dc power supply

[electgut21]

At our plant we have an old battery bank [48vdc] with a battery charger connected. It has a conduit line going to the switchgear. I checked the one line we have and it has two circuits one going to the switchgear and one going to the backup generator panel. We had a contractor come in and tell us we needed the batteries for protection in case of fault or OL condition . Thats how it was relayed to me. Did anyone ever here about using batteries thia way? I looked online to see if our switchgear used them but could not find anything.

 

[augie47]

It is very common for medium voltage switchgear to use a 48 vdc supply for operating the switches. It is extremely important that the system be properly maintained.

 

[brian john]

It is very common for medium voltage switchgear to use a 48 vdc supply for operating the switches. It is extremely important that the system be properly maintained.

or 120 VDC, I have pictures where the batteries were not maintained, the resulting meltdown is not very pretty.

 

[Besoeker]

I agree with the two previous posts.
It is for critical operation. In UK it is usually 110Vdc and it has been continuing business for us for many years.

 

[wdemos]

All those breakers and fancy relays won?t mean a thing if there is not a reliable power source for them to operate.
Kind of like the old penny in the fuse box thing. - Scary Stuff!