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Prospective Short-circuit Current
The prospective short-circuit current (PSCC), available fault current, or short-circuit making current is the highest electric current which can exist in a particular electrical system under short-circuit conditions. It is determined by the voltage and impedance of the supply system. It is of the order of a few thousand amperes for a standard domestic mains electrical installation, but may be as low as a few milliamperes in a separated extra-low voltage (SELV) system or as high as hundreds of thousands of amps in large industrial power systems. The term is used in electrical engineering rather than electronics. Protective devices such as circuit breakers and fuses must be selected with an interrupting rating that exceeds the prospective short-circuit current, if they are to safely protect the circuit from a fault. When a large electric current is interrupted an arc forms, and if the breaking capacity of a fuse or circuit breaker is exceeded, it will not extinguish the arc. Cu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electric Current
An electric current is a flow of charged particles, such as electrons or ions, moving through an electrical conductor or space. It is defined as the net rate of flow of electric charge through a surface. The moving particles are called charge carriers, which may be one of several types of particles, depending on the Electrical conductor, conductor. In electric circuits the charge carriers are often electrons moving through a wire. In semiconductors they can be electrons or Electron hole, holes. In an Electrolyte#Electrochemistry, electrolyte the charge carriers are ions, while in Plasma (physics), plasma, an Ionization, ionized gas, they are ions and electrons. In the International System of Units (SI), electric current is expressed in Unit of measurement, units of ampere (sometimes called an "amp", symbol A), which is equivalent to one coulomb per second. The ampere is an SI base unit and electric current is a ISQ base quantity, base quantity in the International System of Qua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breaking Capacity
Breaking capacity or interrupting rating is the current that a fuse, circuit breaker, or other electrical apparatus is able to interrupt without being destroyed or causing an electric arc with unacceptable duration. The prospective short-circuit current that can occur under short circuit conditions should not exceed the rated breaking capacity of the apparatus, otherwise breaking of the current cannot be guaranteed. The current breaking capacity corresponds to a certain voltage, so an electrical apparatus may have more than one breaking capacity current, according to the actual operating voltage. Breaking current may be stated in terms of the total current or just in terms of the alternating-current (symmetrical) component. Since the time of opening of a fuse or switch is not coordinated with the reversal of the alternating current, in some circuits the total current may be offset and can be larger than the alternating current component by itself. A device may have different interrup ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symmetrical Components
In electrical engineering, the method of symmetrical components simplifies the analysis of unbalanced three-phase power systems under both normal and abnormal conditions. The basic idea is that an asymmetrical set of ''N'' phasors can be expressed as a linear combination of ''N'' symmetrical sets of phasors by means of a complex linear transformation. Fortescue's theorem (symmetrical components) is based on the superposition principle, so it is applicable to linear power systems only, or to linear approximations of non-linear power systems. In the most common case of three-phase systems, the resulting "symmetrical" components are referred to as ''direct'' (or ''positive''), ''inverse'' (or ''negative'') and ''zero'' (or ''homopolar''). The analysis of power system is much simpler in the domain of symmetrical components, because the resulting equations are mutually linearly independent if the circuit itself is balanced. Description In 1918 Charles Legeyt Fortescue presented ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interrupting Rating
Breaking capacity or interrupting rating is the current that a fuse, circuit breaker, or other electrical apparatus is able to interrupt without being destroyed or causing an electric arc with unacceptable duration. The prospective short-circuit current that can occur under short circuit conditions should not exceed the rated breaking capacity of the apparatus, otherwise breaking of the current cannot be guaranteed. The current breaking capacity corresponds to a certain voltage, so an electrical apparatus may have more than one breaking capacity current, according to the actual operating voltage. Breaking current may be stated in terms of the total current or just in terms of the alternating-current (symmetrical) component. Since the time of opening of a fuse or switch is not coordinated with the reversal of the alternating current, in some circuits the total current may be offset and can be larger than the alternating current component by itself. A device may have different interrup ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electrical Grid
An electrical grid (or electricity network) is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids consist of power stations, electrical substations to step voltage up or down, electric power transmission to carry power over long distances, and finally electric power distribution to customers. In that last step, voltage is stepped down again to the required service voltage. Power stations are typically built close to energy sources and far from densely populated areas. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents. From small to large there are microgrids, wide area synchronous grids, and super grids. The combined transmission and distribution network is part of electricity delivery, known as the ''power grid''. Grids are nearly always synchronous, meaning all distribution areas operate with three phase alternating current (AC) frequencies synchronized (so that voltage swings occur at almost the same ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voltage Drop
