Electrical Power in our day to day activities is very important. Understanding revealed that despite that fact that power supply is important we have some countries that suffer instability in power supply. In a country like Nigeria, they experience power outage every day and thereby most industries that required no power interruption need to install some panel to aid in such area. This brought us to what I called Synchronized Panel. This is one of the panels in use in electrical power solution.

_{Pixabay: Electrical Panel Wiring Energy by kRYoS42}

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This piece will explain some detailed fact about electrical panel called Synchronizing Panel. This is one of the panels designed/used to meet power system requirement. The panel function both manually and with an automatic synchronizing function for one or more generators or breakers.

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Another word for synchronizing in the electrical system is Parallel Connection. In parallel connection there are some factors that needed to be considered before this can be done.

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Before any construction can be done the synchronization must match the waveform of the output voltage of one generator with the voltage waveform of the other generator (s). That means the generator can be more than two connected in parallel.

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Factors considered when synchronizing/paralleling generators

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1.) Capacity: The construction is based on load demand. That is powering on a set when demand increases and switching off a set when demand decreases.

2.) Redundancy: ensuring a soft power transfer as the outgoing generator is switched off and the incoming one is powered on. Where the load is not powered Synchronized Panel avoid such situation and quickly allowed running of UPS.

3.) Safety/Compliance: Compliance with the electrical standards in terms of safety, protection, and operation.

When considering this panel construction we need to know that generators may have equal or different engine speeds, there must be speed control that will be locked into the final speed of the system, which means there must be speed control consideration. In synchronization the resulting output must be in phase, with the same frequency and voltage hence compatible with the load.

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What are the components used in Construction of This Panel?

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The under listed components are involved when considering the construction of synchronizing panel.

1.) Cabinet IP 54

2.) Copper Bus-Bar

3.) Insulations

4.) Wires/Cables

5.) PVC Channels

6.) Transformers

7.) Protection circuits with the fuse holder.

8.) Electronic automatic battery charger

9.) Meters and Switches

10.) ACBs, MCCBs or Contractors

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Working Principle of this Panel

_{PicsArt: Block Diagram Synchronization Panel by samest}

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Firstly, we need to understand that the panel will operate on aautomatic mains failure system, so that immediately the main supply is being interrupted (after the delay period) the generator will start-up together. That means in synchronizing panel we have more than one generating set in operation. After the warming up period, the en set will synchronize with each other by means of contactors or motorized circuit breakers onto a common bus bar. Read about Contactor here

Shortly after this above explained, the motorized change-over switch will trier/closed and the load will be connected to the main distribution box for operation.

The good about this panel is that during the running of the en set if there is a drop in the load one or two generators will be shut down automatically to save fuel consumption. On the other hand if the load increase again the second or third generator will be restarted, synchronized and reconnected to the load. Should the mains power supply returned, the motorized change-over switch triggered the whole system and send a signal to the generator to shut down after the change-over to the mains supply has been done.

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Importance of synchronizing panel

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_{Pixabay: Electrical Panel Wiring Energy by skeeze}

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More control and savings on generating costs: The total amount of power supplied from several small generators is equal to the power supplied by one large unit. In considering a small generator there is more control and balancing than in bigger generator.

Also in the areas of reliability considering this panel, it will Improve reliability and redundancy for both critical and non-critical loads. What I understand is that the system ensures that there is always constant power to critical loads, and if one of the generators fails, the load is supplied by the other one or more parallel unit. The reliability of this panel is what makes many organization go for this panel not even considering the cost implication it will cost them.

In conclusion, modern power plants typically utilize automatic synchronizers and remember that automatic synchronizers(motorized circuit breaker/contractor) send pulses to the generator exciter and governor to change the voltage and frequency of the unit. On the lighter note, if the pulse is within the allowable window, the Synchronizer which is automated will close the breaker immediately.

Thanks for taking the time to read this short piece on the synchronized panel.

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Find more information check below references.

• AGSWITCH: Products And Services, General Control Synchronization Panel by AGS

• WIKIPEDIA; Synchronization, Alternating Current by: Emmott and Company Limited

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