Motor Contribution in Short Circuit Fault

Motor contribution is the Current feed back by Motor, due to rotating magnetic fied in rotor, into System during short circuit condition.
Fault Current Contribution of Motor is Signifacant in Short Circuit Calculations, and its calculations are defined in IEC 60900 and ANSI C37.010

During Short Circuit utility stable supply dips and Rotor continues to rotate due to inertia, at this time Rotating magnetic field in the rotor tries to support reduced voltage and there by becomes Power Source. Hence during this time reaction of Motor will be similar to Generator. At this time Motor will have Sub transient of 20 to 25%.

Motor Contribution for Short Circuit Fault :
  • Asynchronous Induction Motor : 4 x Ifla-motor
  • Induction Motor with Standard VFD : 0
  • Induction Motor with AFE VFD : 2 x Ifla-motor

Prospective Short Circuit Current Trafo + Motor Contribution

Transformer
Parameters
2500
KVA
2000
KVA
1600
KVA
1250
KVA
1000
KVA
630
KVA
500
KVA
400
KVA
315
KVA
250
KVA
Line Voltage
Volts
433 433 433 433 433 433 433 433 433 433
Impedance
% z
6.25 6.25 6.25 5 5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5
Trafo FLA
Amps
3334 2667 2133 1667 1333 840 667 533 420 333
Trafo
Isc KA
53.3
KA
42.7
KA
34.1
KA
33.3
KA
26.7
KA
18.7
KA
14.8
KA
11.9
KA
9.3
KA
7.4
KA
Motor Contribution KA
25% Motor Load
without VFD
3.3
KA
2.7
KA
2.1
KA
1.7
KA
1.3
KA
0.8
KA
0.7
KA
0.5
KA
0.4
KA
0.3
KA
Motor Contribution KA
25% Motor Load
with Standard VFD
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Motor Contribution KA
10% Motor Load
with AFE VFD
0.7
KA
0.5
KA
0.4
KA
0.3
KA
0.3
KA
0.2
KA
0.1
KA
0.1
KA
0.1
KA
0.1
KA
Total
Motor Contribution KA
4.0
KA
3.2
KA
2.6
KA
2.0
KA
1.6
KA
1.0
KA
0.8
KA
0.6
KA
0.5
KA
0.4
KA
Highest
SC Fault
KA
57 KA 46 KA 37 KA 35 KA 28 KA 20 KA 16 KA 12 KA 10 KA 8 KA
Prospective Short Circuit Current Trafo + Motor Contribution

Motor Contribution will be upto 4 cycles incase of Induction Asynchronous Motors. Whereas it will be upto 8 cycles for synchronous Motors.

Now a days it is now Standard Practice to use VFD for Motor, In this case VFD-Motor set will not contribute for Short Circuit Current.

However, when the VFD is with AFE – Active Front End, i.e Regenerative, it will contribute for short Circuit Current.

Prospective Short Circuit Current Generator + Motor Contribution

Generator
Parameters
2500
KVA
2000
KVA
1500
KVA
1000
KVA
750
KVA
500
KVA
400
KVA
250
KVA
Line Voltage
Volts
415 415 415 415 415 415 415 415
Sub Transient
X”d
18 17 17 16 15 11 10 10
Genset FLA
Amps
3478 2782 2087 1391 1043 696 556 348
Genset
Isc KA
19.3
KA
16.4
KA
12.3
KA
8.7
KA
7.0
KA
6.3
KA
5.6
KA
3.5
KA
Motor Contribution KA
25% Motor Load
without VFD
3.5
KA
2.8
KA
2.1
KA
1.4
KA
1.0
KA
0.7
KA
0.6
KA
0.3
KA
Motor Contribution KA
25% Motor Load
with Standard VFD
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Motor Contribution KA
10% Motor Load
with AFE VFD
0.7
KA
0.6
KA
0.4
KA
0.3
KA
0.2
KA
0.1
KA
0.1
KA
0.1
KA
Total
Motor Contribution KA
4.2
KA
3.3
KA
2.5
KA
1.7
KA
1.3
KA
0.8
KA
0.7
KA
0.4
KA
Highest
SC Fault
KA
23 KA 20 KA 15 KA 10 KA 8 KA 7 KA 6 KA 4 KA
Prospective Short Circuit Current Generator + Motor Contribution
What is Motor Contribution in Short Circuit Fault?

Motor contribution is the Current feedback by Motor into System during short Circuit condition. Due to Rotor inertia, it keeps on running for some time, even if there is a deep in supply voltage, and now motor becomes source and feeds back in to network. This Amount of Current is dependent on the Motor Impedance. Duration of this condition is normally up to 4 to 5 Cycles.

What are very conservative assumption to calculate Short Circuit Fault in System ?

To calculate highest vault of Short Circuit Fault at the main PCC Level, If we consider Infinite utility source to Transformer primary Plus 4 times Full load current of Motor as Motor Contribution to short Circuit fault, this will be highest possible Short Circuit Current that system will be able to feed for a Short Circuit Fault at any point in the electrical network.

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