UNIT-IV

Hazardous Zones Class 0, 1 and 2:

Hazardous areas /zones are present in chemical industries, fertilizer plants, refineries,
coal mines and industrial gas plants. Thermal power station have hazardous zones such as
hydrogen cooling system for generators, furnes oil storage, burners, chemicals for flue gas
cleaning etc.
CLASSIFICATION OF HAZARDOUS ZONES:
This is a zone where inflammable gas is always
present and there is a possibility of continuous
electrical hazard. The selection of equipment for
this area should be such that there should not be
any chance of spark or overheating of the circuit
Zone 0

which may cause explosive situation. It is

preferable to avoid use of electrical apparatus in
these areas, wherever possible. Otherwise, the
apparatus selected should be intrinsically safe.
This pertains to zone where inflammable
atmosphere is likely to be present sometime, but
not always. Since the hazards can occur at
anytime, all required precautions have to be

Zone 1

taken. Flame-proof equipment are invariably

used in these areas. In some places pressurized
enclosures are used. Sand filled and oil
immersed apparatus are also used in certain
cases, for increased safety.
This pertains to zone where inflammable
atmosphere may occur during normal operation,
only for a short duration. In these areas hazard is

Zone 2

likely to occur due to continuous sparking and,

if protective systems fails to isolate the supply in
cave of exigency. Flame proof apparatus should

be used in these areas also.

SPARKS FLASHOVERS AND CORONA DISCHARGE ASSOCIATED WITH
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT AND PLANTS:

Every electrical plant and equipment has current carrying conductors and their
insulation system. The plant has main power circuit and low voltage circuits for protection,
control monitoring etc.
S.NO
1.

CAUSE
Loose contact

EFFECT
Sparking, overheating,

PHENOMENA
High resistance, arcing at loose

melting.

contact. Explosive gases in the

vicinity of loose contact gets

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Switching

Sparking between contacts

ignited.
Closing. As the contacts come

operations

due to jumping of current in

close enough contact gap breaks

opening/closing

form of arc while

down and pre-ignition takes place

-closing of switch and

in the form of arc.

contact bounce

Opening. Breaking of current

-opening a switch

contact is accomplished by

Sliding contact

-loose contact
Sparking between brush and

spark/arc.
Current jumps from brushes to

between

commutator/slip ring.

conductor due to high current

brushes and

density, ionisation of air-gap, high

conducting

local temperature, poor contact etc.

surfaces
High voltage

Corona discharge in form of

stress air around bluish, audible glow

conductor surface exceeds the

conductor

critical contact withstand strength

discharge

surface.

of air. Corona can initiate

Low air-gaps

Spark discharge or arc

explosion in hazardous zones.

Spark occurs during over voltage

with high

discharge.

surges or poor weather condition.

voltage.
Sharp corners

Spark discharge, corona.

Spark occurs during over voltage

on conductor
7.

Voltage stress at some points in

surface
Excessive

surges or poor weather condition.

Thermal sparks.

friction between

Overheated metal particles

dislodge from metal and burns.

mating surfaces
8.

in motion.
Breaking of

Discontinuity in flow of

Energy flow cannot be stopped

9.

current carrying

current produces arc.

instantly. Current jumps through

conductor
Overheated

Overheated

path of least resistance.

Spark causes burning of adjacent

resistor or

conductor/resistor/coil

insulating material and explosion

conductor or

becomes red hot and

in hazardous atmosphere.

coil carrying

subsequently fails and

current.

creates spark.

FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS AND SPECIFICATIONS OF ELECTRIC

PLANTS, EQUIPMENTS FOR HAZARDOUS LOCATIONS:
Normal electrical equipments and plants are not suitable for hazardous locations as
the sparks, flashovers, discharges inherent in normal switching operations and other causes
result in explosion within and outside the electrical equipment.
The table deals the requirements of electrical requirement (or) hazardous areas are specified.
IS specification
Description and coverage
IS:1577-1970
Guidelines for selection of electrical equipment or hazardous areas.
IS:2147-1962
Enclosures of low voltage switchgear and controlgear, degree of protection
provided.
IS:4691-1968
Enclosures for rotating electrical machinery, degree of protection provided.
IS:7889-1974
Enclosures, pressured, of electrical equipment for use in hazardous areas.
IS:4591-1968
Enclosures, code of practice for installation and maintenance.
IS:2148-1968
Flame proof enclosures of electrical apparatus.
IS:5833-1970
Switchgear, flameproof air break, electrically operated.
IS:5780-1970
Safe, intrinsically, electrical apparatus circuits.
IS:8607-1978
Electrical equipment protection against explosion hazardous.
IS:10406-1983 Transformers: intrinsically safe.
IS:6881-1972
Type enclosures for hazardous areas.
FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
1. The equipment/installation should not ignite the surrounding
medium(flammable/explosive gases/liquid/solids).
2. The sparks/arcs/hot spots within the equipment/installation shall be contained within
these enclosures and shall be communicated outside.
3. External gases or liquids or dust should not enter within the enclosure of the
equipment/installation.
4. The enclosures and internal parts of the equipment should be strong to withstand
internal explosions within the equipment due to entry of explosive gases into the
equipment through various gaps between flanges, sliding seals, etc.

5. The equipment/installation shall be suitable for the type of explosive medium around
the location of installation.
CLASSIFICATION OF EQUIPMENT ENCLOSURE FOR VARIOUS HAZARDOUS
GASES AND VAPOURS:
The flameproof equipment requires type of enclosure, gap length, gap breadth of
flanges etc. those design and construction requirements very with the type of gas in the
atmosphere. For purpose of choice of electrical installation and equipments. Enclosures are
classified into Groups I, IIA, IIB, IIC(IS 2148-1968).
CLASS OF ENCLOSURE
I
IIA

IIB

IIC

GASES
Methane
Ammonia

VAPOURS
(Firedamp)
Acetone

Industrial methane

Ethyl methyl ketone

Blast furnace gas

n- propyl acetate

Propene

chloroethylene

Butane

methanol

Decane

amyl alcohol

Hexane

Iso-butanol

Cyclo hexane
1,3-Butadiene

Ethyl acetate
Ethylene oxide

Ethylene

Town gas

Diethyl ether
hydrogen

Coke-oven gas

CLASSIFICATION OF EQUIPMENT/ENCLOSURES FOR HAZARDOUS LOCATIONS:

Class

Title

Type d

Flameproof

Type e

Increased safety

Type n

Non sparking

Type p

Pressurised

Type i

Intrinsically safe

Type o

Oil-immersed

Type s

Sand filled

1. Flameproof equipment/Enclosures:
Symbol: Ex. d.

Standard: IS:2148-1968.
Hazardous zones: Zone 1 and Zone 2.
Equipments covered: Generators, Motors, Transformers, Switchgears, control gear,
resistors, lighting fittings.
Characteristics: Robust, maintainable
Limitations: Larger size. High cost, not practicable for large motors/generators.
Design features: Very small gap between flanges, very long breadth of flanges, robust
construction.
2. Increased safety equipments/Enclosures:
Symbol: Ex. c.
Standard: IS:6381-1972.
Hazardous zones: Zone 2.
Equipments covered: Cage motors, lighting fittings, instruments, instrument
Transformers(CTs, PTs), Head lamps, torches.
Characteristics: These equipments have additional mechanical/electrical/thermal
protections and provide increased safety at reasonable cost.
3. Non-sparking equipment/Enclosures:
Symbol: n.
Specification: BS 5000 Part 16.
Hazardous zones: zone 2.
Applications: Motors, lighting fittings.
4. Pressurised equipments/enclosures:
Symbol: Ex. p.
Standard: IS:7389-1974.
Hazardous zones: zone 1 and zone 2.
Applicability: Almost all electrical equipment including instrumentation, Control
Panels.
5. Intrinsically safe equipments:
Symbol: Ex. I.
Standard: IS:5790-1970.
Hazardous Zones: zone 0, zone 1 and zone 2.

