Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ELEC3213/ELEC6222 L09: Fuses DR Abhinav K Singh Aks@ecs - Soton.ac - Uk
ELEC3213/ELEC6222 L09: Fuses DR Abhinav K Singh Aks@ecs - Soton.ac - Uk
L09: Fuses
Dr Abhinav K Singh
aks@ecs.soton.ac.uk
Session Outcomes
• Explain the importance of X/R ratio from the
perspective of fault current
• Explain the operational principle of fuses
commonly installed in distribution networks
• Analyse fuse operation using time current
characteristics
Protective Devices
• Automatic Circuit Reclosers: overcurrent protective device that
trips and recloses a preset number of time to clear transient
faults and isolate permanent faults
• Automatic Line Sectionalizer: overcurrent protective device
used as backup for breakers/reclosers
• Fuse: Overcurrent protective device with a circuit opening
member heated and destroyed by passage of overcurrent in the
event of an overload/short circuit
• Relay: device that responds to variations in the conditions in
one electric circuit to affect the operation of other devices in the
same or another circuit
• Surge Arrestor: device to protect against transient overvoltages
Protection Selection/Design Criteria
• RELIABILITY: Operate consistently when fault conditions occur, even
after remaining idle for months or years. Failure of protection
would be expensive.
• SELECTIVITY: The system must avoid ‘false positives’
• SPEED: Rapid operation will minimise fault duration and resultant
damage to equipment. Any time delays must be intentional
• ECONOMY: Engineering requirement for maximum protection,
balanced by business requirement for minimum cost
• SIMPLICITY: Minimizing protection equipment and circuitry helps
both economy and reliability
• Clearly compromises are necessary as it will be impossible to
satisfy all of these criteria simultaneously!
Fault Current
What is composition of fault current?
• Fault Current in an ac system does not only
contain 50Hz ac component
• Symmetrical fault current (ac component)
• DC Offset
• Asymmetric fault current is the sum of the ac
and dc components…
RL Circuit Example
• Series R‐L circuit, closing
switch represents fault
• α is the voltage angle on ,
closing of switch
• θ is the phase shift
RMS of Fault Current
Example Calculation
Importance of X/R Ratio
• Asymmetry ratio is defined as:
ିସగఛ
ൗ
ோ
Where τ is the time in cycles
• We always calculate for the largest fault
current, i.e. where α=(θ‐π/2)
• Decay of the dc offset term is governed by X/R
ratio – the bigger the ratio, the slower the
decay
Passive Short Circuit Analysis
• Passive SC analysis means that the initial power system
loading is ignored
– Assume uniform voltage profile
– Transformer taps at nominal positions
– Machine active & reactive power outputs zero
– No load currents flow in the network
• Initial voltage magnitude for fault current calculation,
where Vn is nominal voltage and c is a multiplier
between 0.9 and 1.1
• Multiplier c is chosen for maximum/minimum short‐
circuit current, as defined in IEC 60909
AC Short Circuit Analysis
• AC SC analysis accounts for initial power
system load (magnitude and pf) at the time of
the fault
• Undertaken via ac load flow study
• Calculated currents and voltages are obtained
using superposition theorem
Fuses
Operational Principle
HRC Fuses
• HRC (High Rupturing Capacity)
– LV and MV (~400V to ~33KV)
– Accurate time‐current characteristics (TCC)
– Fast acting, reliable and cheap
– Good current and energy limiting characteristics
– Good current fault levels (eg 80kA at 400V, 40kA
at 11kV)
– Manual cartridge replacement after fault
HRC Operation
• Silver or copper elements are perforated to reduce
power consumption (as a perforated element
requires lesser power to melt)
• Usually a filler material for arc extinguishing (such as
silica sand)
• Melt and arc operational principle
• Alloys of low melting temperature (180‐230C) are
added to silver or copper element (1000C) to adjust
delay
• TCC controlled by alloy mix
Expulsion Fuses
• Usually used at MV level (~33KV to ~132KV), also at LV but
not at less than 1KV
• Cheap replaceable element
• Arc heat vaporizes filler material (eg resin infused carbon
fibre) which rushes out of the tube
• Arc is extinguished by expulsion effect of gases cooling and
deionising
• Cartridge “springs” out of holder due to expulsion of gases
• Usually not current limiting (that is, it does not reduce the
fault current, until the cartridge springs out and ‘cut outs’
the fault current), but some newer designs are also current
limiting
• Noisy in operation
• Requires personnel to replace (easy to identify)
Time Current Characteristics
Melting/Clearing Times
• Important for
coordination
• Fuse operation is
not instantaneous
• Will be altered by
ambient
temperature!
• Will be altered by
level of preload!
Fuse Specification & Co‐ordination
• Factors in fuse specification are:
1. Voltage rating (determines ability to suppress
internal arc on melting)
2. Continuous Current rating (for normal loads)
3. Interrupting Current rating (largest asymmetrical
current which can be interrupted)
4. Time Current Curve
• Co‐ordination is vital to ensure fuse nearest fault
clears the fault
– Easily done using TCCs
Pro’s and Con’s
• Fuses have many benefits:
– Cheap
– Easy to install/replace
– Easy to co‐ordinate
– Don’t require any additional circuitry
• But they have downsides...
– One‐shot devices (no reclosing)
– No remote control
– Staff must go into the field to locate and replace
Coordination
Definitions
• Coordination: selecting 2 or more overcurrent
devices, with appropriate TCC, which will operate in
series in a predefined sequence
• Devices employed in this manner are known as
coordinated or selective
• First protective device to operate under fault
conditions is called protecting device
• Device offering backup protection, operating only if
the first fails, is protected device
Distribution Feeder Example
Fuse Coordination
• Plot the TCC of two fuses in
series
• No intersection between curves
shows complete coordination in
terms of selectivity
• Partial coordination is achieved if
there is some intersection
• Must account for preloading &
temperature!
Fuse – Fuse Coordination
• 25% margin is often
introduced to
account for:
– Warming of fuse
due to preloading
– Ambient
temperature
changes
– Previous partial
melting due to
short duration fault
current
Recommended Reading
• Turan Gonen “Electric Power Distribution
System Engineering” Chapter 10
• Total time ~1.5 hours