Di erence Between Switchgear and Switchboard

Siemens switchgear going into place at MWAA Headquarters at Regan Airport (photo credit: imgur.com)

The Application of Switchgear and Switchboards

One important element of good power system design is the proper selection of the distribution equipment. The choice of using either
switchgear or switchboard must be based on many different criteria and the design of the power system requires thought be given to
each one.
Following are insights into just a few of the differences to help in making those decisions.

Standards and Testing

Switchgear and switchboard structures are built and tested to different standards:
Switchgear to ANSI standard C37.20.1, UL standard 1558 , and NEMA standard SG-5 ,
Switchboards to NEMA PB-2 , and UL -891.
Switchgear incorporates only low-voltage power circuit breakers (LVPCB) which conform with ANSI C37.13 , NEMA SG-3 and are
listed per UL-1066, whereas switchboards may include any combination of protective devices including insulated case (ICCB),
molded-case circuit breakers (MCCB) listed per UL-489, fusible switches listed per U L-508 and 977 and power circuit breakers
listed to UL-106 6.
Unfused switchgear is short circuit tested at 15% power factor for a full 30 cycles, while switchboards are tested at 20% power
factor for only 3 cycles .

Title:

The Application of Switchgear and Switchboards by Jerry Milton, GE Systems Engineer

Format:

PDF

Size:

92 Kb

Pages:

Download:

Right here | Get Download Updates | Get Technical articles

The Application of Switchgear and

Switchboards by Jerry Milton, GE Systems
Engineer

Recommended guides & articles //

Shape Up Your Knowledge //

Want to be a better electrical engineer? Subscribe to professional technical articles. Sharpen up your knowledge in field of
electrical engineering now!
SUBSCRIBE
NOW

Page edited by E.C. ( Google).

2 Comments

RSS Feed for

Comments

if you consider as a switchgear a low voltage unit, what is then medium voltage unit or what is an MCC?
Maxim
Klavansky

(reply)
(reply)

M
M AA R
R 33 11 ,, 22 00 11 44

Henn
Rebane

Regarding The Application of Switchgear and Switchboards by Jerry Milton, GE Systems Engineer. It is a good
one! But, it also illustrates the need for adding dates to the articles published in E-E-P. It references NEMA SG-5
that is obsolete, and the content of the article is restriced to low-voltage systems only.
Henn Rebane, P.E.

O
O CC TT 22 11 ,, 22 00 11 22

(reply)
(reply)

Leave a Comment

RSS Feed for

Comments

Tell us what you're thinking... we care about your opinion!

NAME *

EMAIL *

WEBSITE

Time limit is exhausted. Please reload CAPTCHA.

= EIGHTY
ONE

SUBMIT COMMENT

2016 EEP - Electrical Engineering Portal. All Rights Reserved |

Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | 58 queries in 0.166 seconds.