Claims:1. A busway joint cover arrangement for voltage drop management, said assembly enclosing an electrical joint connection between a first electrical busway section (1) and a second adjoining electrical busway section (1), comprising:
a joint cover assembly (3) operably positioned to fix a gap between each busway section (1) and a joint assembly (2), said joint cover assembly comprising:
a contact assembly (34) adapted to rest on a joint cover flange (311) and operably coupled a top cover base (331) to restrict the linear movement of the contact assembly (34) and is fixed on the top of busway conductors (13) in the joint assembly (2); and
a cover (5) operably mounted on busway housing means and operably fixed to the joint cover assembly (3) to restrict the entry of foreign particles,

wherein each busway section (1) includes a plurality of electrical conductors (13)
wherein the contact assembly (34) is operably coupled to the plurality of charged electrical conductors (13).
2. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the joint cover assembly further comprises
a top cover assembly (33) comprising a hinged top cover (332) operably coupled to a top cover base (331) by a rivet (333) facilitating ingress protection.

3. The arrangement claimed in claim 1, wherein the contact assembly (34) further comprises
at least one plunger assembly (341) operably coupled to a corresponding plunger holder (342), at least one plunger guide (343) and at least one plunger spring (344) for the at least one plunger assembly (341),
wherein the plunger holder (342) is adapted to receive one end of the at least one plunger spring (344),
wherein the at least one plunger assembly (341) is operably coupled to the corresponding plunger spring (344),
wherein the plunger guide (343) is adapted to restrict the lateral displacement of the plunger assembly (341).

4. The arrangement as claimed in claim 3, wherein the plunger assembly (341) of the contact assembly (34) further comprises
a plunger pin (3411) and a plunger cap (3412),
wherein the plunger spring (344) is adapted to displace the plunger assembly (341) towards the plunger guide (343).

5. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, the IP cover (5) is operably mounted on a joint case (121) of a busway side housing (12).

6. A method of voltage-drop measurement and measurement of contact resistance between the joints of a busway joint cover arrangement as claimed in claims 1-5.
, Description:FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention pertains to a busway type electrical distribution system in general, and, more particularly, to a method and arrangement to measure the voltage drop of the joint section of a busway system when it is in charged state.

