWA/PVC

sub-main cable. The sub-main cable is protected by a circuit breaker with let-
through energy 3×105 A2s. What would be the minimum cross-sectional area
required of the steel-wire armour, if this is to be used as the circuit protective
conductor given a k value of 51? [10.7 mm2]

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