Control panel layout

[Guest Hello!]

:*-( OK, there is this big control panel and inside are drives, plc and a ethernet switch. the controls are in the left side (including PLC and switch) and the power circuitry on the right. The drives are located in the bottom right. The output from drives comes up in the panel to a safety contactor and then down again -- My question Will this cause any noise problems?(to the PLC or switch) Thanks,

[Chris Elston]

What kind of drives? DC drives? 3 phase drives? VFD drives? Got a picture of the panel with the wireway cover off of your wiring paths?

[Guest Guest]

5 A/B Powerflex 70 3 ph AC 480 V one 230v _______________________ [ ] [ PLC ] [ ] [ switch ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ....... ] [ s cont .....::] [ ::] [ DRIVES ...::] [_______________________ ]

[Guest Guest]

oops bad pic

[RichWargo]

Generally, to conform with NEC, there must be a metal barrier between the high-voltage section and the low-voltage section. Think of it as an extra-wide enclosed cable tray. You can run high and low voltage wiring in the same cable tray, but must be segregated and separated by a grounded metal wall (to limit RFI). Most of the time the metal partition is created by using separate, but adjacent panels for the high-voltage and low-voltage stuff, with interconnecting low-voltage wiring through a grommeted hole, or via a large diameter conduit stub between the panels. But the two sides must be segregated and independently shielded. Will it cause RFI issues? Don't know, have to measure the actual RFI. Has the control system demonstrated any spurious behaviour that might be RFI related? Edited April 27, 2004 by RichWargo

[93lt1]

Actually the NEC says anything under 600V is low voltage. I would think that everything in this panel is less than 600V. Edited April 27, 2004 by 93lt1

[Guest meagain]

Yes everything in the panel is under 600 V. Controls and power is divided in diferent raceways, except for a small distance (coils and contacts). And I went ahead and change the panel layout . Thanks guys.

[93lt1]

I agree that the power stuff (usually 480V) and control stuff (usually 120V or 24V) should be kept seperate, I was just stating that the NEC really doesn't cover industrial controls in detail.