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What we do

Panels built by the people who commission them

Almafor builds control panels in its own workshop in Mussafah, Abu Dhabi. Motor control centres, variable frequency drive panels, instrumentation and control panels, RTU and PLC panels, and the SCMS and inverter panels that go into grid stations.

The workshop exists for one reason. We are the contractor who then installs the panel, terminates it, commissions it and stands at site acceptance, so a fault we build in is a fault we come back for. That is a different incentive from buying a panel in, and it shows up in the things nobody sees on the drawing: gland plate layout, cable entry that matches the route the cables actually take, and terminal numbering that matches the as built schedule rather than the design one.

Everything is proven before it leaves. A panel is configured, powered and function tested at the workshop with your engineers present. Finding a wiring error in Mussafah costs an afternoon. Finding the same error in a live grid station costs an outage window you may not get again for months.

Typical brief

What we are usually asked to build

Panel work reaches us in three shapes, and they carry different risks.

Motor control centres

Form 4 assemblies for pumping and process plant, with the starters, drives and protection for the duty and standby sets. At Khalifa City A five pumping stations each received a Form 4 MCC with fifteen variable frequency drives across the pump sets.

Control and telemetry panels

RTU, PLC, VFD and instrumentation panels for distributed assets. On the Madinat Zayed parks contract twelve stations each received a pump control panel carrying an RTU and a route back to SCADA, seven at 5.5kW three phase and five at 2.5kW single phase.

Substation panels

SCMS panels, bay control unit cubicles and inverter panels for the control supply. These are built to the utility's own standards and factory tested against the point schedule before they are allowed anywhere near a live station.

Scope

What the scope usually covers

  • Panel design and general arrangement drawings
  • Schematic and wiring diagrams for approval
  • Component selection and procurement
  • Form 4 motor control centre assembly
  • Variable frequency drive panels
  • RTU, PLC and instrumentation panels
  • SCMS and inverter panels
  • Busbar, protection and metering
  • Terminal schedules and cable numbering
  • PLC and RTU configuration and logic
  • HMI development and touch screens
  • Factory acceptance testing with your engineers
  • Delivery, installation and termination
  • Site acceptance testing and commissioning
  • As built drawings and O and M manuals

Track record

Panels we have built

Completed contracts with the client and the dates. Follow any card for the full detail.

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Platforms

Standards and equipment

Component choice usually follows the client's own approved vendor list rather than ours, which is the point of being a builder rather than a reseller.

  • Form 4 assemblies
  • Schneider Electric
  • ABB
  • Siemens
  • Danfoss drives
  • Allen Bradley PLC
  • Modbus RTU and TCP
  • IEC 61439 panel standards
  • ISO 9001:2015
  • ISO 45001:2018

Method

How a panel is delivered

  1. Design

    General arrangement, schematics and terminal schedules issued for approval before any metal is cut. On brownfield work this stage is checked against a site survey rather than against the old drawings.

  2. Procurement

    Components ordered against the approved vendor list. Long lead items are identified here, because a drive with a sixteen week lead time decides the programme, not the assembly.

  3. Assembly

    Built in our Mussafah workshop. Busbar, wiring, glanding and labelling to the schedules, with the cable entry arranged for the route the cables will actually take on site.

  4. Factory test

    Powered, configured and function tested with your engineers present, against the point schedule and the control logic. Nothing ships on a promise.

  5. Install and terminate

    Delivered, set, terminated and megger tested by the same team, with the civil and MEP work where the contract includes it.

  6. Commission

    Site acceptance testing, integration with the supervisory system, operator training, and as built drawings that match what is in the enclosure.

Common questions

Questions we are asked about this

Do you build the panels yourselves?

Yes, in our own workshop in Mussafah, Abu Dhabi. We are the contractor who then installs, terminates and commissions the panel and attends site acceptance, so the people who build it are the people who answer for it.

What is a Form 4 motor control centre?

A form of internal separation where the busbars, the functional units and the outgoing terminals are each segregated from one another. In practice it means a fault or a maintenance operation in one starter compartment does not expose the rest of the assembly, which is why it is the normal requirement for pumping and process plant that cannot be fully shut down for work.

Can we witness the factory acceptance test?

Yes, and we prefer it. The panel is powered, configured and function tested against the point schedule and the control logic with your engineers present. An error found in Mussafah costs an afternoon. The same error found on a live station costs an outage window.

Do you build to our standards or yours?

Yours. Component choice normally follows the client's approved vendor list, and utility panels are built to the utility's own standards. That is the difference between a panel builder and a reseller with a preferred brand.

Do you also install and commission, or only supply?

Both, and the combination is the point. On the Khalifa City A irrigation mains we delivered the electrical and control scope across all five pumping stations, and on the Al Khazna grid station we built the SCMS and inverter panels and commissioned them into the Distribution Management System and the Load Dispatch Centre.

How small a job will you take?

A single wall mounted panel is normal work. The Hudariyat cycling club irrigation panel is one enclosure carrying an RTU and a PLC. The same discipline applies whether it is one panel or ninety bay control cubicles.

Related

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Send a message

Emailinfo@almafor.com
Sales+971 55 954 5801
Technical+971 55 954 5802
Office+971 2 665 5540
Address
Office 4, Mezzanine 2, Dongfeng car showroom building, Khalifa Bin Zayed The First St
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

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