Electrical

CDA Busbar Economic Analysis Program

The Copper Busbar Design Guide has been developed by Copper Development Association Inc. (CDA) for use by those involved in the design, installation, purchase and use of open busbar systems. Its purpose is to help determine optimum sizing in a busbar system based on life-cycle cost considerations. This personal-computer-based system is a companion to CDA's Busbar Handbook, but can be used independently as a stand alone tool.

Busbar systems for industrial and commercial facilities are often designed to minimize first costs, with the busbar sized to the minimum permitted by safety considerations. In such cases operating costs are ignored at the design stage and, as a result, large amounts of electrical energy are wasted in service due to I²R heating. Larger cross sections of busbar result in more efficient systems with lower operating costs. The optimum system is one that properly balances first costs with operating costs in order to minimize total life-cycle cost.

To operate this program, the user enters certain technical information about the system being evaluated, such as amperage, length, and whether the system is AC or DC, as well as certain financial-based information, such as the user's required return on investment. If the user wants to design to minimum cost, the program then determines the proper busbar size to minimize the life-cycle cost of the system, brought back to present-value terms.

Users can also enter values for a number of other variables, such as electricity and materials costs, the inflation rates to be applied to these costs, the pattern of usage the system is expected to experience, the expected life of the busbar system, etc.

Once the user has entered the relevant variables the program calculates the dollar value of the system's heat losses, a number of other costs including first costs, and the resultant life-cycle cost based on the parameters entered. A complete analysis is provided in a series of four screens which can be sent to a file or printer.

A special feature of the program is that two options (Case 1 and Case 2) can be compared side-by-side. For example, the minimum life-cycle cost can be shown next to a design based on a given temperature rise. Then first costs, operating costs and total life-cycle cost can be compared for the two cases.

This program assumes a horizontally configured, open-air busbar system, with one or more solid rectangular conductors arranged in parallel, each having vertical orientation.

A copy of the design guide on 3 inch diskette can be obtained by calling
888-481-3334 (U.S. only), or it can be ordered from the Publications List. There is a small charge for orders shipped outside the USA.

CDA Busbar Economic Analysis Program: Help Topics

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