On the issue of occurrence of fire-hazardous situations with unbalanced power consumption

Abstract

The influence of phase current unbalance on the probability of occurrence of fire-hazardous situations in industrial premises that receive power in various power supply systems is considered. The theoretical prerequisites for the occurrence of fire-hazardous situations are described. It is shown that zero-sequence flows flowing through a neutral conductor in an unbalanced mode significantly heat it, which can lead to short circuits and conditions for the occurrence of fires. The results of studies of unbalanced conditions in Russia and abroad are presented. It is shown that the zero-sequence flows resulting from current unbalance lead to an increase in additional losses of active power and electrical energy. It is proved that additional heat losses caused by unbalanced power consumption can destroy the insulation of neutral and phase conductors, which is the main cause of short circuits and, as a result, fires. Based on the use of the Matlab graphical editor, dynamic characteristics of variations in phase and interphase currents and voltages, as well as the power loss coefficient, which characterizes the increase in heat losses, are constructed. The analysis of fires and their consequences for various objects in the Russian Federation is made. A computational unit has been developed in Matlab, which is used for calculating and plotting the dynamics of fires and their consequences over the investigated period of time. It is shown that the occurrence of fires and their consequences due to violations of the rules of operation of electrical installations occurs in any premises and sometimes reaches more than 20% of all possible causes of fires. Methods and technical means of minimizing zero-sequence currents as a means of preventing the occurrence of fire-hazardous situations are considered. The principle of operation of an automatically controlled shunt-symmetric device with a minimum resistance to zero-sequence currents is described.