custom designed bus bars

Circuit Components Inc. is a leading design and manufacturer of custom bus bars and power interconnections. CCI offers a personalized single source for design, prototyping, low and high volume manufacturing for both standard and custom projects. The number of layers, size and thickness of conductors, type and thickness of dielectric material, as well as method of termination depend on the electrical and physical requirements of the specific application. Design options are virtually limitless. CCI will work with customers to help design the best product for your application.

Reply to
hbrecke
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I have made bus bars. It is quite common on remote jobs in Alaska especially for temporary installations at mines and construction camps. We use one square inch of cross sectional area for copper at 1000 amperes and for aluminum at 700 amperes. This is in the NEC for auxiliary gutters:

366.23 Ampacity of Conductors. (A) Sheet Metal Auxiliary Gutters. Where the number of current-carrying conductors contained in the sheet metal auxiliary gutter is 30 or less, the correction factors specified in 310.15(B)(2)(a) shall not apply. The current carried continuously in bare copper bars in sheet metal auxiliary gutters shall not exceed 1.55 amperes/mm squared (1000 amperes/in.squared) of cross section of the conductor. For aluminum bars, the current carried continuously shall not exceed 1.09 amperes/mm squared (700 amperes/in.squared) of cross section of the conductor.
Reply to
Gerald Newton

The Copper Development Association Web site has some on-line calculators for bus bars. That 1000 amps per square inch rule is something I've seen a lot, but depending on the geometry you can get use higher density in some configurations (especially in larger sizes).

Bill

Reply to
Bill Shymanski

On Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:33:27 -0500 Bill Shymanski wrote: | Gerald Newton wrote: |> On Mar 10, 8:08 pm, snipped-for-privacy@cci-msc.com wrote: | |> |> I have made bus bars. It is quite common on remote jobs in Alaska |> especially for temporary installations at mines and construction |> camps. |> We use one square inch of cross sectional area for copper at 1000 |> amperes and for aluminum at 700 amperes. |> This is in the NEC for auxiliary gutters: |> |> 366.23 Ampacity of Conductors. | | The Copper Development Association Web site has some on-line calculators | for bus bars. That 1000 amps per square inch rule is something I've seen | a lot, but depending on the geometry you can get use higher density in | some configurations (especially in larger sizes).

Probably the worst case is a perfectly circular geometry as that would have the smallest surface to remove heat. Flat bus bars should do better. They do those, as you know. What geometry the 1000A/i^2 is for, I don't know. I'll let someone else look that up. I hope I never need these for my home even at 12 volts.

Reply to
phil-news-nospam

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