Module 6
Module 6
Time-Current Characteristics
Fuses have following advantages and disadvantages:
Advantages:
1. It is cheapest form of protection available.
2. It needs no maintenance.
3. Its operation is inherently completely automatic unlike a circuit breaker which requires
an elaborate equipment for automatic action.
4. It interrupts enormous short circuit currents without noise, flame, gas or smoke.
Disadvantages:
1. Considerable time is lost in rewiring or replacing a fuse after operation.
2. On heavy short circuits, discrimination between fuses in series cannot be obtained
unless there is considerable differences in the relative sizes of the fuse concerned.
3. The current-time characteristics of a fuse cannot always be correlated with that of the
protected device.
FUSE: Fuse is provided only in phase or live pole, never on neutral pole.
FUSE UNITS: The various types of fuse units, most commonly available are:
1. Round type fuse unit.
2. Kit-kat type fuse unit.
3. Cartridge type fuse unit.
4. HRC (High Rupturing Capacity) fuse units and
5. Semiconductor fuse units.
1. Round type fuse unit: This type of fuse unit consists of a porcelain or bakelite box and two
separated wire terminals for holding the fuse wire between them. This type of fuse is not
common use on account of its following disadvantages:
• One of the terminals remain always energized and, therefore, for replacement of fuse
either the worker will have to touch the live mains or open the main switch.
• Appreciable arching takes place at the instant of blowing off fuse and thus damage the
terminals. After two or three arcing the fuse unit becomes unusable.
2. Rewirable or Kit-kat Type Fuses: The most commonly used fuse in “house wiring’ and
small current circuits is the semi-enclosed or rewirable fuse (also sometimes known as kitkat
type fuse). It consists of a porcelain base carrying the fixed contacts to which the
incoming and outgoing live or phase wires are connected and a porcelain fuse carrier
holding the fuse element, consisting of one or more strands of fuse wire, stretched between
its terminals.
The fuse wire may be of lead, tinned copper, aluminium or an alloy of tin-lead. The actual
fusing current will be about twice the rated current.
The specifications for rewirable fuses are covered by IS: 2086-1963. Standard ratings are 6,
16, 32, 63 and 100A. A fuse wire of any rating not exceeding the rating of the fuse may be
used in it i.e. a 80A fuse wire can be used in a 100A fuse, but not in the 63A fuse.
Disadvantages of Rewirable or Kit-kat Type Fuses:
• Unreliable operation.
• Lack of discrimination.
• Small time lag.
• Low rupturing capacity.
• No current limiting feature.
• Slow speed of operation.
3. Cartridge Type Fuses: This is a totally enclosed type fuse unit. It essentially consists of an
insulating container of bulb or tube shape and sealed at its ends with metallic cap known as
cartridge enclosing the fuse element and filled with powder or granular material known as
filler.
There are various types of materials used as filler like sand, calcium carbonate, quartz etc.
This type of fuse is available upto 660V and the current rating upto 800 A.
4. High Rupturing Capacity (HRC) Fuses: With a very heavy generating capacities of the
modern power stations, extremely heavy currents would flow into the fault and fuse
clearing the fault would be required to withstand extremely high stresses in this process.
HRC fuses developed and designed after intensive research for use in medium and high
voltage installations. Their rupturing capacity is as high as 500MVA up to 66 KV and above.
There are basically two types of HRC fuses are used.
1. Cartridge Type HRC Fuse.
2. Tetra Chloride Type HRC Fuse.
5. Semiconductor Fuses: These are very fast acting fuses for protection of thyristor and other
electronic circuits.
Switch Fuse Unit (SFU):
Switch fuse is a combined unit and is known as an iron clad switch, being made of iron. It may
be double pole for controlling single phase two-wire circuits or triple pole for controlling
threephase,
3-wire circuits or triple pole with neutral link for controlling 3-phase, 4-wire circuits. The
respective switches are known as double pole iron clad (DPIC), triple pole iron clad (TPIC), and
triple pole with neutral link iron clad (TPNIC) switches.
1. For Two-wire DC Circuits or Single Phase AC Circuits: 240V, 16A, DPIC switch fuse
2. For Three-Wire DC Circuits: 500V, 32A (63/100/150 or higher amperes), IS approved
TPIC switch fuse.
3. For Three-Phase Balanced Load Circuits: 415V, 32A (63/100/150 or higher
amperes), IS approved TPIC switch fuse.
Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB):
A device which provides definite protection to the wiring installations and sophisticated
equipment against over-currents and short-circuit faults. Thermal operation (overload
protection) is achieved with a bimetallic strip, which deflects when heated by any over-currents
flowing through it. In doing so, releases the latch mechanism and causes the contacts to open.
