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...
Dielectric loss in cables
Dielectrics (insulating materials for example) when subjected to a varying electric field, will have some energy loss. The varying electric field causes...
Smarter Electrical Distribution
The other day I came across an article in Technology Review on the development of a smart transformer. A professor at North Carolina State University is...
Introduction to Lighting
When looking at the design of a lighting scheme it is useful to have an understanding on the nature of light itself and some of the basic theory associated...
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...
Load Flow Study – how they work
A load flow study is the analysis of an electrical network carried out by an electrical engineer. The purpose is to understand how power flows around...
Cold Fusion (or not?)
Recently I have seen a few interesting articles on viable cold fusion; the combining of atoms at room like temperatures to create boundless energy. Now...
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...
Cable Insulation Properties
Cable insulation is used to provide electrical separation between conductors of a cable. During the historical development of cables, numerous types...
ANSI (IEEE) Protective Device Numbering
The widely used United Sates standard ANSI/IEEE C37.2 'Electrical Power System Device Function Numbers, Acronyms, and Contact Designations' deals with...