POWER DITRIBUTION

CONCEPTS AND SINGLE LINE

DIAGRAM

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION CONCEPTS

Voltage levels
Broadly classified in to Four levels:
Low Voltage – Up to 1000 V
Medium Voltage – above 1000 V and ≤ 36 kV
High Voltage - < 36 kV ≤ 220 kV
Extra High Voltage - > 220 kV
The Voltage levels vary for different regions. The prevailing voltages for various
levels are as follows
Low Voltage: 380 V, 400 V, 415 V, 480 V, 690 V
Medium Voltage: 3.3 kV, 4 kV, 4.16 kV, 6 kV, 10 kV, 11 kV, 13.8 kV, 33 kV, 35 kV
High Voltage: 60 kV, 66 kV, 100 kV, 110 kV, 220 kV,
Extra High Voltage: 400 kV, 720 kV, 800 kV, .....
Highest system Voltages are specified as 1 kV, 7.2 kV, 12 kV, 36 kV, 72 kV, 125 kV,
145 kV etc
Most of the equipment manufacturers standardise their products as per these
voltages.

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION
CONCEPTS
Utilisation Voltages for the facility
Basis: Load
Motor Load: Three Phase voltages as follows
0.37 kW ≤ Rating ≤ 150 kW : 380 V – 480 V
150 kW < Rating ≤ 250 kW : 690 V
150 kW < Rating ≤ 750 kW : 6 – 6.6 kV
750 kW < Rating 10/11/13.8 kV
Motors rated below 0.37 kW are generally connected to single phase
220 V.
Lighting Load: 220 V – 277 V, single phase
Heaters up to 3 kW on single phase 220 V – 277 V
Control Voltages:
Plant control system – 110 V, AC, Single phase, UPS, 24 V DC derived
from 110 V AC.
Switchgear Control – 110 V or 220 V DC, UPS
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 POWER DISTRIBUTION CONCEPTS

CONCEPT OF BUS AND FEEDER

WHAT IS BUS?
WHAT IS FEEDER?

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION
CONCEPTS
 FUNCTIONS OF COMPONENTS OF FEEDER:
ISOLATION
PROTECTION
METERING
CONTROL

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION CONCEPTS

ISOLATION
Purpose: Safe isolation of incoming power
All the phases shall be Isolated
Neutral also recommended for isolation
Devices: Switch/Isolator, MCCB, MCB, Circuit Breakers
PROTECTION
Protection from Faults and abnormal operation
Faults: Short Circuit, Between Phases and Phase to
Ground.
Abnormal operation: Over Load. Over Voltages and surges
Devices: Fuse, MCB, MCCB
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 POWER DISTRIBUTION CONCEPTS

FUSE
Wire which melts due to excess current. Needs Replacement once it blows
Types: Plain wire, Bottled fuse or HRC fuse
Plain wire fuse is open to atmosphere and does not have the precision
HRC Fuse housed in ceramic body, protected from external cooling, has more
accurate characteristics

MCB
Isolation and protection device
Two parts: Bimetal strip for over load and magnetic Trip coil for short circuit

MCCB
Isolation and protection device
Two types: Thermo-magnetic and electronic
Thermo-magnetic: Bimetal for over load and magnetic for short circuit.
Quick action of magnetic trip limits the fault current
Electronic: The actual current is measured and Trip signal is generated.
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 POWER DISTRIBUTION CONCEPTS

CIRCUIT BREAKERS
Types:
LV application-Air circuit Breaker
HV application-VCB or SF6 circuit breakers up to 36 kV
SF6 circuit breakers for above 36 kV
Circuit Breakers are Isolators
Protection devices like relays, releases etc shall be
additional

