HOW TO SELECT AN ELECTRIC CABLE

To determine the size of cable to be used for particular application, the following variables need to be known:
Power - This can be in kVA, kW or in Amps.
Voltage
Permissible voltage drop - (Usually 5%)
Distance to load
Fault current:
Short circuit (Symmetrical Fault Current)
Earth fault (Asymmetrical Fault Current)
Mechanical Conditions:
Temperature, depth of burial, soil thermal resistivity, presence of other cables, or other heat sources.
Armoring requirements.
Sheath requirements.
1. ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF CABLES:
Cross section
area, sq.mm.
Approx.
AWG
Overall.
Dia., mm
Max..
Insul.
Thickness,mm,
Nom.
Cond.
Config.
No. of
wires/
max.dia..
Cond.
Resist.,
/ km
At 20 C
Max
Max.
current
rating,
A
Approx.
voltage drop
per amp per
meter, mV
0.5 22 2.6 0.6 16/0.20 36.0 6 46.0
0.75 20 2.8 0.6 24/0.20 24.5 9 31.0
1.0 18 3.0 0.6 32/0.20 19.5 14 22.0
1.5 16 3.4 0.7 30/0.25 13.3 18 15.0
2.5 14 4.2 0.8 50/0.25 7.98 24 9.1
4.0 12 4.8 0.8 56/0.30 4.95 32 5.7
6.0 10 5.6 0.8 84/0.30 3.30 42 3.8
10.0 8 7.0 1.0 140/0.30 1.91 55 2.2
16.0 6 8.2 1.0 126/0.40
or
226/0.30
1.21 75 1.4
25.0 4 10.0 1.2 196/0.40 0.780 100 0.89
35.0 2 11.5 1.2 276/0.40 0.554 125 0.64
50.0 1 13.0 1.4 396/0.40 0.386 165 0.45
70.0 2/0 15.0 1.4 360/0.50 0.272 240 0.32
95.0 3/0 17.5 1.6 475/0.50 0.206 300
0.24
120 4/0 19.0 1.6 608/0.50 0.161 325 0.19
150 - 21.5 1.8 750/0.5 0.129 352 0.15
185 - 24.0 2.0 926/0.5 0.106 400 0.12
240 - 27.0 2.2 1200/0.5 0.0801 475 0.10
300 29.5 2.4 1500/0.5 0.0641 500 0.08

Note: The voltage drop tabulated above are for single cables only. For circuits of single 50 Hz a.c. or two wire
d.c. the figures shown above should be multiplied by 2 and for three phase 50 Hz. a.c. multiplied by 1.732.

2. PERMISSIBLE VOLT DROP

Q. What is voltage drop?

A. A term expressing the amount of voltage loss from original input in a conductor of given size and length.
Vd
Vr = 100 ----- percent
El
Where: Vr = Voltage regulation in percent, Vd = Voltage drop, El = voltage at load

Look up the mV/A/m figure - The relevant table has been reproduced later from our Facts and Figures booklet.

Volt drop = mV/A/m x Current (Amps) x Distance (meters).

= mVolts (Convert to volts by dividing by 1000).

Usually 5% volt drop is allowed. For a 400 Volt 3 phase system, 5% is equal to 20 Volts.

3. CURRENT RATING (AND DERATING) OF CABLE
The allowable current, or the current rating of an electric cable is that current which will result in the conductor
temperature rising to the maximum operating temperature.

For PVC this is 70C, 85C & 105C

When a cable is installed in a hot environment, for example against a boiler, it stands to reason that the cable
will have a lower current rating than the same cable installed in cooler conditions.

Brochure quoted current ratings are based on the following standard conditions:

Ground Temperature: 25C

Ambient Temperature: 40C

Ground Thermal resistivity (g): 1.2K.m/W

Depth of laying to top surface of cable or duct 0.8m

The derating factors, which are to be multiplied for different ambient temperatures, is listed below.

