M Sc Building Services Engineering Programme - Electrical Services Design Assignment

Brunel University
MSc Building Services Engineering Programme

Electrical Services Design Assignment 2016/17

Submission Dates:
Full-time Students: Monday 23 January 2017 by 4pm
Distance Learning Students: Monday 13th February 2017

Submitting your assignment

Full-time Students:
When you have completed the assignment, fill in an Assignment
Submission Form and attach it to your submission. Submit your
completed assignment to:

Cheryl Ford
Central Office - Reception
Room MCST 055 - CEDPS Central Office (MACE, ECE, Design)
College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences (CEDPS)
Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering (MACE)
Brunel University London, Uxbridge. UB8 3PH

Distance Learning Students:

Submission of this assignment after 13 February 2017 will not be
accepted unless a later date has been agreed, in advance.
The submission date for this assignment is the date by which it should
be mailed to Brunel. When you have completed the assignment, fill in an
Assignment Submission Form and attach it to your submission. Make
sure you retain a copy for reference, and in case of loss in transit. You
should refer to your Course Handbook for general information on the
submission of assignments.

Post your completed assignment to the following address:

(Please note that assignments must be posted. Faxed or e-mailed
assignments will not be accepted.)

Rohin Bhasin
Central Office - Reception
Room MCST 055 - CEDPS Central Office (MACE, ECE, Design)
College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences (CEDPS)
Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering (MACE)
Brunel University London, Uxbridge. UB8 3PH

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 M Sc Building Services Engineering Programme - Electrical Services Design Assignment

Introduction
In this part of the Assignment you will undertake a design exercise for a
commercial building. Data are provided from which you are to design parts of
the electrical distribution. The building will have an REC supply with the
following declared supply characteristics:
400 Ampere, 400/230 volt, TP&N, 50 Hz, fed via an Air Circuit Breaker
Prospective short-circuit current - 30 kA, @ Power Factor 0.4
TNCS, Earth fault loop impedance - 0.10 Ω
The incoming REC cable will terminate in the main MCCB switchboard located
in the basement of the building. The Roof Distribution Board is fed from the
Roof Plantroom Switchboard, but all other loads are fed radially from the main
switchboard. The circuit details are shown in Table 1.
Because distribution space is limited within the building, the electrical
distribution circuits will share a common riser with the mechanical building
services.
The following assumptions are to be made:
(i) All loads are three phase and operate at unity power factor.
(ii) The ambient temperature is 40°C within the distribution risers
and 30ºC throughout the remainder of the building.
(iii) Cables are not installed in contact with any thermal insulation.
You will also have to make (and state) assumptions about the layout of the
distribution, and choose a suitable cabling system.

Table 1 - Circuit Details

Circuit Description Route Design MCCB Protective

Ref. (Given load currents are per Length Current Device Rating
phase) (m) (A) (A)
1 Computer Suite D.B. 100 100 160
2 Ground Floor D.B. 25 85 100
(Lighting and Small Power)
3 First Floor D.B. (East) 40 45 63
(Lighting and Small Power)
4 First Floor D.B. (West) 70 50 63
(Lighting and Small Power)
5 Lift Motor Room D.B. 85 55 63
(Starting current 3 5 x FLC)
6 Roof Plantroom Switchboard 90 85 160
7 Roof D.B. (fed from the Roof 20 40 63
Plantroom Switchboard)

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 M Sc Building Services Engineering Programme - Electrical Services Design Assignment

Abbreviations:
D.B. distribution board.
TP&N three phase and neutral.

The Assignment

1. (a) Suggest practical volt drop limits the for this electrical distribution design?
(b) Why do we impose an upper limit on the earth fault loop impedance (ZS), for
each circuit and what can we do in situations where we cannot meet these?
(c) How can we check discrimination between the various protective devices?
(d) When protecting the live conductors of a cable against the effects of overload
and short-circuit, how do we take ambient temperature and the grouping of
circuits into account?
(e) How do we ensure that the circuit protective conductor is protected against
the effects of fault current?
[30 marks]

2. Draw a flow diagram to show how you would select a cable size that satisfies the
BS 7671 protection requirements of Overload, Short Circuit, Indirect Contact and
Voltage Drop. Your flow diagram should note all the necessary calculation steps for
each of the above four parameters (i.e. Overload, Short Circuit, Indirect Contact and
Voltage Drop).
[20 marks]

3. (a) Draw a single-line schematic diagram for the electrical distribution.

(b) Size the distribution cable for distribution circuit reference No: 4.
(c) Determine any voltage drop limitations on the length of any final lighting
circuit fed from this distribution board (First Floor West). You can assume
that the current in the distribution circuit is balanced across all three phases).
(Note: You need to decide and state the type of lighting you would employ
and the maximum load on the lighting final circuit that you assumed for this
calculation).
[40 marks]

4. (a) If a standby generator were installed to support the main switchboard, how
might your design be affected?
(b) If the load currents included harmonic components, how would your design
be affected?

[10 marks]

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