Essentials to design your building electrical power distribution system

When you want to start a new building construction or remodel the existing building, as per the New Jersey Department of Buildings, you must have a design concept ready which can be used by the designer or the architect to produce a set of building plans. Once the Chicago inspection authorities approve your plan which contains all the needed information, you are eligible to start your new building or remodeling construction. All the commercial and residential buildings have a large number of electrical systems, you also need to include an electrical design plan that follows all Chicago building codes.

The process of the new building electrical design

The process of the building electrical design may vary from the person to person. The designer will first understand the scope of the project and then he will work on different departments of the electrical design such as office areas, different machinery and electrical supplies , power distribution equipment and others. Once it is done, all the parts are arranged in the final presentation of the electrical design.

Understanding the scope of the project

All new or existing buildings have their own set of requirements when it comes to electrical design and it solely depends on the scope of the project. For example, when you are remodeling, you just need the electric design to fuse new wiring into the already existing wiring and when it comes to new buildings, the design architect has to start from scratch to design an entirely new electric design.

Parts of a new building electrical design rnIt might depend on the type of project, but it might include,

General electric requirements

There is various electrical equipment which doesn't have any specific electrical requirements such as desktops, wall receptacles, and other electrical equipment. For them to run smoothly and efficiently, a new electrical design must design the general electric requirements which consist of items like 120v receptacle outlets throughout the building.

Specialized electrical requirements

There are many electrical devices and equipment for which you need to have a specialized electrical design in the new building. This special electrical circuity addresses only those requirements of this special electrical equipment such as vending machines, microwave ovens, network servers and photocopiers. For such equipment, a set of requirements are mentioned by the manufacturers and you need to go for individual wiring or dedicated grounding methods to accommodate those requirements.

Lighting Systems

This is one of the most complex and time-consuming things while developing a new building electrical design. Furthermore, as per the Chicago codes, the designer must have to mention this lighting system in details with proper documentation which shows that they adhere to the energy-saving technologies.

Electrical distribution system

It is also known as an electrical power distribution system which consists of electrical wiring distribution throughout the building. The main switchboard receives power from the utility and the associated segments distribute the power to all necessary branch circuits in the entire building. While designing the electrical power distribution system, you also need to consider and measure the amperage load of the building and short-circuit values. It will decide the total electricity demand of the facility.

Developing an electrical design plan

Once all necessities are determined, the designer will start assembling different parts to make the electrical design plan. Earlier, designers and architects used to make these plans with hand-drawn blueprints, but thankfully, nowadays, there is Computer-aided design software that makes things easy and quick.

There are standardized building plans provided by American National Standard Institute (ANSI) which the designer needs to use in building plans. Each device's design has a reference with the appropriate electrical symbol as it will be easy for people to recognise these parts and make cost estimation. All the symbols used in the design plan must be included as a list in the final electrical design plan.

Sometimes, a plan designer might include a new symbol that has not been used before. Here, he needs to add the newly developed symbol in the list of symbols in the final electrical design plan.

The electrical design plans must be documented separately from the building plans of the new building. For identification, it would be easy to label these plans such as E1, E2, E3, etc. The design plan must be present in the following order

Wrapping up

These are the essentials you need to keep in the mind while designing a new building's electrical design plan. Remember, all the subparts discussed here such as documentation, electrical power distribution system and others must be considered thoroughly to avoid any confusions and errors. Also, you need to ensure that the electrical design plan meets industrial standards and in adherence to Chicago building codes.