BACKGROUND
Busways are installed in various orientations in buildings. Busway system can be mounted in edgewise or flatwise orientation. Life of busway system is considered as long as 20 years. Busways are preferred over cables due to its negligible maintenance. Busways are installed in residential, commercial as well as industrial premises for distribution purpose. Considering length of busbar trunking root, there are number of joint sections available. During installation there is difference in contact surface and pressure distribution at every jointing section. Typically, busways are installed before interior and exterior work of building. At most of installation sites, busways are installed after completing slab work. Plastering and pointing, watering, plumbing, drilling for point fixing and painting work is carried out after busway installation. Obstruction to the flow of current in the feeder accessories depend on busbar material its resistivity. But this is not the case in the joint section. Typically, joint section obstruction to flow of current depends on contact pressure of the clamp, surface area in contact, type of plating done on jointing area, expansion of conductor (thermal coefficient), position of conductor, oxidation and type of corrosion. Amount of obstruction to the flow of current results into loss of energy eventually it is the cause due to drop of voltage. In an electrical installation, determination of voltage drop from the point of supply to the load is very important.
Due to voltage drop within the circuit conductors, the operating voltage at electrical equipment will be less than the output voltage of the power supply. Inductive loads (i.e. motors, ballasts, etc.) that operate at voltage below its rating can overheat resulting in shorter equipment operating life and increased cost, as well as inconvenience for the customer. Under-voltage for sensitive electronic equipment such as computers, laser printers, copy machines, etc., can cause the equipment to lock up or suddenly power down resulting in data loss, increased cost and possible equipment failure. Resistive loads (heaters, incandescent lighting) that operate at under-voltages simply will not provide the expected rated power output. Excessive voltage drops on the supply line impacts most electrical equipment and their performance. During measurement of drop in potential, there is a risk of entry of foreign particles and imbalance to attain the ingress protection.
In case of sandwich busway system, insulation that being utilized between two adjacent phase conductor is the heart of the whole system. Insulation properties get deteriorated when continuously comes in contact with high temperature. Reason for rise of temperature mainly depends on poor contact at joints and thereby considerable potential drop. There are number of joints available in installed busway root. Type of conductor from which conductor made, gauge of the conductor, conductor length, current carried by the conductor, connections in the circuit leads to drop the considerable amount of voltage across the root. This impacts the efficiency and performance of the system as well as connected equipment.
Reference has been made to CN102033178A, disclosing an intelligent bus duct simulating, monitoring and analyzing system. The system comprises an intelligent bus duct detection device and an upper computer connected with the device, and is characterized in that: the intelligent bus duct detection device comprises a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a voltage sensor and a current sensor which acquire the corresponding data of a bus duct and send the data to a microprocessor; the microprocessor is connected with a display module, an alarm circuit and a communication module; and the upper computer is provided with the intelligent bus duct simulating, monitoring and analyzing system. The system detects the humidity of the bus duct, intelligently detects and analyzes the bus duct, and more comprehensively improves the whole characteristics and operation level of the bus duct.
Reference has been made to CN103364094A, pertaining to a busway temperature measuring device for monitoring the temperature of a busbar joint of a busway. The busway temperature measuring device comprises a shell, a temperature measurement circuit board positioned in the shell and a temperature sensor connected with the temperature measurement circuit board. The temperature of the busbar joint of the busway can be monitored on line, and faults can be conveniently found in time, so that the safety of a power supply system is improved; and the temperature monitoring conditions are transmitted through adopting a plurality of communication modes, especially a wireless communication mode, and the installation and maintenance operations of the temperature measuring device are greatly facilitated.
Reference has been made to US5401906A, relating to an inexpensive and easily installed supplementary joint cover system for preventing dripping or splashing water from entering the joint between two adjacent sections of electrical busway.
In the general state of art and existing busways, there is no provision of measuring the voltage drop when joint cover is assembled with the busway installations. For measuring voltage drop, dis-assembling of joint cover and subsequent measurement is the only way. This method takes time also creates a risk of contact of dust and foreign particles with live conducting surface. By this method personnel working on this comes closer with the live parts, thereby endangering their lives.
Thus there is a need for an arrangement for voltage measurement for busways in charged condition through the joint cover without causing disturbance to ingress protection while maintenance.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the present invention. It is not intended to identify the key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concept of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description of the invention presented later.
An object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement for voltage drop measurement for busways in charged condition.
An object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement for tracing the location of overheating and drop of excess voltage for busways.
In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, is to provide a busway joint cover arrangement for voltage drop management, said assembly enclosing an electrical joint connection between a first electrical busway section and a second adjoining electrical busway section, comprising a joint cover assembly operably positioned to fix a gap between each busway section and a joint assembly, said joint cover assembly comprising a contact assembly adapted to rest on a joint cover flange and operably coupled a top cover base to restrict the linear movement of the contact assembly and is fixed on the top of busway conductors in the joint assembly and a cover operably mounted on busway housing means and operably fixed to the joint cover assembly to restrict the entry of foreign particles, wherein each busway section includes a plurality of electrical conductors and the contact assembly is operably coupled to the plurality of charged electrical conductors.
Yet another aspect, is to provide a method of voltage-drop measurement and measurement of contact resistance between the joints of a busway joint cover arrangement.
Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure will be more apparent in the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 illustrates a perspective top view of busway and joint assembly, according to one implementation of the present invention.
Figure 2 illustrates a general view of both side joint cover assembly of busway and joint section, according to one implementation of the present invention.
Figure 3 illustrates general view of one side joint cover assembly and one side ordinary joint cover of busway and joint section, according to one implementation of the present invention.
Figure 4 illustrates a representation for fastening of joint cover assembly and busway joints, according to the present invention.
Figures 5 and 6 illustrate a perspective view of a joint cover assembly, according to one implementation of the present invention.
Figure 7 illustrates an exploded perspective view a joint cover assembly, according to one implementation of the present invention.
Figure 8 illustrates an exploded perspective view a top cover assembly, according to one implementation of the present invention.
Figure 9 illustrates an exploded view of a contact assembly and plunger assembly, according to one implementation of the present invention.
Figure 10 illustrates a joint cover, according to one implementation of the present invention.
Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may have not been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figure may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features, and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of various embodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the various embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.
The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of various embodiments of the present disclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
It is to be understood that the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to "a component surface" includes reference to one or more of such surfaces.
All terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which various embodiments belong. Further, the meaning of terms or words used in the specification and the claims should not be limited to the literal or commonly employed sense, but should be construed in accordance with the spirit of the disclosure to most properly describe the present disclosure.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular various embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of various embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising" used herein specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, members, components, and/or groups thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, members, components, and/or groups thereof. Also, Expressions such as "at least one of," when preceding a list of elements, modify the entire list of elements and do not modify the individual elements of the list.
The present disclosure will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which various embodiments of the present disclosure are shown. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the various embodiments set forth herein, rather, these various embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the present disclosure. Furthermore, a detailed description of other parts will not be provided not to make the present disclosure unclear. Like reference numerals in the drawings refer to like elements throughout.
The subject invention lies in providing a busway joint cover arrangement consisting of busways, busway joint assembly, joint cover assembly. Two busways are joined with joint assembly, with their top and bottom uncovered portion operably closed by fastening joint cover assembly from both the sides. Joint cover assembly has provision for connecting with the busbars for short duration of time when a certain amount of force will be applied through leads of multi-meter. Drop of voltage within a single joint between two feeders can be registered through multi-meter display. By measuring this across each joint, region of high obstruction of current is traced, thereby enhancing the efficiency of analysis during maintenance.

