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Tin plated, galvanized, or stainless busbar for gantry crane

July 11, 2012

Dear Sirs,
Please explain difference between tin plated, galvanized, and SS busbar for gantry crane in sludge decanter centrifuge room.
Specs say tin plated busbar but contractor suggests galvanized or SS.
Best Regards

Abdulsalam el shahaly
water treatment plants projects - Riyadh, saudi arabia

Hi Abdulsalam.

You are calling this item "busbar" but I think you are referring to what I would call "feedrails". Does your gantry crane have some sort of collector shoes that run along this "busbar" to draw power from it, similar to a trolley or an electric train?

Tin plated copper feedrails will have far greater current-carrying capacity than galvanized steel feedrails or stainless steel feedrails -- steel offers less than 15 percent of the amperage capacity of copper, and stainless steel probably offers only half that of steel (the exact numbers would depend on the exact analysis of the metals.)

An industrial environment which corrodes tin plated copper will corrode galvanizing, so I doubt that that would help. If tin plated copper will survive whatever corrosiveness is in the atmosphere, I think it will prove more satisfactory than stainless steel.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
July 11, 2012