According to the ANSI/IEEE 946

Contents [hide]
1 Introduction
2 Voltage Considerations
3 Available Short-Circuit Current
4 Calculation Approach
5 Partial Fault Currents
5.1 Short-Circuit Current from Batteries
5.2 Short-Circuit Current from DC Motors/Generators
5.3 Short-Circuit Currents from Chargers
6 References

Introduction
Sc ope of the IEEE 946-1992: This rec ommended prac tic e provides guidanc e for the design of the
DC auxiliary power systems for nuc lear and non-nuc lear power generating stations. The c omponents
of the DC auxiliary power system addressed by this rec ommended prac tic e inc lude lead-ac id
storage batteries, static battery c hargers and distribution equipment. Guidanc e for selec ting the
quantity and types of equipment, the equipment ratings, interc onnec tions, instrumentation, c ontrol
and protec tion is also provided.
This rec ommended prac tic e is intended for nuc lear
and large fossil-fueled generating stations. Eac h rec
ommendation may or may not be appropriate for other
generating fac ilities; e.g., c ombustion turbines,
hydro, wind turbines, etc . The AC power supply (to
the c hargers), the loads served by the DC systems,
exc ept as they influenc e the DC system design, and
engine starting (c ranking) battery systems are
beyond the sc ope of this rec ommended prac tic e.
For more informations please refer to the
standard itself IEEE 946-1992 .

Voltage Considerations
The nominal voltages of 250, 125, 48, and 24 are
generally utilized in station DC auxiliary power
systems. The type, rating, c ost, availability, and loc
ation of the c onnec ted equipment should be used to Figure 1. 125 VDC system key diagram
determine whic h nominal system voltage is
appropriate for a
spec ific applic ation. 250 VDC systems are typic ally
used
to power motors for emergenc y pumps, large valve operators, and large inverters. 125 VDC systems
are typic ally used for c ontrol power for nest relay logic c irc uits andthe c losing and tripping of switc
hgear c irc uit breakers. 48 VDC or 24 VDC systems are typic ally used for spec ialized
instrumentation.
 Figure 2. Recommended voltage range of 125 V and 250 V DC (nominal) rated components (for designs in which the
battery is equalized while connected to the load)

Available Short-Circuit Current

For the purpose of determining the maximum available short-c irc uit c urrent (e.g., the required
interrupting c apac ity for feeder breakers/fuses and withstand c apability of the distribution buses and
disc onnec ting devic es), the total short-c irc uit c urrent is the sum of that delivered by the battery, c
harger, and motors (as applic able). When a more ac c urate value of maximum available short-c irc uit c
urrent is required, the analysis should ac c ount for interc onnec ting c able resistanc e.

Calculation Approach
As defined in "Industrial power systems data book" [2], there are two c alc ulation ways to ac quire
the fault c urrent:
1. Approximation Method: All the network is c onverted into the equivalent impedanc e (Req,
Leqare used for the time c onstant) and the system voltage is being used for the fault c urrent c alc
ulation:

2. Superposition Method: The fault c urrent is c alc ulated for eac h sourc e individually, while
other, not observed sourc es, are being shorted out (with their internal resistanc es). The voltage
for eac h partial c urrent is the rated voltage of the sourc e. The total c urrent is the sum of the
partial c urrents. This approac h shall be desc ribed in following artic les.
Partial Fault Currents

Short-Circuit Current from Batteries

The c urrent that a battery will deliver on short-c irc uit depends on the total resistanc e of the short- c
irc uit path. A c onservative approac h in determining the short-c irc uit c urrent that the battery will
deliver at 25°C is to assume that the maximum available short-c irc uit c urrent is 10 times the 1
minute ampere rating (to 1.75 V per c ell). For more than 25°C the short-c irc uit c urrent for the spec
ific applic ation should be c alc ulated or ac tual test data should be obtained from the battery manufac
turer. The battery nominal voltage should be used when c alc ulating the maximum short-c irc uit c
urrent. Tests have shown that an inc rease in elec trolyte temperature (above 25°C) or elevated battery
terminal voltage (above nominal voltage) will have no apprec iable effec t on the magnitude of short-c
irc uit c urrent delivered by a battery.
The internal battery resistanc e is c alc ulated using:

Where EB is the battery rated voltage and I8hrs is the 8-hour battery c apac

ity. The maximum (or peak) short-c irc uit c urrent is:

RBBr is the sum of the battery internal resistanc e RB and the line resistanc e RBr up to the fault loc

ation. The initial maximum rate of rise of the c urrent at t=0 s is as follows:

The time c onstant is c alc ulated as:

The sustained short-c irc uit c urrent is c alc ulated using:

And the fault c urrent from the battery for the time t:

