Building Facilities Application catalogue

Introduction of covered fields Building Facilities Any multi-dwelling, business or industrial building needs professional care to keep serving its residents. Building management includes everything from janitor services to installing fire extinguishers. Electrical safety is amongst the more notable duties. Standard family IEC/EN 60364 Electrical Installations for Buildings covers every possible aspect of it. Electrical installation safety covers electrical measurements and visual inspections. Occasionally a functional inspection is necessary as well. The necessary measurements, limits on them...

Contents Building Facilities power quality usually means lower electricity bill and less stress on the infrastructure. There are multiple similar standards covering its properties and measurements: EN 50160, IEEE 1459, IEEE 1448, IEC 61000 family and IEEE 519. Power quality importantly affects quality of living. It makes a difference in light and noise in living space along with allowing general comfort of using electrical equipment with no disruptions. Workplace and electrical equipment safety Workplaces Electrical equipment in the workplace is used often and intensively. The employer is responsible...

Electrical Quality and Safety Bundles Solutions@Metrel® INNOVATIVE APPROACH Application bundles are combinations of tools in a set for each application, location or measurement regimen. They can be customised to match our customer’s needs or pre-selected by Metrel. Licenses for the instrument, PC and Android software, customisation and appropriate accessories are included. Each solution also includes literature and posters, both printed and electronic, as well as training for the users to maximise the benefit to them. While the standard sets cover the anticipated installations, special locations...

Selection guide by your job role Selection guide Metrel offers some pre-selected combinations of instruments in sets for certain installation types or locations. These in no way cover the full extent of our range. There are a multitude instruments with different features and price options available. Choices can be made using a number of variables: there are instruments that require little knowledge of electrical installations, instruments that will support the measurement methodology with which you are familiar giving you the results you require, instruments with really intuitive user interfaces,...

Low voltage electrical installation safety Solutions by the field of use Building Facilities

Generally, any residential space with an electrical installation has to conform to safety standards. Depending on the local regulator, they may be written with protection of life or protection of property as first priority. Public places have to conform to the standards for low voltage installations and have a responsible authority confirm their safety before they opened to the public. Reconfirming compliance is performed periodically during the lifetime of the building and installation. Following the safety standards means ensuring protection from electric shock, electrical fire and explosion....

Substation electrical safety Low voltage electrical installation safety Local substation Large facilities, from factories to hospitals, often have their own substation. It can be more effective for large consumers to maintain the transformer, that reduces distribution voltage to local voltage, in house. The substation houses the step-down transformer, primary switching panels and primary overvoltage/ overcurrent protection. Its design is dependent on the power requirements and the location on the campus. They tend to be in the proximity of buildings they service. Design The utility company will...

Switching and protection Protective devices depend on power of the transformers and its coolant. A dry type has to be more carefully protected from overstress and overheating, but it presents a smaller fire hazard. Shunt trips are used close to dry type transformer to shut them off in case of dangerously high temperatures. Protection is partly integrated in standard ring main substations that house both switchgears and circuit breakers or fuses. Combined devices that can isolate the transformer and protect it from unexpected events can be used. Environment The indoor substations with power in...

Mains bonding and touch voltages during fault Low voltage electrical installation safety Equipotential bonding is a system that lowers potential differences in an installation by bonding the conductive parts together and to protective earth. It is possibly the most important safety measure in an installation. The earthing system shortens the duration of the hazardous voltages, while equipotential bonding lowers the voltage differential between points of contact during a fault. Any conductive surface or item should be considered for bonding, regardless of its connections to electrical installation....

times smaller current than short circuit within 5 s. In context of equipotential bonding, a similar test is performed: a current is passed via the bond, through the protective devices like fuses and RCDs, and the earthing system to which it is connected. The measured impedance must be low enough to conform to equation: R ≤ (50V)/Ia, where Ia is the current that ensures the operation of the protective device within 5s. The measurement is usually performed along with earthing system tests, between earth bonds or electrodes and the measured item. Human resistance probe A 1597 can be used to measure...

Switchboards and automatic trip-out protection Low voltage electrical installation safety A switchboard or a distribution board is the part of installation where the single main supply in-comer is divided into subcircuits distribution of power around the building. It incorporates protective measures such as surge protection, circuit breakers and RCDs. It is the place to conduct a number of tests that would be difficult or impossible in other locations. In particular leakage current measurement and automatic circuit breaking tests are performed here. The automatic trip out protection ability test...