Applications: Electronic and other low current equipment, Control Relay Panels,
Instrumentation, Control Room apparatus, Intrinsically safe equipment is basically of
low current and low energy, low fault levels and low switching energy dissipation.
6. Oil immersed equipments:
Symbol: Ex. O.
Standard: IS:7693-1975.
Applications: Power transformers, CTs, VTs, Oil circuit Breakers, Oil filled cables.
7. Sand filled installation:
Symbol: Ex. s.
Standard: IEC 79-5.
Hazardous locations: zone 1 and zone 2.
Cable trenches are filled with sand and covered with stone slab or RCC slab.

UNIT-V
TOTAL QUALITY CONTROL MANAGEMENT (TQCM):
TQCM is a total professional quality system covering product, plant, project and
services. The total quality management systems take into account the customers safety
requirements. The quality checks are applied at every stage from raw material to finished
products, despatch and installation. Commissioning, operation and maintenance, to assure
ultimate safety of plant and operators.
Faults can be minimised by Total Quality Management (TQM). Whenever fault
occurs, corrective actions must be initiated for resolving the problem and restoring the

normalcy. Fault investigation is an expert job and goes a long way to suggest
remedial/corrective/preventive actions.
Artificial intelligence/expert systems/fault recorders/event recorders are useful for
achieving 100% safety objectives.
Modern control rooms environment includes the following computer based facilities
which assist the control room engineer in data collection, data analysis decisions, fault
finding etc and go a long way to enhance the plant safety.
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)

Event Recorders
Fault Recorders
Expert systems for diagnosis and Preventive maintenance guidance
Personal computer with video display unit (CVDU).

Example of a record:
24/3/1994

Date
15.30

Time

Event
Circuit breaker CB 25

24/3/1994

16.03

Earth fault relay EF20 for

cooling fan motor protection
tripped.

24/3/1994

16.03
17.00

Cooling fan motor off.

EF relay reset

17.02

Cooling fan motor ON

IMPORTANCE OF HIGH LOAD FACTOR:

The load factor plays a vital role in determining the cost of energy. Some important
advantages of high load factor are listed below.
(i)

Reduces cost per unit generated: A high load factor reduces the overall coast per
unit generated. The higher the load factor, the lower is the generation cost. It is
because higher load factor means that for a given maximum demand, the number

(ii)

of units generated is more. This reduces the cost of generation.

Reduces variable load problems: A high load factor reduces the variable load
problems on the power station. A higher load factor means comparatively less
variations in the load demands at various times. This avoids the frequent use of
regulating devices installed to meet the variable load on the station.

POWER FACTOR:

The cosine of angle between voltage and current in an A.C.Circuit is known as Power
factor.
POWER TRIANGLE:
The analysis of power factor can also be made in terns of power drawn by the A.C.
circuit. If each side of the current triangle OAB is multiplied by voltage V, then we get the
power triangle where,

OA = VI cos

and represents the active power in watts or kW

AB = VI sin

and represents the reactive power in VAR or kVAR

OB = VI and represents the apparent power in VA or kVA

The apparent power in an A.C circuit has two components; active and reactive power
at right angles to each other.
(OB)^2 = (OA)^2 + (AB)^2
Or
Or

(apparent power)^2 = (active power)^2 + (reactive power)^2

(kVA)^2 = (kW)^2 + (kVAR)^2

Power factor, cos

= OA/OB = (active power)/(apparent power) = kW/kVA

The power factor of a circuit can be defined in one of the following three ways:
(a) Power factor = cos = cosine of angle between V and I
(b) Power factor = R/Z = Resistance/Impedance
(c) Power factor = VI cos /VI = Active power/Apparent power
DISADVANTAGES OF LOW POWER FACTOR:
The power factor plays an important role in a.c. circuits since power consumed
depends upon this factor.
P = VL IL cos

