ELECTRICAL POWER DESIGN - SESSION 3

DESIGN PROCESS
QUALITY MEANS DOING IT RIGHT WHEN NO ONE IS LOOKING.
IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE AN ACCEPTABLE LEVEL OF QUALITY, CERTAIN
DESIGN CONSIDERATION AND BEST PRACTICES MUST BE EMPLOYED

ELECTRICAL SERVICES DESIGN FOR RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS/ESTATES (NIEEE ABUJA

CHAPTER)
 ELECTRICAL POWER DESIGN - SESSION 3
Low Voltage Supply to buildings
• Low voltage is a term used to describe 400V 3 Phase and 230V single phase
supplies. This is the supply from the utility mains to individual buildings.
• In the case of residential applications, all appliances are rated 230V (Except
for 3 phase air-conditioners in certain designs).
• Single or 3 phase Electricity is supplied via the mains cable through a cut out
fuse to a distribution board (DB), a bus-bar chamber or an LV panel in the
building.
• Electricity is then distributed to various loads through Miniature Circuit
Breakers (MCBs) using standard cable sizes and wiring types.

ELECTRICAL SERVICES DESIGN FOR RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS/ESTATES (NIEEE ABUJA CHAPTER)

 ELECTRICAL POWER DESIGN - SESSION 3
There are 2 types of wiring systems in buildings:
• Radial Circuits
• Ring circuits
• Radial Circuits occur when wiring starts at the
distribution board, supplying outlets and
terminates at the last point. This is usually done
with power outlets which may have high starting
currents that may disrupt operation of other
appliances connected to them.
• In lighting applications, multiple points are
supplied while in power outlets, only one point is
supplied
ELECTRICAL SERVICES DESIGN FOR RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS/ESTATES (NIEEE ABUJA CHAPTER)
 ELECTRICAL POWER DESIGN - SESSION 3
• The ring circuit acts like 2 radial
circuits proceeding in opposite
directions around the ring.
• If the load is evenly split across the
two directions, the current in each
direction is half of the total,
allowing the use of wire with half
the current-carrying capacity.
• This type of wiring is used for 13A
socket outlets
ELECTRICAL SERVICES DESIGN FOR RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS/ESTATES (NIEEE ABUJA CHAPTER)
 ELECTRICAL POWER DESIGN - SESSION 3

ELECTRICAL SERVICES DESIGN FOR RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS/ESTATES (NIEEE ABUJA CHAPTER)

 ELECTRICAL POWER DESIGN - SESSION 3
POWER DISTRIBUTION AND LOAD BALANCING
• Load balancing refers to the balancing of electrical power across the different
phases of the power system.
• Load balancing ensures that the same current flows through the three phases
thus ensuring that the current through the neutral remains at zero.
• Unbalanced loads can cause overheating in the cables.
• When using a maximum demand meter, unbalanced loads can also increase
electricity bills.

ELECTRICAL SERVICES DESIGN FOR RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS/ESTATES (NIEEE ABUJA CHAPTER)

 ELECTRICAL POWER DESIGN - SESSION 3
CURRENT-CARRYING CAPACITIES AND ASSOCIATED VOLTAGE DROPS FOR SINGLE-CORE P.V.C.
INSULATED CABLE, NON ARMOURED, WITH OR WITHOUT SHEATH (COPPER CONDUCTORS)

ELECTRICAL SERVICES DESIGN FOR RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS/ESTATES (NIEEE ABUJA CHAPTER)

 ELECTRICAL POWER DESIGN - SESSION 3
CURRENT-CARRYING CAPACITIES AND ASSOCIATED VOLTAGE DROPS FOR SINGLE-CORE P.V.C.
INSULATED CABLE, NON ARMOURED, WITH OR WITHOUT SHEATH (ALUMINIUM CONDUCTORS)

ELECTRICAL SERVICES DESIGN FOR RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS/ESTATES (NIEEE ABUJA CHAPTER)

 ELECTRICAL POWER DESIGN - SESSION 3
SIZING THE MAINS CABLE
Why do the calculation?
• The proper sizing of an electrical (load bearing) cable is important to ensure that the
cable can:
• Operate continuously under full load without being damaged
• Withstand the worst short circuits currents flowing through the cable
• Provide the load with a suitable voltage (and avoid excessive voltage drops)
General Methodology
• All cable sizing methods more or less follow the same basic six step process:
1) Gathering data about the cable, its installation conditions, the load that it will carry, etc
2) Determine the minimum cable size based on continuous current carrying capacity
3) Determine the minimum cable size based on voltage drop considerations

