8.

2 SHEATH BONDING ARRANGEMENTS Sheath losses in single-core cables depend on a number of factors, one of which is the sheath bonding arrangement. In fact, the bonding arrangement is the second most important parameter in cable ampacity computations after the external thermal resistance of the cable. For safety reasons, cable sheaths must be earthed, and hence bonded, at least at one point in a run. There are three basic options for bonding sheaths of single core cables. These are single-point bonding, solid bonding, and cross bonding (A SI!I""", #$%%&. In a single-point-bonded system, the considerable heating effect of circulating current is a'oided, but 'oltages will be induced along the length of the cable. These 'oltages are proportional to the conductor current and length of run, and increase as the cable spacing increases. (articular care must be ta)en to insulate and pro'ide surge protection at the free end of the sheath to a'oid danger from the induced 'oltages. *ne way of eliminating the induced 'oltages is to bond the sheath at both ends of the run (solid bonding&. The disad'antage of this is that the circulating currents which then flow in the sheaths reduce the current-carrying capacity of the cable. +ross bonding of single-core cable sheaths is a method of a'oiding circulating current and excessi'e sheath 'oltages while permitting increased cable spacing and long run lengths, The increase in cable spacing increases the thermal independence of each cable, and hence increases its current-carrying capacity. The cross bonding di'ides the cable run into three sections, and cross connects the sheaths in such a manner that the induced 'oltages cancel. *ne disad'antage of this system is that it is 'ery expensi'e, and therefore is applied mostly in high-'oltage installations. Figure %.# gi'es a diagrammatic representation of the cross connections. The cable route is di'ided into three e,ual lengths, and the sheath continuity is bro)e at each -oint. The induced sheath 'oltages in each section of each phase are e,ual in magnitude and #.// out of phase. 0hen the sheaths are cross connected, as shown in Fig %.#, each sheath circuit contains one section from each phase such that the total 'oltage in each sheath circuit sums to 1ero. If the sheaths are then bonded and earthed at the end of the run, the net 'oltage in the loop and the circulating currents will be 1ero, and the only sheath losses will be these caused by eddy currents.

FIgure %.# 2iagrammatic representation of a cross-bonded cable system. (a& +ables are not transposed. (b& +ables are transposed.

This method of bonding allows the cables to be spaced to ta)e ad'antage of impro'ed heat dissipation without incurring the penalty of increased circulating current losses. In practice, the lengths and cable spacings in each section may not be identical, and therefore some circulating currents will be present. The length of each section and cable spacing are limited by the 'oltages which exist between the sheaths and between the sheaths and earth at each cross-bonding position. For long runs, the route is di'ided into a number of lengths, each of which is di'ided into three sections. +ross bonding as described abo'e can be applied to each length independently. The cross-bonding scheme described abo'e assumes that the cables are arranged symmetrically, that is, in trefoil. It is usual that single-core cables are laid in a flat configuration. In this case, it is a common practice in long-cable circuits or hea'ily loaded cable lines to transpose the cables as shown in Fig. %.#b so that each cable occupies each position third of the run. A number of practical points must be considered before adopting cross bonding most important of which are the high 'oltages which can occur on the sheaths and ac sheath insulating -oints during switching surges or other transients. "xperimental by 3osland (#$4/& has shown that 'oltages as high as the full ser'ice 'oltage can appear across insulating glands under transient conditions, e'en when there are only a few meters of cable in the circuit. These 'oltages cannot be a'oided, but use of suitable surge di'ert will pre'ent damage to the cable system. *ther practical points relate to the 'oltage the sheath under normal ser'ice or fault conditions and the need to ensure that the sheath is effecti'ely insulated from earth for the life of the system. 6.3 CIRCULATING CURRENT LOSSES IN SHEATH AND ARMOR The basic e,uations for calculating circulating current losses were de'eloped by a number of authors in the #$./s5 6organ et al.(#$.7&, Arnold (#$.$&, and +arter (#$.7, #$.%& some cases, the effects of eddy currents were included in the e,uations de'eloped8 * concluded that the effects of eddy currents were insignificant compared with circulating current losses, and hence could be ignored. The e,uations presented in I"+ (ublic .%7 (#$%.& and in the eher9 6c3rath paper (#$:7& are ta)en from the wor) by Ar (#$.$&, and ignore eddy current losses except for the case of cables with large segmental conductors. All of the e,uations for sheath losses gi'en in this section assume that the phase currents are balanced, The e,uations also re,uire a )nowledge of the temperature on the sheath, which cannot be calculated until the cable rating is )nown, and therefore an iterati'e process is re,uired. For the first calculation, the sheath temperature must be estimated. The estimate can be chec)ed later after

the current rating has been calculated. If necessary the sheath losses, and hence the current rating, must be recalculated with the re'ised si temperature. As discussed abo'e, the power loss in the sheath or screen (;i& consists of losses ca by circulating currents (<=#& and eddy currents (<==#&. Thus, <# > <=# ? <==# The loss factor in armor is also composed of two components5 that due to circulating currents (<=.& and, for magnetic armor, that caused by hysteresis (<==.&. Thus, < . > <=. ? <==. As mentioned abo'e, for single-core cables with sheaths bonded at both ends electrical section, only losses caused by circulating currents are considered, An electric section is defined as a portion of the route between points at which the sheaths or screen all cables are solidly bonded. +irculating current losses are much greater than eddy current losses, and they completely dominate the calculations, *f course, there are no circulating currents when the sheaths are isolated or bonded at one point only. The formulas for circulating current losses in sheath and armor are de'eloped below. +onsider a three-phase cable circuit. The complex currents flowing in the conductor sheath, and armor are denoted by I c, Is, and Ia, respecti'ely. Then, the sheath and a@@