Building Engineering

1. Appliances
2. Water supply
3. Above ground waste disposal
4. Below ground waste disposal
5. Horizontal and vertical circulation
6. Thermal comfort
7. Passive techniques and air conditioning
8. Fire safety in buildings
9. Electricity supply
10. Integration of services
11. Formwork and falsework design

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Electricity supply

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 Electricity demand in buildings

• Electricity supply is essential for the effective functioning of modern

buildings
• The electricity supply can be either single phase for a normal house or
three phases for a large house
• The demand for electricity depend on the type of usage of the building
• Generally, it can be expressed as the number of Watts per square
meter.
• An office with some basic equipment and also without air conditioning,
the electricity demand can be as low as 15-20 W/m2
• However, a modern building with many electronic equipment and
computers, the electricity demand can be in the range of 30-45 W/m2
• In addition, air conditioning will also need about 35-50 W/m2
• When combined, a modern office building with air conditioning could
have an electricity demand in the range of 65 to 85 W/m2
• When the demand is higher, there will be a need for more power and
this can be achieved by having a transformer that can receive a high
voltage supply and then convert it to the required three phases supply
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 Determination of approximate electricity demand of a
large building
• A forty storey modern office building has been planned close to a city
center. The floor area of the building is 1000 sq meters at each floor
level. There are four levels of car parking. The building will be operated
as air conditioned.
• Electricity demand per m2 = 70 W/m2
• Area per floor = 1000 m2
• Electricity demand per floor = 70 x 1000 or 70 kW
• Number of floors with this electricity demand = 36
• Total electricity demand = 70 x 36 = 2520 kW or 2.52 MW
• For the car park floors, the electricity demand is considered as 15 W/m2
• Electricity demand in car park floors = 15 x 1000 x 4 = 60 kW
• Electricity demand of the building = 2520 + 60 = 2580 kW or 2.58 MW
• The installed capacity of Victoria reservoir = 210 MW
• Hence, this building will need a separate transformer

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Electricity sub-station

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 Single phase and three phase supply
• The electricity is produced by cutting coils of wire by a magnetic field as the
magnet rotates
• The coils of wire have an angular spacing of 1200 and the voltage produced
are out of phase by this angle for every revolution of magnets; hence, 3 phase
supply is available.
• For a 240 volt supply, 240 is the voltage difference between the live and the
neutral
• With three phase supply, the voltage between the two line cables is 1.73
times the voltage difference for single phase; this gives a value of 415 volts.
• Generally, the frequency is 50 Hz

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 Safety devices

• MCB is the acronym for Miniature Circuit Breaker: The MCB is an

electromechanical device which protects electric wires, devices, appliances etc.
form overcurrent so as to prevent any kind of damage, fire or electrical hazards
• MCBs are quite easy and much safer to handle; it also quickly restores the
supply of currents
• MCCB –The Molded Case Circuit Breaker is another type of electrical protection
device that is used when the load current exceeds the limit if an MCB
• But the large current ratings and high breaking capacity of the MCCB are much
more useful in industrial applications.

MCCB

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 RCCB (current operated ELCB)
• This stands for Residual Current Circuit breaker (also called current operated earth leakage circuit
breaker): This device is basically an electrical wiring device whose function is to disconnect the circuit
whenever there is leakage of current flow from the human body, or the current flow is not balanced
between the phase conductors
• It is the best device for detecting and taking care of electrical leakage currents, so it gives protection
against electric shock or electrocution caused by direct contacts
• RCCB is usually used in series with an MCB. The MCB protects the RCCB from over-current and short-
circuits current
• Both neutral and phase wires are connected through an RCCB
• The combination of these two devices provides a very effective form of protection from electric shock,
and it is widely used for protection against a leakage current of about 30,100 and 200mA.

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 Ring and radial distribution

• In a 'radial' circuit each outlet is wired directly

back to the distribution board
• The radials are sized to carry the maximum
current for that outlet
• In a 'ring' circuit the outlets in the ring are
wired together
• Ring circuits can have a higher capacity than
radial circuits
• They also provide better reliability

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 Consumer unit

• A Distribution Board is an assembly of equipment in

an enclosure containing various items such as switches,
fuses MCBs etc.
• A Fuse Board just contains fuses
• A Consumer Unit is a DB used in houses

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 Electricity supply for a two storey house
• For two storey houses with single phase supply, it is possible to have a consumer unit in
each floor
• The power supply to upper floor’s consumer unit can be from the ground floor using a
conductor with a higher rated current

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 Upper floor arrangement
• For the staircase, a two way switch can be used

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 Electricity supply for a block of flats
• For a block of
flats, each flat
can be provided
with a single
phase supply
• However, the
building can have
a three phase
connection and
then by using
bus-bar chamber,
it is possible to
divide the supply
into separate
single phase
supplies

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 Arrangement at the bus-bar chamber

• Electricity for flats in different floors can be

provided from different phases thus balancing the
load

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 Rising mains bus-bar system

• Rising main
distribution systems
can be used for multi-
storey buildings
• Lightly insulated
Copper or Aluminium
bus-bars are
supported by
insulated bars across
the chamber
• The power supply to
each floor will be by
means of tap-off units
• In order to balance
the distribution,
different floors can
have the supply
provided from
different phases

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Fire protection

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 Electricity supply for a factory building
• The total power required will depend on the type of machinery
• It is possible to have a three phase supply for heavy equipment
• A horizontal bus-bar system can be run at the roof level to facilitate power supply for
heavy equipment.

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 Power supply for a cluster of buildings
• For a large complex like a university, it is possible to have a private sub-station
and then to supply electricity to each building using a 3-phase ring circuit

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 Floor trunking
• Trunking is a cable tidy device used to organised cables which would otherwise be
running loosely around floors and walls, causing an untidy view and a possible tripping
hazard
• The robust trunking also serves as a protector from cables being damaged by falling
object.

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 Selection of cable sizes
• The size of the cables used for various circuits should be selected on the basis of the current rating
• In radial circuits, the voltage drop due to cable should be limited to less than 5% of the rated voltage.

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Current rating of cables

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 Details of a national grid
• Power generated is brought to load centres as high
voltage and then distributed locally as three phase

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