High Impedance Faults

(40 ohms is a fallacy) Jim Burke Synergetic Design REPC Meeting April 2006
Introduction Modern test values for Fault Impedance are nothing close to the 40 ohm value used by many utilitilities to calculate fault levels. The values shown in Figure #1, below, are representive of the finding from utilities, consultants, research organizations, and universities for research performed since 1970. All show that fault impedances are much higher than 40 ohms. The 40 ohm value has consequently put severe restrictions on relaying options and added nothing in terms of increasing safety.

Fault Impedance
1600 Minimum Value of Resistance 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0
Dry Asphalt Wet Sand Dry Sod Wet Sod Dry Grass Wet Grass Reinforced Concrete

1500

500 380 190 305 170 95

Figure #1 Minimum Fault Impedance Values for Various Surface Conditions Origin of 40 ohms The origin of the use of the fault impedance value of 40 ohms (or 30, or 20) is apparently the result of an AIEE paper entitled Overcurrent Investigation on a Rural Distribution System written in 1949 by G. Lincks, D. Edge, W. McKinley, and J. Leh. This is an excellent paper describing measurements taken during the years 1944 to 1947. It is especially impressive considering the monitoring capability at the time the data was taken. It is interesting that the paper describes many aspects of overcurrent protection and actually adds the figure, shown below, as almost an afterthought. There is very little description of the data shown in this figure except for the following: The assumed 40-ohms fault resistance used in this investigation, proved to be more than ample for determining minimum fault currents and might have been reduced to 30 ohms (see Figure #2).

Figure #2 - Aspects of Overcurrent Protection Data from 1949 AIEE Paper

The authors also state that they wouldnt expect fault impedance to vary with system voltage level. The subject paper and discussion provide insight into how the values that the industry now uses for fault impedance had their origin. There are, however, some points that should be made with respect to the above: 1. Maximum fault levels for bolted faults in this study were on the order of 500 amperes or less with the vast majority being less than 200 amperes (almost 40 ohms of impedance for a bolted fault). 2. Load levels may not have been subtracted from the calculation. This would result in a huge error since the high impedance fault levels are around 50 amperes or less and load currents could be considerably higher. There is no indication that load currents were subtracted out of the calculation. If the recorders only triggered on a fault event, it might not have been able to record pre-fault load data with recorders of this vintage. 3. The 40 ohms may have represented the total loop impedance to the fault (the fault impedance itself accounting for 0 ohms of the total). 4. The authors of the paper indicated that use of 40 ohms proved more than ample.and might have been reduced to 30 ohms. All data in the past 30 years indicates that use of 40 ohms would be extremely inadequate and values around 200 ohms or more would be needed to have any significant effect.

Over 30 Years of Research There have been many, many tests on downed conductors performed by utilities, manufacturers, universities, EPRI and consultants. The results have been consistent at all voltage levels, indicating the use of 40 ohms impedance provides virtually no level of protection for high impedance faults. No tests have shown anything to the contrary. A summary of some of these findings is shown below:

University Surface Dry asphalt Concrete (non-reinforced) Dry sand Wet sand Dry sod Dry grass Wet sod Wet grass Concrete (reinforced) Consultant Surface Type Old Gravel Grass Dirt/Sand Concrete Old Gravel Reinforced Concrete Old Gravel Fault Current in RMS amps. 5-25 55-65 8-12 28-36 2-15 30-80 5-12 Fault Current 0 0 0 15 20 25 40 50 75

High Impedance fault current levels are very low and almost always should be represented by an impedance of 80 ohms or more (e.g. 80 amperes of fault current is approximately equal to 100 ohms of fault impedance on a 13.8 kV system or 90 ohms on a !2.47 kV system). Fault impedances of 200 ohms or more would have to be used to simulate average fault levels caused by most high impedance faults. All the data that could be found, which represents the past 30 years of research, suggests that the use of 10, 20, 30 or 40 ohms has virtually no value in helping detect high impedance faults. No research the author is aware of, in the past 40 years, supports use of these values and there is no evidence that fault impedance varies depending on primary distribution voltage level or distance from the substation. The authors 5 year study of over 50 feeders throughout the United States concluded that faults that were detectable showed fault impedances of 0 ohms. Conclusions There is simply no data to suggest that using 40 ohms has any beneficial value for detecting downed conductors with normal protective device operating levels. All test data as well as recorded data obtained by utilities using digital recordings to locate faults suggests that detectable faults have very close to 0 ohms of fault impedance and those that fall on virtually any surface (wet or dry) are undetectible (high impedance) since their fault impedance is usually on the order of several hundred ohms or more. No fault impedance below approximately 80 ohms could be found in the literature. Using 40 ohms, as many utilities do, creates a complex nightmare for the protection engineer with no significant value (and many drawbacks in terms of false operations and underrated equipment, which affect reliability). Jim Burke Synergetic Design Cary, NC jimburke@synergeticdesign.com distjimb@aol.com 919-463-9673