×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Contact US

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Concrete floor smoothness for racking trollies

Concrete floor smoothness for racking trollies

Concrete floor smoothness for racking trollies

(OP)
Dear all,
To specify an MV substation floor that will have rack-in switchgear (requiring a trolley), is there a standard or some quantifying method I can use for how smooth the surface is to be described?
Obviously I could write, "the floor surface shall be smooth" or "resin coating shall be applied to floor surface" but I would like to point to some objective reference.
Has anyone had switchgear prematurely wearing or being damaged from trollies on rough surfaces?
Cheers!

RE: Concrete floor smoothness for racking trollies

As a retired field engineer for a major manufacturer, who recommended using "self-leveling concrete floor". An uneven floor can present real problems getting the bottom breakers to rack in. Specifically, the cell isn't square, the center is higher in some places, which causes problems getting the secondary disconnects to mate and the ground bus to connect. One customer who was having these problems wondered why they didn't recommend setting the cabinets on embedded channels with spacing similar to the shipping channels. GE MagnaBlast breaker cubicles were always set on channels.

When using self-leveling concrete flooring you have to have tolerance of less than an 1/8 inch between several cells to have everything inserted smoothly.

I haven't seen many concrete or steel coatings that will stand up to steel circuit breaker wheels, supporting several hundred to 3400-pound breakers very long.

RE: Concrete floor smoothness for racking trollies

Sort of in the same line. We use pre-fabed buildings with switchgear, and the floors where the wheel from the trucks will wear out the paint. But the steel floors seem flat when new.
That said, in the buildings we use the switchgear is made by the same manufacturer as the building.
So, maybe ask the gear manufacturer what they recommend.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members! Already a Member? Login


Resources

Low-Volume Rapid Injection Molding With 3D Printed Molds
Learn methods and guidelines for using stereolithography (SLA) 3D printed molds in the injection molding process to lower costs and lead time. Discover how this hybrid manufacturing process enables on-demand mold fabrication to quickly produce small batches of thermoplastic parts. Download Now
Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM)
Examine how the principles of DfAM upend many of the long-standing rules around manufacturability - allowing engineers and designers to place a part’s function at the center of their design considerations. Download Now
Taking Control of Engineering Documents
This ebook covers tips for creating and managing workflows, security best practices and protection of intellectual property, Cloud vs. on-premise software solutions, CAD file management, compliance, and more. Download Now

Close Box

Join Eng-Tips® Today!

Join your peers on the Internet's largest technical engineering professional community.
It's easy to join and it's free.

Here's Why Members Love Eng-Tips Forums:

Register now while it's still free!

Already a member? Close this window and log in.

Join Us             Close