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Posted on 5/15/2012 6:13 AM By Steven McFadyen
Cable insulation is used to provide electrical separation between conductors of a cable. During the historical development of cables, numerous types of insulation have been employed. During recent years, there has been some consolidation in the types of insulation used.
This post provides some information on the more commonly used cable insulation materials.
Posted on 5/10/2012 2:15 PM By Steven McFadyen
Everything physical in electrical engineering from insulations to conductors revolves around materials. Here we are listing common materials along with their most useful properties in relation to electrical engineering.
Posted on 5/9/2012 2:12 PM By Steven McFadyen
Many medium voltage (MV) indoor switchgear rooms exist worldwide. The complexity of these rooms varies considerably depending on location, function and technology adopted by the owner. This article provides general guidance on the factors to be considered in the design of a typical room.
Posted on 5/9/2012 2:10 PM By Steven McFadyen
Low voltage (LV) switchrooms are common across all industries and one of the more common spatial requirements which need to be designed into a project. Main LV switchrooms will typically contain free standing switchboards and Motor Control Centres (MCC), along with auxiliary equipment required for the room to function (bus ducts & cable containment, distribution boards, lighting, small power, air-conditioning equipment, fire fighting, etc.). In addition LV switchrooms often also house other related equipment – marshalling panels, UPS systems, control panels etc..
This article gives some design guidance for the correct sizing of these rooms.
Posted on 5/9/2012 2:07 PM By Steven McFadyen
Often document control is dictated by project requirements, for example a particular organisation may have an existing numbering system. Existing company or group/department document control systems may also be employed. In the absence of any agreed document control, it is recommended that the system detailed in IEC 61355 be followed.
Posted on 5/8/2012 11:59 AM By Steven McFadyen
If you have no idea how electrical circuits work, or what people mean then they talk about volts and amps, hopefully I can shed a bit light. I’m intending this post to be a simple introduction to electrical circuits for anyone who doesn’t know, but is interested.
Posted on 5/2/2012 1:15 PM By Steven McFadyen
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. As with how often, when looking at what to inspect there are two considerations – 1) inspection of systems, which businesses themselves have decided are critical to their operation and 2) the minimum systems which need to be inspected according to regulations.
Posted on 4/26/2012 12:08 PM By Steven McFadyen
How often installations are inspected is up to the owner of the installation, provided such durations do not exceed any regulatory maximums in force. The criticality of the electrical installation to the continuation of the business, often determines how frequently the installation is inspected, for example many banks will carry out annual inspections of their installations. Other types of enterprise may do inspections more frequently and many installations are only inspected as often as required by regulation.
Posted on 4/23/2012 2:05 PM By Steven McFadyen
Laplace transforms and their inverse are a mathematical technique which allows us to solve differential equations, by primarily using algebraic methods. This simplification in the solving of equations, coupled with the ability to directly implement electrical components in their transformed form, makes the use of Laplace transforms widespread in both electrical engineering and control systems engineering.
Posted on 4/20/2012 12:04 PM By Steven McFadyen
I have been thinking recently that there appears to be less professional integrity around than when I first started my career in electrical engineering. Recently the IET has also had a discussion around if engineers should sign an engineering equivalent of the Hippocratic Oath. While I’m not necessarily in favour of swearing oaths, it does illustrate that I’m not the only one thinking about integrity and ethics.
Posted on 4/17/2012 2:00 PM By Steven McFadyen
A single phase system is perhaps the most common type of system most people are familiar with. This is what people have in their homes and what appliances are plugged in to. For larger amounts of power, three phase systems are used.
Posted on 4/16/2012 1:57 PM By Steven McFadyen
A fundamental concept behind the operation of alternating current systems is that voltage and current waveforms will be sinusoidal – a Sine Wave. This is best explained by considering how a coil of wire behaves when rotated in a magnetic field.