Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Monday, April 21, 2014

Hot rolling & Cold rolling steel

Hot rolling is a metalworking process that occurs above the recrystallization temperature of the material. After the grains deform during processing, they recrystallize, which maintains an equiaxed microstructure and prevents the metal from work hardening. The starting material is usually large pieces of metal, like semi-finished casting products, such as slabs, blooms, and billets. If these products came from a continuous casting operation the products are usually fed directly into the rolling mills at the proper temperature. In smaller operations the material starts at room temperature and must be heated. This is done in a gas- or oil-fired soaking pit for larger workpieces and for smaller workpieces induction heating is used. As the material is worked the temperature must be monitored to make sure it remains above the recrystallization temperature. To maintain a safety factor a finishing temperature is defined above the recrystallization temperature; this is usually 50 to 100 °C (90 to 180 °F) above the recrystallization temperature. If the temperature does drop below this temperature the material must be re-heated before more hot rolling.

 

Hot rolled metals generally have little directionality in their mechanical properties and deformation induced residual stresses. However, in certain instances non-metallic inclusions will impart some directionality and workpieces less than 20 mm (0.79 in) thick often have some directional properties. Also, non-uniformed cooling will induce a lot of residual stresses, which usually occurs in shapes that have a non-uniform cross-section, such as I-beams. While the finished product is of good quality, the surface is covered in mill scale, which is an oxide that forms at high-temperatures. It is usually removed via pickling or the smooth clean surface process, which reveals a smooth surface. Dimensional tolerances are usually 2 to 5% of the overall dimension.

 

Hot rolled mild steel seems to have a wider tolerance for amount of included carbon than cold rolled, making it a bit more problematic to use as a blacksmith. Also for similar metals, hot rolled seems to typically be less costly.

 

Hot rolling is used mainly to produce sheet metal or simple cross sections, such as rail tracks. Other typical uses for hot rolled metal includes truck frames, automotive wheels, pipe and tubular, water heaters, agriculture equipment, strappings, stampings, compressor shells, truck frames, railcar components, wheel rims, metal buildings, railroad-hopper cars, doors, shelving, discs, guard rails, pipe and tubular, automotive clutch plates.

 

Cold rolling

 

Cold rolling occurs with the metal below its recrystallization temperature (usually at room temperature), which increases the strength via strain hardening up to 20%. It also improves the surface finish and holds tighter tolerances. Commonly cold-rolled products include sheets, strips, bars, and rods; these products are usually smaller than the same products that are hot rolled. Because of the smaller size of the workpieces and their greater strength, as compared to hot rolled stock, four-high or cluster mills are used.[2] Cold rolling cannot reduce the thickness of a workpiece as much as hot rolling in a single pass.

 

Cold-rolled sheets and strips come in various conditions: full-hard, half-hard, quarter-hard, and skin-rolled. Full-hard rolling reduces the thickness by 50%, while the others involve less of a reduction.Skin-rolling, also known as a skin-pass, involves the least amount of reduction: 0.5-1%. It is used to produce a smooth surface, a uniform thickness, and reduce the yield point phenomenon (by preventing Lüders bands from forming in later processing). It locks dislocations at the surface and thereby reduces the possibility of formation of Lüders bands. To avoid the formation of Lüders bands it is necessary to create substantial density of unpinned dislocations in ferrite matrix. It is also used to breakup the spangles in galvanized steel. Skin-rolled stock is usually used in subsequent cold-working processes where good ductility is required.

 

Other shapes can be cold-rolled if the cross-section is relatively uniform and the transverse dimension is relatively small. Cold rolling shapes requires a series of shaping operations, usually along the lines of sizing, breakdown, roughing, semi-roughing, semi-finishing, and finishing.

 

If processed by a blacksmith, the smoother, more consistent, and lower levels of carbon encapsulated in the steel makes it easier to process, but at the cost of being more expensive.

 

Typical uses for cold rolled steel include metal furniture, desks, filing cabinets, shelves, tables, chairs, motorcycle exhaust pipes, computer cabinet and hardware, all home appliances and components, shelving, lighting fixtures, hinges, tubing, steel drums, lawn mowers, electronic cabinetry, lighting fixtures, water heaters, metal containers, and a variety of construction related products.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

EMC Environment

Assemblies can emit and the must be immune to external

 electromagnetic disturbances. IEC defines two categories

 

 a) Environment A - relates to low-voltage non-public or industrial

 networks / locations / installations including highly disturbing sources.

 

 b) Environment B - relates to low-voltage public networks such as

 domestic commercial and light industrial locations / installations.

 

 This environment does not cover highly disturbing sources such as  arc welders.

 The specifier should detail a requirement for either Environment A or B.

 In exceptional applications, for example, some rail applications, it is

 necessary to specify a higher level of immunity.

Monday, April 7, 2014

Internal Arc inside Switchboard

Arc Proof metal-clad switchgear and controlgear is designed

and manufactured to prevent the occurrence of internal faults.

If the switchgear and controlgear is installed, operated and

maintained following the instructions of the manufacturer, there

should be little probability that an internal arc occurs during its

entire service life, but it cannot be completely disregarded for

hazard risk assessment.