Kindly multiply these factors with the current rating of the cable at 40C ambient temperature.
Ambient temperature derating factors:
Ambient
temperature
Deg C
25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65
Rating
factor for
cables
1.22 1.15 1.08 1.00 0.91 0.82 0.70 0.57 0.40


BASIC ASSUMPTIONS:
a Ambient air temperature 40C
b Maximum continuous operating conductor temp. 105C
c Thermal resistivity of PVC 6500C&cm/W


PVC RATED TEMPERATURE DERATING FACTOR
PVC RATED TEMPERATURE 70 85 95 105
RATING FACTORS 0.707 0.845 0.926 1.0

SUSTAINED CURRENT RATING FACTORS FOR NON-STANDARD CONDITIONS


Derating factors for depth of laying -
Depth of laying (mm) Direct in ground In single way ducts
500 1,00 1,00
800 0,97 0,97
1000 0,95 0,96
1250 0,94 0,95
1500 0,93 0,94
2000 0,92 0,93



Derating factors for ground thermal resistivity
Thermal Resistivity (Km/W) Direct in ground In single way ducts
1,00 1,08 1,04
1,5 0,93 0,96
2,0 0,83 0,88
2,5 0,78 0,87



Derating Factor For Groups:
For groups of circuits unenclosed, the single-circuit ratings apply provided that:
1. the horizontal clearance between the circuit is:
a. Not less than 6 times overall diameter of an individual cable; and
b.
Not less than overall width of an individual circuit, except that the horizontal clearance need not in any
case exceed 150mm;
2. the vertical clearance between circuits is not less than 150 mm; and
3. if the number of circuits exceed 4, they are installed in horizontal plane. In all the other cases, unless a
more precise evaluation of current rating has been made on experimental work or calculated data, the
following factors are applicable:

Number of
circuits(pairs of cables,
single-phase ac or dc 3
cables per circuit, or 4
where one is the neutral
3 phase ac
2 3 4 5 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Rating
factor
Single core 0.80 0.69 0.62 0.59 0.55 0.51 0.48 0.43 0.41 0.39 0.38 0.36
Twin & multicore 0.80 0.70 0.65 0.60 0.57 0.52 0.48 0.45 0.43 0.41 0.39 0.38



FAULT CURRENT
This topic is mainly concerned with higher voltages than LV.
Two types of fault current need to be considered:
1. Short circuit current (sometimes called symmetrical fault current).
2. Earth fault current (sometimes called asymmetrical fault current).

SHORT CIRCUIT CURRENT
When we experience a fault on an electrical system, the protection equipment will detect the fault and trip out
the faulty circuit. It cannot however trip instantaneously, and a delay, (of up to a few seconds) will occur.
The formula for the short circuit current withstand capability of an electric cable is:
Isc = K * A/sqrt(t)
Where:
Isc = Short circuit rating of cable (kA)
A = Area of conductor (mm)
t = Time to trip (in seconds)
K = 96 for PVC, Copper conductor
Area of conductor Short circuit current
sq.mm for 1 sec in A
0.5 48
0.75 72
1 115
1.5 170
2.5 280
4 460
6 690
10 1150
16 1840
25 2875
35 4000
50 5750
70 8000
95 10925
120 13800
150 22500
185 24275
240 27600

EARTH FAULT CURRENT
If the phase conductor comes into contact with the earth conductor (lead sheath, copper tape or armour) then
we must ensure that this earth conductor can survive the resulting fault current.

Ief = K x A/ sqrt(t)

Where K depends on earth path material (steel wire armour or copper tape)

A= CSA of earth path

T=Fault duration in sec.

What is dielectric constant?
A. A specific property of insulating material. Dielectric constant is defined as the ratio of the electrical
capacitance of a given capacitor having a specific electrode/dielectric geometry to the capacitance of the
same capacitor with air as a dielectric. The preferred symbol for dielectric constant is (epsilon).


Typical dielectric values
=================
PVC 3.4 - 8.0
EPR 2.5 - 3.5
PE 2.5 - 2.6
XLPE 2.3 - 6.0

6Q. What is insulation resistance (ir)?
A.
It is a ratio of an applied dc voltage to the small dc current which flows through the insulation to ground.
This dc current is commonly called a leakage current.
E
IR = --------- ohms
Il
Where: E= applied dc voltage in volts, Il = leakage current in amps.
Insulation resistance measurements are affected by temperature and can be corrected to a base
reference temperature with temperature coefficients. The base temperature is usually 20C.

Bending Radius calculation:
MINIMUM BENDING RADII FOR NON-SHIELDED/NON-ARMOURED POWER CABLES
THICKNESS of
CONDUCTOR
INSULATION (MM)
CABLE O.D. (MM)
0 TO 25 MM 25.1 MM TO 50 MM 50 MM AND ABOVE
MINIMUM BENDING RATIOS AS A MULTIPLE OF CABLE O.D.
0 TO 4 MM 4 5 6
4 MM AND ABOVE 5 6 7
Values taken from ICEA S-95-658