COURSE TITLE: BUILDING SERVICES (ELECTRICAL)
COURSE CODE: BLD 207
PREPARED BY: OLABODE OLUWAFEMI. R
THE FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC ILARO
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
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1. METHOD OF PROVIDING LIGHTING IN BUILDING
Lighting is the illumination of buildings. There are two methods of lighting in building; namely
Natural and Artificial lighting.
Natural lighting, also referred to as Day light, derives its illumination ability from the sun. The
sunshine illuminates the environment within which the building is and the openings under
fenestration in building allowed controllable amount of natural lighting into buildings.
Artificial lighting derives its source from electrical illuminants – incandescent lamps or
fluorescent lights. They are provided under electrical provision in buildings.
Provision of Natural lighting in Buildings
Natural lighting in building is provided by making provision in building to admit adequate
daylight into it. This provision is referred to as FENESTRATION or commonly known as
Openings in Building. The openings include among others windows, doors, screen walling, roof
light, lighting glass blocks etc.
Provision of Artificial Lighting in Buildings
Artificial lighting as previously mentioned is provided by the use of incandescent lamps or
fluorescent lights. The lights are powered by various sources of energy but most commonly by
electrical energy. This is part of the electrical engineering design of buildings. They form part of
electrical installation in buildings.
The integration of Lighting: Natural and Artificial in building.
The two lighting method are usually combined effectively to minimize the use of artificial
lighting that is usually costly to use. This is achieved by architectural design provisions in
conjunction with electrical engineering design provisions.
TYPES OF LIGHTING
1. Incandescent.
2. Fluorescent.
3. Mercury discharge Lamp.
4. LED
1. Incandescent Lamps:- This is well known as filament lamp. They give light as a
result of heating of a filament conductor to a very light temperature. When a body is
heated, it emits radiant energy in a wave form as the temperature increases the
wavelength decreases, until the waves are in visible light range. The bulb is filled
with nitrogen or argon which enable the operation to reach 25000c
2. Fluorescent Lamps:- These are lamps coated with certain powders which
glow/ionized when subjected to ultra violet rays to produce light. It is known as the
low-pressure mercury-vapour lamp. It consist of a glass tube, the interior of which is
coated in fluorescent phosphor & the tube is little argon to assist starting.
3. High Presssure Mercury –Vapour Lamp: - This type consist of a glass quartz tube
containing mercury at high pressure and a little argon gas to assist starting. This type
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of lamp is used for street and road lighting, flood light and lighting industrial
premises.(HPMV)
4. LED:- A light-emitting diode is a two-lead semiconductor light source. It is a p-n
junction diode that emits light when activated. When a suitable voltage is applied to
leads, electrons are able to recombine with electron holes within the device, releasing
energy in the form of photons.
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LEVEL OF LIGHTING REQUIRED FOR DIFFERENT FUNCTION IN
A SIMPLE BUILDING.
CIRCULATION AREA LIGHTING LEVEL (LUX)
SITTING ROOM 100
BEDROOM 50/80
STUDY ROOM 150
TOILET 100
BATHROOM 100
DINING ROOM 100
KITCHEN 300
CORRIDOR 100
LIFTS 100
CAR-PARK 50
STORE 50
HALL (MULTI PURPOSE) 400
HALL (CONFERENCE) 400
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2. ELECTRICAL INSTALLATION
An electrical installation in a building comprises various kinds of electrical apparatus fixed in
position ready for use, together with the necessary connecting wires and control gear.
The local Electricity supply authority(E.g Power Holding Company of Nigeria) will normally lay
supply cables to a suitable point inside building, from which point the installation proper
commences.
Owing to peculiar properties of electricity, regulations have been made to ensure satisfactory
results from the installation, to safeguard users of electricity from shock.
Certain statutory Regulation are compulsory:
Electricity Supply Regulation 1937
Electricity(factories Act) Special Regulation,1980 and 1944
Building standards Regulation,1963 to 1967
Regulation of local Authorities (PHCN) and others relating to places of entertainment and
certain specified building.
