Sparks Electrical News August 2019

CONTRACTORS’ CORNER

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MEETING THE GROWING DEMAND FOR SWITCHES AND SOCKETS IN HOSPITALS CRABTREE ELECTRICAL has recently expanded its dedicated range of sockets and switches for hospitals and medical environments. Launched in 2016 in response to requests from customers who were performing installations at hospitals, Crabtree’s hospital products are available in two ranges, Classic (comprising over 50 products) and Diamond (comprising roughly 70 products).

He says that while in Europe electrical products for hospitals require RoHS compliance and need to carry the CE Mark, this isn’t yet legislated in South Africa. “With Crabtree being part of Siemens, however, our products do attain these standards and we anticipate that medical installations, on the wiring side especially, might soon be required to meet certain stands.” Due to the fact that in hospitals, the loss of power can be devastating, the Crabtree ranges are colour coded according to SANS 164-4 and the new SANS 164 Part 2-1 to ensure that essential equipment is plugged into the correct power supply to ensure it is kept running when hospitals suffer power failures. Crabtree South Africa has steadily grown to become the leading electrical accessories manufacturer in South Africa and a dominant regional player. A wide range of electrical wiring accessories such as switches and sockets (domestic/ commercial and industrial), conduit, trunking and ttings and a t for purpose range of domestic leads and adapters are supplied into the building and construction, and general industrial sectors.

“Our hospital range is continually expanding,” notes Henry Woodman, manager of new products at Crabtree. “Due to the fact that the products are manufactured 100% in South Africa – from design and concept, through to the bending of steel and moulding of plastic, it is relatively easy for us to meet the demands of specifiers and installers, and we can adapt very quickly to market needs.” Current demand stems from the construction of new hospitals, although Woodman says that there is also a market for retrofitting existing facilities. “The ease of installation of our range, being preassembled, is a big time saver. Previously, the components were all modular and needed to be put together on site.”

Manufacture and assembly takes place at the facilities inWadeville andMaseru and several small enterprise development suppliers in Gauteng. Distribution, South African sales and customer service is achieved through its sales team and branches located in Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth, George and Cape Town. Sub Saharan African sales presence in Namibia and distribution in Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe are supported by Gauteng (Head Office) and the factory in Wadeville. The Crabtree manufacturing and assembly facilities have been awarded ISO 9001:2015 certi cation and all products produced by Crabtree either carry the SABS mark or are approved for sale by the South African Bureau of Standards, ensuring that all products that bear the Crabtree name deliver quality, safety and reliability.

Enquires: www.crabtree.co.za

SIERRA LEONE CONTRACT FOR LOCAL PANEL BUILDER

JB SWITCHGEAR SOLUTIONS was recently awarded a contract by DRA Global for the design and manufacture of numerous containerised sub- stations mounted on skids and destined for a rutile mine in Sierra Leone. What makes the project unique is the fact that the containerised substations each contain a MV/ LV dry-type transformer, and the required LV panels, which include MCCs, DBs, PLCs, PFC, UPS and fire suppression systems. The containers are constructed with a mid-point split between the transformer and switchgear assemblies, and the completed substations are mounted onto heavy- duty skids to enable them to be moved around the mine site. These substations cover three main areas on the site, namely the booster substations, mining inpit substation and scrubber substation. Operational voltage in this instance is 480 V/60 Hz with a 50 kA fault level. Incomer sizes varied from 1250 A to 2500 A, and variable speed drives up to 350 kW. Connection between the transformer and LV switchgear was done with resin-encapsulated busbars. JB Switchgear supplied its Eagle series panels which are IEC 61439 certified. More than 30 000 tiers of this design have been supplied to sites around the globe.

Enquiries: +27 (0)11 027 5804

SPARKS ELECTRICAL NEWS

AUGUST 2019