Inverse-time current characteristics result. i.e. greater the overload or excessive current,
shorter the time required to operate the MCB. On occurrence of short circuit, the rising current
energizes the solenoid, operating the plunger to strike the trip lever causing immediate release
of the latch mechanism. Rapidity of the magnetic solenoid operation causes instantaneous
opening of contacts.
MCBs are available with different current ratings of 0.5, 1.2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.5, 10, 16, 20, 25, 32,
35, 40, 63, 100, 125, 160 A and voltage rating of 240/415 V AC and up to 220 V DC. Operating
time is very short (less than 5 ms).
They are suitable for the protection of important and sophisticated equipment, such as
airconditioners, refrigerators, computers etc.
Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker (ELCB):
It is a device that provides protection against earth leakage. These are of two types.
1. Current operated earth leakage circuit breaker:
2. Voltage operated earth leakage circuit breaker.
1. Current operated earth leakage circuit breaker: It is used when the product of the
operating current in amperes and the earth-loop impedance in ohms does not exceed 40. such
circuit breakers is used where consumer’s earthing terminal is connected to a suitable earth
electrode. A current-operated earth leakage circuit breaker is applied to a 3-phase, 3-wire
circuit.
In normal condition when there is no earth leakage, the algebraic sum of the currents in the
three coils of the current transformers is zero, and no current flows through the trip coil. In case
of any earth leakage, the currents are unbalanced and the trip coil is energized and thus the
circuit breaker is tripped.
2. Voltage operated earth leakage circuit breaker: It is suitable for use when the earth–loop
impedance exceeds the values applicable to fuses or excess-current circuit breaker or to current
operated earth leakage circuit breaker. When the voltage between the earth continuity
conductor (ECC) and earth electrode rises to sufficient value, the trip coil will carry the required
current to trip the circuit breaker. With such a circuit breaker the earthing lead between the trip
coil and the earth electrode must be insulated; in addition, the earth electrode must be placed
outside the resistance area of any other parallel earths which may exist.
In both the above types of ELCB the tripping operation may be tested by means of a
fingeroperated
test button which passes a predetermined current from the line wire through a high
resistance to trip the coil and thus to earth. This test operation should be performed regularly.
Tough Rubber Sheathed (TRS) or Cab Tyre Sheathed (CTS) cables: These cables are
available in 250/440 volt and 650/1100 volt grades and used in CTS (or TRS) wiring. TRS
cable is nothing but a VIR conductor with an outer protective covering of tough rubber,
which provides additional insulation and protection against wear and tear. These cables are
waterproof, hence can be used in wet conditions. These cables are available as single core,
circular twin core, circular three core, flat three core, twin or three core with an earth
continuity conductor. The core are insulated from each other and covered with a common
sheathing.
These cables are cheaper in cost and lighter in weight than lead alloy sheathed cables and
have the alloy sheathed cables and have the properties similar to those of lead sheathed
cables and thus provide cheaper substitute to lead sheathed cables.
➢ Lead Sheathed Cables: These cables are available in 240/415 volt grade. The lead
sheathed
cable is a vulcanized rubber insulated conductor covered with a continuous sheath of lead.
The lead sheath provides very good protection against the absorption of moisture and
sufficient protection against mechanical injury and so can be used without casing or conduit
system. It is available as a single core, flat twin core, flat three core and flat twin or three
core with an earth continuity conductor. Two-core lead sheathed cable is shown in the given
figure.
➢ Polyvinyl Chloride Insulated Cables: These cables are available in 250/440 volt and
650/1100 volt grades and are used in casing-capping, batten and conduit wiring system. In
this type of cable, conductor is insulated with PVC insulation. Since PVC is harder than
rubber, PVC cable does not require cotton taping and braiding over it for mechanical and
moisture protection. PVC insulation is preferred over VIR insulation because of the
following reasons:
• PVC insulation has better insulating qualities.
• PVC insulation provides better flexibility.
• PVC insulation has no chemical effect on metal of the wire.
• Thin layer of PVC insulation will provide the desired insulation level.
• PVC coated wire gives smaller diameter of cable and, therefore, more no. of wires can be
accommodated in the conduit of a given size in comparison to VIR or CTS wires.
PVC cables are most widely used for internal wiring these days. Though the insulation
resistance of PVC is lower than that of VIR but its effect is negligible for low and medium
voltages, below 600 V.
➢ Weather Proof Cables: These cables are used for outdoor wiring and for power supply or
industrial supply. These cables are either PVC insulated or vulcanized rubber insulated
conductors being suitably taped braided and then compounded with weather resisting
material. These cables are available in 240/415 volt and 650/1100 volt grades. These cables
are not affected by heat or sun or rain. Weather proof cables are shown in the given figure:
➢ Flexible Cords and Cables: The flexible cords consist of wires silk/cotton/plastic covered.
