KILOVAR

Date

May 1991

GREENWOOD, SOUTH CAROLINA

Capacitor Tank Rupture Curve Coordination

Issue

19

When capacitors are being evaluated for purchase, frequently the only consideration given to various designs is the initial cost - even though capacitors do differ in a wide variety of technical parameters. The most significant variation is in terms of safety characteristics. How a capacitor behaves during fault events has a serious impact on safety considerations. Many progressive utilities today are including safety characteristics as part of their purchase evaluations. One key procedure in this process is understanding how to compare different capacitors' tank rupture curves. Fuse Curve Coordination Fuse curve coordination is the single most critical factor in evaluating the safety of a capacitor installation and one quite frequently overlooked. To ensure coordination, the maximum clear TCC curve for the fuse link must coordinate with the tank rupture curve of the capacitor. This coordination is necessary to insure that the fuse will clear the circuit prior to tank rupture occurring. The fuse's maximum clear TCC must fall to the left of the tank rupture TCC curve at and below the level of available fault current. The time between the fuse's maximum clear curve and the capacitor's tank rupture curve is called the coordination margin. This is calculated at the fault current level in question. Note that when a capacitor unit fails it will eventually fail to a short circuit. The fault current flowing through the shorted capacitor is what must be evaluated. In general:
o

For grounded wye pole mounted racks or single series group substation banks, the fault current is the line to ground short circuit current at the location of the installation. For ungrounded wye pole mounted banks the fault current is limited by the impedance of the good capacitors in the other phases and is equal to three times the capacitor bank's normal current. Therefore a bank which normally draws 80 amps, will draw 240 amps during a failure event. On the surface i t may appear that ungrounded wye banks are safer due to the lower current drawn during faults, however the long period of time it takes the fuse to operate may result in the loss of coordination with the low end of the capacitor's tank rupture curve. In addition, the capacitors in the other phases are now energized at line-to-line voltage. Should the fuse clear slowly, the extended time of operation at this voltage may result in additional unit failures. In single series group ungrounded wye substation installations,the fault current flowing through the failed capacitor is equal to three times the current normally flowing through the entire bank. Therefore a unit which draws only 30 amps but installed in a bank that draws 450 amps, upon failure the unit will see 1350 amps.

Post Office Box 1224. Greenwood. SC 29648

For all other bank configurations the fault current is dependant upon the bank configuration and must be calculated.

Tank Rupture Curve Types Tank rupture curves available from manufacturers may be probabilistic or definite in nature. Definite tank rupture curves indicate that there is minimal likelihood of capacitor case rupture if a fuse or protective device falls anywhere to the left of the curve. See Figure 1. This type of curve is exhibited by capacitor designs that have very consistent faulted impedance characteristics. Depending upon the manufacturer of the capacitor, the user may find that a single curve or a family of curves must be employed to properly represent the rupture characteristics of all voltage and Kvar size capacitor units. Achieving safe coordination with this type of tank rupture curve is generally simple and reliable. Even minimal coordination margins are usually considered acceptable. Manufacturers of capacitors that exhibit probability type tank rupture curves usually supply 10% probability curves, though 50% curves are available and should be obtained from the manufacturer. A probability curve indicates that rupture may occur at a time-current level to the left of the curve according to the probability percentage associated with that curve. Therefore a 10% curve signifies that there exists a 10% chance of not achieving coordination when using that curve. For this reason obtaining the largest coordination margins possible when using probability curves is highly advantageous. See Figure 2. Comparison of the 10% curve with the 50% curve should be performed to ascertain the degree of spread associated with the underlying data. Though this process is often cumbersome, it must be done to ensure that the safety of an installation is completely understood. When this spread of data is examined, it frequently becomes clear that it is not possible to achieve an acceptable degree of confidence that coordination will be achieved. It is not recommended to use capacitors with probability curves unless an appropriate analysis confirms that coordination can be achieved with an acceptable confidence factor. 2

Figure 1 Definite Tank Rupture Curve

Figure 2 10% and 50% Tank Rupture Curves For a 100 Kvar Capacitor

Coordination Using Probability Based Curves Probability based tank rupture curves are developed when the spread of the underlying rupture test data indicates that there is too much variation that can properly be accounted for by using a definite curve. When developing the curves, a sample of capacitors is tested to rupture at a given current level. The so called 10% curve is drawn so that only 10% of the time-to-rupture values are less than the time value used to draw the curve. The 10% curve is actually a curve representing a probability of 0.90 that the time-to-rupture is equal to or greater than the time indicated on the curve. We can solve for the standard deviation, of the underlying data via the following , formula:

Where:

the time to rupture at the current value of interest for the 10% curve the time to rupture at the current value of interest for the 50% curve

Using this data, one can calculate the time associated with any probability as follows: t P .50 Where: the value from Table 1 that corresponds to the confidence factor desired

Confidence Factor
.9000 .9100 .9200 .9300 .9400 .9500 .9600 .9700 .9800 .9900 .9950 .9990 .9999

Z
1.28 1.34 1.41 1.48 1.55 1.64 1.75 1.88 2.05 2.33 2.58 3.09 3.72

Table 1 Z Values for Normal Distribution Probabilities (i.e. Confidence Factors)

Figure 3 100 Kvar Probability Tank Rupture Curves with 25T M a x i m u m Clear Curve

Example of Coordination For example, in Figure 3, three curves are drawn; the maximum clear curve for a 25T fuse link, the 10% capacitor rupture curve for a 100 kVAr capacitor, and the 50% curve for the 100 kVAr capacitor. The fault current level to be analyzed is 2000 amps. Table 2 summarizes the coordination margins at 50% and 10% taken directly from the curves, as well as a 5% and 1.6% values calculated using equations ( A ) and (B). Time for Probability
50% Data 10% Data 5% Calculated 1.6% Calculated

Confidence Factor
.500 .900 .950 .984

Fuse Operation
.026 sec .026 sec .026 sec .026 sec

Rupture
.086 sec .050 sec .040 sec .026 sec

Coordination Margin
.060 sec (3.6 cycles) .024 sec (1.4 cycles) .016 sec (.84 cycles) 0 - Coordination Lost

Table 2 Comparison of Coordination Margins for Various Probabilities of Rupture Understanding the calculated values may be easier if they are visualized as having been read off of a new curve that was created. Therefore the margins for the 5% data can be considered to have been obtained from a "5% curve". From Table 2 it may be observed that as the probability of rupture goes down (and therefore the confidence of not having a rupture goes up), the coordination margin decreases. This is part of the difficulty in using probability curves; achieving coordination with the published curve often gives a false sense of security. In this example, all coordination margin is lost with a "1.6% curve". This means that if a given application required better than a 98.4% likelihood of no rupture upon failure, this unit and or fuse combination must be rejected. Conclusions When evaluating a capacitor unit's suitability for a given installation in terms of safety from rupture, the following should be observed:
1.

The tank rupture curves should be obtained from the manufacturers during the design stage. If the curves are probability in nature, then both the 10% and 50% curves should be obtained. The desired coordination margin and confidence level should be ascertained to achieve the required level of safety at the installation site. The coordination margins at the fault current level in question should be evaluated. Any capacitor unit not exhibiting a sufficient coordination margin should be eliminated from consideration. On capacitors with probability curve is margin based on the value should be used probability tank rupture curves, if the 10% not sufficient to assure safety, a new coordination desired probability should be calculated and this for evaluation.

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Bulletin KB019 - April 1991 Copyright 1991 Cooper Power Systems File Reference: 230