Free Expert Guides on Power Systems, Circuit Design & Electrical Troubleshooting

In electrical and electronics systems, the word Annunciator means a device which announces the faults or unusual activities coming from the system or process associated with it.What is Alarm Annunciator?It is basically an audio visual warning system, which highlights the fault or mishap which is going on, or even before it happens. This is very necessary for safety concern also, and sometimes the warning comes before improper procedure which warns the operator to avoid unwanted accident etc. Thi

Loss of field or excitation can be caused in the generator due to excitation failure. In larger sized generator, energy for excitation is often taken from a separate auxiliary source or from a separately driven DC generator. The failure of auxiliary supply or failure of driving motor can also cause the loss of excitation in a generator. Failure of excitation that is failure of field system in the generator makes the generator run at a speed above the synchronous speed.In that situation the gener

A motor protection system is a set of devices and methods that protect an electric motor from various faults and damages. An electric motor is a crucial component of many industrial and domestic applications, ranging from small appliances to large machines. Therefore, it is important to ensure the proper functioning and safety of the motor and its circuit.In this article, we will discuss the types of motor faults, the types of motor protection devices, and how to select them according to the Nat

Before going through details of arc quenching or arc extinction technologies employed in circuit breaker we should know first what is arc actually.What is an Arc?During opening of current carrying contacts in a circuit breaker the medium in between opening contacts become highly ionized through which the interrupting current gets low resistive path and continues to flow through this path even the contacts are physically separated. During the flowing of current from one contact to other the path

Electrical FuseIn the normal working condition of the electrical network, the current flowing through the network is within the rated limit. If a fault occurs in the network mainly phase to phase short circuit fault or phase to ground fault, the network current crosses the rated limits.This high current may have a very high thermal effect which will cause permanent damage to the valuable pieces of equipment connected to the electrical network. So this high fault current should be interrupted as

Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker or ELCBAn Earth-leakage circuit breaker (ELCB) is a safety device used in electrical installations (both residential and commercial) with high Earth impedance to prevent electric shocks. It detects small stray voltages on the metal enclosures of electrical equipment, and interrupts the circuit if a dangerous voltage is detected.ELCBs help detect current leaks and insulation failures in the electrical circuits that would cause electrical shocks to anyone coming into

What is MCB?A Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB) is an automatically operated electrical switch used to protect low voltage electrical circuits from damage caused by excess current from an overload or short circuit. MCBs are typically rated up to a current up to 125 A, do not have adjustable trip characteristics, and can be thermal or thermal-magnetic in operation.Fuse vs MCBNowadays miniature circuit breakers (MCBs) are much more commonly used in low voltage electrical networks instead of fuses. T

Dielectric materials are basically basic and pure electrical insulators. By applying a sensible electrical field, the dielectric gases can be polarised. Vacuum, Solids, Liquids and Gases can be a dielectric material. A dielectric gas is also called as an insulating gas. It is a dielectric material in gaseous state which can prevent electrical discharge. Dry air, Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) etc are the examples of gaseous dielectric materials.Gaseous dielectrics are not practically free of electri

We often come across a situation where we want to switch on the electrical load by pressing some buttons on a computer program. Consider an example, where you are sitting in a power plant and you want to switch on a circuit breaker remotely. Controlling circuit breakers from a remote location can be achieved by using Microcontroller. We’ll discuss how to make a Remote Control Circuit Breaker Using a Microcontroller.For this remote-controlled circuit breaker we will need: Microcontroller (such as

When there is a short circuit fault in the electrical system, a huge short circuit current flows through the system including the circuit breaker (CB) contacts, unless the fault is cleared by tripping the CB. When the short circuit current flows through the CB, the different current carrying parts of the circuit breaker are subjected to huge mechanical and thermal stresses.If the conducting parts of the CB do not have sufficient cross-sectional area, there may be a chance of dangerously high tem