Electrical Distribution Equipment Upgrade Solutions

The heart of any industrial facility is its electrical distribution system.
In an industrial facility, nothing operates without a reliable flow of electricity. Therefore, it is critical to properly maintain the switchgear that houses overcurrent protective devices, including circuit breakers, fuses or protective relays. However, even with annual maintenance there may be instances where repairs and/or upgrades are necessary. Factors to consider include the operating environment, the availability of spare parts, reliability  and the cost of ongoing maintenance. Another consideration may be the need to increase the switchgear’s fault or continuous current rating or the desire to upgrade technology.

As a result, facility managers are often faced with the choice of maintaining aging (or obsolete) equipment or replacing it with a new switchgear line-up to take advantage of current technology.

 To learn more about how you can upgrade your existing switchgear, download a copy of our brochure now.

Upgrade existing equipment
Square D Services offers two additional options that are cost-effective and will expand the capabilities of your electrical system with minimal downtime. Our direct replacement and retrofill solutions utilize the upgraded technology of our Masterpact® NT/NW insulated case circuit breaker for low voltage systems or the MagnumTM circuit breaker for medium voltage systems.

Masterpact NT/NW Low Voltage Circuit Breakers
These state-of-the-art circuit breakers provide solid state protection, reduce the potential for an arc flash event and do not require maintenance under normal operating conditions. Designs are available for most manufacturers’ low voltage switchboards and switchgear.

Magnum Medium Voltage Circuit Breakers
Each Magnum circuit breaker is manufactured using totally new components including state-of-the art vacuum or SF6 arc interruption technology. Designs are available in 5kV to15kV for most manufacturers’ switchgear. The benefits of utilizing the existing switchgear structure include:

  • An economical alternative to purchasing new equipment
  • The footprint of the equipment line-up is not affected
  • The downtime is minimized when compared with equipment demolition and replacement
  • Cable damage, replacement or splicing is negated
  • Upgrades can be performed on an incremental

Why Upgrade?

When considering whether to replace or upgrade your existing
switchgear, there are a number of factors to consider. One which
many people never think about is conduit placement.

Installing new switchgear (which is usually smaller than the older/obsolete equipment it is designed to replace) requires that
existing conduit above and below the equipment be moved. This time consuming and expensive
process is eliminated by upgrading existing equipment with solutions from Square D Services.

Improved Reliability

  • Dash-pot style or air break interrupting devices on existing circuit breakers may have reliability issues
    • Many do not trip at all
    • Those that trip are not repeatable and may be well outside the time-current coordination parameters
  • Aging materials reduce equipment reliability:
    • Dielectric breakdown of insulating components
    • Degradation of aging mechanical parts

Reduced Maintenance Costs

  • Older power circuit breakers require periodic maintenance and overhaul, which is expensive and time consuming
    • Lengthens outages
    • May require outside support
  • Many components for existing circuit breakers are no longer supported
    • New parts are no longer available
    • The quantity and quality of used or reconditioned parts is decreasing
    • Prices of used or reconditioned parts are increasing

Increased Capabilities

  • Fault current interruption
    • New circuit breakers are available with higher ratings
    • In most cases the interruption capacity of the entire switchgear can be increased with an engineering study and a circuit breaker upgrade or replacement
    • Arc flash limiting circuit breaker availability
    • Trip unit accuracy and repeatability
    • Power metering, monitoring and communication
Masterpact and
Magnum replacement
breakers for switchgear
modernization are
installed, tested and
commissioned by
factory-trained Square D
Service technicians
and are backed by a
one-year warranty.

Start by selecting your installed equipment manufacturer from the following list:

ABB 
Allis Chalmers 
Brown-Boveri 
Cutler-Hammer
Federal Pacific 
Federal Pioneer
General Electric
Gould 
ITE 
Siemens
Square D 
Westinghouse 
Other