Basics of Electricity course

Course Content

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

ƒ Basic of electricity ƒ Magnetism ƒ Generator/Motor

ƒ Voltage & Current ƒ Transformer theory action
ƒ Insulators & ƒ Induction motor ƒ Frequency
Conductors ƒ Relays & Contactors ƒ Inductance,
ƒ Power ,heat & work ƒ Circuit breakers Capacitance & time
ƒ Ratings ƒ Fuses constants
ƒ Components, ƒ System earthling & ƒ Power & power
symbols & units Protective earthling factor in AC circuits
ƒ Ohm’s Law ƒ Transformer Y D
ƒ AC & DC ƒ Semi-conductors
ƒ Electrical safety ƒ VSD
ƒ Switchboard

1
 Level l Basic of Electricity

ƒ Electrons in the outer band can become free of their orbit

by the application of some external force.
Basic of electricity ƒ Forces such as a magnetic field, friction, or chemical action.
ƒ A free electron leaves a void which can be filled by an electron
Insulators & forced out of orbit from another atom.
Conductors ƒ As free electrons move from one atom to the next an
electron flow is produced.
Voltage &
Current

Power ,heat
& work

Ratings

Components,
symbols & units

Ohm’s Law

AC & DC

Level l Insulators & Conductors

Conductors

An electric current is produced when free electrons move from

Basic of electricity
one atom to the next. Materials that permit many electrons to
Insulators & move freely are called conductors.
Conductors

Voltage &
Current

Power ,heat
& work

Ratings

Components,
symbols & units

Ohm’s Law

AC & DC

2
 Level l Insulators & Conductors

Insulators

Basic of electricity Materials that allow few free electrons to move are
called insulators.
Insulators &
Conductors

Voltage &
Current

Power ,heat
& work

Ratings

Components,
symbols & units

Ohm’s Law

AC & DC

Level l Insulators & Conductors

Conductors & insulators working together

ƒ An electric cable is one example of how conductors and

Basic of electricity insulators are used.
ƒ Electrons flow along a copper conductor to provide energy
Insulators & to an electric device such as a radio, lamp, or a motor.
Conductors ƒ An insulator around the outside of the copper conductor is
provided to keep electrons in the conductor.
Voltage &
Current

Power ,heat
& work

Ratings

Components,
symbols & units

Ohm’s Law

AC & DC

3
 Level l Voltage & Current

Voltage

Basic of electricity ƒ Voltage is the force that is applied to a conductor that

causes electric current to flow.
Insulators &
Conductors An electrical voltage can be generated in various ways:

Voltage & ƒ A battery uses an electrochemical process.

Current
ƒ A car’s alternator and a power plant generator
utilizes a magnetic induction process.
Power ,heat
& work
ƒ All voltage sources share the characteristic of an excess
of electrons at one terminal and a shortage at the other
Ratings
terminal. This results in a difference of potential between
the two terminals.
Components,
symbols & units

Ohm’s Law

AC & DC

Level l Voltage & Current

Current

Basic of electricity Electricity is the flow of free electrons in a conductor from

one atom to the next atom in the same general direction.
Insulators &
Conductors

Voltage &
Current

Power ,heat
& work

Ratings

Components,
symbols & units

Ohm’s Law

AC & DC

4
 Level l Power , heat & Work
ƒ In an electrical circuit, voltage applied to a conductor
will cause electrons to flow.
ƒ Voltage is the force and electron flow is the motion
Basic of electricity ƒ The rate at which work is done is called power
measured in Watts
Insulators &
ƒ The watt is defined as the rate work is done in a circuit
Conductors
when 1 amp flows with 1 volt applied
Voltage &
Current

Power ,heat
& work

Ratings

Components,
symbols & units

Ohm’s Law

AC & DC

Level l Ratings

ƒ Voltage rating is the ability of an insulator to withstand voltage

ƒ Current rating is the ability of a conductor to withstand current

Basic of electricity

Insulators &
ƒ Power rating is the ability of both to withstand heat dissipation
Conductors (temperature)

