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How long does it take to test a control panel? This question is the panel building equivalent of ‘how long is a piece of string’, but what every panel builder knows for sure is that excessive testing time for a panel eats profits and delays delivery, ultimately leading to an unhappy customer – and possibly and unhappy bank manager. Therefore, keeping time on testing to a minimum is a high priority. But what’s needed to ensure that a control panel passes smoothly and rapidly through the test department?
The first requirement is a good design, perhaps one that borrows elements from earlier designs that have been shown to work correctly and efficiently. The next step is accurate documentation for the shop floor, so that the errors are minimised during the building and wiring stages. Good wiring information is particularly important, as a typical control panel will have tens or even hundreds of wires and connections – and one wire incorrectly connected or missing can take a long time to find on test.
Accurate documentation for testing is also needed. This is not necessarily the same as the documentation used to build the control panel, as modifications may have been necessary during the build process and it’s essential that these are reflected in the drawings and documents used for testing.
Having good documentation really helps in the testing phase.
Any panel builder that gets all of these things right will find that testing troubles are a thing of the past. And, in every case, the key is to use EPLAN Pro Panel computer aided engineering (CAE) software for panel design. The advanced features of this package – complemented by the EPLAN Data Portal which gives designers access to accurate and up-to-date information on hundreds of thousands of components – help to ensure right-first-time designs and produces impeccable documentation that’s easy to keep up to date when changes and revisions are made.
In short, EPLAN CAE software provides support at every stage of the panel building process from initial design right through building and wiring, ensuring that panels have a speedy, problem-free passage through the test department.
Unless you enjoy the challenge of troubleshooting panels on test while the clock is ticking and your profits are counting down, you’ll undoubtedly want to know more, so why not click below and download EPLAN’s panel building white paper?
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