Military Institute of Science and Technology

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Communication Engineering

EECE – 222: Electrical Service Design & CAD Laboratory

Experiment – 5: Familiarization with Electricity distribution system (MDB, DB, SDB, FDB,
BDB, SB) and Preparation of conduit layout.

Objectives:
 Introduction to electricity distribution systems
 Types of distribution boards such as MDB, DB, SDB, FDB, BDB, and SB
 Learning the Standards for conduit layout.
 Preparing a conduit layout using AutoCAD.

Introduction:
In a distribution system for electrical loads, known loads and unknown loads are distinguished. Fans
and general lighting are recognized loads, whereas sockets are unknown loads. It is recommended to
use a variety of branch circuits to disperse the quantity, rating, and layout of outlets for general lighting,
fans, and other recognized loads. Then, with consideration for voltage drop, operational voltage, and
any future increases in lighting levels, these branch circuits should be carefully loaded. To reduce risk
in the event of a malfunction and to make it easier to conduct safe operation, inspection, maintenance,
and testing, every installation should be divided into discrete circuits. Through the installation of
suitable distribution wiring in the building, the required types of wire, terminations, connections, and
junctions of these circuits, and protection against faults must be provided at various levels.

Procedures:

Distribution board:
A Distribution Board is the junction point of the incoming line and the outgoing lines for the
distribution of electricity throughout the building.
 The incoming as well as the outgoing lines must have Circuit Breaker protection or Fuse
protection.
 The bus-bars, which are copper bars with bolts and nuts for cable lugs, are where the incoming
and outgoing cables are joined and terminated.
A Distribution board may be named as MDB or FDB or DB or SDB or BDB.
(a) MDB stands for Main Distribution Board. This is the distribution box where the main
incoming cable enters and terminates from the main service feed connection of a large building.
The FDBs get feed from MDB.
(b) FDB stands for Floor Distribution Board located in each of the floors of a multistoried
building. The DBs get feed from FDB. Usually, more than one FDB are needed.
(c) DB is the abbreviation for Distribution Board. This may be the box where the main incoming
cable enters and terminates from the main service feed connection. The SDBs get feed from a
DB

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 (d) SDB is used to represent Sub- Distribution Board. This board is located in the same floor of
a building and connected to the DB. Usually more than one SDB are needed. The BDBs get
feed from SDB.
(e) BDB stands for Branch-Distribution Board located in the same floor of a building and
connected to the SDB. Usually more than one BDB are needed.
(f) EDB, EFDF, ESDB, EBDB Sections of DB, FDB, SDB, BDB receiving feed from the
Emergency Bus-bar which in turn is getting feed from standby generator through changeover
switch. These may be separate DBs placed by the corresponding normal supply DBs.
Each of these distribution boards must have busbars for Line, neutral and earthing for a single-
phase box. A 3-phase distribution board must have busbars for Line 1, Line 2, and Line 3, neutral
and earthing.
These boxes shall be made with sheet steel of not less than 18 SWG thicknesses and must be
appropriately paint finished to match the wall paint.
Electrical Layout and Installation Drawings:
 At the beginning, the Light points, Fan points, Socket points, Switch Boards, BDBs, SDBs,
FDBs. DBs and MDBs shall be located on each plan based on convention, suitability,
application and safety view point.
 In designing the wiring layout, power (socket) and heating (socket) sub-circuits shall be kept
separate and distinct from light and fan sub-circuits.
 Balancing of circuits in three phase installations shall be arranged in the drawing and also must
be done during physical connection.
 Single phase socket outlets receiving connection from two different phases located in the same
room is to be avoided
Electrical Wiring in the Interior of Buildings:
 Surface wiring or exposed wiring:
Wiring run over the surface of walls and ceilings, whether contained in conduits or not, is termed
as surface wiring or exposed wiring. Single core PVC insulated cupper through PVC channels or
through PVC conduits or through GI pipes of approved quality may be used for surface wiring.

 Surface wiring using wood battens: The wood batten used in this method shall be of good
quality wood with a minimum thickness of 12 mm. They shall be installed exposed and run
straight on the ceiling or wall surfaces. Battens on walls shall be run either horizontally or
vertically, and never at an angle.

 Surface wiring using PVC conduits: PVC conduits or GI pipes, when used for surface
wiring, shall be clamped with saddles at a spacing not exceeding 600 mm, to the wall or
ceiling using plastic rowel plugs with countersunk galvanized screws.

