ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Machine hook up - 400v

A machine I have to power up calls for 400v AC plus or minus 10%, 3 Ph, + PE 50 or 60Hz 15kVA 63 amp. Whats the PE stand for in the 50 or 60 Hz.
There is 277/480v avialable panel. I should be able to run a Brown orange yellow #6 with a neutral and ground. The 400v machine should be vary somewhat, probably made in another country. 480 volt 3 ph should work because of the 10% variable, correct?
I know they use 50 Hz in Europe.

On the front of the panel door I would use it says 50/14K 22.8 max amp avialable at this location. What do they mean by this?
It looks like a standard 277/480volt 3ph panel, probably 400 or 600 amp, didn't check the wire size coming in from the service section, but looks like there is a lot of room in the panel to add breakers. There are only 3 - 3ph 60a breakers and about 6 - 277 volt lighting circuits. It also feeds a transformer which feeds a 120/208 panel.

Lets see.. 10% of 400v is 40v.. 480v would be 20% high.. I'd say the acceptable range would be 360-440v.

would PE be Protective Earth? (ie: ground.)

How about using Buck transformers at 20% to get 400V?

I would think they would set it up to be able to use on common american machines.

PE is used with some equipment to be the terminal for Safety Ground. This means that PE must be connected to your system ground.

Something about the numbers don't add up. For example, the full-load current for a 15kva machine is 21.6 Amps at 400V, not 63 as indicated.

Could the "50/14K 22.8 max amps available" be shorthand for the available short circuit current at the main lugs of the panelboard and the interrupting capacity of the main breaker? Again, the numbers don't sound right for the fault current rating.

(Could the "50/14K 22.8 max amps available" be shorthand for the available short circuit current at the main lugs of the panelboard and the interrupting capacity of the main breaker? Again, the numbers don't sound right for the fault current rating.)

There is no main breaker, it is fed from a service section cut-off switch with fuses.
Ya, not sure what they mean by that on the main panel.

No neutral necessary.
PE is IEC for BE earth/ AE ground
there must be two different Amp ratings, one for 230 in delta and the other for 400 in Y.

I suppose a tranny is mandatory (as far as I can see that from Germany)

400V +/- 10% means it's designed for a nominal voltage of 400V but the actual voltage can be up to 10% above or below the nominal value without damaging the equipment. This tolernace is intended to compensate voltage drop due to feeder length, voltage fluctuations under heavy load,... and the US 480V sure have a tolernace range too! (IIRC the US 120V are +/- 5% for example). So if you take a 5% tolerance the 480 might actually go up to 504V! And that will for sure kill the 400V machine.

You're going to need a transformer. "400" volt appears to be the newer configuration for Euro machines like yours. If you find an older transformer the secondary is likely to be "380" volt, which will generally work just as well.

The "50/14K 28.8" is probably someones short hand that means: This is a short circuit series rated panelboard that allows the use of 14kA breakers on a system with up to 50kA available, but the utility is currently only providing 28.8kA.