Products and Devices

4.4 Low-Voltage Devices

Selection of protective devices and connecting lines The selection and setting of the protective devices to be used must satisfy the following three conditions: Protection against non-permissible contact voltage for indirect contact (electric shock) Overload protection Short-circuit protection For detailed information on the three conditions, see section 3.3.2 Dimensioning of Power Distribution Systems. An exact protective device selection and thus the dimensioning of subdistribution systems requires extensive short-circuit current and voltage drop calculations. Catalog data for the shortcircuit energies, the selectivity and the backup protection of the individual devices and assemblies must also be consulted. In addition, the appropriate regulations and standards must be observed. At this point, a reference should be made to the SIMARIS design dimensioning tool that automatically takes account of the above mentioned conditions, catalog data, standards and regulations, and consequently automatically makes the device selection. Selectivity and backup protection Rooms used for medical purposes (IEC 60364-7-710, DIN VDE 0100-710) and meeting rooms (IEC 60364-7-718, DIN VDE 0100-718) require the selection of protective devices in subareas. For other building types, such as computer centers, there is an increasing demand for a selective grading of the protective devices, because only the circuit affected by a fault would be disabled with the other circuits continuing to be supplied with power without interruption (chapter 6 Protection, Substation Automation, Power Quality and Measurement). Because the attainment of selectivity results in increased costs, it should be decided for which circuits selectivity is useful. Backup protection is the lower-cost option. In this case, an upstream protective device, e.g., an LV HRC fuse as group backup fuse, supports a downstream protective device in mastering the short-circuit current, i.e., both an upstream and a downstream protective device trip. The short-circuit current, however, has already been sufciently reduced by the upstream protective device so that the downstream protective device can have a smaller short-circuit breaking capacity. Backup protection should be used when the expected solid short-circuit current exceeds the breaking capacity of the switching device or the consumers. If this is not the case, an additional limiting protective device unnecessarily reduces the selectivity or, indeed, removes it. The following scheme should be followed for the selectivity or backup protection decision: Determine the maximum short-circuit current at the installation point, Check whether the selected protective devices can master this short-circuit current alone or with backup protection using upstream protective devices, Check at which current the downstream protective devices and the upstream protective devices are selective to each other.

ABC 1.1A.1a Circuit-breaker In = 630 A 3WL11062CB411AA2/L51 LVMD 1.1A Fuse-SD 1.1A.1a Fuse Switch Disc. In = 100 A 3 x 3NA3830/Size 000 3NP40100Ch01 Busbar 1.1A.1 Busbar 14 m BD2A-2-160 TN-S Un = 400 V LVSD 1.1A.1 MCB 1.1A.1.2a Miniature circuit-breaker In = 13 A 55Y61136/B C/L 1.1A.1.2 Cable/Line 30 m Cu 1(3x1,5/1,5/1,5) Load 1.1A.1.2 Inner zone In = 10 A Un = 230 V 1+N-pole MCB 1.1A.1.3a Miniature circuit-breaker In = 10 A 55Y61106/B C/L 1.1A.1.3 Cable/Line 30 m Cu 1(1x1,5/1,5/1,5) Load 1.1A.1.3 Inner zone In = 6 A Un = 230 V 1+N-pole TN-S Un = 400 V

MCB 1.1A.1.1a Miniature circuit-breaker In = 13 A 55Y63136/B C/L 1.1A.1.1 Cable/Line 30 m Cu 1(3x1,5/1,5/1,5) Load 1.1A.1.1 Inner zone In = 10 A Un = 400 V 3+N-pole

Fig. 4.4-13: Subdistribution in a data center; display in SIMARIS design

Siemens Energy Sector Power Engineering Guide Edition 7.0

197