Notes

Generator Sizing & Operation Limits

By Steven McFadyen on 11/2/2010 3:07 AM

When selecting a generator, there are inherent limits on the active and reactive power which can be delivered. Generators are normally sized for a certain kW at a power factor of 0.8. However, to unders... read more..

Star-Delta Motor Starting - Performance

By Steven McFadyen on 7/10/2014 3:51 PM

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 merit in performing a more detailed study.&... read more..

IEC 60287 Current Capacity of Cables - An Introduction

By Steven McFadyen on 1/31/2013 1:00 PM

IEC 60287 "Calculation of the continuous current rating of cables (100% load factor)" is the International Standard which defines the procedures and equations to be used in determining the ... read more..

Electromagnetic Fields - Exposure Limits

By Steven McFadyen on 6/28/2014 6:00 PM

Exposure to time varying magnetic fields, from power frequencies to the gigahertz range can have harmful consequences. A lot of research has been conducted into identifying these effects and de... read more..

DC Component of Asymmetrical Faults

By Steven McFadyen on 1/9/2013 6:52 PM

The image (reproduced from IEC 60909) shows a typical fault in an ac system. From the illustration it can seen that there is an initial dc component (i_d.c.). This initial dc compo... read more..

Induction Motor Equivalent Circuit

By Steven McFadyen on 5/13/2014 1:19 PM

Induction motors are frequently used in both industrial and domestic applications. Within the induction motor, an electrical current in the rotor is induced by a varying magnetic field in the s... read more..

Photovoltaic (PV) - Electrical Calculations

By Steven McFadyen on 7/11/2013 2:46 PM

Photovoltaic (PV) cells (sometimes called solar cells) convert solar energy into electrical energy. Every year more and more PV systems are installed. With this growing application, it's ... read more..

How D.C. to A.C. Inverters Work

By Steven McFadyen on 4/22/2014 1:19 PM

Traditionally generation of electricity has involved rotating machines to produce alternating sinusoidal voltage and current (a.c. systems). With the development of power electronics during the last ... read more..

The dc resistance of conductors

By Steven McFadyen on 1/5/2012 2:14 PM

This is the first of two posts on the resistance of conductors. In the next post I will look at the ac resistance, including skin effect and we deal with this. To get started, this post will look at the... read more..

How to Size Power Cable Duct

By Steven McFadyen on 11/24/2011 10:09 AM

Some colleagues had an issue earlier in the week on sizing conduits to be cast in concrete for some power cables . It became clear that none of us had a clear idea on an approved method. In the end w... read more..

How to Size Current Transformers

By Steven McFadyen on 11/7/2011 11:48 AM

The correct sizing of current transformers is required to ensure satisfactory operation of measuring instruments and protection relays. Several methods exist to size current transformers. This note will... read more..

Back to Basics - Ohm’s Law

By Steven McFadyen on 10/21/2011 2:02 PM

Electrical engineering has a multitude of laws and theorems. It is fair to say the Ohm's Law is one of the more widely known; it not the most known. Developed in 1827 by Georg Ohm the law defines the re... read more..

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What happened to the cable notes?

If you are wondering what happened to our cable notes, the short answer is that we have moved them to myCableEngineering.com. The "Knowledge Base" at...

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...

Understanding LV Circuit Breaker Fault Ratings

I think this post is going to be helpful to several of our readers. While the IEC low voltage circuit breaker Standard [IEC 60947-2, Low voltage switchgear...

Back to basics - the Watt (or kW)

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...

Low Voltage Circuit Breakers

Circuit breakers are switching devices whose primary function is to isolate parts of an electrical distribution system in the even of abnormal conditions...

Equipment Verification (to IEC Standards)

One of the requirements to ensuring that everything works is to have equipment selected, manufactured and verified [tested] to IEC standards. Not all equipment...

Mobile Phones (Brick to Implant)

The mobile phone was born in 1973. They were the size of a brick and weighed a couple of kg, making them difficult to fit into your pocket. At a few thousand...

How to Check a Circuit is Dead

If you want to check a circuit is dead (not live), you should always use the three point method. First check a known live circuit, then check the dead...

Alternating Current Circuits

Alternating current (a.c.) is the backbone of modern electrical power distribution. In this article I’ll be pulling some of the more important concepts...

RLC Circuit, Resistor Power Loss - some Modelica experiments

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

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