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION CONCEPTS

DETECTION OF FAULTS:
Direct measurement for lower values
Instrument transformer for higher values.
Instrument Transformers:
Isolation from the main circuit. Faults on secondary
side do not reflect as fault on primary side due to high
impedance.
Converts signal to lower directly measureable standard
value
Draws power required to operate the devices
connected
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 CURRENT TRANSFORMERS
CURRENT TRANSFORMERS
Metering and Protection Class
METERING CLASS
PARAMETERS: Ratio, VA Burden, Accuracy Class
Ratio: Nominal Load Current + 20-30% Margin
Designed to be accurate in this range
Saturate after 150 % to prevent damage to meters
VA Burden: Sum of VA burden of instruments connected
+ margin
ACCURACY CLASS: Indicates percentage error
Typical Accuracy Classes: 0.5, 1,2 Etc.
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 CURRENT TRANSFORMERS
PROTECTION CLASS:
PARAMETERS: Ratio, VA Burden, Accuracy Class
RATIO: Primary to Secondary
Primary – Nominal Load Current + 20-30% Margin
Secondary – Suitable value as per the instrument connected,
generally 1 A or 5 A
VA Burden: Sum of the VA burden of the connected
Instruments
Accuracy Range - 50-2000 %
Accuracy Class: Expressed as xPy
x-Percentage error y- Multiple of Nominal current
Example: 5P15 - 5% Error up to 15 times the nominal current
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 CURRENT TRANSFORMERS
Special Protection Class:
CLASS PX
Parameters: Ratio, Knee Point
Voltage, Magnetizing current, CT
Resistance.

Ratio: Similar to protection class

Knee Point Voltage: The end of linear

characteristics, above which little
increase in voltage results for large
increase in excitation,

Limit on magnetizing current at Half

of knee point voltage (ankle point)
Limit on CT resistance
Application: Differential Protection

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION
CONCEPTS
Higher rated MCCBs have inbuilt CTs which will provide
proportional current to TMA or Electronic release

Air circuit breakers (ACBs) have either inbuilt releases

connected to current sensors, either CTs or Rogowski coils

Alternatively ACBs have CTs connected to Protective relays

HV circuit breakers have CTs connected to protective

relays

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Rogowski Coil:
Air cored Toroidal coil
placed around a current
carrying conductor
Alternating magnetic field
produced by the current
passing through the
conductor produces
voltage which is
proportional to the rate of
change of current

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION
CONCEPTS
Metering:
Basic Parameters: Voltage, Current, Frequency
Voltage: Direct measurement for Low voltage, Voltage
Transformers for High Voltage.
Current: Direct measurement for lower values.
Current Transformers for Higher currents
Other Parameters derived from Basic:
kVA kVAH
kW kWH
kVAR kVARH
PF

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION
CONCEPTS
CONTROL
Isolators and MCBs require manual effort for switching
Larger currents device will require large force
Switching ON/OFF has to be done from the isolating device.
Multi point control not possible
Automatic control not possible

Automatic control
Contactors with coil controlled through external control supply.
Circuit Breakers have close and open coil controlled through external control supply
Spring assisted closing and opening in case of higher force.
Low voltage, Low power control supply makes it easy to handle.
Control voltage can be made reliable by providing redundancy

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION CONCEPTS

 TYPES OF FEEDERS
Incomer
Bus Tie or Bus Coupler
Outgoing
Transformer
Motor
Capacitor
Radial

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION
CONCEPTS
 INCOMER
Feeding power to Bus
 Bus
Bus is the arrangement for receiving and distributing
power
 Bus Tie or Bus Coupler
Connects Two Buses
 Out going feeders
Feeders feeding power out to loads.

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION CONCEPTS

Sequence of connecting feeder components:

Incomer:
The Isolator shall isolate the source or the bus
Metering and Contactor shall be suitably placed as per the
access required.
Stand alone Single feeder will have Isolator as first device
Single Feed switchboards can have Isolator as first device.
Switching contactors are placed towards the bus
Neutral isolation along with phases is must for more than
one incomer system

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION CONCEPTS

 Feeding Configurations:
Single feed to single bus or Radial system
Double feed to Single bus with out Bus Tie
Double feed, Two buses with Bus Tie
Three feeds with three buses and two Bus Ties.
Ring main

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION
CONCEPTS
 Single Feed to
single Bus:
Simplest system
One incoming and
multiple outgoing
No redundancy of
supply.
Used for loads which
can tolerate power
interruption.

