jtinge wrote:
We are planning to construct a new lab facility in the near future where the design calls for the use of bus duct to allow easy reconfiguration of the circuits in each lab. Our safety program does not permit removing or inserting breakers into an energized bus duct. To satisfy this requirement, we required that the design include a disconnect switch on each section of bus duct in each lab to allow a safe method to de-energize the bus prior to reconfiguring the circuits.
May want to consider Meltrics plugs or Crouse Hinds Arktite connectors or a variety of similar designs. These incorporate some kind of disconnect and a plug so that you have to open the load break disconnect in order to insert or remove the plug and also dead front covers to eliminate exposed energized pins. Then all the cabling in such an environment would be of a temporary design (SO cords). A bus duct system is designed as permanent wiring although obviously with some ability to quickly change it around. Cord-and-plug systems in comparison are by design temporary any flexible systems. The only caveat to plug-and-cord is that you have to protect the cords and that at some point you can go from temporary to permanent wiring where the cords should be replaced with permanent equivalents.