Technical information No.

01

IT systems
The basis for reliable power supply

FA01en/01.2004
Technical information No. 01

IT systems – The basis for reliable

power supply in critical areas

The advantages of sophisticated industrial systems can only be of use, if high availability of power supplies and time and costeffec-
tive fault location and clearance is guaranteed. Already when selecting the appropriate power supply system and the associated
protective and monitoring devices, the basis for reliable personnel protection and protection of property and fault-free operation
can be established.

Electrical safety for power supplies

A reliable EMC-friendly electrical installation ensuring the highest
degree of safety for persons and equipment is of primary impor-
tance for all the persons responsible for industrial systems, hospi-
tals and office buildings. The safety concept for electrical installa-
tions therefore must
• ensure the safety of both personnel and equipment
• improve the operating continuity
• contribute to the efficiency of the electrical system.
In order to achieve this, power supply systems and the associated
protective and monitoring equipment should be carefully selected
to allow
• comprehensive protection of people and the electrical system
against hazards caused by electric current
• fast indication and response to critical operating conditions in
electrical installations
• the reduction of maintenance costs and expenses due to
failures
• equipment data management according to customer require- Figure 1: Types of systems according to IEC 60364-3
ments.
How to choose the right power supply system On principle, in electrical installations, the protection of persons must
be high on the priority list. But more and more importance also is
The following aspects should be considered when selecting the
attached to the availability of electrical energy. The following as-
appropriate power supply system and the associated protective
pects should be considered when the electrical installation is dis-
measures in accordance with IEC 60364-4-41:
connected due to an insulation fault:
• likelihood of insulation faults;
Persons are at risk, for example, due to
• basic protection and fault protection;
• a sudden failure of the lighting system;
• continuity of power supply;
• disconnection of equipment which is intended to guarantee
• technical and economic possibilities; operating safety.
• values that proved to be successful in practice. Risk of economic loss due to
A detailed description of the power supply systems with earth con- • high costs incurred due to interruption to production, especi-
nection is given in IEC 60364-3.The three main types of distribution ally in areas where restarting is tedious and expensive;
systems are the TN system, the TT system and the IT system. In TN
• data loss
systems, one point is directly earthed; the exposed conductive parts
of the installation are connected to that point by protective con- • increased expenses due to disturbances and destruction in
ductors. In TT systems, also one point is directly earthed; the exposed installations or equipment.
conductive parts of the installation are connected to earth electrode Moreover, sensitive loads can be disturbed by high fault currents.
which are electrically independent of the earth electrodes of the Disconnection may cause overvoltages and/ or electromagnetic
system. In IT systems (be careful not to mix up the term IT systems influences which may lead to functional disturbances or even to
which means isolated systems with information technology systems damage to sensitive devices. Therefore, with regard to the availa-
which are also called IT systems) all active parts either are insulated bility of the power supply, in particular, the behaviour of power
from earth or one point is connected to earth through a sufficiently supply systems in case of a first fault is of importance.
high impedance. The exposed conductive parts of the electrical
installation either are earthed individually or collectively.
In order to guarantee sufficient protection of persons and property,
always the coordination of the earth connection and the charac-
teristics of protective conductors and the type of distribution sys-
tem is required. The permissible protective measures are specified
in IEC 60364-4-41. In earthed systems (TN, TT systems), usually resi-
dual current devices (RCD) and overcurrent protective device are
used, whereas in IT systems insulation monitoring devices are used
almost everywhere.

