petersondl11
New User
- Location
- Virginia
- Occupation
- Controls Engineer
Hi everyone, hoping this is the correct location for this question.
Controls Engineer here for an OEM of industrial equipment. We have a couple of customers recently who are upgrading existing lines and have requested we reuse their existing enclosures. We have built the (480VAC 3PH) industrial control panels (UL508A), and are looking to power, test and verify they pass our machine checkout process before shipping to the customer. Our plan originally was to have the panels stood up, mounted and place barriers around the panels (I beleive the Arc flash requirement is largher than 3 foot of clearance), so we could perform our tests. However, our safety/facilities manager is telling us we are not allowed to power these panels without inserting them into an enclosure first. Citing NEC 110.27. I have searched and have been trying to find an exception, as we believe this pertains to the destination of the fully installed electrical enclosure, not a manufacturers test facility. Does anyone know if the NEC applies in this case or know of any code that would allow us to test without an enclosure or permanent partitions. The permanent wording in the statement is what he keeps referencing, as our barriers are movable, we have plenty of unqualified personnel in the area, however once power is applied only the qualified personnel are allowed in the barriers.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Controls Engineer here for an OEM of industrial equipment. We have a couple of customers recently who are upgrading existing lines and have requested we reuse their existing enclosures. We have built the (480VAC 3PH) industrial control panels (UL508A), and are looking to power, test and verify they pass our machine checkout process before shipping to the customer. Our plan originally was to have the panels stood up, mounted and place barriers around the panels (I beleive the Arc flash requirement is largher than 3 foot of clearance), so we could perform our tests. However, our safety/facilities manager is telling us we are not allowed to power these panels without inserting them into an enclosure first. Citing NEC 110.27. I have searched and have been trying to find an exception, as we believe this pertains to the destination of the fully installed electrical enclosure, not a manufacturers test facility. Does anyone know if the NEC applies in this case or know of any code that would allow us to test without an enclosure or permanent partitions. The permanent wording in the statement is what he keeps referencing, as our barriers are movable, we have plenty of unqualified personnel in the area, however once power is applied only the qualified personnel are allowed in the barriers.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.