High frequency wiring

[petersonra]

Anyone have any experience in routing relatively high current/high frequency power wiring?

I am talking 300-1600 Hz, 120-480V ph-ph, 400A max.

Normally we try to locate the type of equipment very close to avoid problems but in an upcoming situation we may need to run a substantial distance due to lack of floor space.

Some of the ideas we kicked around were:

-use frp cable trays instead of metal
-use flat bus bar instead of wire
-cable seperation should be increased

Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[dereckbc]

Re: High frequency wiring

In the early days of data processing I worked with some 400-Hz stuff, and the biggest problem is going to be excessive voltage drop. Use oversized conductors to compensate.

 

[petersonra]

Re: High frequency wiring

I did some research a few years ago on this and found that at 400 Hz the skin effect was almost negligible, such that usually you could compensate with a single size upgrade.

However, at higher frequencies, the problem becomes very severe to the point where a 1/0 conductor has to be derated by 50% at 2000 Hz.

In one case the end user and I calculated the need for something like (8) 1/0 cables in parallel per phase for a project that got cancelled. We were not even really sure this was practical but for estimating purposes it worked.

We have also looked at bus bar as you get more current carrying capacity at higher frequencies as the ratio of circumference to cross sectional area increases. A circular cross section is thus the worst possible case for higher frequencies. But bus bar is not a very easy thing to route.

 

[kiloamp7]

Re: High frequency wiring

For raceway systems consider non magnetic types such as aluminum conduit, or PVC.

 

[petersonra]

Re: High frequency wiring

Originally posted by kiloamp7:
For raceway systems consider non magnetic types such as aluminum conduit, or PVC.

we figured on using frp cable trays.