 Surface wiring using PVC channels: Surface wiring may be done using single core PVC
insulated cables placed inside surface fixed PVC channels of appropriate size. Fixing of
channels must be done using screws in rowel plugs inserted into drilled holes on the
walls/ceilings. The channels must be placed in a straight line with adequate number of screws
so that no sag is observed
 Surface wiring using round core flexible cable with plastic clips and nails: Surface wiring
using exposed round core flexible cable with plastic clips and long nails have been used for
extending a point wiring, for extending a socket wiring due to shift, for add a circuit wiring.
This is not recommended for regular wiring.
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 Concealed wiring: The wires in this type of wiring shall be placed inside GI conduits or PVC
conduits that are buried in roofs and in brick/concrete walls. The conduits in the walls shall be run
horizontally or vertically, and not at an angle. Conduits will run through the roof and then bend
downward for going up to the outlets, DBs, switch boards, sockets. Concealed wiring through
floors and upward mounting of PVC/GI pipes from the floor is strongly discouraged because of
the occurrence of condensation and accumulation of water from condensation eventually leading
to damaging of the simple PVC insulated cable insulation. This method should not be followed as
a general practice.

 Wiring inside suspended ceilings (false ceilings): Light and fan switch boards shall be placed
1220 mm above floor level in the residential buildings. This above-mentioned height shall be 1300
mm above floor level in the office buildings, commercial buildings and industrial buildings.

Point Wiring & Circuit Wiring:

 Methods of Point Wiring: Wiring between a light/fan point and its corresponding switch board
is termed as Point Wiring.
 The load of such a point is not in excess of 100 watts in general, and in special cases this may
be up to 200 watts.
 Wiring for a light/fan point shall be made using one of the following two methods: (i) Surface
wiring or (ii) Concealed wiring.
 For wiring of a point one brown and one blue PVC insulated copper cable shall run between
a point and its switch board.
 Cable joints inside conduits or within channels are forbidden.
 The current carrying capacity for such a circuit shall not be more than 5 A for a residential
or a commercial (business/mercantile) building.

 Methods of Circuit Wiring: Wiring between a switch board and a BDB/SDB/DB will be called
Circuit Wiring. Sometimes this circuit is also referred to as sub-circuit.
 Circuit wiring shall be done with a live cable a neutral cable and an ECC cable for a single-
phase circuit.
 An ECC must be provided with each circuit.
 The ECC at the switch board end shall be terminated in the earth terminal of the metal part
of the switch board using a brass screw/bolt and a nut.
 For each circuit, the live cable must be drawn using brown color insulated PVC cable and the
neutral cable shall be drawn using blue color insulated PVC cable
 Common neutral shall not be used under any circumstances.

The minimum sizes of cable for various uses shall be as follows:

Circuit CB or Fuse Cross-section

5A 5A 1.5 mm2
10 A 10 A 2.5 mm2
15 A 15 A 4 mm2
20 A 20 A 6 mm2

***A voltage drop check is to be made for each length of the circuit to ensure that the voltage drop at
the farthest end of the load from the main distribution point does not exceed 2.5 percent.
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Feeder Wiring between SDB and BDB, DB and SDB, FDB to DB, MDB to FDB:
Wiring between
 BDB and SDB,
 SDB and DB,
 DB and FDB,
 FDB and MDB
needs special attention and the rules are similar to Circuit Wiring.
 ECC must be present for each of the feed connections.
 The ECC in this case also shall be PVC insulated copper cable of appropriate size but with
Green + Yellow bi-color insulation.
 At both ends the ECC must be terminated at the earthing busbar.
 Appropriate cable lugs/cable sockets must be used for terminating the L1, L2, L3, N and E
connections on the busbars of both the boards
 The sizes of the cables must be chosen to match with the rating of the circuit breaker/fuse
ratings as mentioned above.
 Circuit breakers/fuses must be provided at the outgoing and incoming sides of each of the
busbars of each BDB/SDB/DB/FDB boxes.

Conduits, Channels, Cables, Conductors and related Accessories

a. PVC conduits:
 PVC conduits and conduit fittings shall be of heavy wall water grade type.
 All bends shall be large radius bends formed by heat or by mechanical bending machine.
 The cross-section of the conduit shall remain circular at the bend and the internal diameter
shall not be reduced due to bending.
 PVC pipe fittings shall be sealed with PVC solvent cement or adhesive for PVC of
approved quality.
 Conduits installed in floors, if installed, shall have a slope of at least 1:1000 towards floor
mounted pull box or cable duct.
 Conduits placed concealed inside roof or in wall must have 20 SWG GI pull wires placed
during laying of the pipes for pulling the cables later.
 Water grade PVC conduits must be used for both concealed and surface wiring. Water
grade PVC conduits of different diameters shall be used as per necessity.

b. PVC channels:
 PVC channels should be used only for extension work in an already installed building.
 A design drawing should not show use of such wiring except inside a false ceiling. Even
inside the false ceiling this item should be used for lengths.
 For long distances PVC conduits should be used.

c. PVC flexible pipes/conduits:

 PVC flexible conduits shall be used with surface wiring only and only in places where PVC
bends cannot be used.

d. Metal/steel conduits:
 Galvanized Iron (GI) conduits shall be made using at least 16 SWG sheet.
 The conduits shall have seamless joint along the length and must be suitable for making
bends.
 Metal conduits must be threaded for end to end joints using sockets.

