There are 3 key elements to a contactor;
o Main contacts
o Auxiliary contacts
o Coil.
1. Main pole selection criteria;
o How many required in either normally open (N/O) or normally closed (N/C) format
o Current rating in amps.
o Voltage rating in AC or DC
o Duty (either AC1, AC3, DC1- DC5 etc). In the absence of a specific duty, a full description of the
nature of the electrical load (e.g. lighting , resistive heating etc), making current, breaking current
and continuous current through the contacts.
2. Auxiliary contacts selection criteria;
o How many required in either normally open (N/O) or normally closed (N/C) format. Possibility of
time delayed auxiliary contacts with certain product ranges.
o If not used in standard low power signaling application, details as per main poles required.
3. Coil selection criteria;
o Voltage of coil (Note: The coil is often a different voltage to the main poles).
o AC or DC voltage;
Frequency of coil if AC.
If DC coil, is low consumption required (available for certain ratings of TeSys D and TeSys K
contactors).
Any additional information available should be provided, such as;
o Is the contactor to be enclosed, i.e. is an enclosed motor starter required?
o Specific design requirements (e.g. Modular)
o Number of operations per hour
o latching operation
o Environmental considerations such as ambient temperature etc.
o Are any ancillary parts required such as mechanical interlocks, busbars, thermal overload relays
or motor protection circuit breakers?
AC-1 - This category applies to all AC loads where the power factor is more than 0.95.
AC-3 - This category applies to squirrel cage motors with breaking during normal running of the
motor.
Type I - Under short circuit conditions, the contactor or starter shall cause no danger to persons or
installation and may not be suitable for further service without repair and replacement parts.
Type II - Under short circuit conditions, the contactor or starter shall cause no danger to persons or
installation and shall be suitable for further use. The risk of contact welding is recognized, in which
case the manufacturer shall indicate the measures to be taken in regards to equipment
maintenance.
MPCB: For motor protection only where as MCCB is for various application including Motor.
For Type -2 Coordination we need to have external devices like contactor, o/l relay with MCCB
while with MPCB we have configuration of Type -2 coordination inbuilt contactor and relay (no
external device) but for MCCB there is no contactors and relays so we have to provide them
The main difference between the two is their capacity, with the MCB rated under 100 amps with
an interrupting rating of under 18,000 amps.
On the other hand, an MCCB comes with an adjustable trip characteristic for the higher models.
Usually, this type of circuit breaker would provide amps as high as 2,500 or as low as 10,
depending on what is necessary.
Selection of VFD:-
1. FLA of Motor
2. Overload :- 150% of overload for 60sec
3. Application type
4. Frequency
How to pick a transformer?
1. Step 1: Determine the KVA, Amperes or wattage required by the load. Determine the
KVA, Amperes or wattage required by the load. ...
2. Step 2: Find out the supply voltage. ...
3. Step 3: Determine the voltage required by the load. ...
4. Step 4: What is the frequency of the supply source? ...
5. Step 5: Determine the Marcus transformer model number.
Value Engineering (VE): Value Engineering (VE) is concerned with new products. It
is applied during product development. The focus is on reducing costs, improving
function or both, by way of teamwork-based product evaluation and analysis.
Value Analysis ( VA) : Value Analysis (VA) is concerned with existing products. It
involves a current product being analysed and evaluated by a team, to reduce costs,
improve product function or both. Value Analysis exercises use a plan which step-by-
step, methodically evaluates the product in a range of areas. These include costs,
function, alternative components and design aspects such as ease of manufacture and
assembly.
Standards and protection system:-
Earthing protection systems[edit]
• TT system : In a TT (Terra-Terra) earthing system, the protective earth connection for the
consumer is provided by a local earth electrode, (sometimes referred to as the Terra-Firma
connection) and there is another independently installed at the generator.
• TN system: In a TN earthing system, one of the points in the generator or transformer is
connected with earth, usually the star point in a three-phase system. The body of the electrical
device is connected with earth via this earth connection at the transformer.
• IT system[6] : In an IT network, the electrical distribution system has no connection to earth at all,
or it has only a high impedance connection.
Earth leakage protection[edit]
To avoid accidental shock, earth leakage relay/sensor are used at the source to isolate the power
when leakage exceed certain limit. Earth leakage circuit breakers are used for the purpose. Current
sensing breaker are called RCB/ RCCB. In industrial applications, earth leakage relays are used with
separate core balanced current transformers.
