A distribution panel houses fuses, circuit breakers, and earth leakage protection units to distribute electrical power to individual circuits or consumption points. It includes a main switch and RCD for safety. The RCD protects against electric shock and fire hazards. Each circuit is fed by a suitable circuit breaker and can be isolated if necessary without interrupting the rest of the supply.
A distribution panel is a panel or enclosure that houses the fuses, circuit breakers, and earth leakage protection units used to distribute electrical power to many individual circuits or consumption points. The board typically has a single input power source and includes a main switch and a residual current or earth leakage protection device. Older distribution boards may include a series of fuses that feed individual circuits; newer installations are usually equipped with mini circuit breakers. A distribution panel can be used to distribute single-phase or three-phase supplies depending on the specifics of the installation. Although the equipment, layout and legislative requirements of distribution boards differ from country to country, the basic principles for ‘distributing’ a single supply to various individual points, while ensuring safety and control for each, remain the same.
Distribution boards are commonplace in most industrial plants and commercial or residential buildings. Most consist of a panel or enclosure supplied with a single input electrical power cord. The energy is then divided between several small switches or, in the case of older boards, fuses which in turn feed different consumption points or circuits. The primary function of any distribution panel is to allow individual circuits to draw power from properly sized circuit breakers and to isolate those circuits without causing a disruption to the rest of the supply. Most importantly, the distribution panel offers protection to users and equipment from electric shock or fire resulting from earth faults.
Most distribution panels have a single input power cable that supplies multi-phase or single-phase power to the panel. The live supply from this cable is usually connected first to a main switch, fuse or residual current detector (RCD). These components allow the entire board to be isolated for repairs in the event of a main breaker or fuse, while the RCD protects against earth fault shock and fire hazards. In the case of a single-phase supply, the voltage supply is taken from the main switch or RCD and bridged across the top of a series of individual fuses or mini circuit breakers. Multiphase power supplies typically have several circuit breakers for each phase and with each group bridged across the input terminals. The neutral and ground cores of the power cable are then connected to separate bus bars.
The cables from individual sockets, light circuits or machine points are then fed into the distribution board on the opposite side of the power cable. The live conductors of each cable are connected to appropriately sized circuit breakers and the neutral and earth conductors to the appropriate busbars. This creates a distribution environment where each circuit is fed by a suitable circuit breaker and can be isolated if necessary without interrupting the rest of the supply.
The most important part of any distribution board is, however, the RCD. This is the component that stands between the user of the circuit and potentially fatal electric shock and catastrophic fire. For this reason, these units should be properly classified, tested regularly, and never bypassed. The cause of a tripped circuit breaker or blown fuse should also always be investigated before a reset to avoid possible damage to equipment or appliances and electric shock.
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