Arc Protection

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Page 1
You want to be prepared against arc flashes?

Then you should be interested in

SIPROTEC 5 Arc Protection!

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Page 2 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Agenda

• How can arcs appear?

• Why do I need arc protection?
• SIPROTEC solution
• Applications

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Page 3 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Agenda

• How can arcs appear?

• Why do I need arc protection?
• SIPROTEC solution
• Applications

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Page 4 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
How can arcs appear?

• Flashovers between the poles or to earthed parts

What is an arc?

• Plasma (hot and ionized gas) is located between

two electrodes
• Free moving charge carriers transport an
electrical current which maintains the temperature

• Operational mistakes • Corrosion of electrical contacts

What is the reason

• Wrong installation • Design and manufacturing mistakes

for an arc?

• Humidity and pollution • No maintenance

• Rodent entry • Wear and tear
• Aging of insulation materials • Wrong dimension of the equipment for the network
• Overvoltages

Source (picture): © www.wikipedia.com

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Page 5 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Physics of an arc

• The typical spectrum lies between 300 nm and Simulation of a typical arc spectrum
spectrum look like?

800 nm with a maximum around 500 nm

How does the

• Strong Cu-peaks are visible especially at 515 nm

and 521 nm
• Peak details vary with the material that causes
the flash

nm

• Pulsation according to the frequency, Simulation of an arc over time

e.g. 100 Hz optical at 50 Hz electrical
Arc over time

• Time to rise to significant amplitudes below 1 ms

ms

Source (picture): © Avago

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Page 6 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Agenda

• How can arcs appear?

• Why do I need arc protection?
• SIPROTEC solution
• Applications

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Page 7 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Why do I need arc protection?
Intensive

• Damage to eyes
Flash

• Shock reaction

• Hearing damage
Acoustic
shock

• Shock reaction

• Danger caused by scattering parts of the • Burning caused by hot gases

Heating of the
switchgear (several thousand degrees)
Pressure

plasma
peak

• Contamination caused by toxical gases

• Destruction of material caused by the extreme
temperature

Severe risk for personal and equipment

Source (picture): © www.tas.co.uk
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Page 8 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Why do I need arc protection?

Pressure curve of an internal arc

100 ms
Pressure peak
~10 ms Thermal phase

Damages due to a pressure peak followed by a thermal phase

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Page 9 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Why do I need arc protection?

High temperatures of ~ 10.000 ºC cause smelting, vaporizing and destruction of the different materials.
The destruction starts after:
~ 100 ms: cable sealing ends
~ 150 ms: copper
~ 200 ms: steel

Bushings Connection Compartment Contact system

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Page 10 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Why do I need arc protection?

Bypassing the time grading

T = 900 ms T = 600 ms T = 300 ms T = 0 ms

• Instead of the 900 ms time grading delay tripping takes place instantaneously
• This minimizes the thermal damage which usually starts 100 ms after the fault entry
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Page 11 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Agenda

• How can arcs appear?

• Why do I need arc protection?
• SIPROTEC solution
• Applications

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Page 12 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Arc protection – SIPROTEC solution

• Protection of air-insulated compartments of switchgears

requirement
Customer

• Very short tripping time required

• Instantaneous tripping: time grading can be bypassed in
case of an arc flash

• Plugin module for SIPROTEC 5 devices

SIPROTEC

• Connection of up to 3 optical sensors per plugin module

solution

 up to 15 sensors per modular device (with CB202)

• Self supervision of the sensors

• 2 modes to detect arcs: • Personal safety

functions

Benefits
• Light only • Minimized damages
Device

trip time: ~3 ms + contact

• Light + current
trip time: ~4 ms + contact

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Page 13 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Arc protection point sensor

Light
sensitive area

Switchgear


Transmitter

Wiring

Receiver

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Page 14 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Arc protection line sensor (I)

A line sensor consists of two components:

Supply Line: Sensor:

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Page 15 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Arc protection line sensor (II)

Switchgear
Switchgear


Transmitter

Supply Line

Line Sensor
Receiver

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Page 16 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Agenda

• How can arcs appear?

• Why do I need arc protection?
• SIPROTEC solution
• Applications

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Page 17 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Arc protection –
Example: MV switchgear (NXAIR)

Front and side view

Optical point sensors with wires

Busbar compartment

Breaker compartment

Cable connection compartment

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Page 18 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Application I – Light and Current

Busbar compartment

Breaker compartment

Cable connection
compartment

Feeder 1 Feeder 2 Incoming

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Page 19 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Application I – Light and Current

A high current verifies an arc flash

+ Fast tripping time

+ Increased safety against unwanted trips

– A lot of wiring necessary

– Limitation to a maximum of 4 feeders

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Page 20 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Application II – Light and Current (with communication)

Binary signal / Goose

Busbar compartment

Breaker compartment

Cable connection
compartment

Feeder 1 Feeder 2 Incoming

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Page 21 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Application II – Light and Current (with communication)

+ Increased safety against unwanted trips

+ No limit of feeders

+ Only one arc protection module per switchgear

– Communication necessary

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Application III – Line Sensor

Feeder 1 Feeder 2 Incoming

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Page 23 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Application III – Line Sensor

+ No communication

+ Only one line sensor

+ Only one arc protection module

– Possibility to wire the line sensor along all compartments must be given

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Page 24 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Application IV – Combination of Line & Point Sensors

Feeder 1 Feeder 2 Incoming

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Page 25 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Application IV – Combination of Line & Point Sensors

+ Fast tripping time

+ Simple wiring of the line sensor along the busbar

+ Point sensors in the other compartments to simplify the installation

+ No communication necessary

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Page 26 October 2016 Energy Automation Products
Summary

+ Extremely fast tripping time

+ Increased personal safety

+ Limitation of thermal damage

+ Increased system availability

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Page 27 October 2016 Energy Automation Products