Plastic cover is popular as it is available in different pleasing colours. Flexible cords have
tinned copper conductors. Flexibility and strength is obtained by using conductors having
large no. of strands. These wires or cables are used as connecting wires for such purposes as
from ceiling rose to lamp holder, socket outlet to portable apparatus such as radios, fans,
lamps, heaters etc. These must not be used for fixed wiring.
The flexible cords used for household appliances are available in various sizes and in
various thickness of coating as very thin/thin/medium/thick/very thick/extra thick etc.
➢ XLPE Cables: PVC and XLPE cables are built of insulation made of polymers. Polymers are
substances consisting of long macromolecules built up of small molecules or group of
molecules as repeated units. These are divided into homopolymers and copolymers.
Homopolymers are built by reactions of identical monomers. Copolymers are built up of at
least two different kinds of monomers.
The mechanical properties of the polymers e.g. tensile strength, elongation elasticity, and
resistance against cold depend upon chemical structure. Their resistance against external
chemical influences, acids, bases or oils together with their electrical and thermal
characteristics are the decisive factors for the usefulness of cables insulated and sheathed
with these materials.
➢Multi-Stranded Cables: Multi-stranded cables have got the following advantages with
respect to the single solid conductor and hence preferred.
• The multi-stranded cables are more flexible and durable and, therefore, can be
handled conveniently.
• The surface area of multi-strand cable is more as compared to the surface area of
equivalent single solid conductor, so heat radiating capacity being proportional to
the surface area is more.
• Skin effect is better as the conductors are tubular, especially in the case of high
frequency.
Importance of earthing:
An electrical equipment or appliance is said to be earthed, if its outer frame and its other parts
not carrying any current are connected to the earth so as to attain as nearly zero potential as
possible. In practice, all equipments and machinery, as well as electric poles, towers, neutral
wires, etc, are earthed. The purpose of earthing is to ensure that all parts of the system other
than live parts are maintained at the earth potential at all times.
Objective of Earthing:
1. The main objective of earthing is to provide safety of operation.
2. Another objective of the earthing, though not widely used nowadays, is to save
conducting material.
3. It also helps in protecting high-rise buildings from atmospheric lightening. A fork metal
rod or thick wire, called the lightening conductor, sticks out from the top of the building,
chimney, tower, etc. its other end buried deep into the ground. Whenever lightening
occurs, the electricity passes directly from the top of lightening conductor to the earth,
thereby protecting the building from any damage.
Methods of Earthing: Earthing should be done in a way so that on a short circuit, the earth
loop impedance is low enough to pass 3 times the current if fuses are used, and 1.5 times the
current if MCBs are used. The metal work should be solidly earthed without using any
switch or fuse in the circuit.
For effective earthing, the resistance offered by the earth electrode along with the soil in
which electrode is embedded should be quite low.
Galvanised Iron (GI) or copper is used to make an earth electrode.
There are different types of earthing methods are used:
1. Strip or Wire Earthing.
2. Rod Earthing.
3. Pipe Earthing.
4. Plate Earthing.
1. Strip or Wire Earthing: In this system of earthing, strip electrodes of cross section not less
than 25 mm X 1.6 MM if of copper and 25 mm X 4 mm if of galvanized iron or steel are
buried in horizontal trenches of minimum depth 0.5 metre. If round conductors are used,
their cross-sectional area shall not be smaller than 3.0 mm2 if of copper and 6 mm2 if of
galvanized iron or steel. The length of buried conductor shall be sufficient to give the
required earth resistance. It shall, however, be not less than 1.5 metres.
This type of earthing is used at places which have rocky soil earth bed because at such
places excavation work of plate earthing is difficult.
2. Rod Earthing: In this type of earthing, 12.5 mm diameter solid rods of copper or 16 mm
diameter solid rods of galvanized iron or steel or hollow section 25 mm GI pipes of length
not less than 2.5 metres are driven vertically into the earth either manually or by pneumatic
hammer. In order to increase the embedded length of electrodes under the ground, which is
sometimes necessary to reduce the earth resistance to desired value, more than one rod
sections are hammered one above the other.
This system of earthing is suitable for areas which are sandy in character. This sytem of
earthing is very cheap as no excavation work is involved.
3. Pipe Earthing: In the given figure, a GI pipe with a few holes at its lower end is buried to a
depth not less than 2 m and atleast 0.6 m away from the foundation of any building.
Normally, the size of pipe is either 2m long and 38 mm diameter or 1.37 m long and 51 mm
diameter. However, for dry and rocky soil, we use longer pipes. Alternate layers of common
salt and charcoal have thickness of 30 mm and 80 mm, respectively.
To maintain good conductivity of the soil, an arrangement is made for pouring water into
the earth pit surrounding the earth electrode. This is especially needed during summer. As
the pipe has much larger contact area with soil, it can handle larger leakage currents than
the plate earthing of same electrode size. The earth wire (made of copper) is tightly fastened
to the earth electrode by means of nut and bolt.
