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5/10/2015

Zone4info.comEarthFaultProtectiveDevices

Zone4info.comEarthFaultProtectiveDevices

EarthFaultProtectiveDevices
PostedbymusabahnasyMay1

a)ResidualCurrentOperatedDevices(RCD)AnRCDincorporatestwocomponentitems.Acore
balancetransformerassemblywithawindingforeachrecognizingtheoutofbalancecurrentthatthe
faultproducesinthemainconductors.Thisinducesacurrentthatisusedtooperatethetripping
mechanismofacontactsystem.Foroperatingcurrentsof05Aormore,theoutputfromsucha
trausformerassemblycanoperateaconventionaltripcoildirectly.Forlowervaluesofoperatingcurrent,
itisnecessarytointerposealeaydevice,eithermagneticorsolidstate.

Devicesforloadcurrentsgreaterthan100Ausuallycompriseaseparatetransformerassemblywitha
circuitbreakerorcontactrelay,mountedtogetherwithinacommonenclosure.Devicesforloadcurrents
below100Ausuallyincludethetransformerandcontactsystemwithinthesamesingleunit,whichis
thendescribedasaresidualcurrentoperatedcircuitbreaker(RCB).SuchanRCBshouldbeconsidered
aparticulartypeofRCBalthoughitisthemostusualform.

Awidechoiceofoperatingcurrentsisavilable(typicalvaluesarebetween10mAand20A)RCB'sare
normallynonadjustablewhilstRCD'sareoftenmanufacturedsothatoneofseveraloperatingcurrents
maybechosen.Singlephaseandmultiphasedeviceswithorwithoutintegralovercurrentfacilitiesare
available.

Whereresidualcurrentbreakersof30mAoperatingcurrentorlessarebeingused,thereisachoice
betweendevicesthatareentirelyelectromechanicalinoperationandthosethatemployasolidstate
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5/10/2015

Zone4info.comEarthFaultProtectiveDevices

detector.Theelectromechanicaltypesaregenerallysmallandcompactandwilloperateonthepower
beingfedtothefaultalonewhereasthesolidstatetypewhichtendtobebulkiertorequireapower
supplytoensureoperation.Wherethispowersupplyisderivedfromthemains,itmaybenecessaryto
takeaddedprecautionagainstfailuresofpartofthatmainssupply.Devicessuitablefortimegradingare
morelikelytobeofthesolidstateformasarethosehavinghigherthroughfaultcapacity.

AtestdeviceisincorporatedtoallowtheoperationoftheRCDtobechecked.Operationofthisdevice
createsanoutofbalanceconditionwithinthedevice.TrippingoftheRCDbymeansofthetestdevice
establishesthefollowing:

1)theintegrityoftheelectricalandmechanicalelementsofthetrippingdeviceand
2)thatthedeviceisoperatingatapproximatelythecorrectorderofoperatingcurrent.

Itshouldbenotedthatthetestdevicedoesnotprovideameansofcheckingthecontinuityofthe
earthingleadortheearthcontinuityconductor,nordoesitimposeanytestontheearthelectrodeorany
otherpartoftheearthingcircuit.

AlthoughanRCDwilloperateoncurrentsequaltoorexceedingitsoperatingcurrent,itshouldbenoted
thatitwillonlyrestrictthetimeforwhichafaultcurrentflows.Itcannotrestrictthemagnitudeofthe
faultcurrentwhichdependssolelyonthecircuitconditions.

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