The poll included in the title of the article, in principle, was not on the agenda not so far from us. Soviet Union: the apartment panel was equipped with two automatic machines or plugs as their simplified functional analogues. One such element served the overhead light, and the sockets were powered from the second. The addition of a third common machine in some apartments, from which two "secondary" ones were powered, did not qualitatively change the picture as a whole.
In modern apartments, the number of machines inevitably increases due to the fact that:
- the number of cable lines is increasing;
- there are such powerful consumers as a dishwasher and washing machine, direct-flow water heater and the like.
It is intuitively clear that it is absolutely unnecessary to put an automatic machine on each line, if only because of the increase in the size of the shield and the proportional increase in costs. Accordingly, the question of the golden mean immediately appears on the agenda.
Appointment of machines and some of its features
The automatic machine, figure 1, is made in the form of a rather compact element designed for installation on a DIN rail of an electrical panel, Figure 2 and was originally intended to protect the linear part of the wiring, sockets and loads connected to its output from a short closures. Additionally, this easy-to-use device provides convenience for service and repair work, as it de-energizes the serviced line. In this case, the machine takes over the functions of the wiring control. Thus, the number of machines cannot exceed the number of loops.
In the case of lines designed to supply low-power consumers, one machine is installed per group of such lines.
The principle of choosing the number of machines
From the properties of automata considered above, it directly follows that as their number increases:
- the convenience of wiring management is growing;
- the dimensions of the flap and its cost increase proportionally;
- overall network reliability drops.
Thus, there is no uniquely optimal number of automata, and the choice of this parameter is carried out using additional considerations.
As such, it is permissible to take:
- available range of rated operating currents;
- the consistency of building an electrical circuit at the level of its intuitive understanding.
Then we get:
- one common machine;
- one dedicated machine for each of the large consumers noted above with a kilowatt or close to it power;
- a pair of machines for each room (the entrance hall and the pantry are considered as a room, the kitchen when counting low-power machines is considered as a room).
Doubling the number of machines per room makes it possible to logically divide the lines into "upper" and "lower", using 16-ampere machines for the lower consumers, and 10-ampere machines for the upper ones, Figure 3.
Pi choosing the size of the shield can focus on a 16-bed option for a 1-room apartment and a dashboard with 24 seats for a two-room apartment.