Fire Properties of Cables

Standards relating to fire properties of cables

IEC, BS standards

This is an area of increasing public and legislative concern, and therefore of increasing interest to engineers. There have been major advances in the fire performance of cables in recent years, and table below lists some of the relevant standards.

Standard	Description
IEC 60331	Fire resisting characteristics of electric cables.
IEC 60332	Tests on electric cables under fire conditions. Test methods and flame propagation of power and control/communication cables.Note the identical EN60332 and equivalent national standard BSEN60332 supersede EN50265 and BS 4066.
IEC 60754	Test of gases evolved during combustion of electric cables.
IEC 61034	Measurement of smoke density of cables burning under defined conditions. Identical EN61034 and national equivalent BSEN 61034 supersede EN50268 and BS7622.
BS 6387	Performance requirements for cable required to maintain circuit integrity under fire conditions.
BS 6724	Electric cables. Thermosetting insulated, armoured cables for voltages of 600/1000 V and 1900/3300 V, having low emission of smoke and corrosive gases when affected by fire.
BS 7211	Electric cables. Thermosetting insulated, non-armoured cables for voltages up to and including 450/750 V, for electric power, lighting and internal wiring, and having low emission of smoke and corrosive gases when affected by fire.
BS 7835	Specification for cables with cross-linked polyethylene or ethylene propylene rubber insulation for rated voltages from 3800/6600 V up to 19 000/33 000 V having low emission of smoke and corrosive gases when affected by fire.
EN 50267	Common test methods for cables under fire conditions. Tests on gases evolved during combustion of materials from cables. Apparatus. BSEN50267 is identical and supersedes BS6425. Similarly French standard NF C 20-454 is superseded.

Toxic and corrosive gases

It is recognized that conventional flame retardant cables having sheathing based upon PVC type materials evolve considerable quantities of halon acid gases such as hydrogen chloride upon burning.

Such materials are not therefore suitable for use in confined spaces where the public are likely to travel, and moreover the fire in the ENEL power station at La Spezia in 1967 showed that in certain circumstances PVC cables will burn completely and contribute to the spread of a fire.

Materials have now been developed for cable oversheaths and bedding which are normally free of halogen based compounds. They consist of a mixture of inorganic filler such as aluminium hydroxide and polymers such as ethylene vinyl acetate, acrylates and ethylene propylene rubbers.

Cables manufactured with such materials are known as ‘Low Smoke and Fume’ (LSF) and have acid gas evolution less than 0.5% in comparison to 25–30% for PVC compounds.

IEC 60754-1 specifies a method of determining the amount of halogen acid gas, other than hydrofluoric acid, evolved during combustion of halogen based compounds. The method essentially measures the existence of halogen acid greater than 0.5%, the accuracy limit for the test.

Therefore cables tested having less than the 0.5% limit are generally termed ‘zero halogen’ or ‘low smoke zero halogen’ (LS0H).

Smoke emission

Normal cable sheathing compounds also give off dense smoke when burned and this is of particular concern in underground transport system installations. The generation of large amounts of smoke obscures vision and reduces the ease with which the fire brigade is able to bring members of the public to safety in the event of a fire. LSF cables therefore play an important part in reducing this danger to a minimum.

London Underground Limited (LUL) have developed a test of practical significance which has been designed to measure the density of smoke emission from cables and it has now been adopted by British and IEC Standards. This defines the standard absorbance produced across the opposite faces of a test cubicle and is popularly known as the 3 m cube test.

Paris Metro (RATP) adopts the French Standard UTE C20-452 on smoke emission which determines under experimental conditions the specific optical density of smoke produced by burning material. This slightly different approach is generally known as the NBS smoke chamber test.

Oxygen index and temperature index

‘Oxygen index’ is the minimum concentration of oxygen in an oxygen/nitrogen mixture in which the material will burn. As air contains approximately 21% oxygen it is stated that a material with an oxygen index greater than about 26% will be self extinguishing. In general, a particular oxygen index value offers no guarantee of resistance to the spread of flames.
In practice materials having identical oxygen indices may have widely different burning properties especially if base polymers or additives are of different types.

The ‘temperature index’ of a material is the minimum temperature at which the material supports combustion in air containing 21% oxygen when tested under controlled conditions. The test is useful for the comparison of similar materials but no correlation with flammability under other fire conditions is implied.
Oxygen and temperature indices are to some extent inter-related.

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Fire Properties Of Cables

Standards relating to fire properties of cables

IEC, BS standards

This is an area of increasing public and legislative concern, and therefore of increasing interest to engineers. There have been major advances in the fire performance of cables in recent years, and table below lists some of the relevant standards.

