Different Types of Industrial Control Panel Components

Hi, in this article we are going to learn about different types of Electrical Control Panel Components used in industries. You know, there are huge applications of electrical control panels for motor control, power control, machinery control, light control, etc. Those control panels have so many electrical and electronic components, pilot devices, indication lamps, etc. So, we will discuss what are those components used in industrial control panels and what are the functions of those components.

What are the control panel components?

The electrical or electronic components specially designed for electrical or electronic control circuits and used in electrical control panels are called control panel components. An electrical control panel consists of so many components, devices, and arrangements.

industrial electrical control panel components

The most common control panel components are,

Feeder & Busbar
Terminal Blocks
Circuit Breaker
Isolators
Other Protective Devices
Relays
Switches
Indication Lamps
Buzzer or Speaker
Cooling Fan
Connectors
I/P and O/P Ports
Timers
Contactors
Wire Duct
CT and PT
Measuring Instruments
PLC
HMI
Controller and Drivers
Power Supply

Feeder and Busbar

The feeder is a conductive path for power transmission from one point to another point, it may be from power source to a load. Busbar is a node where multiple power sources and loads are connected together through feeders. So, the feeder and busbar is the bone of a control panel. In fact, all the components and devices are connected to them. Generally, all of the control panels are use feeders and Busbar. Most of the Low Tension or LT Panels are use busbar.

Terminals Blocks

A terminal block is an arrangement that makes electrical connection easy, safe, and simple. For example, in a single feeder, multiple loads need to connect. In this case, the terminal block helps to connect all the wires in a simple way by lugs, nuts, and bolts. Generally, the ground terminal block is used in every electrical panel that connects all the ground terminals and wires to the earth and panel body.

Circuit Breaker

A circuit breaker is an electrical protective device that breaks a circuit automatically when a short circuit or overload fault occurs. Generally, MCB(Miniature Circuit Breaker), MCCB(Moulded Case Circuit Breakers), and ACB(Air circuit breaker) are mostly used in industrial LT control panels. When it comes to HT panel, High voltage circuit breakers are used such as Vacuum Circuit Breaker(VCB), Oil Circuit Breaker(OCB), etc.

Isolator

An isolator is a device that is used to isolate or disconnect a circuit from a power source completely with a hundred percent surety. Generally, isolators are used in control panels to disconnect the panel from the main power source for any emergency or maintenance. The isolator ensure more conformation of Connection and Disconnection as we can see visually.

Other Protective Devices

Other important protective devices used in industrial control panels are Fuses, ELCB(Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker), RCCB(Residual Current Circuit Breaker), MPCB(Motor Protection Circuit Breaker), Phase Sequence Meter, Surge Protector, etc.

Relays

Relays are used in the control panel for controlling, sensing, switching, detecting, and indicating purposes. Relay generally sends the signal to the circuit breaker, contactors to operate when it detects faults or got commands from any pilot devices. Electromechanical relays, Solid State Relays, Overload Relays, Earth Leakage Relays are mostly used in control panels.

Switches

There are various types of switches are used in electrical control panels for different purposes. Push-button switches are mostly used in motor control panels. Toggle switches, selective switches are used in automation control panels. Different types of network switches, ethernet switches are also used in modern control panels for remote controlling purposes.

Indication Lamps

Indication Lamps are also known as pilot lamps. Indication lamps are used in electrical control panels to indicate whether a circuit is on, off, or tripped condition. They also help to indicate the status of a circuit or load such as it is healthy or unhealthy. Generally, Red, Green, and Yellow color lamps are mostly used in control panels.

Buzzer or Speaker

Buzzers or speakers are also used in the industrial control panels to aware operators or plant supervisors when any alarm came due to any fault or abnormal condition.

Cooling Fan

Cooling Fans are also used in the industrial control panels when it embedded with a PLC controller or any other drivers that can produce heat during their operation.

I/P and O/P Ports

Input and output ports such as HDMI, VGA, USB ports are also used in control panels which having programmable devices such as PLC, Microcontroller, for the interfacing of external computers, data transmission, program loading, etc. Generally, automation control panels are having those.

Timer

A timer is also a very important component of a control panel. It is also used for automation purposes. Motor control panels, lighting control panels are used timers.

Measuring Instruments

Industrial control panels come with different types of measuring instruments such as voltmeter, ammeter, wattmeter, energy meter, frequency meter, etc. These help to measure the electrical quantities serving through that panel, the status of the load, etc. So, any user or panel operator can observe, check, and note down all the rating and status of the power system.

Power Supply

The electrical control panel components are having different voltage ratings. Most of the cases, they have low voltage ratings or they need DC voltage. So, the auxiliary power supply arrangement such as rectifier, SMPS is also used in control panels. Some special type of control panel uses Inverter and Battery also if it is operating 24 hours without any interruption. Automation devices or programmable devices required uninterrupted power supply.

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