MOULDED CASE CIRCUIT BREAKERS FOR THREE PHASE SQUIRREL CAGE MOTOR

STARTER APPLICATIONS - SOME SELECTION CONSIDERATIONS

- by: K. Sivakumar, Manager - Design & Training, Megawin Switchgear -P- Limited,
Salem
(Paper published in the July 2012 issue of Electrical India magazine)
Introduction: Motors - AC three-phase squirrel cage induction motors, in particular
- consume about 75% of the total electric power consumed in any industry. And,
they are the vital elements in any production process, being the prime movers of
the various mechanical and process drive applications. As such, smooth starting
and protection of such motors are of prime concern to any electrical system design
engineer and/or switchgear application engineer.
Motor Starting Current: Any electrical design engineer and/or switchgear
application engineer is only too well aware of the starting current or the locked
rotor current encountered while starting any induction motor. The magnitude of
such starting current can vary from about 5 times to 8 times of the rated full load
current of the motor, depending upon the motor design & construction. The
magnitude of the starting current for any given motor is given by the motor
manufacturer in the motor catalogue or data sheet.
While the magnitude of the starting current is the phenomenon of the motor, the
duration of the starting current is the phenomenon of the connected load or the
driven load. For example, if for a given motor, the starting current is 6 times its
rated full load current, then, if the motor is driving a centrifugal pump, this
starting current of 6 times the rated full load current, might last only for about 10
seconds or less. Else, if the motor is driving a centrifugal blower, this starting
current of 6 times the rated full load current, might last, for about 20 seconds or
even more, depending upon the inertia of the blower's rotor.
Careful consideration must be given to both the magnitude and the duration of the
starting current, while selecting starter components like the short circuit
protective device (SCPD), switching device like a contactor, overload protective
device (OLPD), etc., so that there are no nuisance trippings of the OLPD and/or
the SCPD and no damage to the starter components.
And, many a times electrical designers and switchgear application engineers do
pay due attention to this issue of starting current (magnitude & duration) and do
select the starter components accordingly. Thus, nuisance tripping and/or damage
to the starter components are avoided.
But....

Motor Inrush Current: There is a much more severe and unrealised component of
the motor starting current, which still causes nuisance tripping and/or damage to
starter components. It is the magnetising inrush component of the motor starting
current. Any electrical person is aware that a transformer draws a very high
magnetising inrush current at the time of switching-on. This is due to the core
excitation requirements. One must also have studied that an induction motor is
nothing but a transformer, with a short-circuited, rotating secondary. Haven't we?
Thus, there would be inrush current while switching-on an induction motor too, as
in the case of a transformer. Note that this inrush current can be experienced by
the motor even during transition from star to delta in an open-transition type stardelta starter.
One can call this, the 'transient component' of the motor starting current. (This
could be a misnomer, as motor starting current itself is transient in nature). May
be, one can call the inrush current as a 'sub-transient component', the starting
current as the 'transient component' and the running current as the 'steady-state
component' of motor current. The magnitude of such magnetising inrush current
in motors would vary, depending upon the point of the voltage waveform at which
the motor is energised, the amount of residual flux in the motor, etc. It could
reach a value as high as 12 times the motor rated current. And, the duration could
be a few cycles too.
Under such conditions, the SCPD provided in the motor starter might sense this
high magnitude current as a fault & could cause nuisance tripping and the motor
could never be started. Due consideration must be given to the inrush current too,
while selecting switchgear components for motor starter feeders.
Various Starter Component Combinations: Today, an electrical system engineer
has a wide choice of switchgear components, while designing a motor starter. One
can choose between:
i) Switch + Fuse + Contactor + Overload Relay
ii) MCCB + Contactor + Overload Relay
iii) MPCB (with 'built-in' overload & short circuit protection) + Contactor
Among the above three combinations, we will consider the MCCB + Contactor +
Overload Relay combination in this paper, because many a times, it is observed
that there is ample scope for wrong selection of MCCB for this application.
MCCBs for Motors: It is observed that when a customer wants to provide an MCCB
for his motor feeder, either as a fresh application or as a replacement for an
existing Switch-Fuse combination, he simply calculates (or refers to a switchgear
selection chart) the required rating of such an MCCB. Then he simply procures the
most economical type of MCCB available in the market place, without realising that