2 FA01en/01.2004

Comparison between earthed and unearthed power supply systems
IT systems (unearthed systems) either are supplied from an isola-
ting transformer or an independent voltage source, such as a bat-
tery or a generator.The pecularity of these systems is that no active
conductor is directly connected to earth. In the event of a short-
circuit to exposed conductive parts or to earth, only a small fault
current will flow, owing to the lack of a return path, dependent on
the value of the insulation resistances RF and the capacitance Ce
of the conductors to earth. The difference between the earthed
system and the unearthed system in the case of an insulation fault
becomes clear by comparing the figures 2 and 3.
On the occurrence of a direct earth fault RF, an earth leakage cur-
rent Id equal to the short circuit current IK will flow in earthed sys-
tems (TN/TT systems). The series-connected fuse blows, and the
power supply is cut off (figure 3). By way of contrast, the unearthed
system (IT system) (figure 2). It is obvious that in the event of an
insulation fault 0 < RF < ∞ only a limited capacitive current flows
through the line to earth capacitances. The series-connected fuse
will not react in this case, which means that the power supply is
guaranteed in case of a single fault to earth.
Figure 2: IT system with insulation monitoring
(IMD = insulation monitoring device)
FA01en/01.2004
Technical information No. 01
As far as the safety of the power supply is concerned, the IT system
offers the most advantages. That is the reason why it is used in a
lot of areas where a maximum of reliability and safety of the power
supply is required. These are for example control circuits according
to EN 60204: 1998-11, power supply systems for medically used
rooms according to DIN VDE 0107: 1994-10, mobile generators
according to DIN VDE 0100-551: 1997-08 and other application
fields. Apart from this, IT systems with insulation monitoring are
increasingly used in industrial systems with variable-speed drives,
in complex production systems or electronic data processing sys-
tems, because an unexpected failure of the power supply may
cause considerable costs.
When operating an IT system, it has to be considered that „a first
fault“ changes an initially unearthed system (IT system) into an
earthed system (TN or TT system) and that a further fault may lead
to the tripping of circuit breakers and hence lead to disconnection.
Experience has shown that the single-pole fault (first fault) is the
most likely type of fault to occur (> 90%) and the risk of hazards
due to a second fault are regarded to be very unlikely. This fact is
taken into account in the standard IEC 60364-4-41 where it is re-
commended that a first insulation fault should be eliminated with
the shortest practical delay.
Figure 3: TN system with earth fault RF
3
Technical information No. 01
Advanced information through insulation monitoring
According to IEC 60364-4-41, an IT system must always be equip-
ped with an insulation monitoring device. The insulation monito-
ring device, which is connected between the active conductors and
earth, superimposes a DC measuring voltage onto the system. On
the occurrence of an insulation fault, the measuring circuit between
system and earth closes via the insulation fault RF, so that a DC
measuring current Im proportionate to the insulation fault is pro-
duced. This DC measuring current causes a voltage drop which is
evaluated by the electronic circuitry. If this voltage drop exceeds a
certain value, which is proportional to the insulation resistance, an
indication is given via alarm LEDs and alarm contacts.The small sys-
tem leakage capacitances Ce existing in the system are only charged
to the value of the measuring DC voltage and do not influence the
measurement after the brief transient response (figure 2). A detai-
led description of the requirements for an insulation monitoring
device is given in IEC 62557-8: 1998-05. Thanks to the insulation
monitoring device, the operator of the electrical installation is pro-
vided with the necessary advance information which gives him
effective support for preventive maintenance measures (figure 5).
Figure 4: functional principle of an insulation monitoring device
Figure 5: advance information through insulation monitoring
4 FA01en/01.2004
Modern measuring principles for modern electrical loads
The measuring principle described before, can be used when the
connected loads exclusively are AC consumers. However, recently
there had been changes in the structure of the electrical loads. In
many cases there are drives or loads with switched-mode power
supplies (e. g. personal computers, electronic control gear). Whilst
on the one hand there are the advantages of limited power loss,
smaller dimensions, and less weight, on the other hand problems
may arise through harmonic components caused by switched-mode
power supply units and influence by DC leakage current. Insula-
tion monitoring devices using the measuring principle of super-
imposed measuring DC voltage may cause false alarms due to DC
components. The reason for that is that in case of a fault these
extraneous voltages occur additionally to the measuring voltage
and therefore either lead to an increased measuring current and
hence to increased response sensitivity or lead to lower measu-
ring current what means that tripping is prevented (figure 6).
High system leakage capacitances, which often exist in the form
of interference suppressor filters (EMC) between system and the
earth, are also a source of interferences for insulation monitoring
devices with DC measuring voltage. When switching the IT system
on, for the DC measuring voltage these capacitances represent a
low-ohmic connection to the earth so that a high measuring DC
current (load current for Ce) will flow which results in an alarm
message through the insulation monitoring device.
Figure 6: influence of extraneous DC voltages on the measuring voltage
 Technical information No. 01

