MeteorCalc SL - software for designing street lighting networks.
Overview
MeteorCalc SL is a CAD plugin for designing electrical part of outdoor lighting networks such as street lighting and tunnel lighting installations. MeteorCalc SL is based on the same principles as MeteorSpec.
The software fully automates all electrotechnical calculations, computations of specifications and drawing of electrical schemes. The productivity of outdoor lighting designers increases several times when using this plugin.
The main features of the MeteorCalc SL are:
- Automated computation of specifications and explications of equipment;
- Automated drawing of detailed single-line schemes of street lighting feeders;
- Calculation of short-circuit currents according to IEC60909 (last edition 2016);
- Calculation of voltage losses in street lighting feeders with an unbalanced load;
- Calculation of power sum and load currents in street lighting feeders and distribution panel boards;
- Adjustable cable database according to regional standards.
MeteorCalc SL supports the 400/230V (TN) 50Hz voltage systems in street lighting networks and the Metric system of units in dwg-files. The nominal voltage is adjustable within 220/380V - 250/440V according to regional standards.
More information about MeteorCalc SL you may find in the website: meteorcalc.com
(Note: The program is not intended for performing lighting calculations).
Integration with street lighting networks
The MeteorCalc and the MeteorSpec can work separately or as combined complex. In other words, you can connect a street lighting cabinet with street lighting feeders to any point of a distribution network and calculate SC-currents in street lighting networks having a power supply feeder of any complexity.
How to connect street lighting cabinet to low-voltage network?
It is very simple. Any junction of low-voltage distribution network simulated by the MeteorSpec-NETWORK can be used as a power supply point of a street lighting cabinet designed by the MeteorCalc SL software.
To connect the street lighting cabinet to the junction of low-voltage distribution network do the following:
- Define the junction as the power supply point of street lighting;
- Perform the "Calculations at the node" procedure for this junction;
- Place the "Start point" block of street lighting network to the same position where the junction block is located.
Then you can use the MeteorCalc SL calculation commands to calculate short-circuit currents at the street lighting cabinet and at all the end points of street lighting feeders powered from this cabinet.
Calculations in the street lighting network will be performed taking into account all cable sections from the transformer of distribution network up to the estimated fault point in the street lighting feeder.
Concept of Street Lighting Unit
The fundamental difference of this program is that it contains a totally customizable database (named Data Library) for describing street lighting units used in the models of street lighting networks. The Data Library contains all the data about luminaires, poles and other equipment necessary for electrotechnical calculations and computations of materials.
Descriptions of street lighting units may comprise data about simple or complex objects. For example, it may be a street lighting pole with several luminaires or a floodlight mast or a single pendant luminaire, etc.
In terms of electrical engineering a street lighting unit is an electrical consumer in a street lighting network.
In terms of network topology it is a node of a street lighting network model. An unlimited number of cable lines may be connected to any node.
In terms of the CAD-platform it is a block inserted within the work layer of the program to simulate an electrical consumer and a node in a street lighting network. Certain data must be assigned to a block to determine the street lighting unit.
The user must first define the data of the street lighting units in the Data Library and then use them to attach data to blocks of a network model.