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i Goals of System Design 2. Minimum Initial Investment: 4. Maximum Flexibility and

The owner’s overall budget for Expendability: In many industrial
When considering the design of an first cost purchase and installa- manufacturing plants, electrical
electrical distribution system for tion of the electrical distribution utilization loads are periodically
ii a given customer and facility, the system and electrical utilization relocated or changed requiring
electrical engineer must consider equipment will be a key factor changes in the electrical distribu-
alternate design approaches that in determining which of various tion system. Consideration of
1 best fit the following overall goals. alternate system designs are to be the layout and design of the
selected. When trying to minimize electrical distribution system to
1. Safety: The No. 1 goal is to design initial investment for electrical accommodate these changes
2 a power system that will not equipment, consideration should must be considered. For example,
present any electrical hazard to be given to the cost of installation, providing many smaller trans-
the people who use the facility, floor space requirements and formers or loadcenters associated
3 and/or the utilization equipment possible extra cooling require- with a given area or specific
fed from the electrical system. ments as well as the initial groups of machinery may lend
It is also important to design a purchase price. more flexibility for future changes
4 system that is inherently safe for than one large transformer; the
the people who are responsible 3. Maximum Service Continuity: use of plug-in busways to feed
for electrical equipment The degree of service continuity selected equipment in lieu of
5 maintenance and upkeep. and reliability needed will vary conduit and wire may facilitate
depending on the type and use future revised equipment layouts.
The National Electrical Code® of the facility as well as the loads
6 (NEC®), NFPA® 70 and NFPA 70E, or processes being supplied by In addition, consideration must be
as well as local electrical codes, the electrical distribution system. given to future building expansion,
provide minimum standards and For example, for a smaller and/or increased load require-
7 requirements in the area of wiring commercial office building, a ments due to added utilization
design and protection, wiring power outage of considerable equipment when designing the
methods and materials, as well time, say several hours, may be electrical distribution system.
8 as equipment for general use with
the overall goal of providing safe
acceptable, whereas in a larger In many cases considering trans-
commercial building or industrial formers with increased capacity
electrical distribution systems plant only a few minutes may be or fan cooling to serve unexpected
9 and equipment. acceptable. In other facilities such loads as well as including spare
The NEC also covers minimum as hospitals, many critical loads additional protective devices and/
requirements for special permit a maximum of 10 seconds or provision for future addition of
10 occupancies including hazardous outage and certain loads, such these devices may be desirable.
locations and special use type as real-time computers, cannot Also to be considered is increasing
facilities such as health care tolerate a loss of power for even appropriate circuit capacities or
11 facilities, places of assembly, a few cycles. quantities for future growth.
theaters and the like, and the Typically, service continuity and Power monitoring communication
equipment and systems located in
12 these facilities. Special equipment
reliability can be increased by: systems connected to electronic
metering can provide the trending
and special conditions such as A. Supplying multiple utility power and historical data necessary for
emergency systems, standby sources or services.
13 systems and communication
future capacity growth.
B. Supplying multiple connection
systems are also covered in
paths to the loads served.
the code.
14 C. Using short-time rated power
It is the responsibility of the design
circuit breakers.
engineer to be familiar with the
15 NFPA and NEC code requirements D. Providing alternate customer-
as well as the customer’s facility, owned power sources such as
process and operating procedures; generators or batteries supplying
16 to design a system that protects uninterruptable power supplies.
personnel from live electrical
conductors and uses adequate E. Selecting the highest quality elec-
17 circuit protective devices that will trical equipment and conductors.
selectively isolate overloaded or F. Using the best installation methods.
faulted circuits or equipment as
18 quickly as possible. G. Designing appropriate system
alarms, monitoring and diagnostics.
19 H. Selecting preventative mainte-
nance systems or equipment to
alarm before an outage occurs.
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5. Maximum Electrical Efficiency 7. Maximum Power Quality: Summary

(Minimum Operating Costs): The power input requirements
It is to be expected that the engineer
i
Electrical efficiency can generally of all utilization equipment has
be maximized by designing to be considered including the will never have complete load infor-
systems that minimize the losses acceptable operating range of mation available when the system is ii
in conductors, transformers and the equipment and the electrical designed. The engineer will have to
utilization equipment. Proper distribution system has to be expand the information made avail-
voltage level selection plays a designed to meet these needs. able to him on the basis of experience 1
key factor in this area and will For example, what is the required with similar problems. Of course, it
be discussed later. Selecting input voltage, current, power is desirable that the engineer has as
equipment, such as transformers, factor requirement? Consider- much definite information as possible 2
with lower operating losses, ation to whether the loads are concerning the function, requirements,
generally means higher first cost affected by harmonics (multiples and characteristics of the utilization
and increased floor space require- of the basic 60 Hz sine wave) or devices. The engineer should know 3
ments; thus, there is a balance generate harmonics must be taken whether certain loads function
to be considered between the into account as well as transient separately or together as a unit, the
owner’s utility energy change voltage phenomena. magnitude of the demand of the loads 4
for the losses in the transformer viewed separately and as units, the rated
or other equipment versus the The above goals are interrelated voltage and frequency of the devices,
owner’s first cost budget and and in some ways contradictory. their physical location with respect 5
cost of money. As more redundancy is added to to each other and with respect to the
the electrical system design along source and the probability and possi-
6. Minimum Maintenance Cost: with the best quality equipment bility of the relocation of load devices 6
Usually the simpler the electrical to maximize service continuity, and addition of loads in the future.
system design and the simpler flexibility and expandability, and
Coupled with this information, a
the electrical equipment, the less power quality, the more initial
knowledge of the major types of electric
7
the associated maintenance costs investment and maintenance
and operator errors. As electrical are increased. Thus, the designer power distribution systems equips the
engineers to arrive at the best system
systems and equipment become must weigh each factor based
design for the particular building.
8
more complicated to provide on the type of facility, the loads
greater service continuity or to be served, the owner’s past It is beyond the scope of this guide to
flexibility, the maintenance costs experience and criteria. present a detailed discussion of loads 9
and chance for operator error that might be found in each of several
increases. The systems should be types of buildings. Assuming that the
designed with an alternate power design engineer has assembled the 10
circuit to take electrical equipment necessary load data, the following
(requiring periodic maintenance) pages discuss some of the various
out of service without dropping types of electrical distribution systems 11
essential loads. Use of drawout that can be used. The description of
type protective devices such as types of systems, and the diagrams
breakers and combination starters used to explain the types of systems 12
can also minimize maintenance on the following pages omits the
cost and out-of-service time. location of utility revenue metering
equipment for clarity. A discussion of 13
short-circuit calculations, coordination,
voltage selection, voltage drop, ground
fault protection, motor protection and 14
other specific equipment protection
is also presented.
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i Voltage Classifications Table 1.1-2. Metal-Clad Switchgear Voltage