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e. Pull boxes:
 Pull boxes/Joint boxes must be placed closed to the ceiling where conduits from the ceiling
are going downward toward a switch box or are going toward a socket box or are going
toward a BDB/ SDB/ DB / FDB.
 Pull boxes are extremely essential for pulling the cables without injuring the cables and
thus should not be avoided under any circumstances.
 Pull boxes/Joint boxes must be made with 18 SWG GI sheet or with 18 SWG MS sheet but
coated with two coats of Grey Synthetic Enamel paint.
 Covers of pull boxes should be ebonite or perspex sheet of not less than 1/8 inch thickness.

f. Metal Boxes for Switch Boards:

 Metal Boxes for Switch Boards must be made with 18 SWG GI sheet or with 18 SWG MS
sheet but coated with two coats of Grey Synthetic Enamel paint.
 A Switch Board Metal Box must have a small Copper / Brass earthing busbar for
terminating the ECCs.

g. Switches for operating light and fan points:

 Switches for operating Light and Fan points must be of 5A rating. These switches are
usually SPST type.
 However, for special applications like stairs and some other places these may be SPDT
type.
 Switches for operating Light and Fan points may be of Gang type or may be isolated type.

h. Mounting regulators of ceiling fans:

 Metal Boxes for Mounting Inductor Regulators of Ceiling Fans must be made with 18 SWG
GI sheet or with 18 SWG MS sheet but coated with two coats of Grey Synthetic Enamel
paint.
 Metal Boxes for mounting regulators of ceiling fans must have a small copper/brass
earthing busbar for terminating the ECCs.

Cables and conductors:

For application in building wiring, PVC insulated stranded cables shall be used for Live and Neutral
Wires for single phase and 3-lines (L1, L2, L3) and one neutral for 3-phase. For ECC also PVC
insulated stranded cables shall be used. As a result, use of bare conductors is non-existent.

Cables:
 Conductors of a PVC insulated cable, thin or thick, shall be copper.
 Cable containing Aluminum conductors may be used for thick cable of size more than 35
mm2 but copper is always preferred.
 Recommended sizes (in mm2) of copper conductors are as follows:
1, 1.5, 2.5, 4, 6, 10, 16, 25, 35, 50, 70, 95, 120, 150, 185, 240, 300, 400, 500, 630, 800,
1000
 For final circuit/sub-circuit and for Light/fan point wiring the cable nominal cross-section
of the cable shall not be less than 1.5 mm2 for copper conductors.

 Phase and neutral cables shall be of the same size.

 Conduits shall not normally be allowed to cross expansion joints in a building.

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Branch Distribution Boards, Sub-Distribution Boards, Distribution Boards, FDBs
and MDBs:

 Enclosure/box

Enclosures for sub-distribution boards located inside the building shall be dust-proof and
vermin-proof using sheet steel fabrication of a minimum thickness of 20 SWG. The
boards shall be safe in operation and safe against spread of fire due to short circuit.

 Size of the enclosure of a BDB/SDB/DB/FDB/MDB

The table provides a guidance of sizes of enclosures for SDB containing miniature
circuit breakers or fuses. However, the size will depend on the number and size of the
circuit breakers or the fuses the number of outgoing cables and their sizes, the size of the
busbars and the type of insulators used for the busbars.

Recommended Enclosure Sizes for MCB's and Fuses

No. of MCB's or
Dimensions (mm)
Fuses

Height Width Depth -

350 390 120 upto 12

480 390 120 upto 24
610 390 120 upto 36
740 390 120 upto 48

 Location

A Sub-distribution board (SDB) shall be located as close as possible to the electrical load
centre for that SDB. This is also applicable for determining the locations of FDBs, DB
and BDBs. These boards shall never be located on water soaked or damp walls.

 Wiring of sub-distribution boards

a) In wiring a sub-distribution board, total load of the consuming devices shall be

distributed, as far as possible, evenly between the numbers of ways of the board,
leaving the spare way(s) for future extension.
b) All connections between pieces of apparatus or between apparatus and terminals on a board
shall be neatly arranged in a definite sequence, following the arrangements of the apparatus
mounted thereon, avoiding unnecessary crossings.
c) Cables shall be connected to terminals only by soldered or welded lugs, unless the
terminals are of such form that it is possible to securely clamp them without cutting
away the cable strands.

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Fig: Sample conduit layout
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