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An Overview Of Short Circuit Current (part 1)

http://electrical-engineering-portal.com/an-overview-of-short-circuit-current-part-1 Asif Eqbal May 20, 2013

Basic concept
There are essentially four types of faults: threephase, single line-to-ground, double line-toground, and line-to-line. Each of the se type s of faults can re sult in diffe re nt magnitude s of fault curre nt. In all types, however, there is a common element: an abnormally low-impedance path or shorted path for current to flow, hence the name short circuit current. current Such a condition can lead to extremely high currents.

An Overview Of Short Circuit Current (part 1)

By Ohms Law , voltage e quals curre nt time s impe dance (re sistance ) . Therefore, when the impedance becomes very low and the voltage does not change, the current becomes very high. Large electrical currents produce a lot of heat transfer, which increases the temperature of cables, transformers, etc. The incre ase in te mpe rature can cause insulation damage . These currents also produce high magnetic forces, which can actually bend buses in switchgear. High fault curre nts cause magne tic force s that are proportional to the square of the fault curre nt.

Mathematical background, X/R ratio and type of fault current

The treatment of electrical faults should be carried out as a function of time, from the start of the event at time t = 0+ until stable conditions are reached, and therefore it is necessary to use differential equations when calculating these currents. In order to illustrate the transie nt nature of the curre nt , consider an RL circuit as a simplified equivalent of the circuits in electricity distribution networks. This simplification is important because all the system equipment must be modeled in some way in order to quantify the transient values which can occur during the fault condition .
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For the circuit show n in Figure , the mathe matical e xpre ssion w hich de fine s the be havior of the curre nt is: e(t) = L di + Ri(t)

This is a diffe re ntial e quation w ith constant coe fficie nts, of w hich the solution is in tw o parts: ia (t): ih (t) + ip(t)

Where: i h (t) is the solution of the homogeneous equation corresponding to the transient period. i p (t) is the solution to the particular equation corresponding to the steady-state period.
RL circuit as a simplified equivalent of the circuits in electricity-distribution networks

By the use of differential equation theory, the complete solution can be determined and expressed in the following form: Where: the closing angle which defines the point on the source sinusoidal voltage when the fault occurs = tan-1(L/R) or = tan-1(X/R) The second term in the equation for fault current is recognized as the DC component of the current, and has an initial maximum value when: - = / 2 , and zero value when = .

Notes:
Here we introduce the conce pt of X/R ratio . We can very well see that since L = X L or simply X hence DC component of fault current to large extent depends upon = tan - 1 (X/R) or simply X/R ratio . The X/R ratio is important because it de te rmine s the pe ak asymme trical fault curre nt .
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In X/R ratio when X equals zero, there is only symmetrical current with no DC component. With R e quals ze ro , the DC component would never decay. One can say there will always be both resistance and reactive components in the system. The resistance and reactance of a circuit establishes a power factor. The pow e r factor (p.f.) is given by the following equation: p.f. = cos(tan - 1 (X/R)) this equation means that the power factor and X/R ratio are related. The re fore , syste m pow e r factor and syste m X/R ratio are diffe re nt w ays of saying the same thing . Please note that as power factor decreases, the X/R ratio increases. It is impossible to predict a that is at what point the fault will be applied or take place on the sinusoidal cycle and therefore it is not possible to determine exactly what magnitude the DC component will reach.

Symmetrical fault current

If in a circuit mainly containing re actance a short circuit occurs at the peak of the voltage wave, the short-circuit current would start at zero and trace a sine wave which would be symmetrical about the zero axis. This is known as a symme trical short circuit curre nt .

Asymmetrical fault current

Right afte r a fault occurs, the curre nt w ave form is no longe r a sine w ave . Instead, it can be represented by the sum of a sine w ave and a de caying e xpone ntial . Figure below illustrates this phenomenon. Please note that the decaying exponential added to the sine wave causes the current to reach a much larger value than that of the sine wave alone. The waveform that equals the sum of the sine wave and the decaying exponential is called the asymme trical curre nt because the waveform does not have symmetry above and below the time axis. The sine wave alone is called the symmetrical current because it does have symmetry above and below the time axis.

Hence we can define asymmetrical fault current in the following way: If, in a circuit containing only reactance, the short circuit occurs at any point at the peak of the
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voltage wave, there will be some offset of the current. The amount of offset depends upon the point on the voltage wave at which the short circuit occurs. This is known as asymme trical short circuit curre nt . Maximum asymmetry occurs when short circuit takes place when voltage is zero.

Asymmetrical fault remains only for fe w cycle s afte r w hich it be come s symme trical fault . Decay of asymmetrical component depends on the value of X/R. More the value of R, faster is the decay of asymmetrical fault current. Magnitude of asymme trical fault curre nt is more than that of symme trical fault curre nt.

Sine wave, decaying exponential and their sum

If the short circuit current does not include DC component it is called symme trical short circuit curre nt . If the short circuit current contains DC component it is called as asymme trical compone nt . Figure above represents the short circuit curre nt w ith and w ithout DC compone nt . Will be continued soon

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