[null, {"document_url": "http://www.electricsmarts.com/phyl-mar/articles/view/26359", "unformatted_src": "https://electricsmarts.blob.core.windows.net/images/content/snaketray1_issue519.jpg", "src": "https://electricsmarts.blob.core.windows.net/images/content/snaketray1_issue519.jpg", "formatted_filename": "snaketray issue", "alt_text": "In order to make cable runs quicker and more efficient to install \u2014 as \nwell as allow for easily implemented re-distribution of under floor \npower over time \u2014 Snake Tray offers its modular, snap-in-place \nunderfloor electrical busway, the Snake Bus. <br><br>\u201cWe\u2019ve created a \nlongitudinal power distribution system with a modularity that allows a \nvery rapid construction cycle,\u201d said Roger Jette, founder, owner and \npresident of Snake Tray. \u201cThe spin off from that is infinite moving and \nchangeability; there\u2019s nothing else like it.\u201d", "rendered_width": 225}, null]
Snake Tray Offers Modular, Snap-in-Place Electrical Busway James R. Dukart

In order to make cable runs quicker and more efficient to install — as well as allow for easily implemented re-distribution of under floor power over time — Snake Tray offers its modular, snap-in-place underfloor electrical busway, the Snake Bus.

“We’ve created a longitudinal power distribution system with a modularity that allows a very rapid construction cycle,” said Roger Jette, founder, owner and president of Snake Tray. “The spin off from that is infinite moving and changeability; there’s nothing else like it.”

Snake Bus is essentially a series of pre-configured components that snap together to form the Snake Bus track, onto which Snake Whips (tap offs) can be added to power individual devices anywhere along the track. The track delivers 50 Amp 3-Phase 208 Volt providing up to 17.5 kilowatts of power.

Jette detailed several advantages, including “10-second” change-outs of the Snake Whips from one location to another along the track. Snake Bus also speeds overall building design and construction, he added.

“The electrical engineers can design a building not in the schematic but rather to the specific [wiring path],” Jette said. “They can place the tracks where they want them to be and bring them back to exactly where they need to be in a turnkey solution. There are plug and play reception points that go onto this. The building goes together faster. It takes subjectivity out of wiring.”

Additional features include innovative bus bar technology that is more efficient than traditional copper wire, Jette added, which in turn makes the system “green” in more than one way. First, the system’s bus bar technology experiences less voltage drop than traditional copper, which can save on energy consumption. Next, a properly installed Snake Bus system will use approximately 30% less copper than traditional wiring.

“Because there are so few home runs, you are taking things out on a bus, so the consumables of the system consume less copper,” Jette explains. “If you ran a discrete drop to every device, you are running a lot more copper. Consolidating the electric raceway in this way does not use as much copper."

Snake Bus offers both the equipment and isolated earth ground in one single system, and is designed to fit in a space less than 2 1/2 inches in height, allowing for proper airflow under an access floor.

Jette said the system is ideal for workstations, call centers and trading floors, among others, adding a very visual description of the Snake Bus system.

“It’s like track lighting upside down.” Jette exclaimed. “Anywhere along the way, you can subtract or add devices, just like you would move lights along a track.”


