Cable Tray Installation

Electrical Engineers seldom show interest acquiring knowledge and experience on cable tray installations. Most of them think it's a concern of mechanical fabricators to be taken care of it. A proper and professional way of cable tray installation requires good involvement and coordination of people from both electrical and mechanical disciplines. If cable tray system has been installed appropriately in a project, following advantages can be counted:

• Cable Tray system enhances safety of electrical wiring system.
• Cable tray installation provides dependability in any circumstances.
• Cable Tray system saves space, materials, labor, time and cost.
• Maintenance and extension of cable tray installation are easier than any other wiring system.

Hence, electrical installation of a project must give high priority to adopt properly evaluated cable tray wiring system if aesthetic impact is low. This article explains how to make a typical method statement for cable tray or trunking installation for a building project.

The contractor shall supply, install, test and commission the 13.8 KV cable network as shown and indicated on the contract documents. Conductor sizes shall be metric as shown, conductor sizes with cross sectional areas smaller than specified will not be accepted. The cable installation shall include all trench work, sleeves, ducts, and all necessary fixings and cable terminations at both ends of the cable. The contractor shall supply and install cable marker posts to indicate the route of all underground cables. Markers shall be provided at every bend along the route and at sites of crossing roads or pipe lines.

Below drawing shows how to install cable tray and its support system. This cable tray support system drawing has Isometric view and cross-sectional view. Following are the steps to be done for laying cables on wall mounted cable tray:

1. Install cable tray support using a pre-fabricated flange or GI channel. The size, length and intervals of the support to be as per the specification, standards, number of cables, and size of the cable.
2. Fix the cable tray as shown on the drawing.
3. Lay the cable keeping the distance as per calculation.
4. Tie the cable using cable tie and label the cables as required.