Panels/ Switchboards/ Sheet Metal Construction or Work

The Diversification of GEIPL towards Panel Board manufacturing is just another step towards company’s commitment of providing its clientele – greater variety of electrical solutions and thorough satisfaction. However being a related diversification for the company, its entrance into the field of sheet metal work hasn’t in any way hampered the Quality of production of other products. In fact with the help of a thorough professional and highly experienced team of experts, GEIPL has earned many laurels in this field also. The Panels produced by us are of the best quality and with perfection ever given.

In April 2001, under the supervision of a team of thorough professionals [along with the help of the best available skilled labor] production of Panels/ Switchboards commenced. Since then the company has never looked back and within a short span it has increased the depth and variety in its product line. Thus, today we stand with not only the above – mentioned variety of panel boards but also have acquired a good position & reputation in the market.

Panels/ Switchboards are manufactured using modern up-to-date equipment & quality systems which are continually assessed and improved to offer the customer quality product and services. Our well equipped plant houses:

1. Fabrication Shop
2. Surface Pre-treatment Shop
3. Powder Coating Shop
4. Bus Bar assembly Shop
5. Product assembly Shop
6. Testing Area

Designing/ Construction Engineering

We design the panel board so that it suits the particular place of installation and serviceability hence we shall make a list of what could go wrong and how to rectify it. The panel board has to protect the persons operating it as well as transformers, machines, etc. There is often an inbuilt conflict between the commercial viewpoint and the technical/safety viewpoint when designing the panel. We strongly recommend that the technical/ safety viewpoint always get the highest consideration.

Type of installation to use:

We choose between 4 different forms of internal separation (Form 1 to 4) and for the installation of equipment (Functional units) we choose Fixed type & Plug in type or withdraw able type. In spite of the consideration for the safety, for commercial utility, we also manufacture and recommend the MODULAR Design Panels (Semi & Fully Bolted Type) for different applications, which gives design flexible and provides the scope for ease in Future Expansion in the panel without interfering with the basic design of the Panel.

Form 1

No separation! This design should never be considered unless a lockable room has been made for this.

Form 2a

1. Separation of bus bars from the functional units.
2. Terminals for external conductors not separated from bus bars.

Form 2b

1. Separation of bus bars from the functional units.
2. Terminals for external conductors separated from bus bars.

Advantages :

1. Form - 2 is used where price is the most important factor

Disadvantages :

1. Ionized gases emitted from equipment during switching spreads to adjacent equipment.
2. It is extremely dangerous and illegal to work on a form 2 panels that are live; this means that it must be switched-off during maintenance or expansion!

Form 3a :

1. Separation of bus bars from the functional units
2. Separation of all functional units from one another.
3. Separation of the terminals for external conductors from the functional units, but not from each other.
4. Terminals for external conductors not separated from bus bars.

Form 3b :

1. Separation of bus bars from the functional units
2. Separation of all functional units from one another.
3. Separation of the terminals for external conductors from the functional units, but not from each other
4. Terminals for external conductors separated from bus bars

Advantages :

1. This form is used where both price & safety is important
2. Ionized gases emitted from equipment during switching will not spreads to adjacent equipment.

Disadvantages :

1. As the terminals are not separated (No cable boxes) maintenance or other work should conducted with outmost care.
2. It is extremely dangerous and illegal to do any work in the outgoing cable section while the section is live!

Form 4a :

1. Separation of bus bars from the functional units.
2. Separation of all functional units from one another, including the terminals for external conductors, which are an integral part of the functional unit.
3. Terminals for external conductors in the same compartment as the associated functional unit.

Form 4b :

1. Separation of bus bars from the functional units.
2. Separation of all functional units from one another, including the terminals for external conductors, which are an integral part of the functional unit.
3. Terminals for external conductors not in the same compartment as the associated functional unit, but in separate, enclosed protected spaces (Cable Box).

Advantages :

1. This form is used where safety is given high priority.
2. Ionized gases emitted from equipment during switching will not spread to adjacent equipment & not even to adjacent terminals.
3. It is possible and legally correct to work on the panel while it is live,- however ensure that compartment you work on is off!!

Disadvantages :

1. Higher price compared to other forms.

Arc Fault Safe Panels

During the use of the enclosure it turns black from inside. This is because ionized gases (atomized copper particles) from breakers and contactors switching on and of will deposit on all internal parts. This layer is highly conductive and can start an arc. Cable-connections and other internal parts could get loose due to the constant temperature shift with the result of surrounding insulation melting and a consequent arc. Poorly constructed breakers (even new ones) could emit so many gases that an arc starts. The result of an arc is devastating and in worst cases fatal for nearby operators. The problem can be avoided by constructing with high-level segregation (Form 3-4) in combination with Arc filters or electronic Guards.

The raw – materials used are of the best quality – starting from metal consisting of the sheet, angle iron, copper & aluminium (for bus bar) etc. to paint material and electric material fitted inside. We use the best quality of ISI CRCA sheets and iron material. Procedure for Incoming Inspection and Testing of incoming materials is as under:

1. Quality and description of received goods are verified against the Quality Plan.
2. Discrepancy in quantity and specification is reported to the purchase department.
3. Records of inspection and tests are maintained.
4. Received products not confirming to product specifications to be recorded in the non-conformity report.
5. Received products which meet the specified requirements are accepted and transferred to store.
6. Non-confirming products are marked with stickers/ tags.
7. Rejected products are sent back to the suppliers and a relevant note is made on the replacement challan for their further quality improvement.

