Hazardous Areas – IEC and NEC/CEC Comparison
Depending where in the world you work, you are likely following one of two standards
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)
National...
How to Calculate Motor Starting Time
Request to look at induction motor starting time have come up a few times on the site. Hopefully in this post, I give you guys some idea on how to calculate...
Fire Resistant and Fire Retardant Cables
Fire resistant and fire retardant cable sheaths are design to resist combustion and limit the propagation of flames. Low smokes cables have a sheath designed...
Control Theory
Control theory looks at how systems work and are controlled from a mathematical view. This note gives a brief introduction to some of the concepts – more...
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...
The ac resistance of conductors
In a previous article I looked at the dc resistance of conductors and in this article we turn our attention to ac resistance. If you have not read the...
Voltage Levels – Confused?
I was having a conversation the other day about voltage levels. While everyone was in agreement that low voltage was 1000 V and less, there was more confusion...
Switchboard - Forms of Internal Separation
IEC 61439 'Low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies', specifies standard arrangements of switchboard (call forms of internal separation). The...
Michael Faraday (the father of electrical engineering)
Famed English chemist and physicist Michael Faraday was born on September 22, 1791, in Newington Butts, a suburb of Surrey just south of the London Bridge...
Lighting Design - An Introduction
From the earliest times, humans have found ways to create light. Pre-historic peoples used natural materials (moss, grass, etc.) soaked in animal fat and...