Electrical Design Process 20/12/2012

Electrical Design Process

Design and draw lighting layout for project
Electrical Lighting Layout
1. Obtain the floor or reflected ceiling plans which show the each area of the project.
2. Verify that the dimensions for each room are indicated on the drawings and that each room
is labeled with a generic description so each room can be easily identified. (E.g. Managers
office etc.)
3. Determine if there are any future plans for the building.
4. Determine lighting information for each area.

Lighting Information
For each room or area the following are determined:
Type and size of fixture
Number of each fixtures
Number of lamps per fixtures
Types of lamps
Specular reflectors if already installed
Fixture condition
Whether fixtures are part of the air distribution system
Availability of daylight
Tasks that are performed in the space (with light level targets)
Unique fixture types or physical features
Area dimensions
Importance of the tasks
Fixture mounting height
Room surface reflectance and colors of major objects and room surfaces
Lumen for particular lamp

Calculate Foot Candle for each room
Lighting Calculations
From the information obtained above foot candle calculations can be done to determine the light
intensity of each room/ space.

Electrical Design Process 20/12/2012
Where

Area = Area of room
For example consider an office area with the following details.
Fixture = 120V, 1220mm, 2 x 32W Prismatic Fluorescent Light Fixture
Number of Fixtures = 6
Number of Lamps per Fixture = 2
Area = 8850mm x 5300mm
Lumens per lamp = 2850
Therefore using the information above with the formulas, the foot candle for the office can be
determined.

From the foot candle the lighting fixture and/or layout can be adjusted to ensure that the light
intensity for each area is appropriate.
Perform lighting current and VA calculations
Once the lighting layout has been drawn in AutoCAD, the lighting current for each circuit can be
calculated and the total current can be found using the formula below.

For n,
The information required to perform the calculations are
Wattage per lamp
No. of Lamps per fixture
No. of lighting fixture
Voltage rating
Electrical Design Process 20/12/2012
For example, a lighting circuit consisting of 2 x 32W, 4 feet, fluorescent lighting fixture, the
information gather are;
Wattage per lamp = 32
No. of Lamps per fixture = 2
No. of lighting fixture = 8
Voltage rating = 115
Therefore using the information above with the formulas, the current for at circuit can be
determined.

For 8,
The lighting fixture VA can be found using the formula below.

Design and draw the power layout for the project.
According to code regulations, receptacles must be more than 6 feet apart. Outlets for rooms would
be placed dependent on the electrical appliances and/or office equipment to be used. Outlets or
circuit breakers are added for A/C units in correlation with the mechanical engineers drawings and
specifications.
GFCI receptacles to be used in places where electrical ground faults occur in places such as kitchen,
bathroom sinks, outdoors. Clean and dirty powers are used in places as required such as
computer rooms. Circuits are then formed and the current requirement for each circuit is
determined.

Perform current calculations for receptacle circuits in the project.
Depending on where the circuit is located, the current rating can be determined. When there are
A/C units that are included in the project, the specified BTU ratings are used to calculate their
current ratings. The following formulas are used.

Electrical Design Process 20/12/2012

For Single Phase:

For Three Phase:
()

()


Determine the circuit breaker and wire sizes.
From the current rating calculated using the formulas above, an appropriately sized circuit breaker
can be selected. Using Trinidad and Tobago Electrical Wiring Code, an equivalent wire size will be
chosen. Voltage drop calculations will be performed to ensure the selected wire size will allow for a
small voltage drop according to the code regulations.
Lighting and power cable sizes are dependent on the project type. For instance, for residential
projects, the wire sizes for lighting and power are 1.5mm2 and 2.5mm2 single core single PVC
insulated respectively. For commercial projects, in most cases the wire sizes are 2.5mm2 and
4.0mm2 single core single PVC insulated for lighting and power respectively. Although, for external
lighting and circuits with long wire runs, the wire size used is 4.0mm2 single core single PVC
insulated or larger to ensure minimal voltage drops.
Similarly, the lighting circuit breaker sizes are usually 15A, while the 2-P, 3-W G, NEMA 5-15R
Duplex straight-blade receptacle circuits are 20A. However, if from the lighting or power current
calculations, the current requirement is higher, then a bigger circuit breaker would be used.
The power cables are determined from the total KVA requirements of the project and the
corresponding type and size is found. In most cases it is either PVC armoured or XLPE armoured
cable.
Design the panel layout.
In a panel layout, the following information is required to complete the design;
Wire sizes for power and lighting circuits.
Circuit breaker sizes for receptacles, lighting, A/C units, water pump and in some instances
fire pump circuits.
Number of poles for each circuit breaker.
Electrical Design Process 20/12/2012
Panel circuit breaker sizes
Panel cable sizes
Conduit sizes
Feeder size and core number
Panel Pole Number
Main breaker size
To ensure that the wire sizes for each panel will allow for minimal voltage drop, voltage drop
calculations are performed and wire sizes are adjusted if necessary.
Design and draw the fire detection layout
When there is a need for fire detection such as in some commercial projects and schools, a fire
detection layout is done. This layout includes;
Exit Signs
Addressable ionization type smoke and heat detector
4.5Kg dry type fire extinguisher
Addressable type pull station
Addressable type strobe horn
Design and draw the PA system layout
For projects that require these layouts, it must include;
150W, PA amplifier with monitoring and control
Cassette player with AM/FM tuner
CD player
Zone selector control unit
Rack unit with casters and glass door
Microphone with desktop stand and zone selector switch
2W, 203 mm dia. wall mounted cone speaker in enclosure complete with matching
transformer
Speaker line attenuator
Speaker wiring
Conduit, boxes and accessories
The list of items, combine to form the entire PA system. However, each area would not require all
the equipment such as a classroom which would only require the wall mounted cone speaker, the
speaker line attenuator, wiring and the accessories to install it. However, in the principal office or
staff room, the controls for the PA system can be placed.


Electrical Design Process 20/12/2012
Design and draw the Grounding infrastructure
In this layout, only the copper rods and wire connections are shown. The copper rods are placed on
the columns of the buildings and each rod is connected to each other.
Draw single line diagram
In order to layout the single line diagram, reference must be made from the lighting, power and
panel layouts. This diagram gives a summary of entire electrical system for the project. This would
include showing;
The interconnection between the main panel and the sub panels.
KVA rating for incoming supply and type of power supply.
Supply cable size, type and core.
Lighting and power circuits which would include A/C units and their equivalent wire and
circuit breaker sizes
Panel sizes and their current rating, circuit breaker and wire sizes, and location
Transformer size (if included in [project)
Water/ Fire Pump size (HP), circuit breaker and wire sizes
Prepare bill of quantities
Using the lighting, power, grounding and PA system layouts, the various electrical materials
required are documented. Included in the Bill of quantities are;
Unit rate for electrical materials and labour
Quantity of each materials
Total costing