Harmonic Impedance of Single-Core Armored
Cables
Z.H. Yuan and Y. Du
Abstract--Single-core armored cables are frequently used for
power distribution in large buildings. Because of the concern of
safety, the armors of these cables are normally bonded and
connected to earth. This, however, may create overheating
problems or others when the cables carry rich harmonic currents.
This paper presented an experimental investigation into
harmonic resistance and reactance of the single-core armored
cables. Harmonic impedance under different cable arrangements
including the flat and touching, flat and spaced, and trefoil
configurations were addressed. The impact of the method of
armor bonding was studied via the experiment on 185 mm2
single-core copper stranded cables. Finally recommendations on
the installation of single-corearmored cables are provided.
Index Tenns-cables, harmonics and impedance
I. INTRODUCTION
ingle-core cables are frequently used for power
S distribution in large buildings. They are normally armored
with a concentric layer of aluminum wires for mechanical
protection. Because of the metallic nature of these wires
induced voltages are generated on the armor [ 11. Over-voltage
on the armor creates safety problems, and is not tolerated in
buildings [1]-[2].
Armor bonding or earthing is the simplest solution to the
problem of armor voltage. However, it may generate
circulating currents within the armors. These induced currents
create additional power losses on the armors, and reduce
ampacity of the single-core cables and energy efficiency of
the distribution system [3]-[4]. It is, therefore, necessary to
study how the induced currents affect cable losses and voltage
drop at 50Hz and harmonic frequencies as well.
Cable impedance at 50Hz is normally given in relevant
standards [2], but the impedance at harmonic frequencies is
not well documented [5]-[6]. There is no information
available in public about the harmonic impedance of single-
core armored cables.
This paper presents an experimental investigation into
harmonic impedance of low-voltage single-core armored
cables used in buildings. It starts with the description of cable
installation methods, and followed by the description of an
This work was supported by grants from the Research Committee of the
Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and the Research Grants Council of the
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Z.H. Yuan and Y. Du are with Department of Building Services
Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
0-7803-81 10-6/03/$17.00 0 2003 E E E
Authorized licensed use limited to: Rolls-Royce. Downloaded on August 26,2021 at 10:04:58 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
experimental procedure. Both resistance and reactance of the
cables at harmonic frequencies are presented. The impact of
armor bonding methods under various configurations is
discussed. Finally recommendations on the installation of
single-core armored cables are provided.
II. CABLEARRANGEMENTS
Single-core armored cables are used for three-phase power
distribution in buildings. They are normally deployed on tray
(e.g. galvanized iron tray), trunking or directly fixed on wall,
floor and ceiling. According to local practices, single-core
cables are often arranged in three different configurations,
that is, flat and touching, flat and spaced and trefoil
configurations, as illustrated in Figure 1. Cable spacing in the
flat and spaced configuration usually is one diameter of these
single-core cables.
(a) Flat and touching arrangement
(b) Flat and spaced arrangement
n
(c) Trefoil arrangement
Fig.1. Cable arrangements for a three-phase four-wire distribution system
For safety reasons, armors of these single-core cables are
required to be bonded together and connected to earth. Armor
bonding can be made at one end of the cables (single-point
bonding), or at both ends of the cables (solid bonding).
Generally speaking, solid bonding diminishes the induced
voltage on the armors, but generates the induced currents
along the armors. Whenever power losses or heat generation
arising from the induced currents are the issue of concern
single-point bonding or cross bonding can be considered.
Cross bonding means the armors of these cables are
sectionalized into minor sections and armor sections for
different phase cables are connected in serials so as to
approximately neutralize the total induced voltage in three
45.
consecutive sections. Both single-point bonding and cross sequence depending on whether the order was triplen or nor.
bonding methods are normally applicable to the short and The neutral cable was connected to the supply only during the
long single-core cables, respectively. zero-sequence impedance measurement, as illustrated in
Figure 2.
III. EXPERIMENTAL
PROCEDURE
Figure 2 shows the experimental setup of harmonic W. HARMONIC Ih4l’EDANCE
impedance measurement. Three-phase harmonic currents are In the experiment voltage, current and active power of
generated from a harmonic current source. They are applied order h on three cables were recorded with PM3000A. Both
to sample cables under test. Voltages, currents and powers on resistance Rh and reactance xh of order h per phase, then,
the cables were measured with Power Analyzer PM3000A. were calculated by
The recorded data, then, were used to determine harmonic R, =Ph/Ii
impedance of these cables. (1)
The cables under test were four single-core armored cables
to BS6724 [7]. These cables have a conductor size of 185mm2,
X h = .JET77
where vh,I, and Ph are the average values of all phase
and a length of 10 meters. In the experiment the cables run in
voltages, phase currents, and phase powers at order h,
parallel on a non-magnetic surface, and were arranged
respectively. For the simplicity of discussion, both harmonic
according to Figure 1, that is, in the flat and touching
configuration, or flat and spaced configuration or trefoil resistance and reactance of the cables are expressed in terms
of ratios with reference to cable DC resistance and 50%
configuration. The single-core armored cables were connected
together at one end with a copper busbar, and connected to a reactance, respectively.
current source at the other end. The armors of these cables A. Harmonic Resistance
were bonded either at one cable end or at two cable ends Figure 3 shows the ratio curves for positive-sequence
depending whether the single-bonding method or solid resistance of the cables under three different configurations
bonding method is employed. with the single-point bonding or solid bonding method, as
The harmonic current source consisted of one harmonic illustrated in Figure 1. The ratio curves for zero-sequence
signal generator, three power amplifiers and three step-down resistance of the cables are shown in Figure 4. In these figures,
transformers, as illustrated in Figure 2. In the experiment, the abbreviation ‘SPB’ denotes ‘single point bonding’ while
three-phase currents were injected into the cables under test ‘SB’ denotes ‘solid bonding’.
via the step-down transformers. These currents generated
three-phase voltages on the cables.
8
Shortcircuit connection -&-(b)SPB --t(b)SB
cable conductors
6
0

