Electrical installations play an important role in buildings because they supply energy to many appliances and building systems. Electric current is the quickest and most efficient way to deliver energy in modern society. The power of electricity, however, makes it dangerous when not used properly, and electrical systems must be safe and dependable.

Buildings have a lot of electrically powered equipment and devices. There are numerous types of electrical installations, but they all must meet two requirements:

Being able to provide enough power for all connected electrical devices while maintaining a stable voltage.

Working safely without exposing occupants to electric shock or causing fire hazards.

All electrical installations must provide adequate power while also operating safely. Electrical engineers, on the other hand, advocate the use of energy-saving measures. While these measures may increase the initial cost of your electrical systems, every dollar invested is repaid several times over the course of your building’s service life. If your local power grid is reliant on fossil fuels, energy efficiency will reduce the carbon footprint of your building.

On-site generation of electricity is now a viable option, and solar panels in particular can adapt to buildings of all sizes and occupancies. Even when using clean energy sources, a safe and dependable electrical installation is essential. Furthermore, energy efficiency increases the value of each kilowatt-hour produced.

Many calculations in electrical design are performed to determine the optimal size of equipment and components:

When wiring and other components in an installation are undersized, they can overheat, resulting in an early failure and possibly electrical faults. Voltage drop issues are also caused by undersized wiring, which can damage some devices.

An oversized electrical installation, on the other hand, is more expensive than necessary. Oversizing is pointless unless you intend to add more electrical loads to the system in the future.

If you are willing to invest more in an electrical installation, energy efficiency and renewable generation systems are far better ways to spend your money. Oversizing is not advised unless you intend to connect additional electrical load in the future.

Sizing an electrical installation is a multi-step design process. First and foremost, electrical engineers must be familiar with all of the electrical loads that will be attached to the installation. Lighting fixtures, home appliances, office appliances, air handlers, air conditioning units, pumps, and IT equipment are examples.

The electrical loads are then classified, and similar devices start sharing electrical circuits. Installing individual wiring for each lighting fixture, for example, is prohibitively expensive, so fixtures are organized in lighting circuits. If a circuit contains 20 lamps that each consume 200 watts, it must be capable of safely and reliably carrying 4000 watts (4 kilowatts).

The size of a conductor is determined by the total current carried by an electrical circuit. The diameters of a circuit’s wiring, in turn, determine the conduit or speedway where it will be installed. Engineers measure wiring and conduit sizes for all expected loads in a building during the electrical design process. Branch circuits are the circuits that power electrical appliances and equipment.

Individual branch circuits are linked to distribution boards, which are protected by circuit breakers. In turn, larger feeder circuits power distribution boards, which connect to the main electrical service equipment.

Our electrical engineers optimize the layout of all building systems, including electrical installations, using Building Information Modeling (BIM) and advanced design software. We can lower the total cost of your electrical systems by reducing the total length of wire and conduit used in your building.

Electrical protections play a crucial purpose in buildings: when an electrical problem occurs, they immediately disconnect the affected circuits. If an electrical circuit with an active fault is left connected, the consequences could include big component harm, fire, or electrocution.

To disconnect faults, most electrical protection devices use thermal or magnetic mechanisms, and many use both.

Thermal protections make use of the heat generated by a fault’s high electrical current. The heat expands a contact inside the protection device, allowing the circuit to open and the fault current to be interrupted.

Magnetic protections detect magnetic fields caused by fault currents and open the circuit as a result. Magnetic protections are faster than thermal protections because there is no heating involved.

Magnetic protections may appear to be a better option because they are faster, but this is not the case; each protection mechanism is designed for a specific application. When devices such as electric motors and lamps with ballasts turn on, they generate a brief inrush current, which must not trip the magnetic protection. The magnetic protection must instead be calibrated for much higher currents, such as those found in short circuits and ground faults.

In some cases, a high current last longer than usual, indicating a fault. When a motor starts, for example, an inrush current is normal, but an operating current greater than the motor’s nameplate value indicates an overload. In this case, a thermal protection device overheats and trips as a result of the overload current.

There are many different types of protection systems, each designed for a specific application. Some of the most common forms found in commercial and residential properties are as follows:

Miniature circuit breaker (MCB), also known as a plug-in circuit breaker, is typically used for loads less than 100 amps.

Molded case circuit breaker (MCCB) capable of handling larger loads up to 2500A.

Ground-fault circuit interrupters (GFCI) and arc-fault circuit interrupters (AFCI) are devices that protect against ground and arc faults, respectively.

As the name implies, a motor circuit protector (MCP) is a magnetic protection designed for motor-driven loads.

MPCB (motor protection circuit breaker), which is similar to an MCP but also includes thermal protection.

Fuses are thermal-only devices that break a circuit by melting. Fuses, unlike circuit breakers, can only be used once because they are destroyed during a fault.

Some appliances and equipment require more than one type of protection to be completely safe. Power outlets in bathrooms, for example, are protected by a circuit breaker at the distribution board, but they also have an integrated GFCI.

Circuit breakers are installed in distribution boards, which have special contacts and terminal blocks to make connections easier. Each distribution board must be designed to accommodate all of the circuits that will be connected. It should be noted that 2-pole breakers are used in circuits with two live conductors, whereas 3-pole breakers are used in three-phase circuits. These circuit breakers with multiple poles take up several slots on the distribution board.

Circuit breakers and other electrical protection devices are only reliable if they are appropriate for the application. It is critical to use high-quality products, but their capacity can only be specified after a thorough electrical load calculation.