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Swissohm is a Swiss company, based in Geneva, specialized in the construction and supply of electrical equipment. With over 40 years of recognized expertise and know-how in the quality of its services, the company specializes in the distribution of low-voltage switchgear, home automation and technical management of buildings.

Lionel Pereira is in charge of electrical projects in the engineering department. He uses elec calc™ to carry out calculation notes and selectivity studies on his projects. Lionel Pereira explains how the software is important for their studies and how it allows experts to provide the best solutions on their clients’ switchgear.

Manufacturers catalog and selectivity study from curves : Strong assets of elec calc™

“The integration of manufacturers references and the precision of the software allowed us to deliver an accurate study that highlighted the need to replace the existing equipment and thus guarantee the continuity of the building’s operation.”

Lionel Pereira, Swissohm’s Engineering department

Illustration with a project of selectivity verification on low voltage switchboard:

Building: tertiary offices
Equipment: Low voltage switchboard – materials
Specifications: several manufacturers – new and old components references
Country: Switzerland

elec calc™ – manufacturers catalog interface

The project

The request concerned an existing switchboard for a financial institution. We had to check the the selectivity of the site from the Low Voltage Switchboard. In Switzerland, selectivity studies are carried out after the project, i.e. after the supply of the equipment. Selectivity is a very important parameter for the customers and for the control offices.

The constraint

The customers had specific requirements on ABB, Schneider and Terasaki manufacturers, new and former ranges. “When we started the study, Terasaki range was not available in elec calc™. I sent a request to Trace Software’s support department.”

The solution

We were able to provide the catalog team with the technical documentation for the references we needed and they integrated them into elec calc™. “We were able to take all the references of the existing equipment thanks to elec calc™ and perform the study. The software detected that it was not possible to perform selectivity on the existing panel because the circuit breakers of old ranges did not allow it. The site was compliant but not selective” says Lionel Pereira.

The result

Further to the study carried out with elec calc™, and in order to guarantee the selectivity of the installations, it was proposed to the customer to start with a new LVB equipped with recent circuit breakers with electronic triggers, therefore with much finer settings that allow for end-to-end selectivity of the installation.

“In this specific case, the integration of the manufacturers’ equipment and the precision of the software made it possible to deliver a precise study that highlighted the need to replace the existing equipment and thus guarantee the continuity of the building’s operation.”

Swissohm project views with elec calc

Left : project with circuit breakers from different manufacturers

Right : View of the curves corresponding to the circuit breakers selected in the left view

elec calc™ strengths

Design flexibility through the integration of manufacturer materials. “When I send a ticket to the technical support, the references are usually integrated the week following . We don’t work exclusively with brands and we can propose several manufacturers to our customers depending on the availability of the material. The software is agnostic and it is a real asset that allows us to be more flexible in the offers.”
Real-time visualization of curve evolution to verify selectivity. “With elec calc™ it is possible to spot directly, and in a single view, if there is a curve crossing or not and to refine the settings instantly. For me this is an important advantage of the software.”
The availability of the NIBT* standard. “Thanks to elec calc™ we can to carry out our studies with the Swiss standard.”
Access to technical support

*Note that elec calc™ offers 7 standards: NF, IEC, NIBT, RGIE, REBT, NEN and VDE.

“The technical support very responsive. When I send a ticket, I always know that my request will be taken into account, that I will get an answer quickly and that they have the information I need. I am very satisfied and it is nice to know that I can rely on them.”

Lionel Pereira