From the monthly archives: April 2012

We are pleased to present below all posts archived in 'April 2012'. If you still can't find what you are looking for, try using the search box.

Control Theory

By Steven McFadyen on 3/29/2012 10:18 PM

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 of a notepad of concepts really, whi... read more..


Useful Motor Technical Information

By Steven McFadyen on 3/28/2012 10:09 PM

Sometimes it’s useful to be able to quickly lookup a piece of technical information.  This note is a collection of information related to motors, and in particular ac induction motors. read more..


Variable Frequency Drive

By Steven McFadyen on 3/28/2012 9:58 PM

Variable frequency drives are widely used to control the speed of ac motors.  This note looks at the mechanisms which enable d... read more..


Motor Efficiency Classification

By Steven McFadyen on 3/28/2012 2:05 PM

Electric motors are one of the most widely used items of electrical equipment. Improving motor efficiency benefits include, reduced power demand, lower operating costs and reduced environment impact.... read more..


Electric Motors

By Steven McFadyen on 3/28/2012 1:12 PM

Collection of links to various places with useful motor information. I’ll try and return to the page every now and again to update it with any motor notes added to the site. read more..


Motor Insulation

By Steven McFadyen on 3/28/2012 1:02 PM

Insulation on a motor prevents interconnection of windings and the winding to earth.  When looking at motors, it is important to understand how the insulation functions and its practical applicatio... read more..


DC Motor Operation

By Steven McFadyen on 3/28/2012 1:00 PM

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 mag... read more..


Wiki Depreciation

By Steven McFadyen on 3/27/2012 4:06 PM

We have had the Wiki with us for a long time now, but at last I have decided to say bye bye – more details on why below. read more..


Restricted Earth Fault Protection

By Steven McFadyen on 3/25/2012 12:49 PM

The windings of many medium and small sized transformers are protected by restricted earth fault (REF) systems. The illustration shows the principal of REF protection. read more..


How to Write an Electrical Note

By Steven McFadyen on 3/24/2012 11:47 AM

Electrical notes are a collaborative collection of electrical engineering information and educational material. Any registered user can add content.

Think of Notes as  an online book;&#... read more..


ANSI (IEEE) Protective Device Numbering

By Steven McFadyen on 3/22/2012 11:40 AM

The widely used United Sates standard ANSI/IEEE C37.2 'Electrical Power System Device Function Numbers, Acronyms, and Contact Designations' deals with protective device function numbering and acronyms. ... read more..


Famous Scientists

By Steven McFadyen on 3/22/2012 11:35 AM

Here’s list of some famous scientists. Deliberately short, with the aim to provide a quick memory jog or overview. If your looking for more detailed information, Google and Wikipedia have tons of ... read more..


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Thermoplastic and Thermosetting Insulation

While there are a vast array of cable insulation materials, these are often divided into two general types; Thermoplastic or Thermosetting. For example...

HTML Symbol Entities

HTML supports a variety of entity symbols which can be entered using either numbers or an entity name.  The number or name is preceded by the ‘&’ sign...

Random Numbers

Using laser optical pulses the random number generator utilizes the time between arrival of random photos to generate the numbers, ensuring true accuracy...

Maxwell's Equations - Introduction

Maxwell's Equations are a set of fundamental relationships, which govern how electric and magnetic fields interact. The equations explain how these fields...

Periodic Electrical Installation Inspection – What to Inspect?

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...

A mechanical engineering paper, some history and memories

I was digging in my bookshelf and came across the 80th Anniversary Association of Mine Resident Engineers, Papers and Discussions Commemorative Edition...

New Mail Chimp

We've been sending out Newsletters on a regular basis for a few weeks now. To do this we have been using Google's Feedburner service. While Feedburner...

Medium Voltage Switchgear Room Design Guide

Many medium voltage (MV) indoor switchgear rooms  exist worldwide. The complexity of these rooms varies considerably depending on location, function and...

Frame Leakage Protection

While not as popular as it once was, frame leakage protection does still have some use in some circumstances.  In essence frame leakage is an earth fault...

Getting Started with Patents

If you have a great idea or invent something the last thing you want is someone to steal the idea. One of the things you can do is protect the intellectual...

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