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION CONCEPTS
 Double feed to Single Bus:
Two incomer feeders connected
to one bus.
Both can operate in parallel or
one running and second
standby.
Automatic changeover can be
implemented to switch the
standby supply when main is
lost.
In case of manual changeover,
mechanical and Electrical
Interlocks can be provided to
ensure one source at any given
time.
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 POWER DISTRIBUTION CONCEPTS
Double feed, Two Buses with Bus Tie:
Two incoming feeders each connected to
independent buses
Both Buses are connected through Bus Tie
Incomers rated for 100 % load, Total load on both
the buses
Normal operation- each incomer feeds its bus,
Bus Tie open
Only Two out of three will be on
When one supply fails, not on fault, second
supply healthy, Bus Tie will be closed to feed
power from the healthy feeder
The arrangement is called Secondary selective
system
The change over can be automatic or manual
Change over between any two breakers is also
done by momentary paralleling by first closing
the third feeder (which is open) by ensuring at
synchronism and opening the desired one. This is
called manual change over.
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 POWER DISTRIBUTION CONCEPTS

Primary Selective Scheme:

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION
CONCEPTS
 Three feeds with three buses and two Bus Ties:

Three commonly followed schemes:

1. Two normal supplies & one emergency supply

2. Three 100 % rated feeders
3. Three 67 % rated feeders

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION CONCEPTS
Two normal supplies & one Emergency
Supply:
Two normal Feeders A & B connected to Bus A
& B respectively.
One Emergency Feeder C connected to Bus C
(emergency Bus)

Bus A & B has Bus Tie AB and Bus B & C has

Bus Tie BC

Feeders and Buses A & B are rated for

complete load of A,B & C
Feeder & Bus C and Bus Tie BC rated for load
on Bus C

Normal operation–Feeder A & B and Bus Tie

BC closed, Bus Tie AB and Feeder C open.

Auto-Manual change over between feeder A &

B and Bus Tie AB is performed as described
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under two Incomer one Bus Tie scheme.
 POWER DISTRIBUTION
CONCEPTS
If the supply on Bus C is lost for any reason, and
if supply is available on Feeder C the Bus Tie BC
will be opened and Feeder C will be closed to
provide supply to Bus C

If the Feeder C has a standby Generator, supply

fail signal on Bus C will be used to start it.

When the generator builds up voltage and

available on Incomer C, Bus Tie will be opened
and Feeder C will be closed.

In case normal supply resumes on Bus C before

the generator voltage established on Feeder C,
the sequence will be stopped.

The reverse change over when normal supply

resumes, can be done by momentary paralleling,
by closing Bus Tie BC and then opening feeder C
by checking synchronism.

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION
CONCEPTS
Three 100 % rated Feeders:
Three Incoming feeders & three Buses A, B &
C
Two bus Ties AB and BC

Load divided between Bus A and C.

Bus B is in middle, load is not connected.

Each Incoming feeder is rated to feed load of

respective Bus
Feeder B & Bus B is stand by to both bus A
and Bus C.
In case of failure of any one supply Bus B
supplies through feeder B by auto change
over by closing respective Bus Tie

Advantage Single standby feeder for two

100 % loaded buses, saving one feeder
Disadvantage: 100 % load on each bus,
require running and stand by loads
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connected to same bus to ensure even load
distribution.
 POWER DISTRIBUTION
CONCEPTS
Three 67 % rated feeders:
Similar to earlier case but load is distributed on all
three buses 33 % each
In case of failure of any of the incoming feeder the
adjacent Bus will supply by auto change over
In case of limitation of Transformer rating on
higher side, three lower rated transformers can be
used.

Example: If the load is 3000 kVA Options are

Two nos. 3150 kVA transformers or
Four nos. 1600 kVA Transformers or
Three nos. 2000 kVA transformers. With 1000 kVA
load on each

3150 kVA rating will have Thermal and SC current

issues
4 nos. 1600 kVA will have higher cost
3 Bus system will have distribution of Running and
stand by loads on same bus
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 POWER DISTRIBUTION
CONCEPTS
 RING MAIN:
 The Distribution network in
which all buses are connected
in a closed loop.
 It may have single or multi
source.
 Each bus has two connection
both closed, in case one fails,
power can be is fed from the
second.
 The interconnection between
buses has to be designed for
sum of the loads of all the
buses
 Mainly used in utility networks.
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 POWER DISTRIBUTION CONCEPTS

RATINGS
Voltage rating
Current rating
Voltage Rating: Basic insulation Level (BIL)
Highest System Voltage
Power Frequency Withstand Voltage
Impulse withstand Voltage

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION
CONCEPTS
CURRENT RATINGS
THERMAL
SHORT CIRCUIT
THERMAL RATING:
Capacity to carry normal current continuously and over load current
occasionally.
Basis - Load current.
SHORT CIRCUIT RATING:
Capacity to withstand:
System maximum RMS short circuit current for short duration as
specified
System maximum peak or dynamic short circuit current
Making current, Breaking current and DC component for switching
devices.
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 POWER SYSTEM
PROTECTION
Short Circuit Current Values
HV system:
Ik – RMS value of the steady state symmetrical SC
current
Ik” – RMS value of Initial symmetrical SC current
Ip – Peak short circuit current: maximum possible
instantaneous value of a prospective SC current.

