Ampacity of Cables in Solid Bottom Trays With and Without Covers

R.V.Rebbapragada,D.O’Neill, M. Zuzovsky and R. Weronick

Raytheon Nuclear Inc.
510 Camegie Center, Princeton, NJ 08540

I. INTRODUCTION 111. METHODOLOGY

TO COMPUTE ALLOWABLE
CABLE AMPACITIES IN SOLID BOTTOM TRAYS
Nuclear Power Generating Stations utilize cable trays to WITHOUT COVERS
route cables that are part of safety related systems. While
these trays are predominantly ladder type (ventilated), there
are several instances where solid bottom trays, with or without The computation of allowable ampacities of cables in
covers, are also applied. The guidance, to determine the uncovered ventilated trays was performed by Stolpe [3] and
ampacity of cables installed in ventilated or solid bottom trays formed the basis of [l]. The model is based on predicting the
without covers is given in Section 318-1 1 of the National maximum expected surface temperature of a uniform cable
Electric Code [6]. Guidance to determine the ampacity of mass, equation (I), for a fixed ambient and maximum cable
cables installed in ventilated or solid bottom trays with covers operating temperature.
is also given in [6] under “Provision 2” of this same article
which states, “a derating of not over 95% of the allowable
ampacities for uncovered trays recommended”. However,
adequate justification to this derating factor is not presented.
L 8.w 1
ICEA/NEMA Std. P54-440 [ 11 provides ampacities of cables
in ventilated trays without covers based on Stolpe’s where:
methodology [3]. The best engineering guidance for selecting hAs(Tc - Ta) the heat loss due to convection
a derating factor for cables in covered trays comes from IEEE
papers written by Engmann [7] and Harshe & Black [2]. The oAse[Tc4- Ta4] the heat loss from the tray due to
guidance from Engmann is incorporated in Section 12 of radiation
IEEE Std. 666. Table 12.3 of this standard provides derating
factors of covered, ventilated trays. These derating factors and h overall convection heat transfer
vary between 74% to 76% and are far lower than those stated coefficient for tray
in the National Electric Code. However, neither of these As surface area of cable mass per unit
papers ([2] and [7]) has addressed solid bottom trays. Due to tray length
lack of any industry guidance to determine ampacity of cables
in solid bottom trays (with or without covers) the authors Stefan-Boltzmann constant
performed the required analyses. A summary of the analytical Effective thermal emissivity of cable
techniques used and the derating factors applicable to the mass and tray surface
solid bottom trays are presented in this paper.
ATc the temperature drop through the
11. ASSUMPTIONS cable mass
This model for predicting the maximum expected surface Tc average mass surface temperature
temperature of the uniform cable mass is governed by the
Ta ambient temperature
following assumptions:
The computation of allowable ampacities of cables in
Steady state conditions exist. uncovered solid bottom trays is essentially the same as that for
The tray is horizontal and no other heat source is nearby, ventilated trays. However, one significant difference exists
between the two computations. The ampacities presented in
The air surrounding the tray is stationary. [l] are developed based on equation (1) above utilizing an
Heat generated by the cables is conducted through the effective thermal emissivity (E) of 0.8. This emissivity is the
cable bundle to the surface of the bundle. arithmetic average of the top cable surface and bottom cable
Heat is convected and radiated from the top and bottom and tray surface emissivities. However, for uncovered solid
surfaces of the cable bundle. bottom trays, the average emissivity (E) is adjusted to account
for the solid bottom surface of the cable tray as follows:
The ambient temperature is 40 “C.
The thermal emissivity used for solid bottom trays is:
All cables are rated on the basis of 90 “C maximum
conductor operating temperature, E= + / 2 = ( 0.95 + 0.33 ) / 2 = 0.64. (2)

Heat transfer from the sides of the tray is neglected. Where:

(c) 2000 IEEE

0-7803-5696-9/00/$10.00 1704
 Emissivity (E) for top surface of the cable tray is the same For hot plates facing downward, the convective heat
as the emissivity for the cable Eeable=0.95. transfer coefficient is given by Reference 2.
Emissivity (E) for bottom surface of the tray is E h = h, x (?T / w)"~
.,=0.33. For h, = 0.099, and w = 2.0 ft.,
It has to be noted that the convective heat transfer h
--v
~ /,( ~ ~ ! ~ ) = o . o 8 3 2
I

coefficient is unchanged for solid bottom trays.

