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...
EU Code of Conduct on Data Centres - Best Practices
The European Union is implementing a voluntary code of practice for participants with the aim of improving the overall efficiency of data centres. As part...
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...
Capacitors - Energy Storage Application
Capacitors have numerous applications in electrical and electronic applications. This note examines the use of capacitors to store electrical energy....
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...
Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC)
Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is the study of coordinating electromagnetic fields give off equipment, with the withstand (compatibility) of other...
Generation of a Sine Wave
A fundamental concept behind the operation of alternating current systems is that voltage and current waveforms will be sinusoidal – a Sine Wave. This...
Harmonised Cable Codes and Colours
Within Europe the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) has standardised the both the designation and colour of cables. ...
Star-Delta Motor Starting - Performance
Many questions sent in to the site are in connection with motor starting and in particular star-delta. For all but the simplest application, there is...
Why is electricity so hard to understand?
It's been a busy few months on different projects or busy couple of decades depending on how I look at it. I can say that on the odd (frequent) occasion...