it might not be suitable for the given motor application. Thus, he ends up having
nuisance tripping of the motor and/or damage to the starter components, thus
causing avoidable production downtimes.
While selecting an MCCB for motor application, it MUST be ensured that the
Instantaneous Release setting in the MCCB is set to a value higher than the
highest anticipated magnetising inrush current, while switching-on the motor.
How to calculate this value?
Typical Magnitude of Staring Current (Ist): 6 to 8 times the motor rated current
(IrM)
Tolerance for Locked Rotor Current as per IS 325 (Table-1): + 20%.
So, the maximum anticipated starting current: 1.2 x 8 = 9.6 I rM
Transient inrush current (peak): 2 x 9.6 IrM = 13.57IrM
Also, vide IS/IEC 60947-2, Clause 7.2.1.2.4, there is a tolerance of +/- 20% in the
values of current for tripping of the circuit breaker by short-circuit releases. This
means that, even with the -20% tolerance, the MCCB shall not trip for the above
magnitude of the magnetising inrush current. This also means that the effective
setting of the instantaneous release setting in the MCCB should be above 13.57 /
0.8 = 16.96 IrM; But, this is peak value. Whereas the instantaneous setting in the
MCCB is in RMS value. Hence, the above value has to be converted to RMS value;
(i.e.) 16.96 / 1.414 = 11.99 IrM; Thus, the instantaneous setting in the MCCB has
to be above 11.99 IrM or say, it should be 12 IrM. Assuming that the rated
operational current (In) of the MCCB is the same as that of the rated full load
motor current (IrM), then, the instantaneous setting in the MCCB shall be set to 12
In.
Selection of MCCB: Now, assuming that the user selects a conventional feeder
protection MCCB - the instantaneous release setting in these MCCBs range from 3
In to 9 In. Even with MCCBs with modern Electronic / Numerical Protection
Releases, the instantaneous setting range is 6 to 10 In. Thus, there is a chance
that the MCCB might trip during switching ON of the motor, due to the inrush
current, even if kept at the maximum possible instantaneous setting.
It is to be noted that such spurious tripping might not happen all the times.
Depending upon the instant of switching and the residual flux in the motor, if the
inrush current is more than the instantaneous setting made in the MCCB, then only
it would trip. Otherwise, it wouldn't. Hence, one might hear complaints from the
user about this strange "arbitrary" tripping behaviour of the MCCB's during motors
starting ("sometime it trips, sometime it doesn't").

To ensure that the MCCB wouldn't trip at all for the above inrush conditions, one
must select an MCCB, whose instantaneous release setting is more than the worst
case magnetising inrush current, as calculated above. One might opt for a special
Motor Protection Type MCCB, whose instantaneous setting is fixed at 12 I n.
Contactor & Relay selection with Motor Protection Range MCCBs: It is also
observed many times, that whenever a customer wants to replace his Switch-Fuse
Combination in a motor starter feeder with an MCCB, he simply removes the
Switch-Fuse Combinations and replaces the same with an equally rated MCCB.
Unfortunately, the user does not pay any attention to the adequacy of the short
time withstand capabilities of the contactor & the overload relay, with the revised
SCPD (i.e.) MCCB.
It is to be noted that when a particular frame of contactor and relay were
suggested for use with a switch-fuse combination unit, they were sized based on
the I2t let through energy of the Fuse, which would clear a short circuit. As HRC
fuses are fast acting (typically operating within 4 milli-seconds for a heavy short
circuit fault), the energy let through would also be less during a short circuit and
thus the contactor and relay would be subjected to a lesser degree of short circuit
stresses. Hence, they would be sized accordingly.
But, when the switch-fuse combination is replaced with an MCCB of equal rating,
now during a short circuit, the MCCB would clear the fault. Even with the most
advanced current limiting type of MCCBs, the fault clearing time would be around
10 milli-seconds and thus the energy let through would be higher during a short
circuit, than that with a HRC Fuse. Now, the smaller contactor and the relay which were actually selected for the shorter let-thro with HRC fuses - could not
handle the increased let-thro, now with MCCBs and thus would damage. Thus,
what was Type-2 Coordination with Switch-Fuse combination gets converted into
Type-1 Coordination with MCCB now. Thus, it leads to damage of starter
components and increased production downtimes.
To avoid this, the adequacy of the contactor and relay to tolerate the increased
let-through energy - during a short circuit - with an MCCB as a back-up switching
and protection device must be verified & established. This can be easily
established by truly following the Type-2 Coordination based Switchgear Selection
charts with MCCB + Contactor + Overload Relay combination, which is published
by the switchgear manufacturer.
Conclusion: It is hoped that the reasons for the arbitrary spurious trippings of
MCCBs during motor starting are well understood now. It is also hoped and wished
that proper selection guidelines be followed by customers and end users, while
opting for an MCCB as a back-up switching & protection device in motor starter
feeder applications.