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...
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...
Meeting room of the future
The IET site has a video of a visit showing of a high tech meeting room developed at Napier University in Edinburgh. It a good demonstration of innovative...
Questions - Reputation and Privilege
Our question and answer system while letting you do exactly what it says, is much more. It is a dynamic user driven system, where our users not only ask...
Paternoster Lifts
These lifts were first built in 1884 by J. E. Hall and called a paternoster ("Our Father", the first two words of the Lord's Prayer in Latin) due to its...
Voltage Levels – Confused?
I was having a conversation the other day about voltage levels. While everyone was in agreement that low voltage was 1000 V and less, there was more confusion...
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...
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...
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...
Motor Insulation
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...