The emissivity of the solid bottom of the tray: %ay = 0.33
As can be seen by equation (2) above, the emissivity used
for ventilated type trays is modified to account for the solid Boundary Condition 2 - Air Gap between Cable Mass
bottom construction by neglecting the emissivity of the cables and Tray Cover
exposed to free air in the ladder bottom construction. It has to For trays with covers the convective coefficient based on
be noted that this value is far lower than 0.8 utilized to Reference 2 is:
develop the ampacities referenced in ICEAMEMA-P54-440. hgap= h, x ?Ti/' watt/ft2 -"C
Thus, based on equation (1) the allowable heat intensities for
varying depths of cables in ladder and solid bottom trays were where h, = 0.0677
computed and are shown in Table 1. The emissivity of the gap between the cable mass and the
tray cover is given by:
Table 1: Allowable Heat Intensities of Ventilated Vs. Solid Bottom &gap = ((1/&cable)+ (1/Gray 1-1
Trays
E = ((1/0.95)+ (1/0.33)-1)-' = 0.324

1 1 1
Cable mass Q, (watt/Win2),
depth (in) [Ventilated]
Ql(watt/ft/in2
), [Solid]
Derating
Factor
-
Boundarv Condition 3 Top Horizontal Surface of the
Tray Cover
1 DWQzQi)
0 . 5 1
For hot plates facing up, the convective
coefficient is given from Reference 2 as
1.o 5.925 5.257 0.942 h = h, x ? T / w1l4
1 I I
1
I
1.5 [ 3.557 [ 3.186 [ 0.946 I
I
where w is the width of the tray in feet and ?T is
the temperature difference in "C between the surface
[ 2.0 [ 2.427 [ 2.194 I 0.951 I and the ambient.
[1 2.5 I 1.784 [ 1.624 [ 0.954 [I For h, = 0.198, and w = 2.0 ft.,
I 3.0 I 1.377 I 1.26 I 0.957 I h, / (w'14)= 0.1665
The value of h, / (wi14)is used as an input into
This derating factor is equally applicable for trays with HEATING6.
different widths and for the same loading depth [3].
The emissivity to account for radiation from the
tray surface to the ambient is taken as = 0.33
Iv. COMPUTATION OF CABLE AMPACITIES IN
VENTILATED AND SOLD BOTTOM TRAYS WITH
MA'ITALIC COVERS Heating6 Simulation Results
The base ampacity of cables in solid bottom trays needs to be Tables 2 & 3 presents the allowable heat
firther derated due to the presence of covers by applying a intensities and the associated derating factors
suitable derating factor. The derating factors developed by determined through HEATING6 simulations.
Harshe and Black are for covered trays with ladder bottoms.

Therefore, derating factors for covered solid bottom trays

were developed using the same methodology as given by
Depth Uncovered Tray Covered Tray Derati
Harshe and Black [2] but making appropriate changes in of Fill solid bottom- solid bottom- ng Factor
emissivity values to account for the solid bottom tray. The
(in.) Heat Intensity Heat Intensity
analysis was performed using the computer code HEATING6
[ 5 ] , a multidimensionalfinite difference heat conduction code (watt/ft/in2) (watt/tUin2)
developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 1.o 5.257 2.726 0.72
2.0 2.194 1217 0 74
The HEATING6 simulations were performed
3 .O 1.26 0.737 0.77
with the following boundary conditions

