Electrical Design Philosophy for Major Types of Buildings

Electrical Design Philosophy for Major Types of Buildings:

Introduction:

fig (1)

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 (see fig.1), 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: see fig.2

1. Industrial buildings 
2. Commercial buildings 
3. Residential buildings 
4. Agricultural buildings 
5. Educational buildings 
6. Transportation buildings 
7. Religious buildings 
8. Parking and storage 
9. Military buildings 
10. Governmental buildings 
11. Cultural buildings 
12. Other buildings 

fig (2):  Major Types of buildings

1- Industrial buildings:
A building designed to house industrial operations and provides the necessary conditions for workers and the operation of industrial equipment.

2- 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.

3- 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.

4- 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.

5- 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”.

6- 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.

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

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

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

10-Governmental buildings :
A building that houses a branch of government.

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

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



Buildings’ Basic electrical design philosophy :see fig.3

fig (3):Examples for different types of building use 

and their impact on electric design Philosophy 

The following basic considerations are fundamental to any power system design:

1- 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.

2- 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.

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

4- 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:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9- 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.


in the next topic, we will see the types and electrical design Philosophy of Industrial Buildings. please keep following.