2.1 I.E.E Regulations
The Regulation for Electrical Equipment of Buildings (fourteenth edition,1970), issued by the
institution of Electrical Engineers, are supplementary to above.
These Regulations cover in detail the actual installation of wiring and the apparatus in a building,
and require that most of the materials used shall comply with the appropriate British Standard
Specifications. Provided materials are bought from firms of repute no difficulty should arise in
connection.
This is the most important groups of safety regulation for the electrical Engineers, various
electricity board use them as a standard of good practice and procedure for all new wiring
installation.
The scope of regulation covers principally the design, selection, erection, inspection and testing
of electrical installation, whether permanent or temporary, in and about building generally. These
regulation are design to provide safety especially from fires, shock and burn .
Regulation of local Authorities (PHCN)
Power Holding Company of Nigeria, govern the use of electricity in Nigeria. Their main fuction
is to develop and maintain an efficient coordinate and economical system of electricity supply
throughout the federation.
This regulation control the condition under which various supply organization can provide
electricity to consumer.
The scope covers construction, operation, protection , maintenance and safety of distribution
system up to the consumer supply.
The authority provide safe and efficient supply as laid down, declare the operating voltage, the
type of supply available, its frequency and number of phases available.
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Electricity generation, transmission and distribution
A few notes on the above will serve to give the students a picture of the ‘background’ to
installation work.
GENERATION
Energy exists in different forms in nature but the most important form is the electrical energy .
The modern society is so much dependent upon the use of electrical energy that it has become a
part and parcel of our life.
Generation of Electrical Energy
The conversion of energy available in different forms in nature into electrical energy is known
as Electrical generation.
Electrical energy is a manufactured commodity like clothing, furniture or tools. Just as the
manufacture of a commodity involves the conversion of raw materials available in nature into the
desired form, similarly electrical energy is produced from the forms of energy available in
nature. However, electrical energy differs in one important respect. Whereas other commodities
may be produced at will and consumed as needed, the electrical energy must be produced and
transmitted to the point of use at the instant it is needed. The entire process takes only a fraction
of a second. This instantaneous production of electrical energy introduces technical and
economical considerations unique to the electrical power industry.
Energy is available in various forms from different natural sources such as pressure head of
water, chemical energy of fuels, nuclear energy of radioactive substances
etc. All these forms of energy can be converted into electrical energy by the use of suitable
arrangements. The arrangement essentially employs (see Fig. 1.1) an alternator coupled to a
prime mover. The prime mover is driven by the energy obtained from various sources
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A case study is N00igeria. Electricity is generated at 16Kv and stepped-up for transmission to
330Kv and stepped-up for transmission to 330kv with the aid of transformer into national
grid(Control by Nation control centre in Osogbo NCC). The reason for this high voltage is to
reduce power loss along the conductors and voltage drop.
It is later stepped- down to 132Kv then further to 33Kv & 11Kv for how voltage distribution.
All these are conveniently carried out by the installation of long distant overhead conductor up to
the load centres.
Fig. 1.2
Sources of Electrical Energy(Electricity)
Since electrical energy(Electricity, which is the flow of electric current and current is the flow of
electron through a conductor. By convention electric current flows from positive potential to the
negative potential. However electron flows from negative terminal to positive terminal. It is
mathematically given as, I=V/R(ampere) ) is produced from energy available in various forms
in nature, it is desirable to look into the various sources of energy.
1. Chemical Battery:- A voltaic chemical cell is a combination of materials which are
used for converting chemical energy into electric energy. A battery is formed when two or more
cells are connected. A chemical reaction produces opposite charges on two dissimilar metals,
which is positive & negative terminals.
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2. Generator:- The is a machine in which electromagnetic inductance is used to produce a
voltage by rotating coils of wire through a stationary magnetic field or by rotating a magnetic
field through stationary coil of wire.
3. Thermal Energy(fossil fuels) :- The production of most electric energy begins with
the formation of heat energy. Coal, oil, or natural gas can be burned to release large quantities of
heat. Once heat is available, conversion to mechanical energy is the next step. Water is heated to
produce steam, which is the used to turn turbines that drives the electric generators.
