Response of power cables to fast transient loads
The most accepted standards for ampacity of power cables consider only steady-state loads. In "Cable Sizing for Fast Transient Loads," R.E. Henry, the transient temperature response of cables is addressed when installed in tray and conduits and undergoing fast transient heating. Herein, the fast transient work is extended by presenting how power cables respond to short heavy loads. Fast heating is usually found with variable frequency drives that deliver varying amounts of occasional non-periodic high torque, or with rectifiers that deliver occasional heavy currents to equipment, like melting of scrap in an arc furnace. Transient temperature rises are calculated for four sizes of cables subjected to spikes of kiloampere currents of short durations. These peak temperature rises are tabulated in a summary. With the rms value of a transient current profile and the NEC ampacity tables, this tabulation provides the means for a rapid cable size comparison, and cable size selection. The linearity and proportional responses of these peaks rises show that they are independent of how the cables are installed. Hence, this method of sizing feeders for fast transient loads applies to all installations of cables covered in the NEC ampacity tables.
Steady state effects of design properties and environmental conditions on underground power cable ampacity
The steady state analysis of the cables under selected design and installation conditions provide information to ensure that the cables remain within allowable operating temperature limits. Manufacturers share the ampacity levels and derating factors under certain conditions for the cables that they produced, depending on the standards. However, the diversity of conditions can increase in the real applications. In this study, ampacity comparisons have been carried out for a different design and environmental characteristics of an underground cable system. The selected parameters have been analyzed for steady-state conditions within certain ranges. Characteristic ampacity trend curves corresponding to the relevant parameter changes have been generated with iterative solutions.
Effects of reservoir volume on performance of pulse tube cooler.
A pulse tube cooler has the advantages of long-life and low-vibration over conventional cryocoolers such as G-M and Stirling coolers because of the absence of moving parts at low temperature. On the other hand, the combination of a reservoir and orifice is indispensable to optimize the performance of pulse tube coolers. In order to make the pulse tube cooler compact for practical applications, the volume of reservoir should be minimized. This paper analyzes the effects of the reservoir volume on the thermodynamic performance of various components in a simple orifice and a double-inlet pulse tube cooler by combining a linearized model with a thermodynamic analysis. Expressions of entropy production for those components are presented. The results show that the reservoir volume has a significant influence on the entropy production in the various components when the reservoir to pulse tube volume ratio is smaller than about 5. The ratio is important to determine the minimum reservoir volume for a pulse tube cooler. Optimum settings for a double-inlet pulse tube cooler are also discussed.