TGBT N / S

14:43 Feb 13, 2019 

Please read "Main LV distribution board N/S". I forgot the translate "Général".

BTW: If my client had asked me to leave it, I wouldn't close the question immediately, but wait for clarification and then decide who is right, who is wrong, or whether all answers are wrong. Now you have the problem to reopen the question if the used term is not accepted by the client as you need the consent of the peer who proposed the selected term to reopen it and you have to apply to a moderator to this aim.

But anyway, please inform us about the result.

12:57 Feb 13, 2019 

The client has asked me to leave it as is, and will ask the engineers about it later, so we may never know!

22:14 Feb 12, 2019 

No, it isn't. But please consider the Wikipedia statement: "in large business environment ... To provide greater reliability, multiple smaller UPS modules and batteries can be integrated together to provide redundant power protection equivalent to one very large UPS." This means, it's one complex or unit.

You can be right or not. We have no proof for any interpretation. Only the asker can decide what is correct, or the client who knows all details of buildings and installation. When I was in this situation, I asked the client immediately. And the client appreciated my queries, testifying that I am competent and not carelessly.

21:38 Feb 12, 2019 

It is not unusual to have 2 different types of 'maintained' supplies, as you yourself have mentioned: the 'ordinary' backed up supply, often capable of greater power as it runs from e.g. a generator BUT with a finite star-up time; and then a truly "uninterruptible" supply powered from batteries, with lower capacity and obviously reserevd for the most 'vital' equipment; this sort of thing often uses the "float" technique, to ensure there is literally no break at all: the inverter section is powered all the time from the batteries, which are in turn themselves constantly kept charged (unless the mains fails)

I think this is a perfectly satisfactory explanation for the N / S / Vital supplies — and do note that in EN 'Vital' is certainly common enough terminology for this sort of thing: e.g. in the University hospital where I used to work, we had circuits labelled 'Normal', 'Maintained' and 'Vital' (for things like life-support machines!)

20:52 Feb 12, 2019 

There is another item puzzling me. If "S" stands for "sécouru", what is than the purpose of another "Vital TGBT" (please note the correct wording is "TGBT vital")? Is this distribution board secured by an "alimentation sans interruption (ASI)" or not? I think it should be.

Or should the term being read as 3 TGBT N/S (whatever N/S means) and a vital TGBT, which supplies all vital consumer, even the mains supply will fail. In this is true, the vital TGBT must be supported by an UPS, what makes the interpretation of "S" again questionable.

You can solve this dilemma only, if you refer to the block diagram, if you check the further text for explanations or if you ask the client. Please also consider the configuration/orientation of the buildings. If we have two buildings, N/S can easily be interpreted as North/South as Philippe evoked at the very beginning of the discussion. Do you know the orientation of buildings?

12:31 Feb 12, 2019 

Given that 'TGBT N/S' is a frequently-encountered expression in FR with exactly the sense I've gven, and given the fact that the electrical installation for a bank is very likely to include a N/S power backup sysetl, and further given that there appears on the face of it to be nothing in the accompanying Flemish text that would be inconsistent with this, I think it is slightly perverse to be trying to look for some other, more exotic meaning — or « chercher midi à 14h » as we say in FR.

12:13 Feb 12, 2019 

The phrase "laagspanningsinstallatie van 3 TGBT N / S, Vital TGBT en 320 verdeelborden" raises some questions.
Are all 320 sub-distribution boards are supplied from one common busbar rail and do all 3 main distribution frames inject current to the common busbar alternatively? Please check the block diagram, if available.
Big uninterruptible power source (UPS) normally are in standby and powered by battery and generator. The battery or flywheel warrants that the supply is not interrupted if the mains power fails and bridges the gap until the diesel generator is running:

In large business environments where reliability is of great importance, … To provide greater reliability, multiple smaller UPS modules and batteries can be integrated together to provide redundant power protection equivalent to one very large UPS. "N+1" means that if the load can be supplied by N modules, the installation will contain N+1 modules. In this way, failure … will not impact system operation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninterruptible_power_supply#N...

Given this concept, I am not convinced the "N/S" is referring to "normal/secouru" as supposed. You may ask the client for details and explanations.

15:38 Feb 11, 2019 

Note that when 'general' has the sense of 'overall', in many technical contexts, 'main' is a more appropriate way to render it, just as it is for 'algemene' — cf. things like 'main switch' ('interrupteur général') etc. In EN, 'general' tends slightly more often to oppose 'specific'. Note too the alternative term of 'master' which is also often a good solution for 'général'.
Also note that, although in informal terms we do often talk about an 'electrical panel', the size of these things and often the very way they are constructed means that a 'board' is often a better solution (and cf. your Flemish '...borden') — in electrical installation, we often talk about a 'distribution board' (or in the olden days 'fuseboard'!) — which are very different from say a 'control panel'. In electrical engineering terms, the proper term is a 'switchboard', though that is a little clumsy for repeated use, and so just 'board' is often all that is needed.

15:16 Feb 11, 2019 

It's a bank building, and has a no break

I've found the Dutch equivalent of TGBT, it's Algemene laagspanningsborden (ALSB) (general low-voltage panel)

15:13 Feb 11, 2019 

That extra context is interesting!

It looks possibly as if there are 3 TGBT's here, one for N, one for S, and one for 'Vital'; or of course it could just be that there are 3 TGBTs, but that's not the way they are broken down.

Depending on what the establishment is (typically, hospital, broadcaster), the 'Vital' supply could be what is also sometimes called 'essential' etc., and if a difference ie being made between that and 'S', then it is possible the 'vital' circuits are maintained by a 'floating' UPS, i.e. in the event of failure of the incoming mains supply, the output continues without the slightest disturbance from the battery-powered UPS. This would be in opposition to the 'S' supply, which might well be more powerful and designed to keep going longer, but based on say diesel generators, which take a certain time to start up.

14:52 Feb 11, 2019 

The sentence is : laagspanningsinstallatie van 3 TGBT N / S, Vital TGBT en 320 verdeelborden

14:51 Feb 11, 2019 

yes, should be 'general', my O level in French letting me down

14:35 Feb 11, 2019 

If you're correct about its being French, G stands for général, not électrique.

14:33 Feb 11, 2019 

Apart from Nord/sud, a big maybe normal/secouru, ie used in normal operations and alt-ernate/backup power operations, as opposed to the vital TGBT, which may work in total blackout.