Dear All ;
Regarding the using of any Calculation Software for LV networks, I have some points that are :
A – As the study of any LV electric network should contain the specifications of all components, the goal of this kind of Software is only to help the Engineers to make easier the calculation instead to do it manually and spend a lot of time, so, once we do the calculation by any Software, and have all results as : Section of Cables, Nominal Currents' values for loads, Short Circuit Currents' values, Earth Fault's value, Thermal Stress values for cables, ext.…, we can too easily define the specifications of all Circuit Breakers that should be installed at any point of network, but certainly without using the following advantages :
– ” Cascading or Back-up ” as that's the results of many testes for many combinations of C.B.
– ” Discrimination or Selectivity “, but we can do it if we have a good idea about the tripping curves of C.B.
So, it's not necessary to use the same Circuit Breakers that are chosen by the Software.
B – To use any Calculation Software, we should know very well the designing method of LV network for many reasons like :
– As any Software contains the default parameters where most of them should be modified as ” Method of Installation, Ambient Temperature, Kind of Cables, Ku, Kc, Voltage Drop Percentages, ext., so, the using of the default parameters is not convenient all time and for all networks.
– Any Software hasn't all what we need, and in some time it stops the calculation, where we should do some modification to continue.
– In some time we should modify even some chosen components like the Cables' Section to use some available Circuit Breakers or vise-versa.
– The default parameters are not convenient for all countries like ” the Transformers' parameters “, for that we should know what the country's utility defined as Transformers' Parameters and modify them to have the correct results.