1- REFERENCE CODES AND STANDARDS

The equipment shall be designed, manufactured and tested in accordance with the
latest applicable sections (with amendments) of the relevant IEC Standards.

Particular reference should be made to the following:

IEC 60050: International electrotechnical vocabulary, electric cables
IEC 60228: Conductors of insulated cables
IEC 60173 Colors of the cores of flexible cables and cords
IEC 60189: Low-frequency cables and wires with PVC insulation and PVC sheath
IEC 60227: Polyvinyl chloride insulated cables of rated voltages up to and including 450/750
V
IEC 60230: Impulse tests on cables and their accessories
IEC 60304: Standard colors for insulation for low-frequency cables and wires
IEC 60331: Fire resistance characteristics for electric cables
IEC 60332: Test on electric and optical fiber cables under fire conditions
IEC 60649: Caation of maximum external diameter of cables for indoor installations
IEC 60719: Calculation of the lower and upper limits for the average outer dimensions of cables
with circular copper conductors and of rated voltages up to and including 450/750 V
IEC 60724: Short-circuit temperature limits of electric cables with rated voltages 1 kV (Um =
1.2 kV) and 3 kV (Um = 3.6 kV)
IEC 60811: Common test methods for insulating and sheathing materials of electric and optical
cables
IEC 60853: Calculation of the cyclic and emergency current rating of cables.
IEC 60502-2: Power cables with extruded insulation and their accessories for rated voltages
from 1 kV (Um = 1,2 kV) up to 30 kV (Um = 36 kV) - Part 2: Cables for rated voltages from
6 kV (Um = 7,2 kV) up to 30 kV (Um = 36 kV)
IEC 60287: Electric cables
IEC 60364-5-523:Electrical installations of buildings - Part 5: Selection and erection of
electrical equipment - Section 523: Current-carrying capacities in wiring systems
IEC 60885-1: Electrical test methods for electric cables
In case when IEC standards are not reachable, the introduced BS standards or their equivalent
VDE shall be used.
BS801: Composition of lead and lead alloy sheaths of electric cables
BS4066: Tests on electric cables under fire conditions.
BS5099: Voltage levels for spark testing on electric cables.
BS5467: Electric cables. Thermosetting insulated, armored cables for voltages of 600/1000 V
and 1900/3300 V
BS6231: Electrical cables - Single core PVC insulated flexible cables of rated voltage 600/1000
V for switchgear and control gear wiring.
BS6234: Specification for polyethylene insulation and sheath of electric cables.
BS6360: Specification for conductors in insulated cables and cords.
BS6500: Electric cables. Flexible cords.
BS6622: Specification for cables with extruded cross-linked polyethylene or ethylene
propylene rubber insulation for rated voltages from 3.8/6.6 kV up to 19/33 kV

Any equipment built in accordance with standards, codes or regulation other than IEC
standard, even when equivalent and any waiver to this specification shall be submitted to
Owner for approval.

In case of conflict between documents, the order of precedence shall be:

 This Specification

 The Data Sheets

 Drawings and other documents

 IEC standards

2- SITE CONDITION
The site condition are as the following:
Ambient Air Temperature Maximum: 47°C
Ambient Air Temperature Minimum: 7°C
Site elevation above sea level: 6m
Mean relative humidity 79%

3- TYPE OF CABLES
Insulation for MV cables is Cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) and for other cables is PVC.

Multicore cables conductor cross section shall not exceed 240mm2 but for single core cables
400mm2 is acceptable.

4- CABLE INSTALLATION
MV cable in Substation shall be installed as trefoil on the ladders. Just 3 layer of cable on each
ladder is permissible.

5- CABLE SIZING PROCEDURE

The following aspects basically determine Cable size:

• Thermal short circuit capacity

• Voltage drop

• Current rating

THERMAL SHORT CIRCUIT CAPACITY

The phase conductors of power cables must be large enough to not only be able to carry the full
load current continuously, but also be able to carry the short circuit current for the time duration
of the short circuit.

The thermal short circuit capacity of cables is determined in accordance with the rated short-
time withstand current of the switchboard.

The fault clearance time of the protection relay for the cable considering the above, minimum
cable size is obtained from the following formula in conformity with IEC standard,
I cr * t
S
K

Where;

“𝑠” is the minimum cross sectional area of phase conductor in mm2

”t” is the Opening time of protective device in second .

“I” is the fault current (rms for AC) passing through cable in amperes

“k” is the factor taking account of the resistivity and temperature coefficient and heat capacity
of the conductor material, and the appropriate initial and final temperatures.

According to following table (table 14 from IPS-E-EL-100(1)) the k factor for XLPE insulation
is 143.
Clearance time will be considered as follow:

• 0.5 sec for incoming circuits protected by circuit breaker

• 0.3 sec for outgoing circuits protected by circuit breaker

• 0.1 sec for outgoing circuits protected by fuse.

VOLTAGE DROP
The following is the formula for calculating the steady state voltage drop in conductors

For 3 phase circuits:

Vd % = √3 × L × I × (R × cos θ + X × sin θ) × 100/V

Vd %= %Voltage drop

I = Maximum continuous load current (rms line current-amps)

Cos θ = Load power factor under full load operation

R = Cable AC resistance per phase (ohms/Km, at max. operating temp.)