In electronics, voltage drop is the decrease of electric potential along the path of a current flowing in a circuit. Voltage drops in the internal resistance of the source, across conductors, across contacts, and across connectors are undesirable because some of the energy supplied is dissipated. The voltage drop across the load is proportional to the power available to be converted in that load to some other useful form of energy. For example, an electric space heater may have a resistance of 10 ohms, and the wires that supply it may have a resistance of 0.2 ohms, about 2% of the total circuit resistance. This means that approximately 2% of the supplied voltage is lost in the wire itself. An excessive voltage drop may result in the unsatisfactory performance of the space heater and the overheating of the wires and connections. National and local electrical codes may set guidelines for the maximum voltage drop allowed in electrical wiring to ensure efficiency of dist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Residual-current Device
A residual-current device (RCD), residual-current circuit breaker (RCCB) or ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) is an electrical safety device, more specifically a form of Earth-leakage circuit breaker, that interrupts an electrical circuit when the current passing through and neutral conductors of a circuit is not equal (the term ''residual'' relating to the imbalance), therefore indicating current leaking to ground, or to an unintended path that bypasses the protective device. The device's purpose is to reduce the severity of injury caused by an electric shock. This type of circuit interrupter cannot protect a person who touches both circuit conductors at the same time, since it then cannot distinguish normal current from that passing through a person. A residual-current circuit breaker with integrated overcurrent protection (RCBO) combines RCD protection with additional overcurrent protection into the same device. These devices are designed to quickly interrupt the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Power System Protection
Power system protection is a set of techniques and power grid equipment used to limit the damage caused by an electrical fault and safeguard other components of the grid, like Electric generator, generators and power transmission line, transmission lines. The term is also used for a branch of electrical power engineering that deals with the protection. There is an overlap between the power system protection and power system operations, as the protection equipment, like other switchgear, can be used for operations. The protection devices are used to protect the power systems from faults by detecting the faults and taking ''action'' ("tripping"). P. M. Anderson distinguishes the ''reactionary devices'', like protective relays, that "clear" a fault by isolating it from the rest of system and ''safeguard devices'' that address the source of the hazard (for example, an emergency core cooling system of a nuclear reactor). As a discipline, power system protection mostly deals with the r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electric Arc
An electric arc (or arc discharge) is an electrical breakdown of a gas that produces a prolonged electrical discharge. The electric current, current through a normally Electrical conductance, nonconductive medium such as air produces a plasma (physics), plasma, which may produce visible light. An arc discharge is initiated either by thermionic emission or by field emission. After initiation, the arc relies on thermionic emission of electrons from the electrodes supporting the arc. An arc discharge is characterized by a lower voltage than a glow discharge. An archaic term is voltaic arc, as used in the phrase "voltaic arc lamp". Techniques for arc suppression can be used to reduce the duration or likelihood of arc formation. In the late 19th century, Arc lamp, electric arc lighting was in wide use for Street light#Arc lamps, public lighting. Some low-pressure electric arcs are used in many applications. For example, fluorescent lamp, fluorescent tubes, mercury, sodium, and met ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fault (power Engineering)
In an electric power system, a fault is a defect that results in abnormality of electric current. A fault current is any abnormal electric current. For example, a short circuit in which a live wire touches a neutral or ground wire is a fault. An open-circuit fault occurs if a circuit is interrupted by a failure of a current-carrying wire (phase or neutral) or a blown Fuse (electrical), fuse or circuit breaker. In a "ground fault" or "earth fault", current flows into the earth. In Three-phase electric power, three-phase systems, a fault may involve one or more phases and ground, or may occur only between phases. In a polyphase system, a fault may affect all phases equally, which is a "symmetric fault". If only some phases are affected, the resulting "asymmetric fault" becomes more complicated to analyse. The analysis of these types of faults is often simplified by using methods such as symmetrical components. The prospective short-circuit current of a predictable fault can be calcul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fuse (electrical)
In electronics and electrical engineering, a fuse is an electrical safety device that operates to provide overcurrent protection of an electrical circuit. Its essential component is a metal wire or strip that melts when too much current flows through it, thereby stopping or interrupting the current. It is a sacrificial device; once a fuse has operated, it is an open circuit, and must be replaced or rewired, depending on its type. Fuses have been used as essential safety devices from the early days of electrical engineering. Today there are thousands of different fuse designs which have specific current and voltage ratings, breaking capacity, and response times, depending on the application. The time and current operating characteristics of fuses are chosen to provide adequate protection without needless interruption. Wiring regulations usually define a maximum fuse current rating for particular circuits. A fuse can be used to mitigate short circuits, overloading, mismatched loads ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