$ 4

0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17
em sequence current
Harmonic Order h

Fig.3 Harmonic Resistance (Positive Sequence)

(a) Flat and touching formation
(b) Flat and spaced formation
(c) Trefoil formation

Fig.2. Experimental setup for harmonic impedance measurement
In the measurement of harmonic impedance distorted
voltages were generated from the power amplifiers. They
contained one fundamental component and one harmonic
component at the orders up to 17. The ratio of the
fundamental voltage to the harmonic voltage remained one for
all orders. The fundamental voltages were positive sequence,
while the harmonic voltages were either zero or positive
It is noted from these figures that cable resistance
increases with increasing harmonic order. This is because
both skin and proximity effects become stronger at a higher
frequency, subsequently the current within the conductor
becomes less uniformly distributed. When the armors are
solidly bonded, the circulating currents within the armors
creates additional losses are added on the cables. This results
in a significant increase of cable resistance at harmonic
frequencies. The armor loss almost exceeds the conductor

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loss at the 3d order, and is up to 4 times the cable conductor
loss at the 17" order, as seen in these two figures.
1
It is also noted that the cable resistance is the highest when
the cables are arranged in flat and spaced configuration. This
is because of the highest currents induced within the armors 0.75
under this configuration. Usually the induced current is higher
when the cable spacing is larger. It is noted that the difference
among the resistance curves under three different
3 0.5

configurations is very small when the sing-point bonding

method is employed. There is no significant difference 0.25
between the patterns of positive)
sequence
@
resistance
-
and zero-
e - - SPB --c(c) SB
sequence resistance. 0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17
HarmonicOrder h

Fig. 5 Harmonic Inductance (Positive Sequence)

(a) Flat and touching formation
(b) Flat and spaced formation
(c) Trefoil formation