( for single phase supply)

IL = P/VLcos
P = VL IL cos
IL = P/VL cos

( for three phase supply)

It is clear from above that for fixed power and voltage, the load current is inversely
proportional to the power factor. Lower the power factor, higher is the load current and viceversa. A power factor less than unity results in the following disadvantages:
(i)

Large kVA rating of equipment: The electrical machinery (e.g., alternators,

transformers, switch gear) is always rated in kVA.
Now,

kVA = kW/cos

It is clear that kVA rating of the equipment is inversely proportional to the

power factor. The smaller the power factor, the larger is the kVA rating. Therefore, at
low power factor, the kVA rating of the equipment has to bem made more, making the
equipment lager and expensive.
(ii)

Greater conductor size: To transmit or distribute a fixed amount of power at

constant voltage, the conductor will have to carry more current at low power

(iii)

factor. This necessitates large conductor size.

Large copper losses: The large current at low lagging power factor causes
more I^2R losses in all the elements of the supply system. This results in poor

(iv)

efficiency.
Poor voltage regulation: The large current at low lagging power factor causes
greater voltage drops in alternators, transformers, transmission lines and
distributors. This results in the decreased voltage available at the supply end,
thus impairing the performance of utilisation devices. In order to keep the
receiving end voltage within permissible limits extra equipment (i.e., voltage

(v)

regulators) is required.
Reduced handling capacity of system: The lagging power factor reduces the
handling capacity of all the elements of the system. It is because the reactive
component of current prevents the full utilisation of installed capacity.

CAUSES OF LOW POWER FACTOR:

Low power factor is undesirable from economic point of view. Normally, the power
factor of the whole load on the supply system in lower than 0.8. the following are the causes
of low power factor.
(i)

Most of the a.c. motors are of induction type(1

and 3

induction motors) which

have less lagging power factor. These motors work at a power factor which is
(ii)

extremely small or light load (0.2 to 0.3) and rises to 0.8 or 0.9 at full load.
Arc lamps, electric discharge lamps and industrial heating furnaces operate at low
lagging power factor.

(iii)

The load on the power system is varying; being high during morning and evening
and low at other times. During low load period, supply voltage is increased which
increases the magnetisation current. This results in the decreased power factor.

POWER FACTOR IMPROVEMENT:

The low power factor is mainly due to the fact that most of the power loads are
inductive and, therefore, take lagging currents. In order to improve the power factor, some
device taking leading power should be connected in parallel with the load. One of such
devices can be a capacitor. The capacitor draws a leading current and partly or completely
neutralises the lagging reactive component of load current. This raises the power factor of the
load.

To illustrate the power factor improvement by a capacitor by a capacitor, consider a

single phase load taking lagging current I at a power factor cos

1 as

shown in fig.

The capacitor C is connected in parallel with the load. The capacitor draws current Ic which
leads the supply voltage by 90(degree). The resulting line current I is the phasor sum of I and
Ic and its angle of lag is
that cos

as shown in phasor diagram. It is clear that

is greater than cos

1.

is less than

1,

so

Hence, the power factor of the load is improved.

POWER FACTOR IMPROVEMENT EQUIPMENT:

Normally, the power factor of the whole load on a large generating station is in the
region of 0.8 to 0.9. However, sometimes it is lower and in such cases it is generally desirable
to take special steps to improve the power factor. This can be achieved by the following
equipment:
1. Static capacitors.
1. Static capacitors:

2. Synchronous condenser.

3. Phase advancers.

The power factor can be improved by connecting capacitors in parallel with

the equipment operating at lagging power factor. The capacitor draws a leading
current and partly or completely neutralises the lagging reactive component of load
current. This raises the power factor of the load. For three phase loads, the capacitor
can be connected in delta or star as shown in fig. Static capacitors are invariably rsed
for power factor improvement in factories.