 

An internal arc fault, which constitutes a hazard, if operators

are present, though extremely rare might occur due to reasons

such as failure of insulation, contacts due to ageing, overvoltages

in system because of switching or lightning surges, pollution

due to environmental conditions, mal-operation or insufficient

maintenance.

Engineers and site managers have a legislated “duty of care” to

make proper equipment selection, operating procedures and

service conditions. The effectiveness of the selection, at

providing the prescribed level of protection of operators in case

of an internal arc, can be verified by type testing.

Designs which have been successfully type tested qualify as

IAC classified. This classification is intended to offer a tested

level of protection to operators in the vicinity of the equipment

in normal operating conditions and with the switchgear and

controlgear in normal service position, in the event of internal

 

arc.

Other enhanced measures may be adopted to provide the

highest possible level of protection to operators in case of an

internal arc. These best practices measures are aimed to limit

 

the external consequences of internal arc;

 

a) Rapid fault-clearance times initiated by arc detect sensors or

by a busbar protection.

b) Application of fault current limiting fuses to limit the let-through

current and fault duration.

c) Fast elimination of arc by diverting it to metallic short circuit

by means of fast sensing and fast closing devices (arc terminator).

d) Remote control to allow operators to stay outside arc flash

boundary.

e) Pressure relief device.

f) All operations behind type tested arc proof doors.

 

Normal operating conditions means the conditions of metalclad

switchgear and controlgear required to carry out operations

such as opening or closing HV switching devices,

connecting and disconnecting withdrawable parts, reading of

measuring instruments and monitoring equipment, etc. Therefore,

if to perform any of such operations any cover has to be

removed and/or any door has to be opened, the test shall be

carried out with the cover and/or door removed.

Removing or replacing active components (for example, HV

fuses or any other removable component) are not considered

to be normal operations, neither those required to carry out

maintenance works.

 

The Internal Arc Classification IAC makes allowance for internal

overpressure acting on covers, doors, inspection windows,

ventilation openings, etc. It also takes into consideration the

thermal effects of the arc or its roots on the enclosure and of

ejected hot gases and glowing particles, but not damage to

internal partition and shutters not being accessible in normal

operating conditions.

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Current carrying capacity of busbars

The current-carrying capacity of a busbar is usually determined by the maximum temperature at which the bar is permitted to operate, as defined by national and international standards such as British Standard BS 159, American Standard ANSI C37.20, etc. These standards give maximum temperature rises as well as maximum ambient temperatures.

BS 159 stipulates a maximum temperature rise of 50°C above a 24 hour mean ambient temperature of up to 35°C, and a peak ambient temperature of 40°C.

ANSI C37.20 alternatively permits a temperature rise of 65°C above a maximum ambient of 40°C, provided that silver-plated (or acceptable alternative) bolted terminations are used. If not, a temperature rise of 30°C is allowed.

 

A very approximate method of estimating the current carrying capacity of a copper busbar is to assume a current density of 2 A/mm2 (1250 A/in2) in still air. This method should only be used to estimate a likely size of busbar, the final size being chosen after consideration has been given to the calculation methods. Refer catalogue of manufacturers.

The more popular thumb rule being followed in India is to assume current density of 1.0 Amps / Sq.mm for Aluminium and 1.6 Amps for Copper for any standard rectangular conductor profile.

Current carrying capacity of Cu busbar

Size in mm

Area sqmm

Weight/ km

current carrying capacity in amp ( copper ) at 35 deg.C

AC ( no. of bus)

DC ( no. of bus)

I

II

III

II II

I

II

III

II II

12X2

24

0.209

110

200

115

205

15X2

30

0.262

140

200

145

245

15X3

75

0.396

170

300

175

305

20X2

40

0.351

185

315

190

325

20X3

60

0.529

220

380

225

390

20X5

100

0.882

295

500

300

510

25X3

75

0.663

270

460

275

470

25X5

125

1.11

350

600

355

610

30X3

90

0.796

315

540

320

560

30X5

150

1.33

400

700

410

720

40X3

120

1.06

420

710

430

740

40X5

200

1.77

520

900

530

930

40X10

400

3.55

760

1350

1850

2500

770

1400

2000

50X5

250

2.22

630

1100

1650

2100

650

1150

1750

50X10

500

4.44

920

1600

2250

3000

960

1700

2500

60X5

300

2.66

760

1250

1760

2400

780

1300

1900

2500

60X10

600

5.33

1060

1900

2600

3500

1100

2000

2800

3600

80X5

400

3.55

970

1700

2300

3000

1000

1800

2500

3200

80X10

800

7.11

1380

2300

3100

4200

1450

2600

3700

4800

100X5

500

4.44

1200

2050

2850

3500

1250

2250

3150

4050

100X10

1000

8.89

1700

2800

3650

5000

1800

3200

4500

5800

120X10

1200

10.7

2000

3100

4100

5700

2150

3700

5200

6700

160X10

1600

14.2

2500

3900

5300

7300

2800

4800

6900

9000

200X10

2000

17.8

3000

4750

6350

8800

3400

6000

8500

10000