What is a Cut Sheet?
A cut sheet (also known as a spec sheet or specification sheet) is an equipment information sheet that provides and describes the specifications and/or features of a piece of equipment. These are common in the electrical industry for equipment such as motors, circuit breakers, transformers, and other electrical equipment.
Any commercial electrical job typically has to have all material or equipment approved by the electrical engineers, owners, or both. A cut sheet gives you sizes, ratings, capacities, colors—and any other information potentially needed for an installation.
Many cut sheets or spec sheets include a photograph and lists of parts of the equipment as well as other equipment model numbers and the features of their alternate models.
The alternate equipment model number and features in the cut sheet are very useful for comparison purposes to help you make sure you’ve got the right piece of equipment for your project.
Cut Sheet Examples
The cut sheet is essentially a report that is used during the installation of electrical equipment. Hence, a cut sheet of any electrical equipment provides sizes, ratings, capacities of the equipment, etc.
For example, a cut sheet or data-sheet of an MCB (Miniature Circuit Breaker) provides important specifications like its rated current, poles description, its application, trip mechanism, network type, network frequency, braking capacity, rated operating voltage, etc.
Let’s look at an example of this.
Example 1: Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB)
Main Specifications:
The main specifications of a Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB) are listed in the below cut sheet (which you can see basically reads like a data-sheet).
| Product Type | Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB) |
| Product Application | Distribution Network |
| Poles Description | 1P |
| Trip Mechanism | Thermal-magnetic |
| Line Rated Current | 1.5 A (250 C) |
| Network Type | AC/DC |
| Network Frequency | 50/60 Hz |
| Breaking Capacity | 5 kA, 240 V AC 10 kA, 120 V AC 10 kA, 60 V DC |
| Rated Operating Voltage | 240 V AC 120 V AC 60 V DC |
Example 2: Liquid-filled transformer
The main specifications and advanced features of an Oil-filled Transformer are listed in the example cut-sheet below.
Main Specifications:
| Product Type | Oil-filled transformer |
| Liquid fluids type | Mineral oil, Silicone transformer oil, Less flammable seed oil |
| Primary Voltage | 2.4 kV to 69 kV |
| Secondary Voltage | 600 V to 35 kV |
| kVA Rating | 225 kVA to 20,000 kVA |
| Applications | Commercial and Industrial applications |
Advanced Features:
- High-frequency standards
- Sealed Tank construction
- Copper or Aluminum windings
- Self-cooled Overload capabilities
- Fan-cooled Overload capabilities
- The higher standard than conventional Dry Type Transformers
- Less flammable fluids available for indoor applications
- Ideal for a wide variety of commercial and industrial applications