Standard	Description
IEC 60331	Fire resisting characteristics of electric cables.
IEC 60332	Tests on electric cables under fire conditions. Test methods and flame propagation of power and control/communication cables.Note the identical EN60332 and equivalent national standard BSEN60332 supersede EN50265 and BS 4066.
IEC 60754	Test of gases evolved during combustion of electric cables.
IEC 61034	Measurement of smoke density of cables burning under defined conditions. Identical EN61034 and national equivalent BSEN 61034 supersede EN50268 and BS7622.
BS 6387	Performance requirements for cable required to maintain circuit integrity under fire conditions.
BS 6724	Electric cables. Thermosetting insulated, armoured cables for voltages of 600/1000 V and 1900/3300 V, having low emission of smoke and corrosive gases when affected by fire.
BS 7211	Electric cables. Thermosetting insulated, non-armoured cables for voltages up to and including 450/750 V, for electric power, lighting and internal wiring, and having low emission of smoke and corrosive gases when affected by fire.
BS 7835	Specification for cables with cross-linked polyethylene or ethylene propylene rubber insulation for rated voltages from 3800/6600 V up to 19 000/33 000 V having low emission of smoke and corrosive gases when affected by fire.
EN 50267	Common test methods for cables under fire conditions. Tests on gases evolved during combustion of materials from cables. Apparatus. BSEN50267 is identical and supersedes BS6425. Similarly French standard NF C 20-454 is superseded.

Toxic and corrosive gases

It is recognized that conventional flame retardant cables having sheathing based upon PVC type materials evolve considerable quantities of halon acid gases such as hydrogen chloride upon burning.

Such materials are not therefore suitable for use in confined spaces where the public are likely to travel, and moreover the fire in the ENEL power station at La Spezia in 1967 showed that in certain circumstances PVC cables will burn completely and contribute to the spread of a fire.

Materials have now been developed for cable oversheaths and bedding which are normally free of halogen based compounds. They consist of a mixture of inorganic filler such as aluminium hydroxide and polymers such as ethylene vinyl acetate, acrylates and ethylene propylene rubbers.

 

Cables manufactured with such materials are known as ‘Low Smoke and Fume’ (LSF) and have acid gas evolution less than 0.5% in comparison to 25–30% for PVC compounds.

IEC 60754-1 specifies a method of determining the amount of halogen acid gas, other than hydrofluoric acid, evolved during combustion of halogen based compounds. The method essentially measures the existence of halogen acid greater than 0.5%, the accuracy limit for the test.

Therefore cables tested having less than the 0.5% limit are generally termed ‘zero halogen’ or ‘low smoke zero halogen’ (LS0H).

Smoke emission

Normal cable sheathing compounds also give off dense smoke when burned and this is of particular concern in underground transport system installations. The generation of large amounts of smoke obscures vision and reduces the ease with which the fire brigade is able to bring members of the public to safety in the event of a fire. LSF cables therefore play an important part in reducing this danger to a minimum.

London Underground Limited (LUL) have developed a test of practical significance which has been designed to measure the density of smoke emission from cables and it has now been adopted by British and IEC Standards. This defines the standard absorbance produced across the opposite faces of a test cubicle and is popularly known as the 3 m cube test.

Paris Metro (RATP) adopts the French Standard UTE C20-452 on smoke emission which determines under experimental conditions the specific optical density of smoke produced by burning material. This slightly different approach is generally known as the NBS smoke chamber test.

Oxygen index and temperature index

‘Oxygen index’ is the minimum concentration of oxygen in an oxygen/nitrogen mixture in which the material will burn. As air contains approximately 21% oxygen it is stated that a material with an oxygen index greater than about 26% will be self extinguishing. In general, a particular oxygen index value offers no guarantee of resistance to the spread of flames.
In practice materials having identical oxygen indices may have widely different burning properties especially if base polymers or additives are of different types.

The ‘temperature index’ of a material is the minimum temperature at which the material supports combustion in air containing 21% oxygen when tested under controlled conditions. The test is useful for the comparison of similar materials but no correlation with flammability under other fire conditions is implied.
Oxygen and temperature indices are to some extent inter-related.

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Sizing of power cables for circuit breaker controlled feeders (part 2)

2. Criteria-2 Continuous current capacity (Ampacity)

This criterion is applied so that cross section of the cable can carry the required load current continuously at the designed ambient temperature and laying condition. Ampacity is defined as the current in amperes a conductor can carry continuously under the conditions of surrounding medium in which the cables are installed. An ampacity study is the calculation of the temperature rise of the conductor in a cable system under steady-state conditions.
Cable ampacity, if required to be calculated than it is calculated as per the following equation givenin IEEE -399, section 13.