Boundary Condition 1 - Bottom Horizontal Surface of

the Cable Tray

(c) 2000 IEEE

0-7803-5696-9/00/$10.00 I,705
 technical consulting services involving Power System
V. CONCLUSIONS Analysis, Fossil and Nuclear Generating Projects.
Mr. Rebbapragada is a registered professional
Derating factors that need to be applied for solid bottom engineer, and an active member of the IEEE Power
trays without covers are presented. The results indicate Engineering Society technical committees.
that the ampacities determined for ladder trays need to
be reduced by as much as 5.8% for 1” depth gradually
improving to 4.3% for a loading depth of 3”. Where Daniel O’Neill (M) was born in Philadelphia,
covers are installed over the solid bottom trays, Pennsylvania in 1970. He received his Bachelor of Science
additional derating needs to be applied as indicated in degree in Electrical Engineering in 1997 from Temple
Table 4. University. He joined Raytheon in 1997 and has experience
in engineering analysis and design of electrical power
Table 4: Summary of Ampacity derating factors for solid bottom systems. His engineering, responsibilities at Raytheon include
analysis and detail design, under the supervision of a
registered professional engineer, in a range of power electrical
system areas for nuclear facilities.
Cover Cover
0.942 M. Zuzovsky is born in Jerusalem, Israel in 1943.
I I
I
I
2.0 1 0.951 I 0.74 I 0.70 I
I
He received his B.S. and M.S. in civil engineering from
I
I
3.0 I 0.957 I 0.77 I 0.74 II
the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Ph.D in
Chemical Engineering from Camegie-Mellon
University.
Maximum derating takes place for 1” loading depth by Dr. Zuzovsky is employed by Raytheon Engineers
as much as 32% steadily improving to 26% for a 3” and Constructors as a Senior Consulting Engineer for
loading depth. Thermal-Hydraulics in the Mechnanical Engineering
Department.
VI. REFERENCES
1. KEA P-54-440, “Ampacities of Cable in Open-Top Cable
Raymond Weronick (SM) was born in Brooklyn, New
Trays,“ Insulated Cable Engineers Association, 1979.
York in 1948. He received Bachelor of Engineering
2. B. L. Harshe and W. Z. Black, “Ampacity of Cables in (Electrical) degree in 1970 from the City University of
Single Covered Trays,” IEEE Transactions on Power New York and Master of Science (Management) from
Delivery, Vol. 12, No. 1, January 1997.
Polytechnic Institute of New York in 1976. He joined
3. J. Stolpe, “Ampacities for Cables in Randomly Filled Ebasco in 1970 and has served in various positions on
Trays,” IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and major power projects. He is currently Raytheon
Systems, Vol. PAS-90, Pt I, pg. 962-974, 1970. Engineers and Constructors Chief electrical Engineer.
4. ICEA Publication No. P-46-426/ IEEE S-135, Power Mr. Weronick is a registered professional engineer in nine
Cable Ampacities, 1962 Edition (Revised 1984). states. He is an active member of the IEEE Power
5. HEATING6: A Multidimensional Heat Conduction Engineering Society and past chairman if Sub-committee 4
Analysis with the Finite Difference Formulation, Oak (Auxiliary Power) of the Nuclear Power Engineering
Ridge National Laboratory, NUREG/CR-O200, Rev. O., Committee.
10/81.
6. NFPA-70, National Electric Code 1999. VIII. NOMENCLATURE
7. Engmann, G. “Ampacity of Cable in Covered Tray”,
IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems. Vol. As = area of top and bottom surface of cable mass
PAS-103, pp. 1958-1968, 1985. per unit length, (ft2)/ft.
d = depth of cable mass in a tray as defined by K E A [I],
VII. BIBLIOGRAPHIES inch.

R. Vitta1 Rebbapragada (SM) received B.S.E.E. ‘

h = overall convection heat transfer coefficient for the
cables in the tray surfaces,watts (*’ * K)*
from Indian Institute of Science (1959), M.S.E.E. from hboaom= convection heat transfer coefficient for the
Purdue University (1 969), and M.S. (Operations bottom of the cable trays, watts / (ft2*K)
Research) from Polytechnic Institute Of htop = convection heat transfer coefficient for the top
(1 972). Mr. Rebbapragada is employed by Raytheon surface of the tray cover, watts / (ft2 * K)
Engineers and Constructors, Ghere he is responsible for

(c) 2000 IEEE

0-7803-5696-9/00/$10.00 1706
h, = the part of the overall convection heat transfer Tm = the maximum operating temperature of the cable
coefficient that is not temperature dependent but in the tray, "C
carries all units (used in analytical model only) w = width of the cable tray (also taken as the width of
q = maximum allowable heat per unit area per unit the cable mass), feet
length which may be generated within a cable mass
E = Average thermal emissivity of the packed cable mass
corresponding to a maximum cable temperature of
and tray surface, based on if the tray is ventilated or
90 "C, (watts/ft)/in* . solid bottom trays (dimensionless).
Q = maximum allowable heat per unit length which may
be generated within a cable mass corresponding to a
p = Effective thermal resistivity of the cable mass, (K-ft)
I watt
maximum cable temperature of 90 "C, watts/ft
rs = Stefan-Boltzmann constant, watt I (ft2 K4).
Ta = the ambient temperature, K
Tc = cable mass surface temperature, K

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