Electrical Installations in Critical Facilities
February 11, 2020
WHAT IS A CRITICAL FACILITY?
Critical facilities are essential assets to the correct functioning of the society. Any society relies on a certain type of processes, facilities, technologies, networks, and services which are of paramount importance to promote well-being, health, prosperity, economic development, safety and security of the community. Critical infrastructures are highly vulnerable as an eventual failure might be catastrophic. It could cause serious harm, loss of life, extensive property damage or disruption of vital socio-economic activities.
CRITICAL FACILITIES’ SECTORS
• Defense Industrial Base Sector
• Emergency and Security Services Sector
• Energy Sector
• Financial Services Sector
• Food and Agriculture Sector
• Government Facilities Sector
• Healthcare and Public Health Sector
• Information Technology Sector
• Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste Sector
• Transportation Systems Sector
• Water and Wastewater Systems Sector
• Chemical Sector
• Commercial Facilities Sector
• Communications Sector
• Critical Manufacturing Sector
Protecting these facilities from natural disasters, terrorism, criminal activity or malicious behavior is a top priority, in fact reducing the vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure and increasing their resilience is one of the major objectives of the EU.
Enhancing the resilience of critical infrastructure can be achieved through the appropriate combination of practices that ensure the quality and continuity of the power supply, guarantee security measures, carry out an analysis of a multiple hazard map, plan the emergency management, and update and maintain the power infrastructure.
Demand for uninterruptable reliable power in critical facilities is the norm. The electrical equipment must be reliable and operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To guarantee the power supply and the efficient and continuous management of the operations, critical infrastructures require a highly resistant, reliable and secure electrical installation.
Any failure or anomaly of a critical installation represents a potential threat to life and damage to the environment. When the electrical system fails, the security of the community is compromised. This is why it is important to adopt a holistic approach in which personnel, devices, and integrated monitoring systems are integrated.
First of all, safety and compliances with current regulations are imperative to guarantee the minimization of risk, and profitability throughout the life cycle of the electrical installations. Because of this, investing in quality turns out to be an intelligent choice.
The designs of the electrical network architecture in critical facilities is important as its role is to guarantee the quality and efficiency of processes such as the reduction of operating and energy costs throughout the life cycle of the plant.
ELEC CALC SUITE
When it comes to the electrical installation lifecycle – from design to maintenance, including production and inspection – safety and energy efficiency are top priorities. Given the fatal risks associated with the electrical engineering industry, it is essential to invest in efficient and reliable technology, capable of connecting information and people along the whole project lifecycle and driving the best outcomes.
The efficient management of energy is guaranteed with optimized design, able to reduce downtime and expense. Reliability and availability for electrical distribution systems will remain on the front line for electrical designers. These qualities not only determine the quality of the power supply but also have a great impact on the safety of those who operate these facilities. Additionally, increasing focus on environmental impact and energy consumption will continue to challenge designers during their innovation of new ways to provide a higher level of integration with energy and waste monitoring systems.
elec calc Suite efficiently manages the electrical installation lifecycle. This sophisticated software guarantees top precision of complex calculations, rigorous sizing, deep analysis of the electrical network by simulating and comparing different scenarios, smooth maintenance, and BIM integration.
The Suite is composed of two different software solutions.
elec calc is the software solution dedicated to the sizing of electrical installations, the only one in the world that allows integrating the management of high and low voltage in the same project and compliance with international standards. The software possesses all the necessary functions to carry out a complete analysis of critical facilities with detailed studies. It further allows the user to check several operational scenarios such as emergency, network change-over, to analyze each operational condition using the behavior and sizing of the installation.
elec live allows you permanent access to all data of the electrical installation on any fixed or mobile terminal with a web browser.
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BENEFITS
Energy Efficiency
Reduce energy consumption and save on costs with accurate designs for optimally sized electrical installations. elec calc™ permits the generation of calculation reports and one-line diagrams.
Improve Project Quality
Ensure from the start point that your project quality is of the highest caliber and meets all the local and international standards required. Count with multi-manufacturer catalogs and user catalogs to obtain the maximum level of personalization and detail.
Calculation
elec calc is focused on safety, service continuity and energy efficiency in compliance with major worldwide standards. The software allows automatic calculations multi-norm in real time, the integration of HV and LV integrated under the same interface and project, the calculations of short-circuit currents (according to IEC 60909) and the possibility of connecting multi-sources of different powers.
Simulation Modes
elec calc allows the user to manage operating modes to simulate and control different installation configurations (normal operation, standby, maintenance …). Also, it offers the possibility of simulating different locations within the same project and with a different type of environment (temperatures, risk of fire or explosion …), and of considering it in the calculations.
Compliance with Standards
Size according to the international and local standards, ensure the correct behavior of the installation and comply with regulations in force.
Maintenance Optimization
elec live allows you permanent access to all data of the electrical installation on any fixed or mobile terminal with a web browser.
Service Continuity
elec calc offers critical calculations for factors such as earthing systems (TT, TNS, TNC, IT), cable ampacity, short circuit currents, thermal stresses, voltage drops and discrimination studies between protections are key, for the continuation of supply. Besides, it has a visual alert system.
Discrimination Studies
A good discrimination study allows the coordination of different protections at different levels of the installation, to guarantee the continuity of supply and service within critical installations in case of failure (short circuits and overloads).
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