What does N+1 mean?
The term 'N+1' relates to redundancy and simply means that if you required 'N' items of equipment for something to work, you would have one additional...
Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla was born exactly at midnight on July 10, 1856 in the tiny village of Smiljan, Lika in Croatia. In his late teens, Tesla left the village to...
Voltage Levels to IEC 60038
The standard aims to consolidate AC and traction voltages within the industry and defines the following bands:
band 1 - A.C. systems 100 V to 1...
Lighting Design - An Introduction
From the earliest times, humans have found ways to create light. Pre-historic peoples used natural materials (moss, grass, etc.) soaked in animal fat and...
Gas Insulated or Air Insulated Switchgear
Various arguments exist around SF6 Gas Insulated (GIS) and Air Insulated (AIS) medium voltage switchgear. Recently we had to change a GIS design to AI...
IEC 60287 Current Capacity of Cables - Rated Current
In the previous note we looked at the approach taken by the standard to the sizing of cables and illustrated this with an example. We then looked at one...
Load Flow Study – how they work
A load flow study is the analysis of an electrical network carried out by an electrical engineer. The purpose is to understand how power flows around...
Photovoltaic (PV) - Utility Power Grid Interface
Photovoltaic (PV) systems are typically more efficient when connected in parallel with a main power gird. During periods when the PV system generates energy...
Voltage Levels – Confused?
I was having a conversation the other day about voltage levels. While everyone was in agreement that low voltage was 1000 V and less, there was more confusion...
Standard Cable & Wire Sizes
IEC 60228 is the International Electrotechnical Commission's international standard on conductors of insulated cables. Among other things, it defines a...