and Insulation Levels (From ANSI/IEEE
Table 1.1-5. Dry-Type Transformers Voltage
and Basic Lightning Impulse Insulation
ANSI and IEEE® standards define C37.20.2-1999) Levels (BIL)—From ANSI/IEEE C57.12.01-1998)
various voltage classifications for Rated Maximum Impulse Nominal BIL (kV Crest) 
ii single-phase and three-phase systems. Voltage (kV rms) Withstand (kV) System
The terminology used divides voltage Voltage
4.76 60 (kV rms)
classes into: 8.25 95
1 15.0 95 1.2 — 10 20 30
■ Low voltage 2.5 — 20 30 45
27.0 125
■ Medium voltage 38.0 150 5.0 — 30 45 60
2 ■ High voltage 8.7 — 45 60 95
Table 1.1-3. Metal-Enclosed Switchgear 15.0 — 60 95 110
■ Extra-high voltage 25.0 95  110 125 150
Voltage and Insulation Levels
3 ■ Ultra-high voltage
(From ANSI C37.20.3-1987)
34.5 — 125  150 200
 BIL values in bold typeface are listed as
Table 1.1-1 presents the nominal sys- Rated Maximum Impulse standard. Others listed are in common use.
tem voltages for these classifications. Voltage (kV rms) Withstand (kV)
4 Optional higher levels used where exposure
to overvoltage occurs and higher protection
Table 1.1-1. Standard Nominal System 4.76 60
margins are required.
Voltages and Voltage Ranges 8.25 75  Lower levels where surge arrester
5 (From IEEE Standard 141-1993) 15.0 95
protective devices can be applied with
Voltage Nominal System Voltage 15.5 110 lower spark-over levels.
Class 25.8 125
Three-Wire Four-Wire
6 38.0 150
Voltage Recommendations by
Low 240/120 208Y/120
voltage 240 240/120 Table 1.1-4. Liquid-Immersed Motor Horsepower
Transformers Voltage and Basic
7 480
600 —
480Y/277
Lightning Impulse Insulation Levels (BIL)
Some factors affecting the selection
of motor operating voltage include:
Medium 2400 4160Y/2400 (From ANSI/IEEE C57.12.00-2000)
■ Motor, motor starter and cable
8 voltage 4160
4800
8320Y/4800
12000Y/6930
Applica-
tion
Nominal BIL
System (kV Crest)
first cost
6900 12470Y/7200 Voltage
13,200 13200Y/7620
■ Motor, motor starter and cable
(kV rms)
9 13,800 13800Y/7970 installation cost
23,000 20780Y/12000 Distribu- 1.2 30 — — — ■ Motor and cable losses
34,500 22860Y/13200 tion 2.5 45 — — —
46,000 24940Y/14400 5.0 60 — — — ■ Motor availability
10 69,000 34500Y/19920 8.7 75 — — — ■ Voltage drop
High 115,000 — 15.0 95 — — — ■ Qualifications of the building
voltage 138,000 — 25.0 150 125 — — operating staff; and many more
11 161,000 — 34.5 200 150 125 —
230,000 — 46.0 250 200 — — The following table is based in part
Extra-high 345,000 — 69.0 350 250 — — on the above factors and experience.
12 voltage 500,000 — Power 1.2 45 30 — — Because all the factors affecting the
765,000 — 2.5 60 45 — — selection are rarely known, it is only
Ultra-high 1,100,000 — 5.0 75 60 — — an approximate guideline.
13 voltage 8.7 95 75 — —
15.0 110 95 — — Table 1.1-6. Selection of Motor Horsepower
BIL—Basic Impulse Levels 25.0 150 — — — Ratings as a Function of System Voltage
14 ANSI standards define recommended 34.5 200 — — — Motor Voltage Motor System
46.0 250 200 — — (Volts) hp Range Voltage
and required BIL levels for: 69.0 350 250 — —
15 ■ Metal-clad switchgear 115.0 550 450 350 —
460
2300
up to 500
250 to 2000
480
2400
(typically vacuum breakers) 138.0 650 550 450 —
4000 250 to 3000 4160
161.0 750 650 550 —
■ Metal-enclosed switchgear (typically 4600 250 to 3000 4800
16 load interrupters, switches)
230.0 900 825 750 650
13,200 above 2000 13,800
345.0 1175 1050 900 —
■ Liquid immersed transformers 500.0 1675 1550 1425 1300
765.0 2050 1925 1800 —
17 ■ Dry-type transformers

BIL values in bold typeface are listed as
Table 1.1-2 through Table 1.1-5 contain standard. Others listed are in common use.
those values.
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