The Method of “Characteristic” Currents and Countercurrents for Short Circuits Diagnosis

Many software are available to analyze the design of electrical power systems. Therefore, it becomes relevant to know the rules of thumb to be able to diagnose in an elementary and intuitive way the computerized results. For the short-circuit analysis, in most practical cases, it is sufficient to adopt simplified and standard-based calculation methods. This article introduces the parameter of the countercurrents and illustrates the approach of the short-circuit models of power system components based on the “characteristic” currents method. This article, at first, presents a short overview of the IEC Std 60909, assumed as a reference for the proposed approach.