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...
How to measure power supply quality
If your are ever called out to troubleshoot something on your electrical system, one of the first things consider is the supply voltage. You want to ensure...
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...
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...
Back to basics - the Watt (or kW)
When thinking about watts (W) or kilowatt (kW = 1000 W) it can be useful too keep in mind the fundamental ideas behind the unit. Watt is not a pure electrical...
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...
Introduction to Traction Substations
Following on from my post on railway electrification voltages, I thought an introduction to traction substations would be a good idea. Traction substations...
IEC 61439 Verification Methods
The (relatively new) switchgear and control gear standard, IEC 61439 'Low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies' has three methods which can be...
Tips for a better Low Voltage Protection Discrimination Study
Carrying out a protection system discrimination study is critical to ensure the correct functioning of the electrical system in the event of faults. ...
Equipment Verification (to IEC Standards)
One of the requirements to ensuring that everything works is to have equipment selected, manufactured and verified [tested] to IEC standards. Not all equipment...