Voltage &
Current

Power ,heat
& work

Ratings

Components,
symbols & units

Ohm’s Law

AC & DC

5
 Level l
Components ,symbols
& units
ƒ Resistors (Ohm’s , watt)
ƒ Capacitance (Farad , Volts, VAR)
Basic of electricity ƒ Inductance ( Henry , Amps)
ƒ Transformers ( KVA , Ratio)
Insulators & ƒ Circuit breaker (Voltage , Current)
Conductors ƒ Fuse (Voltage , current)
Voltage &
Current

Power ,heat
& work

Ratings

Components,
symbols & units

Ohm’s Law

AC & DC

Level l Ohm’s Law

Basic of electricity

Insulators &
Conductors

Voltage &
Current

Power ,heat
& work

Ratings

Components,
symbols & units

Ohm’s Law

AC & DC

6
 Level l AC & DC

Basic of electricity

Insulators &
Conductors

Voltage &
Current

Power ,heat
& work

Ratings

Components,
symbols & units

Ohm’s Law

AC & DC

Level l Electrical safety

ƒ A human body is no more than a pure resistance in the range of 3KΩ
ƒ 30 mill amperes can kill human beings
ƒ We wear Hot gloves and safety boots to increase body resistance
ƒ Capacitors remain charged for a long time after shutting down power
Basic of electricity
ƒ Discharging capacitors, power cables or motors after Megger test can
Lead to igniting sparks.
Insulators &
ƒ Always use multimeter to sense live parts before touching it
Conductors
ƒ Never refuse a fuse
ƒ Before powering up a C.T make sure that its secondary has a burden
Voltage &
Current

Power ,heat
& work

Ratings

Components,
symbols & units

Ohm’s Law

AC & DC

7
Level II
ƒ Magnetism

ƒ Transformer theory

ƒ Induction motor

ƒ Relays & Contactors

ƒ Circuit breakers
ƒ MCC’s

ƒ System earthling & protective earthling

Level ll Magnetism

ƒ A coil of wire carrying a current, acts like a magnet.

ƒ The strength of the magnet can be increased by
increasing the current, number of turns & medium.
Magnetism ƒ Adding an iron core concentrates the flux lines inside
Transformer
the core
theory

Induction motor

Relays &
Contactors

Circuit breakers
MCC’s

System earthling
& protective
earthling

8
 Level ll Transformer theory
ƒ Transformers are electromagnetic devices that transfer electrical
energy from one circuit to another by mutual induction.
ƒ In a single-phase transformer there are two coils, a primary and a
secondary coil.
Magnetism
ƒ The magnetic field produced by the primary induces a voltage
into the secondary coil, which supplies power to a load.
Transformer
ƒ Transformers are used to step a voltage up to a higher level, or
theory
down to a lower level.
VP N p I s
= = ƒ When the voltage is stepped up the current is stepped down at
Induction
V Ns I p motor
S
constant power.
Relays &
Contactors VP N p I s
= =
Circuit breakers VS Ns I p
MCC’s

System earthling
& protective
earthling

Level ll Induction motors

ƒ AC induction motors are commonly used in industrial applications.

ƒ The three basic parts of an AC motor are the rotor, stator, and
enclosure.
Magnetism ƒ Connection of stator windings decides the number of poles
ƒ We have two types of rotor slip ring and squirrel cage.
Transformer ƒInduction motors take 3 phase AC voltage supply only
theory

Induction motor

Relays &
Contactors 1Hp = 0.746 Kw
Circuit breakers
MCC’s n = 60 f / p
System earthling
& protective
earthling

9
 Level ll Induction motors

The main problem of the

Induction motor is the high
Starting current which can
Magnetism damage both the motor
And the power network
Transformer
theory
We can overcome the high
Induction motor starting current by using
Soft-starter.
Relays &
Contactors

Circuit breakers
MCC’s

System earthling
& protective
earthling

Level ll Relays & Contactors

ƒ A relay is simply an electromagnet that pulls a metal

hanger on which the contacts are fixed
Magnetism ƒ The contactor is a relay that can carry more current
ƒ Some contactors are provided with arc extinguishing
Transformer chamber for on-load switching
theory ƒ Contactor and relay coils usually take their signal from
controllers
Induction motor

