B&D Australia is a leading manufacturer of garage doors and openers. Mobile Automation replaced its ageing DB1 and DB4 distribution boards with new NHP Concept Plus switchgear and removed an old fused bus system in the press shop — a project of around $42k, delivered around live production.
Every circuit proved before anything was disconnected
Both boards fed live plant, so the work began with identification rather than demolition.
- DB4 disconnected and labelled circuit by circuit
- DB1 circuits tested and removed one at a time, sorting live from redundant
- Neutrals identified before the board came off the wall
- Cable and tray runs measured and breakers allocated in advance
New boards changed over without stopping the presses
The changeover advanced in stages, taken around the plant's own run times.
- DB1 rebuilt as a 60-way, 160 A board and DB4 as a 96-way, 250 A board
- Both mounted on new unistrut with gland plates cut to suit
- Cable and lug sizes worked out on site
- 185 mm² four-core-and-earth submain run into DB4
- Air-compressor feed moved out of DB1 into the compressor control panel
- Isolations taken when production broke for lunch or shut down
Press-shop bus system replaced with circuits on overhead tray
The old fused bus system was traced out and removed, and every machine re-fed from DB4.
- 150 mm cable tray on unistrut, with all-thread brackets fabricated and levelled on site
- 4 mm² and 6 mm² four-core-and-earth circuits pulled from DB4 to each machine
- Conduit droppers down the columns to new 56 series 32 A three-phase outlets and isolators
- A new roll former fed off the same tray
Protection brought back into the boards
Field RCD outlets were replaced with plain switches and devices chosen circuit by circuit.
- D16A RCBO at DB8 for three double GPOs re-fed from there, the DB4 run being too long for 2.5 mm² cable
- 32 A D-curve breakers in place of 32 A RCBOs
- Sub-board picked up during commissioning terminated on a C20A breaker
The results
- NHP Concept Plus switchgear in place of two ageing distribution boards
- Press-shop machines fed on their own circuits from overhead tray
- Every circuit tested, Traffolyte-labelled and certified
- Switchboard schedules updated to match the installation