Short-Circuit Current from DC Motors/Generators

DC motors, if operating, will c ontribute to the total fault c urrent. The maximum c urrent that a DC
motor will deliver to a short-c irc uit at its terminals is limited by the effec tive transient armature
resistanc e (r'd) of the motor. For DC motors of the type, speed, voltage, and size typic ally used in
generating stations,
rd is in the range of 0.1 to 0.15 per unit. Thus, the maximum fault c urrent for a short-c irc uit at the
motor terminals will typic ally range from 7 to 10 times the motor’s rated armature c urrent. Therefore,
it is c onservative to estimate the maximum c urrent that a motor will c ontribute to a fault as 10 times
the motor’s rated full load c urrent. When a more ac c urate value is required, the short-c irc uit c
ontribution should be c alc ulated, using spec ific rd data for the spec ific motor, or ac tual test data
should be obtained from the motor manufac turer. For additional ac c urac y, the c alc ulation should ac
c ount for the resistanc e
of the c ables between
the motor and the fault. A
c omplete expression for
the short-c irc uit c urrent
is:

Figure 3. Typical short-circuit characteristic of DC motor/generator

Where: ia per-unit c urrent, e0 is the internal emf prior short-c irc uit (p.u.), rd steady-state effec tive
resistanc e of mac hine (p.u.), r'd transient effec tive resistanc e of mac hine (p.u.). The frequenc y is
60 Hz. Typic ally, for motors e0=0,97 p.u., and for generators e0=1,03 p.u.

The mac hine elec tric al parameter are to be c alc ulated in c ase when no additional data is known for
observed mac hine. Normally, it is more prac tic al to use the real mac hine data given by the manufac
turer. The mac hine induc tanc e is derived from the following equation:

Where P is the pole number, nn nominal speed, UMnominal voltage and IM nominal c urrent. Cx depends
on the mac hine type: Cx =0,4 is for motors without pole fac e windings, Cx =0,1 is for motors with pole
fac e windings, Cx =0,6 is for generators without pole fac e windings, and Cx =0,2 is for generators with
pole
fac e windings.

The base resistanc e of the mac hine is derived from:

Then the transient resistanc e in Ohms is derived

from: The peak short-c irc uit c urrent in Amps:

Or in p.u.:

The initial rate of rise of the c urrent is:

The first 2/3-time c onstant of rise is:

And the sec ond 1/3-time c onstant of rise is:

The total time c onstant is:

The armature c irc uit dec rement fac tor is:

The field c irc uit dec rement fac tor is:

Short-Circuit Currents from Chargers

The maximum c urrent that a c harger will deliver into a short-c irc uit, c oinc ident with the maximum
battery short-c irc uit c urrent, is determined by the c harger c urrent-limit c irc uit. The c urrent-limit
setting is adjustable in most c hargers and may vary from manufac turer to manufac turer. Thus, the
maximum
c urrent that a c harger will deliver on short c irc uit will not typic ally exc eed 150% of the c harger
ampere rating.
The initial sustained short-c irc uit c urrent (or quasi steady-state c urrent) is given by:

The fac tor K2 is taken from the diagram of sustained fault c urrent fac tor versus rec tifier terminal
voltage, zC is the c ommutating impedanc e per unit and IR is the rated rec tifier c urrent. The c
ommutating impedanc e inc ludes AC side impedanc e with transformer (RC and XC ).If the c ommutating
impedanc e is in per-unit value then it should be c onverted.
Conversion of zC (p.u.) to ZC (Ohms):

Case of double-way rec tifier,

equation is:

Case of double-wye rec tifier:

The c urrent Ida is used to determine
equivalent rec tifier resistanc e and
Figure 4. Peak fault current factor as a function of
induc tanc e on the DC side, whic h system constants
are then given by:

Where Eda is the assumed voltage at

the rec tifier terminals during the fault
and equals e0 (p.u.) x System Voltage
(Volts).
If the fault c urrent is c alc ulated
using the superposition method, then
the following relations are used:

When: Then:

When: Then: Figure 5. Sustained fault current vs rectifier terminal voltage

The sustained value of the fault c urrent is:

The rec tifier terminal voltage

is: The rate of rise fault c

urrent is:
The peak c urrent is given as:

Where the fac tor K1 is taken from the diagram and is in func tion of K3 and K4, whic h are c alc
ulated as follows, for the full-wave bridge c onnec ted rec tifier:

Note: The value Eda = eda ED should be within 10% of the c alc ulated value Edc, the rec tifier
terminal voltage under sustained short-c irc uit c urrent. The iterative proc ess is repeated until
the desired toleranc e is ac hieved.
K1 - peak fault c urrent fac tor
K2 - sustained fault c urrent fac tor
K3 - reac tanc e c onstant (used to determine
K1) K4 - resistanc e c onstant (used to
determine K1)
Index "RBr" refers to the c ombined resistanc e of the rec tifier and the branc h up to the fault loc
ation

References
1. IEEE 946-1992: IEEE Rec ommended Prac tic e for the Design of DC Auxiliary Power Systems for
Generating Stations

2. Industrial power systems data book, General Elec tric , 1956