Advantages:
(i)
They have low losses.
(ii)
They require little maintenance as there are no rotating parts.
(iii)
They can be easily installed as they are light and require no foundation.
(iv)
They can work under ordinary atmospheric conditions.
Disadvantages:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)

They have short service life ranging from 8 to 10 years.

They are easily damaged if the voltage exceeds the rated value.
Once the capacitors are damaged, their repair is uneconomical.

2. Synchronous condenser:
A synchronous motor takes a leading current when over-excited and,
therefore, behaves as a capacitor. An over-excited synchronous motor running on no
load is known as synchronous condenser. When such a machine is connected in
parallel with the supply, it takes a leading current which partly neutralises the lagging
reactive component of the load. Thus the power factor is improved.

Advantages:
(i)

By varying the field excitation, the magnitude of current drawn by the motor
can be changed by any amount. This helps in achieving stepless control of

(ii)
(iii)

power factor.
The motor windings have high thermal stability to short circuit currents.
The faults can be removed easily.

Disadvantages:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)

There are considerable losses in the motor.

The maintenance cost is high.
It produces noise.
Except in sizes above 500kVA, the cost is greater than that of static capacitors

(v)

of the same rating.

As a synchronous motor has no self-starting torque, therefore, an auxiliary

equipment has to be provided for this purpose.

3. Phase advancers:
Phase advancers are used to improve the power factor of induction motors.
The low power factor of an induction motor is due to the fact that its stator winding
draws exciting current which lags behind the supply voltage by 90(degree). If the
exciting ampere turns can be provided from some other a.c. source, then the stator
winding will be relieved of exciting current and the power factor of the motor can be
improved. This job is accomplished by the phase advancer which is simply an a.c.
exciter. The phase advancer is mounted on the same shaft as the main motor and is
connected in the rotor circuit of the motor. It provides exciting ampere turns too the
rotor circuit at slip frequency. By providing more ampere turns than required, the
induction motor can be made to operate on leading power factor like an over-excited
synchronous motor.
Phase advancers have two principal advantages. Firstly, as the exciting ampere
turns are supplied at slip frequency, therefore, lagging kVAR drawn by the motor are
considerably reduced. Secondly, phase advancer can be conveniently used where the
use of synchronous motors is inadmissible. However, the major disadvantage of phase
advancers is that they are not economical for motors below 200 H.P.
IMPORTANCE OF POWER FACTOR IMPROVEMENT:
The improvement of power factor is very important for both consumers and
generating stations as discussed below:

(i)

For consumers: A consumer has to pay electricity charges for his maximum
demand in reduction in his maximum kVA demand and consequently there
will be annual saving due to maximum demand charges. Although power
factor improvement involves extra annual expenditure on account of p.f.
correction equipment, yet improvement of p.f. to a proper value results in the

(ii)

net annual saving for the consumer.

For generating stations: A generating station is as much concerned with
power factor improvement as the consumer. The generators in a power station
are rated in kVA but the useful output depends upon kW output. As station
output is kW=kVA*cos , therefore, number of units supplied by it depends
upon the power factor. The greater the power factor of the generating station,
the higher is the kWh it delivers to the system. This leads to other conclusion
that improved power factor increases the earning capacity of the power station.

MOST ECONOMICAL POWER FACTOR:

If a consumer improves the power factor, there is reduction in his maximum kVA
demand and hence there will be annual saving over the maximum demand charges. However,
when power factor is improved, it involves capital investment on the power factor correction
equipment. The consumer will incur expenditure every year in the shape of annual interest
and depreciation on the investment made over the p.f. correction equipment. Therefore, the
net annual saving will be equal to the annual saving in maximum demand charges minus
annual expenditure incurred on p.f. correction equipment.
The value to which the power factor should be improved so as to have maximum net
annual saving is known as the most economical power factor.