CABLE LAYOUTS

 Introduction:

 The Cables are routed through various carrier systems in Indoor & Outdoor
Applications.

 Cable trays of ladder and perforated types and the associated accessories
such as coupler plates, tees, elbows etc., shall be fabricated from 14 gauge
(2.0 mm thick) mild steel sheets.

 Cable tray covers shall be fabricated from 16 gauge perforated (1.60 mm

thick) M.S. sheets.

 The Common methods of laying the cables in Indoor area are

 Cable tray, Cable trench, Conduits

 The Common methods of laying the cables in Outdoor area are

 Direct Burial, Cable trench, Cable Tunnel, Duct Banks

 Indoor Area:

 Cable Trays:
 This is the commonly used system for indoor installations.

 Before starting to prepare the cable trays layouts, the equipments location
has to be finalized.

 Generally the cable gallery will be planned just below to the panels.

 First we have to identify the number of trays required for power & control for
panels/Equipments.

 Types Of Trays:

 There are two types of Cable trays are available. They are

 Ladder Type Cable Tray

 Perforated Type Cable Tray

 Ladder Type cable Tray:

 Used for High, Medium, low voltage Power & Electrical Control Cables.

 The ladder type of the tray with flange height of 50mm is generally used for
power cables.

 The standard width available are 150,300,450,600,750,900

 The spacing of rungs for ladder type of trays shall be 250 mm unless otherwise
noted.

 The cable trays shall be supplied in standard lengths of 2500 mm

 Perforated Type Cable Tray;

 Used for Control & instrumentation cables.

 The flange height of 100 is used generally for Perforated type of tray.

 The Standard width available are 150,300,450,600

 The cable trays shall be supplied in standard lengths of 2500 mm

 General Points for Preparing Cable Tray Drawings:

 Clearances:

 The maximum clearance Between two trays should be 300mm and minimum clearence
should be 250mm is required.

 The minimum clearance between Tray Top to any beam / pipe / duct should be 300mm.

 The cable trays routing have to be checked clearly for interference with piping & ducting,
with beams based on the above clearance.

 The cable tray routing should be approved from Mech & civil engineers before
fabricating.

 Bending Radius of Tray:

 Generally the bending radius is based on the diameter of the cable.

 For HV Voltage cables the Bending radius will be 15D & 12D for medium voltage cables,
where D is the diameter of the cable.

 The bending radius for HV Cable trays will be 1500.

 The bending radius for Medium Voltage Cable trays will be 900.

 The Bending radius for Low Voltage & control cables will be 600.
 Risers

 The Horizontal trays has to be raised with the standard slope angle of 30, 45 &
60 Degrees with standard bending radius .

 An example of horizontal risers are detailed below for your information.

 The vertical Risers are provided with different types, they are H type & J type.
 Tees :

 The tees are normally used to connect the trays in three direction.

 The tees are based on the bending radius as discussed earlier.

 The Standard Tees with bending radius are shown below

 Reducer:

 A horizontal trays can be reduced to different width using coupler plates.

 The Standard sizes of coupler plates for standard reducers of cable trays are
shown below..
 Supports:

 The trays are supported from Floor, soffit, wall with standard ISMC structure.

 The minimum distance between two supports are 1000mm & the maximum distance
between two supports should be 1500mm.

 The general abbreviations for cable trays supports (IGCAR) will be

 Floor with one side support : FF

 Floor with two side support : GG

 Soffit With one side support : DD

 Soffit with two side support : EE

 Block /RC wall opening for cable trays:

 A minimum clearance of 300mm have to be provided from the top of tray to opening
edge

 A minimum clearance of 100mm have to be provided from the bottom of the tray to
opening edge.

 A 100mm clearance have to be provided on either sides of trays.

 Covers/Painting:

 Vertical trays (raceways) and all outdoor cable trays shall be provided
with removable 16 guage painted M.S. perforated sheet covers.

 Cable trays, accessories and covers shall be painted with one shop coat of red
oxide zinc chromate primer and two site coats of aluminium alkyd paint for
indoor use.

 For outdoor use, cable trays, accessories and covers shall be either
galvanised or made of aluminium as specifically mentioned in the layout
drawings.

 Earthing:

 Each continuous laid out length of cable tray shall be earthed at

minimum two places by M.S. flats of minimum size 25x3 mm (unless
otherwise noted) to the purchaser’s earthing system.

 The distance between earthing points shall not exceed 10 metres

 Cable Trenches:

 These are cast – in - situ concrete floors and covered with removable covers.
Indoor trenches may be used in the ground floor.