Relays &
Contactors

Circuit breakers
MCC’s

System earthling
& protective
earthling

10
 Level ll Circuit breakers & Fuses

ƒ C.B’s consists of thermal unit for overload protection in

addition to a magnetic unit for s.c protection
ƒ A C.B has an arc extinguishing chamber to extinguish the
Magnetism arc resulting from the ionization of surrounding air
ƒ There are many types of C.B’s such as : Air , vacuum , oil
Transformer
and SF6
theory
ƒ C.B’s are defined by voltage , continuous current and
Induction motor Breaking capacity
ƒ C.B’s are much more expensive than normal switches
Relays & and contactors
Contactors

Circuit breakers
Fuses

System earthling
& protective
earthling

Level ll Circuit breakers & Fuses

ƒ Fuses provide protection for electrical equipment once

and then it can’t be used again
ƒ Some fuses are time delay and other are instantaneous
Magnetism ƒFuses are defined by Continuous current and voltage and
ampere interrupting capacity AIC
Transformer
theory

Induction motor

Relays &
Contactors

Circuit breakers
Fuses

System earthling
& protective
earthling

11
Level III
ƒ Frequency

ƒ Inductance, Capacitance & time

constants

ƒ Power & power factor in AC circuits

ƒ Transformer Y D

ƒ Semi-conductors

ƒ Inverters & Converters

ƒ VSD

ƒ Switchboard

Level lll Frequency

ƒ The number of cycles per second made by voltage induced in
the armature is the frequency of the generator.
ƒ Frequency is measured in Hertz

Frequency

Power & power

factor in AC
circuits

Transformer Y D

Semi-conductors

VSD

Switchboard

12
 Level lll Power & power factor
Power factor is defined for AC circuits only and is
defined as:

Frequency

Power & power Or P.F= Cos Φ where Φ is the angle between voltage
factor in AC
circuits
wave & current wave
Pac=V.I. CosΦ
Transformer Y D

Semi-conductors

VSD

Switchboard

Level lll Transformer Y & D

ƒ There are two basic three-phase transformer connections, delta &
wye.
ƒ Delta transformers are used where the distance from the supply to
the load is short.
ƒ The wye transformer secondary, has four leads, three phase
Frequency connectors, and one neutral.
ƒ voltage. The line-to-line voltage is 1.732 times the line-to-neutral
Power & power voltage.
factor in AC
circuits

Transformer Y D

Semi-conductors

VSD

Switchboard

13
 Level lll Semi-conductors

ƒ Diodes
ƒ Transistors (Mosfet’s , IGBT’s )
ƒ Thrusters (SCR’s)
Frequency

Power & power

factor in AC
circuits

Transformer Y D

Semi-conductors

VSD

Switchboard

Level lll Converters & Inverters

ƒ A converter rectifies an AC wave to variable or constant DC

ƒ The Output DC needs a DC link which consists of polarized
capacitors which removes all the ripples from the DC.
Frequency ƒ An inverter chops the DC to obtain a sinusoidal like waveform.
ƒ The output wave from inverter is not pure sinusoidal and
Power & power needs a sine wave filter.
factor in AC ƒ Both circuits need a controller and firing circuit.
circuits

Transformer Y D

Semi-conductors

VSD

Switchboard

14
Level lll VSD’s

From it’s name a VSD drives the induction motor at variable speeds
Many theories are used to drive AC motor at variable speed such as
V/f control, PWM, Direct torque control , variable voltage control and
space vector modulation
VSD’s uses Diodes , Mosfets , IGBT’s and SCR’s
It consists mainly of a Rectifier , inverter, Controller and Filter

Level lll Switchboards

Switchboards are used to connect or disconnect high amount of

power to a large electrical load.
The switchboard consists of Disconnect switch, fuse, vacuum
contactor and motor controller
The Switchboard is a high voltage low current equipment in our case

15
Level lll Switchboards

Switchboards are used to connect or disconnect high amount of

power to a large electrical load.
The switchboard consists of Disconnect switch, fuse, vacuum
contactor and motor controller
The Switchboard is a high voltage low current equipment in our case

16