ELECTRICAL SERVICES DESIGN FOR RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS/ESTATES (NIEEE ABUJA CHAPTER)

 ELECTRICAL POWER DESIGN - SESSION 3
SIZING THE MAINS CABLE
A cable's conductor can be seen as an impedance and therefore whenever current flows
through a cable, there will be a voltage drop across it, which can be derived by Ohm’s Law
(i.e. V = IZ).
The voltage drop will depend on two things:
• Current flow through the cable – the higher the current flow, the higher the voltage drop
• Impedance of the conductor – the larger the impedance, the higher the voltage drop
For selection of proper cable following conditions should be satisfied:
• Cable current carrying capacity should be higher than full load current of load.
• Cable voltage drop should be less than 4% of system voltage.
• The total voltage drop can be calculated using the formula
, where – total voltage drop on the cable (V)
𝑖 – full load current
– cable length
– cable voltage drop per ampere per metre
ELECTRICAL SERVICES DESIGN FOR RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS/ESTATES (NIEEE ABUJA CHAPTER)
 ELECTRICAL POWER DESIGN - SESSION 3
EARTHING AND BONDING
• Protecting against the risk of electric shock represents a major aspect in the
design of all electrical installations and is the purpose of earthing and bonding.
• There are two basic ways in which an electric shock can be received:
• Through direct contact by touching one of the many live components within electrical
systems and equipment. This is termed direct contact and is largely prevented by insulating
live parts or locating them within special enclosures.
• Through indirect contact, which occurs when an object is touched that has become live
due to a fault.

• To protect against the risk of indirect contact, it is a requirement of Wiring

Regulations that exposed conductive parts associated with the electrical
installation are earthed.
• This includes metal casings, trunking, and conduit.
ELECTRICAL SERVICES DESIGN FOR RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS/ESTATES (NIEEE ABUJA CHAPTER)
 ELECTRICAL POWER DESIGN - SESSION 3
EARTHING AND BONDING
• Earthing ensures that if a fault occurs and an item of equipment becomes live,
the current will flow directly to earth and will not cause a shock if touched.

ELECTRICAL SERVICES DESIGN FOR RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS/ESTATES (NIEEE ABUJA CHAPTER)

 ELECTRICAL POWER DESIGN - SESSION 3
EARTHING AND BONDING
Bonding
• For safety reasons, the neutral conductor at the local sub-station is connected to
earth by means of an earth electrode in the form of copper rods buried in the
ground.
• Consequently, a conductive path can exist between the sub-station earth electrode
and the extraneous conductive parts of a building which are in contact with the
soil, such as gas and water service pipes.
• Under certain fault conditions these service pipes (and the systems to which they
are linked) will not be at the same potential as the earthing system within the
building, which could cause a significant shock if any part of the earthed system
(such as metal casings of appliances) were to be touched at the same time as a tap,
radiator or any other extraneous conductive parts.
ELECTRICAL SERVICES DESIGN FOR RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS/ESTATES (NIEEE ABUJA CHAPTER)
 ELECTRICAL POWER DESIGN - SESSION 3
EARTHING AND BONDING
• To prevent this, extraneous conductive parts are linked by bonding conductors
which are connected to the building’s main earthing terminal.
• This is termed bonding and is important for the safety of occupants.
• This ensures that the voltage between items of equipment (especially those at
arm’s length) cannot reach a dangerous level.
• To illustrate what could happen if bonding were not used, consider the example
of the faulty electric kettle described on the previous page.
• It was shown how earthing the kettle prevented the user from receiving a shock
when it was touched. However, a shock could still be received if contact with the
kettle were to be made at the same time as touching a kitchen tap if it was not
bonded.
ELECTRICAL SERVICES DESIGN FOR RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS/ESTATES (NIEEE ABUJA CHAPTER)
 ELECTRICAL POWER DESIGN - SESSION 3
EARTHING AND BONDING
• In locations where there is an increased risk of electric shock, supplementary
bonding is often required to ensure that all simultaneously accessible exposed
and extraneous conductive parts are bonded.

ELECTRICAL SERVICES DESIGN FOR RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS/ESTATES (NIEEE ABUJA CHAPTER)

 ELECTRICAL POWER DESIGN - SESSION 2

QUESTIONS?

ELECTRICAL SERVICES DESIGN FOR RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS/ESTATES (NIEEE ABUJA CHAPTER)

 ELECTRICAL POWER DESIGN - SESSION 2

SAMPLE DESIGN

ELECTRICAL SERVICES DESIGN FOR RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS/ESTATES (NIEEE ABUJA CHAPTER)