Sub-transient: 10-20 ms
Transient: up to 500 ms
Stead state: after 500 ms

Ip=k x √ 2 x Ik”
Where k= 1.02 + 0.98 e^(-3R/X) and Ik”= E/Xd”, E=
pre-fault voltage and Xd”= Sub-transient reactance

Standard values : 2.5 x Ik for 50 Hz & 2.6 x Ik for 60

Hz system.

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 POWER SYSTEM PROTECTION
Top picture with maximum
asymmetry
Lower picture is with no DC
component
DC component is maximum when
the network is purely inductive
and the fault occurs at Voltage
wave form at zero
DC component is NIL if fault
happens when voltage waveform
is at 90 degree
DC component reduces as X/R
ratio of network increases
DC component is maximum in
case of fault closure to Generator

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POWER DISTRIBUTION
CONCEPTS

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION
CONCEPTS
LV system:
Icu (rated ultimate short circuit current): The maximum
symmetrical short circuit current the breaker can interrupt.

Ics (rated service short circuit current): The maximum symmetrical

short circuit current the breaker can interrupt multiple times
without damage and continue in service, expressed as % of Icu.

Icw (Rated short time withstand current): Steady state

symmetrical short circuit current which the breaker has to with
stand for specified time.

Icm: Rated short circuit making current

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION
CONCEPTS
Incoming Feeder rating:

Rating computed + 20 % spare capacity.

If Feeder is from Transformer, This will be the Transformer rating, Select Nearest standard
rating.
Incomer Rating will be the Full load current or Transformer rated current

Select the Circuit breaker of having current rating as in panel rating.

Bus rating can be the load current, Identical Bus and Circuit breaker rating is recommended.

CT Primary current: Full load current X 1.3 or the Bus rating

CT secondary current 1A or 5A as per the instruments connected to the secondary.

VT primary voltage same as the Nominal Voltage, secondary voltage is 100 V or 110 V based
on country.

Meter range as per nominal values, example current same as CT primary, Voltage same as Bus
Voltage or nearest standard value.
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 POWER DISTRIBUTION
CONCEPTS
 Component Ratings for Out going feeders:
1. Isolators:
Rating: 130 % of full load current
Utilization category:
Motors: AC 23
Resistive: AC 21
Mixed Resistive and Inductive-Lighting: AC 22
2. Contactor:
Rating: 120 % of full load current,
Utilisation category:
Motor: AC-3
Resistive or slightly Inductive: AC-1
Transformers: 6a
Capacitor Banks: 6b
Lighting: 5a/5b

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION
CONCEPTS
 Fuse
Provides Short Circuit protection
Shall not act on lower over loads up to 150 %
 MCCB
Provides Short circuit protection
Provides Over load protection as back up
Short circuit duty: Icu = Ics
Current Rating: 120 % of load current
Protection shall be settable when used for over load protection.
 Over Load Relay
Provides overload, stall and negative sequence protection
Setting range: 70 – 130 %
Specific care for loads with prolonged starting like fans and blowers

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION CONCEPTS
Coordination between components of motor feeder as per
IEC 947-4-1

Type 1 Type 2
Under short circuit condition Under short circuit condition the
the contactor or starter shall contactor or starter shall cause
cause no damage to persons or no damage to persons or
installation and may not be installation and shall be suitable
suitable for service without for further use. There must be
repair and replacement of parts no signs of damage to the
devices with the exception of
Damage to contactor, solid slightly welded contactor
state switching devices and contacts that can be easily
overload relay is permissible separated without any
noticeable deformation

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 POWER DISTRIBUTION CONCEPTS
Sample Feeder SLD
Incomer From
Incomer From Transformer
Switchboard

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POWER DISTRIBUTION CONCEPTS
Sample Feeder SLD

Bus VT Bus Tie

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POWER DISTRIBUTION CONCEPTS
Sample Feeder SLD
Motor Feeder Radial Feeder

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POWER DISTRIBUTION CONCEPTS
Sample Feeder SLD
Transformer Feeder

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