OT - 690V equipment in Canada

Hi All,

Sorry this is a bit offtopic for this PLC board, but I am hoping someone can help me out.

I am involved in designing an industrial plant in Canada (I am based in Australia) and have heard some contradictory things about using 690V there. The plant is using 690V as its main motor voltage and there will be a number of VSD's using it.

My issue is around standards compliance. From C22.1 low voltage is defined as below 750V in Canada, so getting equipment stamped by CSA approved testers is no problem. However, I have heard that for control equipment (which I assume VSD's is associated) you need both CSA AND UL stamps. Since UL only tests to 600V (for low voltage) this appears to be a big problem.

Can anyone verify this issue? I cannot find the reference in needing CSA and UL myself, though I am looking for it at the moment.

Help?

I have been in Canada for 25 years working in electrical and related, I have never seen a 690 motor, 600 is the standard often nameplated 575 allowing for the voltage drop between MCC and motor.

I have to agree with Roy, I've never seen 690V in an industrial plant, so chances are parts are rare/long lead time. Most services for industry are 600/347.
I'm not entirely sure about the CSA/cUL stamp. Your best bet would be to get ahold of the inspection agency for the province the plant is going to be built in (Ontario is the ESA, www.esasafe.com ). I know in our plant we had to change out a lot of breakers on EU designed panels as they were siemens but did not have a CSA stamp.

There must be some mistake with the 690V. That's a 50hz voltage and all of Canada is 60hz. Canada's primary industrial power is 600V 60hz. 690V 60hz would be odd indeed. And exceedingly expensive unnecessarily.

Provincial inspection

In the past I had Ontario Hydro inspect and approve individual machines, as opposed to UL etc. Ask the local utility about who they recognize to inspect your machine for code compliance.

I can confirm what others are saying and 690Volt is just a class that is often used. Our voltage is 600Volt, not 690Volt. As far as inspection goes there are a number of accepted standards, CSA is one of them, ULc (make sure it has the little c) is another. There is a list somewhere on the ESA website.

Now are you talking about approval on the devices or a control system you are putting together? If you provide a control panel it needs to be inspected; in Ontario I use ESA (Electrical Safety Authority) but there are other agencies such as CSA and QPS that also provide the service. Usually the inspector looks to make sure all purchased components have CSA or equivalent (ULc, etc). If they don't then you can get special inspection on the equipment. Best thing to do is contact one of the inspection agencies for the province the equipment is going to.

600V motors and drives are very common here but it is also common for machinery with large drive line-up's to be 480V (American). As the drives (regen units) and motors are more readily available.

I think 690v is pretty common on some of those new wind turbines, and in some offshore applications. Never saw it in industry.

Thanks for the responses thus far.

690V is not a typo, it is what we will be using. I am aware it is rare (or even unknown) in Canada, but there are reasons for it that i cannot get into. Yes, it is a 50Hz voltage standard rather than 60Hz standard. As I am using VSD's, and rated equipment, I am not expecting it to be a problem.

All equipment will be CSA approved (or equivalent to Canadian requirements), my question was whether some obscure standard requirement in Canada needed both CSA and UL (and hence the LV issue). I'm now leaning towards no, as I cannot verify the existence of the requirement anywhere.

@GlennA
The local authority will be Alberta, so yes I have a list of authorised inspectors. That is definitely an option, but really of last resort.

@rstech
I am talking more about industrial control equipment (as in C22.2 No. 14 i think), but i was worried about transformers as well.


Anyway, i think i am close to answering my own question. The non canadian UL listing is not a requirement, it appears.

I would really just place a call to the inspection agency who is going to do the site inspections for your project. That's the best way to get a clear answer as to what they will pass/what they will require. In the end it's up to them if your site passes/fails the inspection. It may also depend on the type of site it is, if it falls under the provincial electrical code or the federal electrical code, there are some differences between the 2.

This is probably what you are looking for, it defines the acceptable equipment markings, you need one of, not multiple.
http://www.municipalaffairs.alberta.ca/documents/ss/STANDATA/electrical/330-LEG-ECR-2unsigned.pdf

GlennA said:

In the past I had Ontario Hydro inspect and approve individual machines, as opposed to UL etc. Ask the local utility about who they recognize to inspect your machine for code compliance.

Click to expand...

The old Ontario Hydro inspection would apply for the install in Ontario only, but was generally accepted Canada wide.

Hydro has now been repaced by http://www.esasafe.com/
ESA Electrical Safety Authority.
Generally CSA and ESA are not necessary, as ESA will recognize a CSA sticker .