Prefabricated metal-enclosed switchgear
In order to design a medium-voltage cubicle, you need to know the following basic magnitudes: Voltage, Current, Frequency and Short-circuit power. The voltage, the rated current and the rated frequency are often known or can easily be defined, but how can we calculate the short-circuit power or current at a given point in an installation?
Knowing the short-circuit power of the network allows us to choose the various parts of a switchboard which must withstand significant temperature rises and electrodynamic constraints.
Disconnection, control and protection of electrical networks is achieved by using switchgear. Metal enclosed switchgear is sub-divided into three types: metal-clad, compartmented and block.
The short-circuit power depends directly on the network configuration and the impedance of its components: lines, cables, transformers, motors… through which the short-circuit current passes. It is the maximum power that the network can provide to an installation during a fault, expressed in MVA or in kA rms for a given operating voltage.
The customer generally imposes the value of short-circuit power on us because we rarely have the information required to calculate it. Determination of the short-circuit power requires analysis of the power flows feeding the short-circuit in the worst possible case.
Possible sources are:
- Network incomer via power transformers.
- Generator incomer.
- Power feedback due to rotary sets (motors, etc); or via MV/LV transformaters.
|Title:||Medium Voltage Technical Guide // Basics for MV cubicle design – Schneider Electric|
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