4. Plate Earthing: This is another common system of earthing. In plate earthing an earthing
plate either of copper of dimensions 60cm X 60cm X 3mm or of GI of dimensions 60cm X
60cm 6mm is buried into the ground with its face vertical at a depth of not less than 3
metres from ground level. The earth plate is embedded in alternate layers of coke and salt
for a minimum thickness of 15cm. The earth wire (GI wire for GI plate earthing and copper
wire for copper plate earthing) is securely bolted to an earth plate with the help of a bolt,
nut and washer made of material of that of earth plate. A small masonry brick wall enclosure
with a cast iron cover on top or an RCC pipe round the earth plate is provided to facilitate its
identification and for carrying out periodical inspection and tests.
The copper plate and copper wire are usually not employed for grounding because of their
higher cost.
Double Earthing: For providing better safety, it is advisable to provide two separate earth
wires, from two separate earth electrodes, connected to same metallic body of the equipment at
two different points. This is known as double earthing. Double earthing is essential, as per
Indian Electricity Rule, for metallic bodies of large rating equipment such as transformer,
motors etc. working at 400 V and above.
Advantages of Double Earthing:
1. Surety of safety, because if at any time one earthing is ineffective, then another will
provide earth path to fault.
2. As the two earth wires are in parallel so the effective resistance from equipment to earth
electrode is reduced.
Types of Batteries, Important characteristics for Batteries:
Types of Batteries: There are two types of batteries which are given below:
1. Primary Battery: Primary batteries can be used only once because the chemical
reactions that supply the current are irreversible. Primary batteries are the most
common batteries available today because of their low cost and simplicity in use.
Carbon-zinc dry cells and alkaline cells dominate portable consumer battery
applications where currents are low and usage is sporadic. Other primary batteries such
as those using mercury or lithium-based chemistries, may be used in applications when
high energy densities, small sizes, or long shelf life are especially important. In general,
primary batteries have dominated two areas: consumer products where the initial cost
of the battery is very important and electronic products (such as watches, hearing aids
and pacemakers) where drains are low or recharging is not feasible.
2. Secondary Battery: Secondary batteries, sometimes called storage batteries or
accumulators, can be used, recharged and reused. In these batteries, the chemical
reactions that provide current from the battery are readily reserved when current is
supplied to the battery. The process of inducing or storing energy in an accumulator is
called the charging, and the process of giving out energy in the form of an electric
current, the discharging. Accumulators or storage batteries owe their name “secondary”
due to the fact that they can supply electrical energy only after they have been charged.
Secondary batteries, which are rechargeable, have traditionally been most widely used
in industrial and automotive applications. Only two rechargeable battery chemistries,
lead acid and nickel-cadmium, have to-date, achieved significant commercial success.
There are several types of secondary batteries are given below:
• Lead Acid Batteries: Lead acid batteries, according to service rendered by them, are
classified into automotive, motive power and stationary batteries.
• Nickel-Iron (OR Edison) Batteries: These batteries are going to become more and
more popular as there is a possibility of their development into high energy density
batteries for electric vehicles.
• Nickel-Cadmium Accumulators:
• Nickel-Metal Hydride Cells:
Caution: The cell should never be allowed to discharge beyond 1.75V otherwise lead sulphate
will be formed on the electrodes which is hard, insoluble and increases the internal resistance of
the cell. The conversion of active material into lead sulphate is termed sulphatization.
2. Capacity: The quantity of electricity which a battery can deliver during single discharge
until its terminal voltage falls to 1.8 V/cell is called the capacity of a battery. The
capacity of cell is, therefore, expressed in ampere-hours (A-H) and is equal to the product
of the specific discharge current in amperes multiplied by the number of hours before
the cell discharges to the specific extent.
If 𝑰𝒅=Discharging Current in Ampere and
𝑻𝒅=Discharging Time of cell or battery in hours
𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐵𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑟 𝐶𝑒𝑙𝑙 = 𝐼𝑑 𝑇𝑑
𝑻𝒅= Discharging Time of cell or battery in hours
𝑻𝒄= Charging Time of cell or battery in hours
Elementary calculations for energy consumption and savings:
Electrical energy is supplied to a consumer by the supplier. To charge the electrical energy
consumed by a consumer, an energy meter is installed to its quantity. The reading of the energy
meter is taken every month. The difference between the fresh reading and the previous reading
tell about the consumption of electrical energy in that month. This quantity of energy is
multiplied by the rate (tariff) fixed by the supplier to prepare an electricity bill. However, some
other charges such as meter rent, GST, other taxes applicable etc. are also added in the bill.
Battery Back-up:
The time (in hrs) for which a battery can deliver the desired current is called battery back-up of
the bank.