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...

Modelica is an open source (free) software language for modelling complex systems. Having never used it before, I thought I would download a development...

Motor starting and its associated problems are well-known to many people who have worked on large industrial processes. However, these things are, of course...

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...

This is the second post in a series of two on periodic electrical inspections. In the first post, I discussed how often inspections should be carried out...

Capacitors are widely used in electrical engineering for functions such as energy storage, power factor correction, voltage compensation and many others...

These lifts were first built in 1884 by J. E. Hall and called a paternoster ("Our Father", the first two words of the Lord's Prayer in Latin) due to its...

One of the comments on my Motor Starting Series was asking for something on duty cycles. Here it is. As a purchaser of a motor, you have responsibility...

Multimeters are undoubtedly the most common item of electrical test equipment in use.  Often it is the first piece of equipment people will turn to when...

Power factor is the ratio between the real power (P in kW) and apparent power (S in kVA) drawn by an electrical load. The reactive power (Q in kVAr)...