including Memshield 2 distribution boards and MEM wiring accessories, used on the project.

About 300m of Mempower XP 1600A low impedance busbar trunking has been used. The installation involved negotiating numerous obstacles including structural supports, service ducts and the main support structure for a mobile crane which, like the busbar trunking, runs along the centre of the moulding shop. Mempower produced 28 purpose-designed bends for this but its unique 'Velocity Joint' system also simplified installation.

The result is a highly flexible system - unusual for a busbar distribution system of this rating - with more than 180 tap-offs allowing new machines to be connected, or existing machines to be re-located, with ease.

Plastek claims to be the leading American manufacturer of injection moulded containers for the toiletries and cosmetics industry. It supplies international blue chip companies in the health and beauty care market. The company makes moulding tools as well as the mouldings themselves and operates five moulding factories and four tool-making plants in the USA.

Last year, Plastek embarked on a new 'globalisation programme' with the construction of new plants in Mansfield, England and São Paulo, Brazil. The 1 50,000 sq.ft plant at Crown Farm Way, Mansfield is designed to be the headquarters for the Group's European operations. Manufacturing facilities mirror those in America to ensure consistent production standards.
The Mempower busbar distribution system starts at the main switchboard, where four 1 600A Mempower XP busbar feeders take power up to a height of 8.5m. From here four parallel lateral runs, installed within the roof space, take power 20m to the centre-point of the 90m x 32m moulding shop. At this point they drop to a working height of 5.8m and two 44m laterals run in each direction along the centre-line of the moulding shop.

These lateral runs are installed either side of the central roof support and provide 250A three-phase tap-off points for the moulding machines every metre along the outside face of each run.

A special feature of Mempower XP busbar trunking, that enabled the system to negotiate the various obstacles, was the integral Velocity Joint system. At either end of a busbar section, the flat conductors fan out so that two sections can be joined by interleaving the conductors and bolting them together with a single insulated bolt. Similarly, an angle can be formed as either a simple elbow joint or uniquely a radial angle between 0 and 90.

Low-impedance busbar trunking is used for high-power applications. Unlike standard busbar trunking which uses air-insulated busbars, low impedance busbar trunking uses a 'sandwich' construction with flat busbars, separated by thin-film insulators, in a tightly-packed assembly. The result is a more compact busbar trunking system with reduced reactance, and hence voltage drop, than traditional systems. Mempower XP low impedance busbar trunking is available in ratings from 500A to 5,000A.

F. Bailey, the electrical contractor for the Plastek project, installed the Mempower XP busbar trunking and also installed a number of Memshield 2 MCB distribution boards, ranging from six to 24 TPN ways, to distribute power for lighting and small power in other factory and office areas. Meanwhile MEM white moulded wiring accessories were used throughout.