Softbitonline - Electrical Industrial Power Control Panel And Distribution Board, Busbar Design Software

About The Software

The software can be used to design LT electrical control panels, distribution boards, electrical cubicals, motor control centers, power control centers for distribution and control of power in large, medium and small industries. This software makes its importance felt more when a designer or a manufacturer has to make changes in the panel design many times on customers' demands. And if you have to do the design job manually it takes hours and days to make changes and get final results in terms of panel dimensions, weight, busbar size and weight and finally the cost part. But with this 'Panel Design Software' you get the results within in minutes. By change in position of one switchgear or panel accessory the results change automatically and displayed instantly. You can select the MS sheet size for design, busbar material - Copper or Aluminium (default material is Aluminium), corner and door designs before you start working on a panel design. But if you wish to make chagnes later on you have the facility to do so.

Set Right - Final Dimensions :

Once you have made your GA i.e., you have placed all the switchgears like ACB, dummy chamber (optional), MCB, MCCB,SFU, COS etc., and made different feeders then you can get the final size and dimensions of the panel. Press the "Set Right" button from the menu bar and stray spaces left in the template are removed and it gets the shrink fit to accomodate all the components you have placed inside th panel. So after pressing the "Set Right" button you get the final dimensions of the panel. And now you are ready to move further to add bus bars, riser bus bars, doors and accessories to your panel. You can also view all the three vies of the panel now.

Panel accessories
Panel accessories like - Voltmeter, Ampere meter, Frequency meter, Red Indicator, Yelow Indicator, Blue Indicator, Hinge, Lock, Knob, Contactor, Relay, Timer, Insulator, Busbar - Support, Selector Switch, Control Fuse, Push Button, Earth Fault Relay, Over Current Relay, CT, Electric Motor Starter, Power Factor Meter can be dragged from the object browser and placed upon the panel template as per the design requirement. The library contains various ready components to be used as switchgears & accessories. The designer can easily identify a component as switchgear or accessory.

Bus Bar Chamber Added:

The bus bar size is calculated debending upon the switchgear you have selected as incomer. If it is a 1000 A switchgear say ACB then the size of the busbar would be such that it can take a current od 1000 A through it. The current density and the material of conductor can be selected before you add the busbar. The bus bar may be three phase type ot three phase with neutral. You can choose to show the bus bars as solid with color identifications also as shown in the figure. The riser size is calculated automatically depending upon the feeder load connected to it.

Types Of Panels You Can Design
With the help of this software now you can design any type of 3 phase industrial power and electrical control panels - be it a power control centre (PCC), a motor control centre (MCC), an electrical power distribution centre, electrical distribution board or an instrumentation panel. Design cubical power panels, desk type control and instrumentation panels, floor type control and instrumentation panels. A key tool to design 'Contorl & Relay Panels' using PLCs and SCADA system.

Defining An Incomer

Before you add the busbars to the electrical control panel, you need to find out its size. The size of the bus bar depends upon the incomer size. But you need to define your incomer yourself. Select the switchgear which you have thought of (after calculations) to use as the incomer. Click upon that switchgear say ACB to select it. Then go to Object Browser Window and click the properties tab. Go to "Incomer" and set it - True. This will set its property as the incomer and the size of the bus bar would be calculated for a current carrying capacity of 1000 A.

Draw Electrical Circuit
The software lets you draw any type of complecated electrical power and control circuits. You draw horizontal and vertical lines and put electrical symbols upon the lines to complete your electrical (power or control) circuit. Cross over points are automatically converted into shorting-links or may be changed to jumpers or vise-a-versa. The software contains almost all the symboles in its library required to generate electrical power and control circuits. Label all the electrical symboles through a pop up text box - just enter the name/specification of the item and put it near the the symbol. Put ferrul numbering on each wire as per your convenience and requirement. Give color to all the lines as red (R), yellow (Y) and blue (B). Default line color is black i.e., neutral (N). Select line thickness to differenciate between power and control wiring. Rotate electrical symboles by 90 deg or back to best suit the placement upon the power lines. Delete any electrical symbol or power line with right mouse operation. So this software can generate elctrical power and control circuits in semi automatic mode.

Feeder Doors Added

After the placement of all the switchgear components, following "Set Right" proccess to get the final panel dimensions, defining an incomer, placing of busbars, placing of risers you need to place doors on all the feeders. Before you place the doors, you need to set the door properties like bending of sides, no of doors per feeder, gauge of MS sheet of door, the door has knobs or locks etc.,. Once you have set all thes values press add and doors are added to all the feeder. Now you can place the requir ed accessories on the doors of all the feeders.