GE's Shingijutsu Factory

By Steven McFadyen on 5/12/2010 11:07 PM

GE's latest thinking on product manufacturing is he Shingijutsu philosophy or Lean production system. They have started applying this at the Louisville Appliance Park manufacturing facility. The first a... read more..


Wiki Depreciation

By Steven McFadyen on 3/27/2012 4:06 PM

We have had the Wiki with us for a long time now, but at last I have decided to say bye bye – more details on why below. read more..


Introduction to Traction Substations

By Steven McFadyen on 2/26/2012 12:16 PM

Following on from my post on railway electrification voltages, I thought an introduction to traction substation... read more..


Tech Topics/Application Notes - Siemens

By Steven McFadyen on 3/13/2012 6:21 AM

There are a lot of interesting two page type notes on various medium voltage topics – switchgear, circuit breakers, bus systems etc. It is on the Siemens US site, so many of he note are IEEE/ANSI ... read more..


Why use catalogues

By Steven McFadyen on 2/8/2012 5:35 AM

I'm a fan of using manufacturers catalogues. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, if your involved in the purchase of equipment, you will likely need to look into catalogues to find what you ne... read more..


Railway Electrification Voltages

By Steven McFadyen on 1/23/2012 11:38 AM

This post is quick introduction and overview to different railway electrification voltages used in answer to a question sent in via email. While there are numerous voltages in use through out the w... read more..


Induction Motor Calculator

By Steven McFadyen on 2/2/2012 1:15 PM

Just added a page to the tools, which will allow you to calculate the synchronous speed, slip and rated torque for an induction motor. Not a particularly complicated calculation, but anything the mak... read more..


myElectrical - Cable Sizing Tool Upgrade

By Steven McFadyen on 12/2/2011 4:56 AM

Our IEE cable sizing was wrote a few years ago and had become rough around the edges. I thought it was time to give the tool a service. Unfortunately when I looked under the hood I found cracked cylinde... read more..


8 Motor parts and common faults

By Steven McFadyen on 12/6/2011 6:07 AM

Straight forward list of some common motor faults.  If I have missed any other common faults, please take a bit of time to add them in as a comment below. read more..


Understanding Motor Duty Rating

By Steven McFadyen on 12/12/2011 8:05 AM

One of the comments on my Motor Starting Series was asking for something on duty cycles. Here it is.

As a... read more..


Bows and Arrows

By Steven McFadyen on 4/11/2010 11:43 PM

It starts with me reading one of the Horrible History books with my son (Groovy Greeks). Arrows were mentioned which lead to the discussion of the bodkin arrow head. To show him how much work was requir... read more..


Skin Tapping Input

By Steven McFadyen on 3/30/2010 2:13 AM

Tapping your forearm or hand with a finger could soon be the way you interact with gadgets. A new technology created by Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University uses 'body acoustics' to turn skin into a... read more..




Material Properties

Everything physical in electrical engineering from insulations to conductors revolves around materials. Here we are listing common materials along with...

Voltage Drop in Installations - Concepts

Problems on achieving maximum voltage drop within an installation come up often. Depending where you live, local regulations will have different limits...

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...

Battery Sizing

This article gives an introduction to IEEE 485 method for the selection and calculation of battery capacity.

Meeting room of the future

The IET site has a video of a visit showing of a high tech meeting room developed at Napier University in Edinburgh. It a good demonstration of innovative...

Maximum Demand for Buildings

Estimating maximum demand is a topic frequently discussed. Working out how much power to allow for a building can be very subjective . Allowing too much...

Mobile Phones (Brick to Implant)

The mobile phone was born in 1973. They were the size of a brick and weighed a couple of kg, making them difficult to fit into your pocket. At a few thousand...

International System of Units (SI System)

The International System of Units (abbreviated SI) is the world's most widely used system of units.  The system consists of a set of units and prefixes...

Write your best report

Years ago I was told that you should always try to write the best report you can.  Many years later I still think on this as one of the better pieces of...

DC Motor Operation

Coils of wire on the rotor carry a d.c. current which generates a magnetic field. A stator magnetic field is created using either permanent magnets or...

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