2 L
Y

3
0.75
01
1 3 5 7 9 1 1 1 3
' I
Harmonic order h
I
2 0.5

-
Fig. 4 Harmonic Resistance ( 2 r o Sequence)
0.25 -0- (a) SPB -0- (a) SB
(d) Flat and touching formation
(e) Flat and spaced formation &(b)SPB --&-(b)SB
(f) Trefoil formation (C) SPB --f (C) SB

B. Harmonic Inductance
Cable inductance against order h is presented in Figure 5
and 6. It is noted that cable inductance is frequency-
dependant, and generally decreases with increasing frequency.
The decreasing inductance is mainly due to the induced
current within the cable conductor and armor. For example,
the induced current circulating within armors cancels partially
the flux from the current flowing along the cable conductors.
This leads to a reduction of flux linkage of the cable
conductors, subsequently a reduction of cable inductance. The
induced current becomes stronger at a higher frequency.
Accordingly the reduction of cable inductance is larger at the
higher frequency.
The reduction of flux linkage to cable conductors is even
stronger if the armors are solidly bonded, as seen in these
figures. The induced current circulates within the loops
formed by armors, and greatly reduces the flux linkage to the
cable conductors. The cable inductance is reduced by 25% at
the 3d order, and up to 70% at the 17" order under the flat
and spaced formation.
There is no significant discrepancy among three different
cable configurationswhen the armors are bonded at one point.
But the discrepancy is significant if the armors are solidly
bonded. As the inductance reduction is affected by the
induced current, the flat and spaced configuration leads to the
most significant inductance reduction.
Fig. 6 Harmonic Inductance (Zero Sequence)
(a) Flat and touching formation
(b) Flat and spaced formation
(c) Trefoil formation
IV. CONCLUSIONS
This paper investigated experimentally harmonic
impedance of 185mm2 single-core armored cables. The
impact of cable configurations and armor bonding methods
were revealed.
It is noted that the solid bonding method is widely used in
local buildings for the concern of safety. However, this
method causes significant power losses when the cables carry
rich harmonic currents. But it generates less harmonic voltage
drops on the cables than expected.
Single-point bonding method is recommended if the power
losses in distribution circuits are the issue of concern. The
single-point bonding method is accepted from the viewpoint
of safety if the cables are short in length. When the cables are
longer than the permitted length, the cross bonding method
should be adopted to neutralize the induced voltages on the
armors. Of cause, the cable installation becomes complicated.

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 Generally speaking the flat and spaced configuration is not
recommended when the solid bonding method is employed.
This method makes the cable losses to increase significantly.
Although the effect of magnetic shielding by armors is better
than others, it cannot compensate the increase of the magnetic
field caused by the increase of the cable spacing.

v. REFERENCES
[ 11 IEEE Guide for the Application of Sheath-bonding Methods for
Single-conductor Cables and the Calculation of Induced Voltages
and Currents in Cable sheaths, ANSVIEEE Std. 575, 1988.
[2] Requirementsfor Electrical Installations, British Standard 7671,
1992.
[3] K. Ferkal, M. Poloujadoff and E. Dorison, “Proximity Effect and
Eddy Current Losses in Insulated Cables,” ZEEE Transactions on
Power Delivery, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 1171-1178, July 1996.
[4] George J. Anders, Rating of Electric Power Cables---Ampacity
Computations for Transmission, Distribution, and Industrial
Applications, New York IEEE, 1997.
[SI Y. Du and J. Bumett, “Experimental Investigation into Harmonic
Characteristics of Low-Voltage Power Cables,” IEE Proc. -
Gener. Transm. Distrib. Vol. 147, No. 6, pp. 322-328, Nov. 2000.
[6] Y. Du and J. Burnett, ‘Warmonic Characteristics of Low-Voltage
Single-Core Power Cables,” HKIE Transaction, Vol. 9 No. 8,
pp.46-51, August 2002.
[7] Specificationsfor 600V/I OOOV and 1900V/330V armored electric
cables having thermosetting insulation and low emission of smoke
and corrosive gases when affected by fire, British Standard 6724,
1997.

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