X = Cable reactance per phase (ohms/Km)

V = Voltage system

L=length of cable (Km)

According to IPS-E-EL-100(1), the voltage drop in cables shall not be more than the value
specified below based on continuous maximum current loading and rated voltage.

• Feeders to area sub-station: 1%

• Feeders from area substation: 1%

• Motor branch circuit (at full load): 5%

• The maximum voltage drop in the motor feeder cable during motor starting: 15%

• For medium voltage motors the cable voltage drop at motor full load shall not exceed 3.25%.
CURRENT RATING
The current capacity of cables shall be extracted from cable current capacity tables with
considering following derating factors:

[Standard Current Rating] × [Derating Factor] = [Actual Current Rating]

UNDERGROUND CABLES

Total Rating factor shall be determined by multiplying the following rating factors:

f1: Ambient ground temperature other than 20°C derating factor

f2: Soil thermal resistivity other than 2.5 K.m/W derating factor

f3: Typical installation derating factor

f 4: Depths of laying other than 0.8m for direct buried cables derating factor

So:

f = f1 x f2 x f3 x f4

ABOVEGROUND CABLES

f1: Ambient air temperature derating factor

f2: Grouping of cables derating factor

So:

f = f1 x f2

6- CURRENT CAPACITY AND CORRECTION FACTOR FOR MV

CABLES
Current capacities based on IEC standards are as follow:
 7- CORRECTION FACTOR FOR AMBIENT AIR TEMPERATURE
OF MV CABLES
According to IEC-60502-2

8- CORRECTION FACTOR FOR GROUPS OF MORE THAN ONE

SINGLE CORE CABLES OF MV CABLES IN AIR
According to IEC-60502-2
 9- CABLE CHARACTERISTIC
According to Abhar Catalogue (Cable Manufacture), characteristics of different cables are as
following tables:

 Cable Characteristic for Single Core of 20KV Cables

 10- MV CABLE CALCULATION:
CABLE BETWEEN POWER TRANS AND 20KV SWITCHGEAR:

NOMINAL CURRENT

Power transformer rating: 85 MVA

Power transformer nominal current:

85 ∗ 10
𝐼 2453.8 𝐴
20 ∗ 10 ∗ √3

DERATING FACTORS:

1. Ambient temperature factor (47 C): 0.85

2. Group rating factor: 0.9

Derating factor: K=0.85*0.9= 0.765

So, the current will be:

2453.8
𝐼 3207.58 𝐴
0.765
.
Cable No,= 4.36

Referring to Standard, five cables with 300mm2 is suitable for each phase.

VOLTAGE DROP
Vd % = √3 × 100 × 2453.8 × (0.0783 × 0.8 + 0.12*0.6)*100/(1000*5*20000) =0.05% < 1%

SHORT CIRCUIT CURRENT

31.5 ∗ 10 ∗ √3
S 381.87 mm 5 ∗ 1 ∗ 300
142.87

RESULT

The selected cross section is 5*(1*300 mm2) per phase;

3*5*(1*300mm2),(CU-XLPE-CU-PVC-AWA-PVC),cables in trefoil arrangement will be

used.

CABLE BETWEEN POWER TRANS AND AUX TRANS:

NOMINAL CURRENT

Power transformer rating: 400 KVA

Power transformer nominal current:

400 ∗ 10
𝐼 11.54 𝐴
20 ∗ 10 ∗ √3

DERATING FACTORS:

1. Ambient temperature factor (47 C): 0.85

2. Group rating factor: 1

Derating factor: K=0.75*1= 0.85

So, the current will be:

11.54
𝐼 13.57 𝐴
0.85
.
Cable No,= 0.02

Referring to Standard, one cables with 300mm2 is suitable for each phase.
 10-1-1-VOLTAGE DROP

Vd % = √3 × 15 × 11.54 × (0.0783 × 0.8 + 0.12*0.6)*100/(1000*1*20000) =0.0002% < 1%

SHORT CIRCUIT CURRENT

By considering Icr=25 kA & t=0.5Sec, We will have:

25 ∗ 10 ∗ √0.5
S 123.6 mm 1 ∗ 300
143
RESULT

The selected cross section is 1*(1*300 mm2) per phase;

3*1*(1*300mm2),(CU-XLPE-CU-PVC-AWA-PVC),cables in trefoil arrangement will be

used.

Annex A: CalculaƟon of short circuit factor (K) according to IEC60949

 θ f  β  Q  β  20*10  12
K  ln * c
 , [A.S1/2/mm2] (A‐1)
 θ  β  ρ
 i  20
θf = final temperature (250 for XLPE °C and 160 for HDPE)
θi = initial temperature (°C)
β = reciprocal of temperature coefficient of resistance of the current‐carrying component at
0° C. (234.5 K for copper)
Qc = volumetric specific heat of the current‐carrying component at 0° C.
(3.45e6 J/K.mm3 for copper)
ρ20 = electrical resistivity of the current‐carrying component at 0° C.
(1.7241e‐8 Ω/m for copper)