Copper Busbars and Copper Rod are used within electrical installations for distributing power from a supply point to a number of output circuits and earthing circuits. They may be used in a variety of configurations ranging from vertical risers and carrying current to each floor of a multi-storey building, to bars used entirely within a distribution panel or within an industrial process.
Why copper?
With regard to materials for busbars, the properties of a conductor material are essential to achieving a long and reliable service life at the lowest lifetime cost. These include low electrical and thermal resistance; high mechanical strength in tension, compression and shear; high resistance to fatigue failure; low electrical resistance of surface films; ease of fabrication; high resistance to corrosion; and competitive first cost and high eventual recovery value.
As a result, busbars are generally made from either copper or aluminium. For conductivity and strength, high conductivity (HC) copper is far superior to aluminium. The only disadvantage of copper is identified at its higher density, which results in higher weight.
The higher modulus of elasticity of copper gives it greater beam stiffness compared with an aluminium conductor of the same dimensions. The temperature variations encountered under service conditions require a certain amount of flexibility to be allowed for in the design. The lower coefficient of linear expansion of copper reduces the degree of flexibility required.
Busbar profiles
Busbar profiles are being increasingly used in distribution panels and switchboards, where the design considerations are significantly different from long vertical and horizontal busbars. This is a growing market because busbar profiles offer distinct advantages, such as material savings, lower assembly time, reduced complexity and lower scrap.
BlitzTek range of copper products
- High-conductivity rectangular, square & round copper busbars
- Coiled Copper earthing strip (tape) and rods
- Paper-covered copper strip for transformer industry
- Round and hexagonal solid and hollow brass bars, and solid square brass bars, as well as other profiles on request