This equation is based on Neher-McGrath method where,

• Tc’ – allowable conductor temperature (ºC)
• Ta’ – ambient temperature (either soil or air) (ºC)
• ∆Td – temperature rise of conductor due to dielectric heating (ºC)
• ∆Tint – temperature rise of the conductor due to interference heating from adjacent cables (ºC)
• Rac – electrical ac resistance of conductor including skin effect, proximity and temperature effects (µ_/ft)
• R’ca – effective total thermal resistance of path between conductor and surrounding ambient to include the effects of load factor, shield/sheath losses, metallic conduit losses, effects of multiple conductors in the same duct etc (thermal- Ωft, ºC-cm/W).

From the above equation it is clear that the rated current carrying capacity of a conductor is dependent on the following factors:

1. Ambient temperature (air or ground)
2. Grouping and proximity to other loaded cables, heat sources etc.
3. Method of installation (above ground or below ground)
4. Thermal conductivity of the medium in which the cable is installed
5. Thermal conductivity of the cable constituents

However please note that while sizing a power cable we never calculate the ampacity. The above equation is used to analyze the cable ampacities of unique installations. Standard ampacity tables are available for a variety of cable types and cable installation methods and can be used for determining the current carrying capacity of a cable for a particular application.

These standards provide tabulated ampacity data in manufacturers catalog for cables installed in air, in duct bank,  directly buried or in trays for a particular set of conditions clearly defined.
It is because of this reason that we need to give the reference of manufacturers catalog from where the ampacity  values are picked up.

Now once the current carrying capacity of a cable is found from standard catalog; we convert that rated capacity (Ampacity) into actual laying condition. The standard current ratings for cables are modified by the application of suitable multiplying factors to account for the actual installation conditions. Hence we define one more term here called ampacity deration factor.

Ampacity duration factor is defined as the product of various factors which accounts for the fraction decrease in the ampacity of the conductor. Those factors and physical condition deriving them are as follows:

1. K1= Variation in ambient air temperature for cables laid in air / ground temperature for cables laid underground.
2. K2 = Cable laying arrangement.
3. K3 = Depth of laying for cables laid direct in ground.
4. K4 = Variation in thermal resistivity of soil.

Ampacity Deration factor = Product of applicable multiplying factors among 1 to 4 listed above.

K = K1 x K2 x K3 x K4

Now from where do we get these multiplying factors to find the overall ampacity deration factor? Againwe get these values from manufacturers catalog because manufacturer of the cable is in best position to conduct thepractical experiments and test on the cables and find the percentage/fractional decrease in current carrying capacity of the cable in various conditions.

For better understanding of the ampacity deration factor the following pictorial representation is provided below.

Table for ampacity deration factor along with pictorial representation is provided below.

However readers to note that ampacity deration factor table provided in this article is to verified from the manufacturers catalog which is intended to be used for project.

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Installing Sensors Incorrectly As a Mistake #2 In Instrumentation

Four Sensor ‘Poors’ To Avoid

Generally speaking, there are four ‘Poors’ that can lead to incorrectly installing instrumentation sensors:

1. Poor placement
2. Poor control
3. Poor protection
4. Poor grounding

Each of above sensor ‘poors’ are described below, and by the way… have you read what is the mistake No.1 in an industrial instrumentation?

1. Sensor Placement

The best sensor can yield disappointing results if not installed correctly. Magmeters, for example, tend to generate noisy signals if the flow they’re measuring is turbulent. Bends, junctions, and valves in a pipe can all cause turbulence, thus magmeters work best when installed in sections of straight pipe.

Temperature sensors are also sensitive to placement. Even a highly accurate RTD tucked in the corner of a mixing chamber will only be able to detect the temperature of its immediate vicinity. If the mixing of the material in the chamber is incomplete, that local temperature may or may not represent the temperature of the material elsewhere in the chamber.

Local temperature issues are the classic mistake that home heating contractors often make when installing household thermostats.

A mounting location closest to the furnace may be convenient for wiring purposes, but if that spot happens to be in a hallway or other dead air space, the thermostat will not be able to determine the average temperature elsewhere in the house. It will only be able to maintain the desired temperature in its immediate vicinity. The rest of the house may end up roasting or freezing.

2. Controller performance // Poor control

Poor control also results when a sensor is installed too far away from the associated actuator. A distant sensor may not be able to measure the effects of the actuator’s last move in time for the controller to make an educated decision about what to do next.

Process of flattening hot steel

For example, consider the process of flattening hot steel into uniform sheets by means of two opposing rollers (see Figure 1 above). A thickness sensor downstream from the rollers gauges the sheet and causes the controller to apply either more or less pressure to compensate for any out-of-spec thickness.





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