 Trenches may be run as required if there is no interference with other

equipment, column foundations and grade beams or trenches may be run only
alongside/ under the main switchboards with conduits embedded in the
ground to branch off to other equipment located in the room.

 In this system consideration has to be given to co-ordination with drainage,

foundations and grade beams and requirements of floor space for
maintenance movement of equipment.

 Trench system should be avoided if any chemical/fluid spillage or water

flooding is expected.

 For example, trenches to be avoided in Water treatment and Fuel oil handling
plants or where chemicals exist which can damage cable sheath / insulation.
 Cable Trenches:

 These are cast – in - situ concrete floors and covered with removable covers.
Indoor trenches may be used in the ground floor.

 Trenches may be run as required if there is no interference with other

equipment, column foundations and grade beams or trenches may be run only
alongside/ under the main switchboards with conduits embedded in the
ground to branch off to other equipment located in the room.

 In this system consideration has to be given to co-ordination with drainage,

foundations and grade beams and requirements of floor space for
maintenance movement of equipment.

 Trench system should be avoided if any chemical/fluid spillage or water

flooding is expected.

 For example, trenches to be avoided in Water treatment and Fuel oil handling
plants or where chemicals exist which can damage cable sheath / insulation.
 Conduits:

 Conduit system by itself is expensive when large number of cables are

involved and is not adaptable for additions and changes.

 It is extensively used for lighting circuit wiring.

 For power and control circuits it is generally used in branch off connections to
motor terminals, push buttons, instrumentation switches like flow, pressure etc.

 For these branch off connections the conduits have to be embedded in the
floor before the floors are completed and as such equipment locations should
be fairly accurately indicated in the general layout drawings.

 Separate conduits shall be provided for power, control and instrumentation

cables.
 Outdoor Applications:

 Outdoor cabling would be required for equipment like transformers, circuit

breakers, isolators, current and potential devices, outdoor control cabinets,
instrumentation devices, outdoor motors, outdoor lighting and tie-cables from
main switchgear building to off-site services plant building.

 Direct Burial:

 In this method the cables are laid in excavated earth with a layer of sand
below and above the cables and protective covers to prevent mechanical
damage. The excavation is then back filled.

 This system is low in cost. However, damage to cables is more difficult to

locate and repair than in other methods of cable installation and it does not
lend itself to changes/additions.

 Also it should be checked whether any chemicals in the soil will have a
deleterious effect on the cable insulation.

 Direct burial method is used generally for short lengths of cables or when only
a few cables are required to be laid outdoors and a permanent trench may not
be justified.
 Cable Tunnel:

 In tunnel systems the cables are laid like in a trench, the difference being a
closed roof and an adequate depth for walk-through.

 This system is higher in cost than trenches.

 It has the advantage of having capacity of running large number of cables,

good physical protection and minimum interference to traffic/heavy equipment
movement and drainage.

 Where heavy vehicular movement is envisaged and plant drainage crosses

the tunnel, the tunnel shall have to be lowered by atleast 1000 mm from the
grade level.

 The ground water level should be checked to preclude any seepage/flooding in

seasons of heavy rainfall .

 Adequate ventilation and lighting arrangement should be provided for in the

tunnel.
 Earthing conductor shall be located as shown in cable tunnel drawings and
shall be welded to cable carrier structure before installation of cables.

 This conductor shall be connected to station earth grid at minimum two places
to form a closed loop.

 Earthing conductor shall be supplied and erected by the electrical contractor.

 Minimum size of earthing conductor shall be 25x3 mm G.S. flat unless noted
otherwise.

 All exposed steel inside the tunnel shall be effectively bonded to earthing
system.
 Duct-Banks

 In this system, (i.e. conduit systems of steel, Hume pipes, HDPE pipes
encased in concrete) cables are pulled through conduits/ pipes which are
arranged in rows underground and encased in concrete.

 This arrangement requires manholes located at reasonable pulling lengths of

15 to 20 metres.

 Additions/changes are difficult in this system and number of spare pipes must
be provided for at time of installation.

 It may be noted that cables cannot be easily added in partially filled

conduit/pipes.

 Duct banks shall be straight runs and manholes shall be provided at every 15
m of straight run and wherever duct bank changes direction.

 For road crossings/rail crossings duct banks are preferred.

 CABLE RACKS / CABLE BRIDGE:

 In this arrangement the cables are laid in trays or racks supported from ground
mounted structures.

 This system would generally be less costly than below grade systems.

 However, interference with equipment access, movement of traffic, electrical

clearances from any live points have to be taken care of.

 Wherever the overhead cable racks cross roads/rail tracks, minimum

clearance of 6 mtrs. from grade level shall be provided for movements of
vehicles.
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