4. Solar cells:- solar cells convert radiation from the sun directly into electric energy. They
consist of semiconductor material like silicon and are used in large arrays in spacecraft to
recharge batteries.
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5. Wind Energy:- wind power is becoming more and more common. The new innovations
that are allowing wind farms appear are making them more common sight. By using large
turbines to take available wind as the power to turn a generator to produce electricity.
6. Hydroelectric Energy:- what many people are not aware of is that most of the cities and
towns in the world rely on hydropower ,Nigeria inclusive and have for past century. Every time
you see a major Dam, it is providing hydropower to electrical station somewhere. The power of
the water is used to turn generators to produce electricity that is then used.
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7. Biomass Energy:- is produced from organic material and is commonly used throughout
the world. Chlorophyll present in plants captures the sun’s energy by converting carbon dioxide
from air and water from the ground into carbohydrates through the process of photosynthesis.
When the plants are burned, the water and carbon-dioxide is again released back into the
atmosphere. Biomass generally include crops, plants, trees, yard clippings, wood chips and
animal wastes. Biomass energy is used for heating and cooking in homes and as a fuel industrial
production. This type of energy produces large amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
8. Nuclear power:- while nuclear power remains a great subject of debate as to how safe it
is to use, and whether or not is really energy efficient when you take account
the waste it produces – the fact is it remains one of the major renewable sources of energy
available to the world. The energy is created through a specific nuclear reaction, which is then
collected and used to power generators.
It is noteworthy to mention that there are currently two main types of power plants operating in
Nigeria by PHCN: (1) hydro-electric and thermal or fossil fuel power plants since we have large
deposit of water and fossil fuels.
If you can observe that; all through the sources of energy mentioned above aside from solar cells
and chemical battery energy source, A.C generator are being used to convert mechanical energy
to electrical energy which operate with the principle of ELECTROMAGNETISM, discovered
by Micheal faraday in 1831, AUG 21.
He discovered that an e. m. f (electromotive force) could be produced or induced in a conductor
by the relative motion of the conductor and magnetic field. This phenomenon is called
Electromagnetic induction. It explains how mechanical energy may be converted to electrical
energy depending on relationship between the motion, magnetic field and electric current.
Electric current is produced from magnetic field by moving the bar magnet back and forth, the
flux from the magnet brushes across coil of wire or cuts the conductor. This produces a current
flow in the conductors proportional to the total flux that cuts the coil consider the diagram below:
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SIMPLE ELECTRICAL CALCULATION
Electricity is measured in coulombs, that is the amount of current at a point in time (It is the
energy of a charged particle).
It is mathematically given as
Q = IT
Where Q = Quality of electricity
I = current in Ampere
T = Time in seconds
TRANSMISSION
Electric power is produced at the power stations (generating stations) which are located at
favorable places, generally quite away from the consumers. It is then transmitted over large
distances to centres with the help of conductors known as transmission lines.
In Nigeria, the transmission voltages are the 330kv and 132kv respectively.
It is later stepped-down with aid of a transformer to 33Kv and 11Kv for low voltage
distribution. All these are conveniently carried out by the installation overhead conductor up to
the load centres.
The reason for high voltage is to reduce power loss along the conductors and voltage drop.
DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
A typical example of a distribution system is shown below;
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The basic function of the system is to deliver electric power from transmission sub-station to the
consumer.
Distribution at high voltage(Industrial purpose ) involves the provision of transformer
substations where the energy is transformed down to standard of medium voltage.
To domestic consumers distribution is at low voltage. Electricity from the transformer
substations is carried by feeder cables to suitable feeding points, whence cables called
distributors radiate and run along the streets. The connection to any house or shop is made by a
service cable, which is tee-jointed to the distributor at a convenient position.
The various system by which alternating current is distributed are:
Single-phase 2-wire
Single-phase 3-wire
Three-phase 3-wire
Three-phase 4-wire
The most widely used system is the 3-phase 4-wire.
