Calculation of Zs Under As NZS 3000 and BS 7671 1696511952

CALCULATION OF EARTH FAULT LOOP IMPEDANCE
(Zs) AND COMPARISION OF TWO FAMOUS

STANDARDS
(BS7671 Verses AS/NZS 3000)
By: Eng. R. T. Paramanayagam

B.Sc. Eng (Hons), CEng (SL), CMEngNZ, IntPE (SL), IntPE (NZ), MIE (SL)
Senior Consultant Engineer
WHAT IS AN EARTH FAULT LOOP IMPEDANCE (Zs)?
• The earth fault loop in an MEN (TN) system comprises the following components:
 The protective earthing conductor (PE) including the main earthing terminal / connection or
bar and MEN connection.
 The neutral return path consisting of the neutral conductor (N) between the main neutral
terminal and the transformer neutral point.
 The path through the transformer winding.
 The active conductor (A) as far as the point of the fault.
• The earth fault loop is normally regarded as consisting of the following two parts:
 Conductors upstream or ‘external’ to the reference point.

 Conductors downstream or ‘internal’ to the circuit from the reference point.
Eng. R. T. Paramanayagam,
B.Sc. Eng (Hons), CEng (SL), CMEngNZ, IntPE (SL), IntPE (NZ)
WHAT IS AN EARTH FAULT LOOP IMPEDANCE (Zs)?
• The figure below shows the earth fault loop for an active-earth short circuit. At the instant of the
fault current will flow through the earth fault loop with its current magnitude limited by the total path
impedance (Zs) which is obtained from the sum of impedances of the individual elements.
WHAT IS THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE STANDARDS?
• In this presentation, we are going to discuss about the requirements of different standards such as
BS 7671 and AS/NZS 3000.
• The BS 7671 is used in UK, Sri Lanka and Middle East Countries such as U.A.E., Qatar, etc.
• The AS / NZS 3000 standard is used across Australia and New Zealand.
• A basic safety requirement stated in the above referred standards is the protection of people from
‘indirect contact’ with live parts. Automatic disconnection of the power supply is the most common
way of satisfying this requirement. However, there is a bit more to it than that.
• To comply with these standards, each circuit in an electrical installation must be designed such that
automatic disconnection of the power supply occurs within a specified time when a short-circuit of
negligible impedance occurs between the active and protective earth conductor or other exposed
conductive part anywhere in the electrical installation.
WHAT IS THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE STANDARDS?
• To fulfil this requirement of AS/NZS 3000 when an active to earth fault occurs, and this is the
important bit, the total impedance of the fault loop path must be low enough to allow sufficient
current to flow to ensure the protective device will operate within the specified time.
• Therefore, the actual total earth fault loop impedance (Zs) and maximum allowed fault loop
impedance Zmax must be obtained.
CALCULATION OF MAXIMUM EARTH FAULT LOOP IMPEDANCE (Zs)
CALCULATION OF Zs AS PER AS/NZS 3000 STANDARD
• The actual fault loop impedance (Zs) should be lower than the maximum allowed to ensure the
circuit protective device will trip during a fault.
• The maximum allowed fault loop impedance (Zmax) is calculated based on the rating of the
protective device as follows:
Ia for circuit breaker is the mean tripping current as follows:
• Type B = 4 (typical) × rated current

• Type C = 7.5 (typical) × rated current
• Type D = 12.5 (typical) × rated current
• Ia for fuses are appropriate mean values from AS 60269.1.
CALCULATION OF MAXIMUM EARTH FAULT LOOP IMPEDANCE (Zs)
CALCULATION OF Zs AS PER BS7671 STANDARD
• The maximum allowed fault loop impedance (Zmax) is calculated based on the rating of the
protective device as follows:
Ia for circuit breaker is the tripping current as follows:
• Type B = 5 × rated current

• Type C = 10 × rated current
• Type D = 20 × rated current
Zs VALUE AS PER AS/NZS 3000 STANDARD
Zs VALUE AS PER BS7671 STANDARD
EXAMPLES:
What is the maximum earth fault loop impedance (Zs) for a TN system which is protected by a 16A
Type-C MCB?
Solution as per AS/NZS 3000 Standard: Solution as per BS 7671 Standard:
Let’s use Zs = Uo / Ia Let’s use Zs = (Uo*Cmin) / Ia

Where, Where,
Uo = 230 V Uo = 230 V
Ia = 7.5*16 A = 120 A Ia = 10*16 A = 160 A
So, Zs = 230 / 120 Ω So, Zs = 230 / 160 Ω
= 1.916 Ω = 1.437 Ω
So, if we get a measured Zs value of 1.6 Ω, it is not an acceptable value under the BS 7671 standard
whereas, it is an acceptable value under the AS/NZS 3000 standard.
The circuit breakers used and the voltage level are same under both standards. However, two different
values are suggested by two different standards for the Zs,max.
Though it is not easy to challenge the suggestions of the standards, it is preferred to adopt the
suggestions of the BS 7671 standard as it reveals a low Zs value that in turn result in a high current that
may sufficient to trip off the circuit breaker.

Calculation of Zs Under As NZS 3000 and BS 7671 1696511952

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CALCULATION OF EARTH FAULT LOOP IMPEDANCE

(Zs) AND COMPARISION OF TWO FAMOUS

By: Eng. R. T. Paramanayagam

 Conductors upstream or ‘external’ to the reference point.

Ia for circuit breaker is the mean tripping current as follows:

• Type B = 4 (typical) × rated current

Ia for circuit breaker is the tripping current as follows:

• Type B = 5 × rated current

Let’s use Zs = Uo / Ia Let’s use Zs = (Uo*Cmin) / Ia

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