Protection against short circuit events are of paramount design consideration for engineers and their clients
When the decision is made to initiate infrastructure or facility projects, the engineers responsible for their design are often faced with multiple priorities and project tasks. Ensuring electrical infrastructure reliability, while protecting against short circuit events, are of paramount design consideration for engineers working on these projects and ultimately for their clients.
The growing projects risk is a direct result of escalating project complexity, with clients challenging design engineers to complete projects at an unprecedented pace to realise the return on their investment while there is a need for infrastructure development in remote and complex environments.
One potential risk to these projects are short circuit events. This accidental conductive connection between two or more points of a circuit at different potentials can create tremendous magnetic forces. This results in a violent and catastrophic explosion damaging equipment and putting personnel at the plant at risk.
There are solutions that can help mitigate the damage caused by these short circuit events, but there is still resistance in the industry to adopt certain tools that can protect the installation costeffectively and, most importantly, safely. Engineers are faced with the challenge of persuading clients to invest capital in short circuit protection at the start of the project to ensure longterm reliability and safety. It is imperative that electrical design engineers and electrical contractors know how to protect the project, people, and equipment from short circuit events. By preventing these occurrences downtime can be reduced, damage to equipment can be avoided, and the workforce can be protected from significant injuries or death.
Without the use of a cable cleat system, there is no protection for the employees or equipment in a facility when the short circuit forces are at their peak prior to a circuit interrupter engaging. To avoid potentially severe damage to the facility and infrastructure, as well as personal injury, cable cleats are used to restraint cables during short circuit events.
Lab tests performed on Panduit cable cleats verify strength of cleats and provide a baseline rating, in addition to being validated at a thirdparty test facility to ensure they perform to specifications when needed. They are designed to perform in a wide range of harsh environments and can be installed twice as fast as other similar products while reducing material cost in half. Their simple and intuitive design leads to increased productivity, and they are compatible with a variety of ladder racks and cables.