In order to eliminate this influence on the insulation measurement

caused by DC measuring voltages and system leakage capacitances,
modern insulation monitoring devices work with a pulsed measu-
ring voltage. This measuring principle responds to system leakage
capacitances with variable clock times, taking the load curve of Ce
into consideration. The value of the occurring extraneous DC vol-
tages is determined within one measuring cycle and in this way can
be considered accordingly when the insulation resistance is detec-
ted. In practice, that means that neither extraneous DC voltages nor
high system leakage capacitances can no longer influence the mea-
suring results and in this way allow precise determination of the
insulation resistance. The latest, international standard IEC 61557-8:
1998-05 specifies the requirements for insulation monitoring de-
vices which are used in systems up to AC 1000 V and DC 1500 V,
independent of the measuring principle.
In order to fulfil the requirements of modern power supplies with
regard to electrical safety and operating continuity, new insula-
tion monitoring devices have been developed. The new AMPPlus
measuring principle allows to determine the insulation resistance
precisely, even in extended systems and in systems with variable-
speed drives. Comprehensive information about the current state
of the electrical installation via text display guarantees the neces-
sary advance information. Besides, there is the possibility of trans-
ferring measuring data via the fieldbus to higher-level systems or
of filing measuring data in a memory, in order to register events
including date and time.
Another version which can be extended to a complete insulation
fault location system is available, allowing time and cost-saving
location of faulty circuits.

Figure 7: insulation monitoring device A-ISOMETER® IRDH375

(Bender, Grünberg)

FA01en/01.2004 5
Summary Written by
Nowadays, the increasing complexity of industrial systems places Dipl.-Ing. W. Hofheinz
extremely high demands on the reliability of power supply, where Managing director
even a short power failure may be expensive due to production Dipl.-Ing. W. Bender GmbH & Co. KG
stoppage and malary function. With the application of IT systems Londorfer Straße 65 • 35305 Grünberg • Germany
a tool is available that effectively helps to solve this problem.

Literature
IEC 61557-9: 1999-09
„Electrical safety in low voltage distribution systems up to 1000 V
a.c. and 1500 V d.c. – Equipment for testing, measuring or monito-
ring of protective measures – Part 9: Equipment for insulation fault
location in IT systems“
EN 61557-9: 1999-11
„Electrical safety in low voltage distribution systems up to 1 kV a.c.
and 1.5 kV d.c. – Equipment for testing, measuring or monitoring
of protective measures – Part 9: Equipment for insulation fault
location in IT systems (IEC 61557-9: 1999)“
IEC 60364-4-41: 1992-10
„Electrical installations of building; Part 4: Protection for safety;
chapter 41: Protection against electric shock“
IEC 60364-5-53 Second edition: 1994-06
„Electrical installation of buildings – Part 5: Selection and Erection
of electrical euquipment – Chapter 53: Switchgear and Controlgear,
clause 532.: Insulation monitoring devices“
EN 60204-1: 1997-12
„Safety of machinery – Electrical equipment of machines – Part 1:
General requirements (IEC 60204-1: 1997)"
IEC 60363-3:1993-03
„Electrical installations of buildings; Part 3; Assessment of general
characteristics“
DIN VDE 0100-551 (VDE 0100 Teil 551): 1997-08
Electrical installations of buildings – Part 5: Selection and erection
of eletrical equipment – Chapter 55: Other equipment Section 551:
Low-voltage generating sets (IEC 364-5-551: 1994); German version
HD 384.5.551 S1: 1997
DIN VDE 0107 (VDE 0107):1994-10
Erection of low-voltage installations – Requirements for special
installations or locations – Part 710: Medical locations
W. Hofheinz: Protective measures with insulation monitoring,
2nd Edition
VDE-Verlag, Berlin

Note:
This technical information and the articles and illustrations which
it contains are protected by copyright. Reproduction, translation,
microfilming and storage in electronic systems, in particular for
commercial purposes, are prohibited without the publisher's con-
sent. We provide no warranty or guarantee for erroneous or omit-
ted entries. All data is based on manufacturer's information. All
logos and product designations are registered trademarks of the
respective manufacturer.

Dipl.-Ing. W. Bender GmbH & Co. KG

Postfach 1161 • 35301 Grünberg • Germany
Londorfer Straße 65 • 35305 Grünberg • Germany
Tel.: +49(0)6401 / 807-0 • Fax: 807 259
E-Mail: info@bender-de.com • www.bender-de.com

Right to modifications reserved!