Bus bar ampacity calculation

[Mike Charron]

Searching high & low for a table or ruel that discribes the method of calculating bus bar ampacities. The closest I could find is article: 366.23(A). This article references ampacities as per "aux gutters"

One would surmise there must be a posted table which would allow for temperature corrections, etc...

Contacted a local switch board company in Fall River, Ma., and thet use the aformentioned reference of 1000 amps / Sg in.

What are you're thoughts??

 

[drbond24]

I went through that a couple of years ago and NEVER found an official reference. I did, however, come across the 1000 A per square inch several times from several different places as a 'rule of thumb.' From what I've seen, it is a pretty good rule.

 

[jim dungar]

The ampacity of most UL listed equipment is done by heat rise testing and not by square inches of material.

The capacity of bus bars is affected by their orientation (flat or edgewise) and their separation from other bus bars.

I have used this link for general information:
http://www.copper.org/applications/busbar/ampacity/bus_table1.html

 

[steve66]

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2677322/Busbar-Design gives an idea of what it takes to determine busbar amapacity.