Competitive control panels for the North American market

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of all injuries related to electricity are a result of arc flashes.

Are you interested? We are looking forward to support you and to submit a non-binding, project-specific offer for an arc flash study.

Arc flash studies

According to the National Electrical Code (NEC), there must be an arc flash hazard warning on the electrical equipment of machine, switch, and control cabinets. In order to adequately protect personnel from the dangers of an arc flash when working on energized equipment/systems, it is the responsibility of the operator to carry out an arc flash study and evaluation.

However, more and more operators or end users are delegating this responsibility to the suppliers (OEMs, machine builders, system integrators, SSB). Siemens supports manufacturers of switchgear and control cabinets with a corresponding arc flash study, including the necessary warning notices and technical details.

Arc flash studies

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USA and Canada Are you facing the challenge of designing a control panel for the USA or Canada? You’ll need some background knowledge, since standards, regulations and practices differ fundamentally from those in markets using the IEC standards.

Discover all information about standards and engineering of industrial control panels

Are you looking for valuable expert know-how for your control panel? Learn more from white papers, technical manuals, brochures and flyers, watch the webinars or use our offer on software tools for the electrical engineering.

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Systems require approval

One of the major differences is that all electrical machines or systems must be checked by an inspector before being put into service. The relevant application-specific standards and codes, and local standards and requirements form the basis for successful acceptance.

The approval process is a legal requirement. Correct configuration and documentation in accordance with the relevant regulations are essential for successful acceptance on-site.

Benefit from a thorough understanding of standards and the market, and from comprehensive support

A broad, certified portfolio of products and systems for use in North America
Well-structured knowledge of conditions for market access (manuals, white papers, web-based training)
Practical hints and tips for configuring control panels for North America
Time-saving tools and data help with the process

IEC and UL markets at a glance

Key US regulations

The following standards are of vital importance for machine and panel builders:

UL508A for Industrial Control Panels
NFPA 79 (Electrical Standard for Industrial Machinery)
NEC (National Electrical Code, NFPA 70) for on-site electrical installation

Key Canadian regulations

The most important Canadian standards and regulations

The following standards are of essential importance to electrical engineers and panel builders:

C22.2 No. 286-17 (Industrial Control Panels and Assemblies) – released for certification since May 10, 2018. The transition period is limited and ends in January 2022. See ↗︎CSA Certification Notice
C22.2 No. 301-16 (Industrial Electrical Machinery) – released for certification since December 6, 2017. The transition period is limited and ends in January 2022. See ↗︎CSA Certification Notice
CEC – Canadian Electrical Code. The current edition 2018 already refers to the mandatory compliance with the two standards in Appendix A of the Code.

Website of Canadian Standards publisher

Reliable product and system portfolio

You can rely on our extensive and reliable portfolio of products and systems that takes all North American requirements into account.

Special aspects when selecting products

To build a control panel that will comply with standards in the USA and Canada, it is not sufficient to simply use components that are certified in accordance with UL or CSA. Right from the start it’s important to include products with the correct certification for the application in the design process.

Whether a component can be used can be determined from the CCN codes (USA) or the Class Number (Canada). These may be found on the UL and CSA websites, and are also bundled in the Annex to our catalog LV 18.

We will help with the acceptance process by providing certificates that you can download easily using the CAx Download Manager, for example, which can be used to download bundled documents for multiple products.