The molding and cutting for Sheet Metal Work is done at advanced and highly mechanized cutters and press machines. The equipment chamber holds the device modules. The functional compartments of a cubicle as well as the cubicles themselves are separated by partitions. Internal division reduces the effect of arc faults outside their point of origin to a minimum.

After giving proper shape as per the design given by the client or drawn by us with the help of best available software, the Panel is then converted to a fine piece of work by painting it using the best of the methods and the high quality powder or paint. Entire steel work undergoes a process, technically known as 9 – tanks Pre-Treatment procedure, that includes –

1. Degreasing
2. Water Rinsing
3. Derusting
4. Water Rinsing
5. Activation
6. Water Rinsing
7. Toning
8. Water Rinsing
9. Passivation

So as to eliminate any chance of occurrence of rust from steel / iron and then finally it’s finished with powder coating. We have 05Nos. Spraying Chambers serviced with 05Nos. dedicated Most Advanced Spraying Machines (Statfield Equipments Pvt. Ltd.) for Powder Coating of 05 Colors differently at a time without affecting the one from the effect of the other and thus, saving the precious industrial time & expediting the whole process of coating with multi-colored parts in a single assembly. Moreover, we have large capacity Gas as well as Diesel Fired Baking Oven for the powder / paint baking on the modular assemblies.

We have state – of – the – art assembly plant for Bus-bar execution and components’ installation consisting of latest bus-bar bending, punching & cutting machines (for both in-house and outdoor jobs) in addition to Pneumatic Lines through-out the plant for pneumatic tools operation for quality Workmanship & Work-efficiency for the electrical panels to ensure quality products in thinner lead times.

The busbar chamber contains busbars. High conductivity electrical grade Aluminium/ Copper conductor (as specified) sourced directly from the manufacturers is used. We use minimum 60% conductivity Aluminum bus bars, 99.0% in the case of Copper. We consider minimum 0.80 deration factor for the bus bars. All busbars are properly cleaned before being used in the panel assembly. Cutting and bending is done on hydraulic/electrical machines to achieve the desired angle and smooth edges. The busbars are then covered with heat shrinkable PVC sleeves and baked in an oven with a moving bed so as to shrink fit the sleeves on the busbars. The busbars are enclosed in a completely segregated compartment in which proper care is taken (while designing) for permissible Temperature Rise Limits. We use high tensile bolts for ACB links and for horizontal bus bars. For other feeder links Cadmium plated bolts are used. It consists of one or more Aluminium / Copper conductors fastened to the structure by means of appropriate SMC/ DMC insulating supports. All Live Parts are shrouded with the help of FR-2 grade shroud-caps and Fire – retardant Polycarbonate transparent sheets making our panels safe and touch proof. The cross section of bus bars depends upon:

1. Rated current
2. Short circuit current level
3. Ambient temperature

GEIPL has a very strong quality control system, committed by every team member. All the products go through many stages of rigorous testing. In the first stage the raw materials including switchgear are tested. Second-stage inspection is carried in further five steps, so that every minor/ major problem is eliminated. Third-final testing is carried out thoroughly with all calibrated instruments/ gauges. The testing is done, as per harmonized national standards. Each door is made out of wrinkle free sheet & cutouts are made in fabrication stage only, to avoid life reduction of paint film. Each door is provided with concealed hinge, neoprene/ PU Foam gaskets. Three Point Locks are used in the panels for rear doors. Fabrication is done with gauge controlled shearing & bending, and regular punching is done to provide cross punched channel for fitting of heavy components. We use computerized Ferrule Printing machines of Reputed Makes for bespoke Ferrule making and elegance in the control/ instrument chambers.

Procedure for In-Process Inspection :

1. Work in progress undergoes inspection and testing as per the Quality – Plan/ Checklist/ Annexures/ Drawings/ etc.
2. Components which satisfactorily pass stage inspection are cleared for further processing.
3. Upon unsatisfactory inspection and test results, all related products are put under rework and rejections are marked with proper identification tags/ stickers.

Procedure for Final Inspection and Testing:

1. All finished products are inspected and tested in accordance with Quality – Plan/ Checklist/ Annexures/ Drawings/ etc. and results are recorded.
2. Finished products, which meet specified requirements, are authorized and marked appropriately as Q.C., OK. The test Report for the same is generated accordingly to furnish to the end-client(s).
3. The products which do not pass the tests are placed under rejection/ modification with proper identification.
4. Upon successful clearance of QC checks - customer is informed about the readiness of the products for final inspection.

The testing and manufacturing of panels is done as per standards complying to –

1. IS: 8623 part 1 & part 2 – 1993
2. IEC 60439
3. IS 2147
4. IEC 60529
5. IS/ IEC 60947 – 1

Moreover, our panels are also type – tested at various accredited & renowned Test Labs of the industry such CPRI, NABL, etc. We have Type tested our panels for supreme degree of protection through tests such as –

1. IP: X5 & 5X tests for Ingress Protections,
2. Temperature rise tests, and
3. Short Circuit current withstanding tests [up to 70kA for 1Sec.] at various laboratories in India.

We have expert team to carry out Testing, Commissioning & Maintenance of various kinds of electrical equipments like MV/ LV Switchgear Panels, Protective Relays, Circuit Breakers & other electrical equipments of different makes.

We use the following brands of switchgears in our panels: -

1. Schneider Electric India Pvt. Ltd. – Merlin Gerin, Conzerv, Meher, Telemechanique, Acti-9, Neobreak, etc.
2. Legrand (formerly MDS)
3. Control & Switchgears (C & S)
4. Havells India Ltd.
5. ABB Ltd.
6. Others – such as L&T, Siemen’s, HPL Socomec, etc.