John -

Try the test at a phase angle of 0 or 180 degrees. You should come a lot
closer to your calculated inrush current of 56.6. You are making the mistake
of seeing the input section of the power supply as a straight resistance
circuit. It is more inductive and will behave differently when the voltage
increases from a phase angle of 0 or 180 degrees than when it decreases from
a phase angle of 90 or 270 degrees. 

Mike Campi
Corporate Compliance Engineer
Fujitsu PC Corporation

        -----Original Message-----
        From:   jgarr...@hns.com [SMTP:jgarr...@hns.com]
        Sent:   Friday, September 11, 1998 8:02 AM
        To:     ieee pstc list
        Subject:        Inrush current and utility power line reistance



        From: John Garrett@HNS on 09/11/98 11:02 AM


        To:   ieee pstc list <emc-p...@ieee.org>
        cc:
        Subject:  Inrush current and utility power line reistance

        Hello All,

        I have a question with respect to the typical  resistance of the
mains
        utility wiring; from the mains utility transformer into a
residential or
        industrial building.  But first a little history on the problem:

        When testing a 30 W power supply at 120VAC, the inrush current at a
phase
        angle of 90 degrees measured 27A peak (4 unique sites were tested).
        Calculating inrush current is a fairly straight forward application
of ohms
        law:

             Inrush Current = peak voltage divided by the dc resistance ( I
= Vpeak
        / R)
        (where R is the series resistance from the power line into the p/s
through
        the EMI  filter through the rectifier and the bulk capacitor back
out the
        other leg of the line)

        In this application the result of the above equation is    I = (120
        VAC*1.414) / 3.00 ohms  or  I = 56.6 Amps... where 3  ohms is the
worst
        case resistance internal to the power supply  (The assumption here
being
        there is little if any resistance external to the power supply that
will
        add significantly to this internal resistance).

         The problem is this: the calculated number (56.6 A) does not come
close to
        the measured (27A).  If fact, when we look at the measured data it
appears
        as if the external resistance, i.e. the resistance of residential or
        industrial wiring from the utility mains transformer to the building
and
        internal to the building, is adding a very significant amount of
resistance
        (approx. 3.0 ohms).  This is very hard to believe!  But it is
repeatable.
        We are checking these measurements even as I write, but my questions
are
        simple.  First, am I missing something here with respect to second
order
        effects?  Second, does anyone have a feel for the resistance of the
power
        lines from the utility mains xfmr to the service entrance and into a
        residential or industrial building?  Have any studies been performed
that I
        can refer to for this type of information?  Any help would be
greatly
        appreciated.




        John Garrett                  Principal Engineer
        Hughes Network Systems        Phone  (301) 601-2699
        11717 Exploration Lane             FAX      (301) 428-2835
        Germantown, MD 20876               Email: jgarr...@hns.com



        ---------
        This message is coming from the emc-pstc discussion list.
        To cancel your subscription, send mail to majord...@ieee.com
        with the single line: "unsubscribe emc-pstc" (without the
        quotes).  For help, send mail to ed.pr...@cubic.com,
        ri...@sdd.hp.com, or roger.volgst...@compaq.co (the list
        administrators).

---------
This message is coming from the emc-pstc discussion list.
To cancel your subscription, send mail to majord...@ieee.com
with the single line: "unsubscribe emc-pstc" (without the
quotes).  For help, send mail to ed.pr...@cubic.com,
ri...@sdd.hp.com, or roger.volgst...@compaq.co (the list
administrators).

Reply via email to