NEUTRAL CONDUCTOR SIZING FOR TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION LINES

Because the neutral conductor carries less current than the phase conductors, utilities can use smaller neutral conductors. On three-phase circuits with balanced loading, the neutral carries almost no current.

On single-phase circuits with a multigrounded neutral, the neutral normally carries 40 to 60% of the current (the earth carries the remainder).

On single-phase circuits, some utilities use fully rated neutrals, where the neutral and the phase are the same size. Some use reduced neutrals.

The resistance of the neutral should be no more than twice the resistance of the phase conductor, and we are safer with a resistance less than 1.5 times the phase conductor, which is a conductivity or cross-sectional area of 2/3 the phase conductor.

Common practice is to drop one to three gage sizes for the neutral: a 4/0 phase has a 2/0 neutral, or a 1/0 phase has a number 2 neutral. Dropping three gage sizes doubles the resistance, so we do not want to go any smaller than that.

On three-phase circuits, most utilities use reduced neutrals, dropping the area to about 25 to 70% of the phase conductor (and multiplying the resistance by 1.4 to 4).

Several other factors besides ampacity play a role in how small neutral conductors are:

• Grounding — A reduced neutral increases the overvoltages on the unfaulted phases during single line-to-ground faults. It also increases stray voltages.

• Faults — A reduced neutral reduces the fault current for single line to- ground faults, which makes it more difficult to detect faults at far distances. Also, the reduced neutral is subjected to the same fault current as the phase, so impacts on burning down the neutral should be considered for smaller neutrals.

• Secondary — If the primary and secondary neutral are shared, the neutral must handle the primary and secondary unbalanced current (and have the mechanical strength to hold up the secondary phase conductors in triplex or quadraplex construction).

• Mechanical — On longer spans, the sag of the neutral should coordinate with the sag of the phases and the minimum ground clearances to ensure that spacing rules are not violated.

Related post



No comments:

PREVIOUS ARTICLES
free counters