According to one implementation of the present invention a busway joint cover arrangement for voltage drop management, said assembly enclosing an electrical joint connection between a first electrical busway section (1) and a second adjoining electrical busway section (1), comprising a joint cover assembly (3) operably positioned to fix a gap between each busway section (1) and a joint assembly (2), said joint cover assembly comprising a contact assembly (34) adapted to rest on a joint cover flange (311) and operably coupled a top cover base (331) to restrict the linear movement of the contact assembly (34) and is fixed on the top of busway conductors (13) in the joint assembly (2); and a cover (5) operably mounted on busway housing means and operably fixed to the joint cover assembly (3) to restrict the entry of foreign particles, wherein each busway section (1) includes a plurality of electrical conductors (13), wherein the contact assembly (34) is operably coupled to the plurality of charged electrical conductors (13).

In an exemplary implementation, the arrangement consists of two units of busway (1). For continuity of supply these two busway (1) units are connected to each other through a joint assembly (2). The accessible portion from either sides of joint section of the busway (1) units and joint assembly (2) are covered by joint cover assembly (3) using hardware (4) to fix the gap and attain the desired ingress protection up to certain limit. A IP cover (5) is mounted on a joint case (121) with IP cover gasket (6) pasted on its surface and fixed it through joint cover (31) from both sides such that its movement restricted for entry of foreign particles.

A contact assembly (34) is rested on a joint cover flange (311) and top cover base (331) is fixed on the contact assembly (34), such that linear movement of contact assembly (34) is restricted and it is fixed on the top of busway conductors (13) in the joint assembly (2).

The contact assembly (34) consists of a plunger assembly (341), plunger holder (342), plunger guide (343) and plunger spring (344). The plunger holder (342) fixed one end of plunger spring (344) and plunger assembly is inserted into the spring. Lateral displacement of plunger assembly (341) is prevented by plunger guide (343). This arrangement is fixed using hardware (35).

The plunger assembly (341) further consists two components- a plunger pin (3411) and a plunger cap (3412). The force exerted by the plunger spring (344) on plunger assembly (341) moves towards plunger guide (343). This force is counter balanced by a stopper available with plunger pin (3411).

For measurement of voltage drop and contact resistance, it is necessary to make contact of plunger pin (3411) and charged conductors. This has been taken care by application of force on the plunger cap (3412) by the probes of measuring instrument. Plunger pin (3411) and plunger cap (3412) are conducting materials.

For measurement of voltage drop and contact resistance, the plunger pin (3411) is adapted to come in contact with the charged conductor, by applying force on the plunger cap (3412) by the probes of measuring instrument. The plunger pin (3411) and the plunger cap (3412) are conducting materials. As indicated in figure 3, the joint cover assembly (3) consists of two contact assemblies (34) fixed at either ends of the cut out provided on the joint cover (31). The contact assembly (34) consists four units of plunger assembly (341), each for individual phase from R-Y-B-N phases. When plunger pin (3411) of same phases of both contact assemblies (34) are in contact with the charged conductor (13), they provide the signal to multi-meter to measure the drop in voltage among the phase conductor (13) of the two busway (1) units in the joint. If the two plunger pins (3411) of same contact assembly (34) come in contact with respective charged conductor (13), then the potential difference among the two phases of the line will be displayed.

The surrounding environment of a busway installation route is generally adverse. Thus ingress protection is attained by a hinged top cover (332), operably mounted to a top cover base (331) by rivet (333). This reduces the need of complete removal of joint cover for the maintenance and verification of cause of voltage dip and also reducing the threat of contamination with live parts while maintenance.

In an exemplary implementation of the present invention, failure location can be traced by the arrangement. As per the temperature and dielectric requirements, material of plunger holder and guide is selected. Size of the feature and number of plunger assemblies depends on phase configuration of busway system. For multi-stack arrangement, phase equalizer is incorporated in the joint section. Else in multi-stack it will show result of stack; whose conductors in joint are in contact with plunger pin.

Some of the non-limiting advantages of the present invention are:

1. Measuring the voltage drop measurement, which is useful to trace the location of maximum voltage dip.

2. Useful in analysing cause of increase of temperature in joints.

3. Reduction of possibility of failure of equipment due to low voltage.

4. Mitigating the difficulties faced by maintenance team while routine inspection and maintenance of installed busway line.

Although a busway joint cover arrangement for voltage drop management has been described in language specific to structural features, it is to be understood that the embodiments disclosed in the above section are not necessarily limited to the specific methods or devices described herein. Rather, the specific features are disclosed as examples of implementations of a busway joint cover arrangement for voltage drop management.