Lightning Protection and Earth Electrode Resistance
Most installations involve some form of lightning protection system which is connected to an earth electrode. The function of the earth electrode is to...
What is Aircraft Ground Power
Ever wondered what kind of power an aircraft uses when parked at the airport stand. Normally the aircraft generates it own power, but when parked with...
Magicians of Engineering
The other day I was reading 'Night of the New Magicians' by Mary Pope Osborn with my son. The story is about a young boy and girl who travel back in time...
Understanding electric motor insulation & temperature
Anyone specifying or using electric motors should have a basic understanding how the insulation is related to temperature. Three classes of insulation...
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...
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...
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...
8 Motor parts and common faults
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...
Batteries
A battery consists of one or more cells, each of which use stored chemical energy to produce electrical energy, There are many types of cells and these...
Sony Pocket eBook Reader
For the past few years I have reading eBooks on my HTC touch phone. On and off I have debated buying an eReader and recently purchased a Sony PRS-300 ...