As indicated below
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Single phase supply can as well be obtain from the diagram above i.e 3 system using any one
of the phases plus the neutral. The neutral supply is common to the three phase.
SINGLE PHASE AND THREE PHASE
A single phase system is a type of connection in which the supply to the load comprises of a Live
conductor, Neutral conductor and the Earth conductor. The Live conductor is insulated in
Red/Brown colour, Neutral conductor in Black/Blue colour then the Earth in Green /Yellow
colour i.e 1- , 3wires
However, for a three phase system the case is otherwise, It can either be of a 3-wire arrangement,
or 4-wire arrangement when provision is made for a neutral wire as shown below;
The line voltage in a 3 system is 415v in Nigeria at a nominal frequency of 50Hz.
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ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION NETWORK IN A BUILDING
3. PROTECTIVE SYSTEM
The need for electrical system protection in a building arises as a result of the grievious effect of
un-protected system become alarming. Such effects are fire outbreak, electric shock, short circuit
and Earth fault problem.
Protection is very necessary in an installation be it industrial or domestic. Excessive current flow
in a circuit is caused by breakdown of insulation either between Live part and Earth (an earth
fault) or between Live parts connected to different phases of the supply ( Short circuit fault). As
to prevent the flow of this current in an installation, some devices are designed to carry out these
tasks. Majorly, fuses and circuit breakers are employed to carry out the task of protection.
Qualities of A Protective Device
1. Reliability: It must respond when called to action.
2. Selectivity: It must not respond to abnormal but harmless system condition such as
switching transient or sudden changes in load.
3. Sensitivity: It must not fail to operate even with burden line situations when operation
as planned.
4. Speed: It should make decision to act as close to instantaneous when fault occurs.
5. Instantaneous: It should not introduce unexpected delay
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Types Of Protective Devices
1. Fuses
2. Relays
3. Circuit breaker
4. Earthing
5. Isolator
1. Fuse: This is a protective device which breaks or melt whenever excess current flows
through it. It can be in form of cartridge, rewirable or high rupturing capacity(HRC).
Fuse main disadvantage is that it needs to be replaced whenever fault occurs.
Types Of Fuses
i. High Rupturing Capacity Fuse:- This is a more sophisticated variation of cartridge fuse
and is normally found protecting motor circuit, industrial installation. See fig A.
ii. Rewirable Fuse:- This consist of a fuse holder, a fuse element and a fuse carrier, the
holder & carrier being made of porcelain or bakelite. type of fuse is very popular in
domestic installations. See Fig B. This
iii. Cartridge Fuse:- It consists of a porcelain tube with metal caps at both ends to which the
element is attached. The tube is filled with silica. The fuse are commonly used in
modern plug tops together with 13amps outlet. See fig. C Below are the types of fuses;
2. Relay: are switch that open and close circuits electromechanically or electronically . In
electromechanical relays .contacts are opened or closed by a magnetic force. While the
solid- state (electronics) relays there is no contacts and switching is totally electronic.
3. Circuit breaker: This is a better protective device when compared to fuse because it has
automatic tripping ability which makes it more reliable .It comes in different types which
are; coil circuit breaker, air – break circuit breaker ,air blast circuit breaker, and sulphur-
hexafluoride(Sfc) circuit breaker. After tripping off due to fault, it could be reset to its
normal protective state.
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Any protective device must be selected with regard to three different ratings.
i. Voltage rating.
ii. Continuous load current rating.
iii. Interrupting rating.
i. Voltage rating: The voltage rating must be high enough to withstand voltages normally
experienced in system operation.
ii. Continuous current rating: This must be adequate for the normal load current that is
expected to flow in the circuit. The current rating is often chosen to exceed the maximum
load current rating by a margin of 30% for future load growth/expansion.
iii. Interrupting rating: This refers to the highest current the device will be called upon to
interrupt at rated voltage. It is often express in MVA.
