Large Hadron Collider
The 27 km, Euro 6 billion Collider lies on the border between France and Switzerland, took nearly 30 years to complete. Some of the lofty goals for the...
Capacitors - Energy Storage Application
Capacitors have numerous applications in electrical and electronic applications. This note examines the use of capacitors to store electrical energy....
Restricted Earth Fault Protection
The windings of many medium and small sized transformers are protected by restricted earth fault (REF) systems. The illustration shows the principal of...
Power Factor
Power factor is the ratio between the real power (P in kW) and apparent power (S in kVA) drawn by an electrical load. The reactive power (Q in kVAr)...
Gas Insulated or Air Insulated Switchgear
Various arguments exist around SF6 Gas Insulated (GIS) and Air Insulated (AIS) medium voltage switchgear. Recently we had to change a GIS design to AI...
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...
Why use catalogues
I'm a fan of using manufacturers catalogues. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, if your involved in the purchase of equipment, you will likely...
Generator Sizing & Operation Limits
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...
Operational Amplifier
The fundamental component of any analogue computer is the operational amplifier, or op amp. An operational amplifier (often called an op-amp,) is a high...
LED Replacement Light Bulb
The inventor of the first visible light-emitting diode makes history again this year as it begins to show customers a 40-watt replacement GE Energy Smart...