That you used the ratio between R1 and R2 (rather than the actual resistance values) for the calculations obviously indicates that it does not matter how long - or short - the cable is, albeit the shorter the cable the higher the fault current but the relative calculations would result in the same voltages.
That's true - one can work it all out with just resistances and currents (for a particular cable (I'll illustrate later) but it's simpler (although mathematically identical) to just work with the R2/R1 ratio - since that will apply for any length of any cable, without having to do the specific calculations.
OK - and so to the “illustrations later”
. Firstly, a couple of disclaimers:
- Firstly, some of the figures are not totally precise. Neither the ‘rounded’ VD figures for cables in BS7671 nor the more precise conductor resistance figures in the OSG correspond exactly pro-rata to the CSA’s of different-sized conductors. I have, for simplicity, used the ‘rounded’ BS7671 70°C figures - namely 22.0, 14.5 and 9.0 mΩ/metre for 1.0, 1.5 and 2.5 mm² conductors respectively.
- It has been assumed that the L-conductor and CPC will be at the same temperature and, since (as below) it is only the ratio of the resistances of those two conductors that matters for this discussion, it does not matter what temperature is assumed, since any changes in temperature will affect the two equally, hence leaving the ratio unchanged. The standard BS7671-tabulated 70C° figures have been used. However, it seems unlikely that, during 'normal operation' (e.g. immediately before appearance of a fault) the CPC will be as hot as the L-conductor - so the calculations below might be over-estimating the resistance of the CPC
- Secondly, again for simplicity, I have essentially assumed that Ze is ‘zero’ - or, at least, that the supply voltage at the origin of the installation is 230V during a fault. In practice, of course, voltage at the origin would decrease during the fault (because of VD across Ze). However, for the purpose of this discussion/illustration, all that matters is the voltage at the origin during the fault, regardless of what is happening external to the installation
So now consider the simple situation shown in this first diagram, in which a supply voltage of 230 is maintained whilst there is an L-E short at the end of 10m of 2.5/1.5 mm² cable.
The L-conductor has a resistance of 0.090Ω and the CPC has a resistance of 0.145Ω so a total path resistance of 0.235Ω. That means that with the voltage of 230V, the current is 979 A. That current flowing through the CPC (resistance of 0.145Ω) therefore results in a ‘voltage drop’ of about 142V (0.145 x 979). The voltage between the MET at the location of the fault (i.e. the exposed-c-p, at the other end of the CPC) is therefore about 142V.
If we change the length of the cable, say to 100m, then the resistances of L and CPC become 0.90Ω and 1.45Ω respectively, hence the total resistance 2.35Ω, the current with 230V is 97.9 A (230/2.35), and hence the voltage across the CPC (hence voltage from MET to exposed-c-p is, again, about 142V (1.45 x 97.9). We could similar do the same for various lengths of different-sized cables (using different R1:R2 ratio).
However, we don’t really need to calculate the current. If the fault current is I
f, then the voltage across the CPC (i.e. from MET to exposed-c-p) is (I
f x R2), but we know that (at 230V) I
f is equal to 230/(R1+R2) - so, taking those two together, we get:
Voltage = 230 x R2 / (R1+R2)
… so the voltage depends just on the ratios of resistances, which remains the same for any length of a particular cable, without needing calculation of the current.
So, now turning to the real-world situation of interest, we get the following diagram. At first sight it looks complicated, but it’s really just the same as the above ‘simple one’ with the addition of a ‘shock victim’ (assumed to have a body resistance of 1kΩ), an extraneous-c-p to connect him/her to the MET (whilst also touching the ‘live’ exposed-c-p) and a fair bit of ‘annotation’.
It is hopefully fairly self-explanatory. The relatively very small current flowing through the victim (142 mA with my figures, if resistance of extraneous-c-p to MET is negligible) also flows through the L-conductor (R1), hence fractionally increases the VD across that conductor (hence fractionally reduces the potential of the exposed-c-p {above MET potential}) - but that is totally negligible - in my 10 metres of 2.5mm² cable example, it would result in the current increasing from 979 to 979.142 A.
The voltage across the victim is the potential of the exposed-c-p (above MET potential)
minus the voltage drop across the extraneous-c-p, that VD being the current through the victim (~142mA) multiplied by the resistance (to MET) of the extraneous-c-p. If, as will usually be the case, that resistance is very low (a handful of ohms), then that VD will be ‘negligible’, hence the voltage across the victim will be more-or-less the ‘full’ 142V.
This is where we get to the important bits in terms of our discussion, when we start considering the resistance (to MET) of the extraneous-c-p. It should be apparent from the above that the
higher the resistance from extraneous-c-p to MET, the
lower will be both the voltage across the victim and the current through the victim.
If, for example, the resistance from extraneous-c-p to MET rises to just high enough to
‘fail’ the 701.415.2 / 415.2.2 test (i.e. 1,677Ω with an RCD), then the total resistance of the path through the victim becomes 2,677Ω, hence (compared with the situation in which extraneous-c-p has negligible resistance to MET) the current through the victim
falls from 142 mA (142V / 1,000Ω) to only about 53 mA (142V / 2,677Ω), and the voltage across the victim hence falls from 142V to about 53V (53 mA through 1,000Ω).
So, that’s the anomaly I’ve been trying to highlight. When used as suggested in 701.415.2 (to determine whether SB can be omitted), the 415.2.2 test wants the resistance from extraneous-c-p to MET to be
below a certain value (by implication, “the lower the better”), yet (in the fault scenario I am considering) the
lower that resistance, the
higher will be the voltage across a victim and the
higher the current through that victim. Conversely, the
higher the resistance from extraneous-c-p to MET, the
‘less severe’ will be the shock.
As I’ve said, I don’t know what, if anything, I’m missing and/or getting wrong - but if I’m getting it roughly right, then the regulations seemingly make no sense at all (suggesting that SB can be omitted when the magnitude of the possible shock is, if anything, the greatest) - and, as we have both therefore said, the
only way to minimise the ‘touch voltage’ between extraneous-c-ps and exposed-c-ps during an L-E fault would seem to be to
always install supplementary bonding,
regardless of any measurements.
If anyone can find a flaw in my reasoning, please let me know - since I am far from comfortable with 'disagreeing with the regs' to this extent
I’ve quite probably ‘lost you’, quite possibly because my diagram looks much more complicated than it actually is, so please do ask me for whatever clarification or further explanations you may need!
Kind Regards, John