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Main >> Applications >> Sample problems

Three phase power cable temperature - QuickField simulation example

The three phase power cable with sector shaped conductors is surrounded by air.

Engineering question

How to find temperature rise in three-phase power cables?

Answer
Set up a plane-parallel QuickField Multiphysics problem for a three-phase power cable system and evaluate temperature rise from computed field results.

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Typical applications
three-phase power cables, sector-shaped conductors, exposed cable systems

Three phase power cable temperature

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Simulation problem

Problem Type
Plane-parallel multiphysics problem of AC Magnetics coupled to Heat transfer.

Geometry
Three phase power cable temperature The three phase AC cable is surrounded by air A B C 0 Jacket Shield Filling 120 mm² 35 mm² Ø 44 mm

Given
Each phase conductor carries AC current I = 150 A (r.m.s.), frequency 60 Hz.
Ambient air temperature +20°C, convection coefficient 5 W/m²*K.
Thermal conductivities: aluminum 237 W/K-m, shield 380 W/K-m, insulation 0.2 W/K-m, filler 0.05 W/K-m, jacket 0.29 W/K-m.
Electrical conductivity of the aluminum conductor and copper shield depends on the temperature.

Task
Calculate the Joule heat losses per 1 meter of cable length and the conductors temperature.

Solution

  1. First we make a guess about the conductors' temperature to determine their conductivity.
  2. Then we simulate AC magnetics problem and calculate losses in all conductors, including the shield and 0-conductor.
  3. Then we transfer the Joule heat losses to a heat transfer problem to calculate temperature.

We need to perform several iterations and correct the temperature of conductors till the temperature value converges.

Results
Joule heat loss in the conductor is 6.3 Watts per 1 meter of conductor length. Joule heat loss in the shield is 0.4 W/m.
Conductor temperature is 54°C, cable surface temperature is 48°C.
Three phase power cable temperature

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