Electrical Design Philosophy for Major Types of Buildings

[ali hassan]

Major Types of buildings:

Look around in your region, you will discover that a lot of different
size buildings surround you and of course each one of them is
constructed for a certain purpose, these different purposes give us a
guide for classification of these buildings i.e. all these Buildings
will be classified according to their usage but before we list
different types of buildings, we need to focus on the following
Important facts about buildings:
Buildings are usually created for a specific function; A building's
function strongly influences its design and construction.
A building is a product, a product is not more than a packaging of
functions, and you must have best design & good selection of product
materials to realize its best functions and to get a product
(building) satisfy your anticipations.

Design is information processing, Output is not a building, but
information to enable others to utilize that building.

Why an electrical designer must be familiar with the Major Types of
buildings?

That is because that the electrical network configuration is
determined dependent on the requirements resulting from the building’s
use and other additional factors which makes every building to be
unique in its own way.
As professionals want to make efficient Electrical Design, it is
important to have a preliminary imagination for every building type
and that we will do in the following topics.


Major Types of buildings:
Industrial buildings
Commercial buildings
Residential buildings
Agricultural buildings
Educational buildings
Transportation buildings
Religious buildings
Parking and storage
Military buildings
Governmental buildings
Cultural buildings
Other buildings

Industrial buildings
A building designed to house industrial operations and provides the
necessary conditions for workers and the operation of industrial
equipment.
Commercial buildings
A building with more than 50 percent of its floor space used for
commercial activities. Commercial buildings include, but are not
limited to, office buildings, industrial property, medical centers,
hotels, malls, retail stores, shopping centers, farm land, multifamily
housing buildings, warehouses, and garages.

Residential buildings
A building used or designed to be used in whole or in part for
residential purposes and includes an associated outbuilding of and
other improvement to a building used or designed to be used in whole
or in part for residential purposes, but does not include a floating
mobile home.


Agricultural buildings
Agricultural buildings are structures designed for farming and
agricultural practices, including but not limited to: growing and
harvesting of crops and raising livestock and small animals.
Educational buildings
Buildings used for academic or technical classroom instruction, such
as elementary, middle, or high schools, and classroom buildings on
college or university campuses.
Buildings on education campuses for which the main use is not
classroom are included in the category relating to their use. For
example, administration buildings are part of “Office”, dormitories
are “Lodging”, and libraries are “Public Assembly”.

Transportation buildings
A building Include machines that used as means of transportation, they
include, but are not limited to, railway station, airports, and sea
ports.

Religious buildings
Buildings in which people gather for religious activities, (such as
chapels, churches, mosques, synagogues, and temples)

Parking and storage
A building /Space in which to park vehicles.

Military buildings
They are any structure designed to house functions performed by a
military unit.

Governmental buildings
A building that houses a branch of government.

Cultural buildings
A building contain any type of Cultural Heritage they include, but are
not limited to, museums, libraries, theaters, cinemas.

Other buildings
A building that is not included in all building types above like
mobile homes.


Buildings’ Basic electrical design philosophy
The following basic considerations are fundamental to any power system
design:

Basic Safety:
The power system must be able to perform all of its basic functions,
and withstand basic abnormal conditions, without damage to the system
or to personnel.

Basic Functionality:
The power system must be able to distribute power from the source to
the connected loads in a reliable manner under normal conditions.

Reasonable Cost:
The power system cost to obtain basic safety and functionality should
be reasonable.

Code Compliance:
All applicable codes must be complied with.

Above and beyond the basics are a multitude of considerations, some
of which will apply to each particular system design:

Enhanced Safety:
The ability to withstand extremely abnormal conditions with a minimum
of risk to personnel

Enhanced Reliability:
The ability to maintain service continuity during abnormal system
conditions

Enhanced Maintainability:
The system can be maintained with minimum interruption to service and
with minimum personnel protective equipment.

Enhanced Flexibility:
The ability to add future loads to the system, and with loads of a
different nature than currently exist on the system

Enhanced Space Economy:
The power system takes up the smallest possible physical space.

Enhanced Simplicity:
The power system is easy to understand and operate.

Reduced Cost:
The power system costs, both first cost and operating cost, are low.

Enhanced Power Quality:
The power system currents and voltages are sinusoidal, without large
amounts of harmonics present. System voltage magnitudes do not change
appreciably.

Enhanced Transparency:
The power system data at all levels is easily acquired and
interpreted, and the power system is easily interfaced with other
building systems. Enhanced control of the system is also possible.