4. VARIOUS ELEMENT (EUIPMENTS) USED FOR
ELECTRICAL INSTALLATION
1. Cables
2. Distribution Board
3. Gear switch
4. Change Over Switch
5. Consumer Unit
6. 13A Sockets Outlet
7. 15A sockets Outlet
8. Switches
9. Lamp holders
10. Ceiling rose
11. Junction box
12. Energy meter
13. Cut-out fuse
14. Cooker control unit
The following are the list of electrical fittings and controls showing their uses:
1. Cables
Cables are used for electrical wiring in building. The conduct current to various fittings. Various
fittings require different level or amount of current to run or drive them. The flow of current is
dependent on the size, type and quality of cable use. An improper use of cables result in heat
generation and possibly fire hazard hence the importance proper cable type and size selection
and use for the different types of fittings in buildings.
The following are the different types of cables based on form, material and sizes (some of the
cables are as shown below
i. Single core cables
ii. Double core cables
iii. Multiple core cables
iv. Armoured cables
v. Copper cables
vi. Aluminum cables
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vii. 1.0 mm2
viii. 1.5 mm2
ix. 2.5 mm2
x. 4.0 mm2
xi. 6.0 mm2
xii. PVC insulated cables etc.
Table 1 = Method 4 Encased in insulated wall
Table 2 = Method 1 Clipped Direct
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2. Socket outlet - used for 13A and 15A power sockets
3. Switches - used for putting on/off light
4. Wall Bracket - used for lighting fitting
5. Bulk head fitting - used for external lighting
6. Ceiling Rose - used as power point terminal
7. Cooker Control Unit – used for socket and power supply to
cooker in kitchen.
8. Distribution Board - used for current distribution to various
points in buildings.
9. ELCB - used for power supply protection, it
serves as circuit-breaker in the event of
short circuiting.
10. Change over switch - used for controls in double source power
Supply.
11. Junction box – is an enclosure housing electrical connections, to protect the connections and
provide a safety barrier.
12. Energy meter – is a device that measures the amount of electric energy consumed by a
residence, a business etc.
13. Cut out fuse – is a combination of fuse and a switch, used for distribution of electricity to
consumers.
14. Cooker control unit – is an assembly primarily intended for controlling the supply of
electricity to a cooker.
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5. Construction Provisions made for electrical fittings.
Construction provisions are for electrical fittings in buildings to allow for a seamless and highly
integrated installation at various points of the building.
The essential provisions made arising from the design detail are as follows:
1. Conduit pipe installation within walls, floors
2. Fixing base to receive fittings
3. Bored holes for passage of pipes/cables
4. Others
5.1 THE NEED FOR CORRECT CABLE SIZING AND PROTECTION OF CIRCUIT IN
ACCORDANCE WITH I.E.E REGULATION
Electric cables are basically designed to operate on a particular current rating known as the
current carrying capacity. This is current in which a cable would carry for an indefinite time
without undue deterioration. Therefore, the need for correct cable size arises. By standard it is
required of an engineer to know the correct cable size for a particular [Link]
used cable for electrical installation and their sizes.
i. 1.5mm2 – Lighting fitting/fan wiring
ii. 2.5mm2 – 13Amps socket outlet, 15Amps socket plug/switch
iii. 4.00mm2 – Air conditioning
iv. 6.0mm2 – Cooker unit or outlet
v. 16mm2 & above – service cable
However protection as described earlier is very imperative due to the fact that if there is any
excessive current intended to flow or flowing, it is immediately isolated and render the
circuit open, thereby protecting the entire circuit against the risk of fire and electric shock.
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6. SIMPLE ELECTRIC CIRCUITS
ELECTRIC CIRCUIT OF A COOKER
A D.C POINT OF LIGHTING ,CONTROLLED BY A SWITCH
Electrical design and installation involve the use of symbols and conduit fittings the detail
description of which is beyond this syllabus, but for the purpose of a general understanding the
following figures shows the various items that fall under the aforementioned
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Electrical Bulbs
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Conduit Materials
. Lighting Point Details 1
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Lighting point details 2
Lighting symbols for Installations
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ELECTRICAL LIGHTING SYMBOLS
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