Autonomous Vehicle Challenge
Two driverless and solar power vans have departed from Italy on their way to China via the silk road. During the 13,000 kM trip the vans will drive themselves...
Cost Performance and Time
Often us engineers get so bogged down in equations, using software, producing drawings and writing specifications that this becomes the sole focus. ...
Robots - Interesting Videos
The robot folding towels post below was interesting enough at the time to post a link. Recently I’ve come across a couple of other interesting videos...
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...
Why a Sine Wave?
I received this question by email a few weeks. First thoughts was that it is a product of the mathematics of rotating a straight conductor in a magnetic...
Photovoltaic (PV) Panel - Performance Modelling
In an earlier note on the site [Photovoltaic (PV) - Electrical Calculations], the theory of solar (PV) cell calculations was introduced. In particular...
How to refer fault levels across a transformer
Over the past year or so I've been involved in on going discussions related to referring fault levels from the secondary of a transformer to the primary...
Understanding Circuit Breaker Markings
IEC 60947 is the circuit breaker standard and covers the marking of breakers in detail. Any manufacturer following this standard should comply with the...
Frame Leakage Protection
While not as popular as it once was, frame leakage protection does still have some use in some circumstances. In essence frame leakage is an earth fault...
ANSI (IEEE) Protective Device Numbering
The widely used United Sates standard ANSI/IEEE C37.2 'Electrical Power System Device Function Numbers, Acronyms, and Contact Designations' deals with...