Top Nine Reasons Generators Fail to Start
Apr 1, 2007, By Darren Dembski, Peterson Power Systems
With each passing year, our society's reliance on an unlimited supply of electric power continues to increase. The availability of this continuous power...
Ground-Fault Current: Problems and Solutions
Mar 1, 2007, Edited by John DeDad, senior director, editorial and EC&M development
When designing ground-fault protection (GFP) for a power distribution system, you should always consider the nature of the power source. If the power...
A Quick Guide to Making PQ Measurements
Mar 1, 2007, By John DeDad, senior director, editorial and EC&M development
The variety of test and measurement products available today can boggle the mind. From the mundane to the exotic, these instruments can practically lead...
Inside Voltage Quality Verification
Mar 1, 2007, By Jim Gregorec, Ideal Industries
Lurking in the shadows of even the most unsuspecting operations from corporate to commercial to industrial facilities is a condition known as poor voltage...
Clearing Up Neutral-to-Ground Voltage Confusion
Feb 1, 2007, By Tom Shaughnessy, PowerCET
Power quality questions continue to revolve around one underlying issue related to electronic equipment: its ability to withstand the effects of electrical...
Flicker: Causes, Symptoms, and Cures
Jan 1, 2007, By John DeDad, Senior Director, Editorial and EC&M Development
Voltage fluctuations in power systems can cause a number of harmful technical effects, resulting in disruption to production processes and substantial...
Evaluating Motor and Transformer Inrush Currents
Dec 1, 2006, By Mark McGranaghan, EPRI Solutions, and Fred Kinder, Dranetz-BMI
Inrush currents associated with motor starting and transformer energizing can cause interaction problems with other loads in a facility or on the power...
Analyzing Communication Cable Noise
Nov 1, 2006, By John DeDad, Senior Director, Editorial and EC&M Development
Sometimes the best way to describe how to analyze a communication cable common-mode (CM) noise problem is to describe an actual procedure. The following...
Evaluating Risk
Sep 1, 2006, By Peter Gross, P.E., and Robert Schuerger, P.E., EYP Mission Critical Facilities, Inc.
Probability is a fundamental concept in statistics, often thought of as the odds. It is defined as the ratio of the number of favorable outcomes to the...
Clearing Up Confusion on Unwanted Voltages
Sep 1, 2006, By Beck Ireland, Staff Writer
Responding to testing requirements imposed after a woman was electrocuted while walking her dog in the East Village in 2004, this March New York City's...
Unjacketed Concentric Neutral Cables and Stray Voltage
Sep 1, 2006, By Scott Yeazell, president, project department manager, Triec Electrical Services, Springfield, Ohi
I have found and corrected several instances of privately owned high-voltage systems with unjacketed primary concentric neutral (exposed bare neutral...
Coordination Guidelines for Susceptible Electronic Loads Part 1
Sep 1, 2006, By John DeDad, Senior Director, Editorial and EC&M Development
When it comes to providing suitable power, grounding, communications, and environmental control for a facility that has significant amounts of susceptible...
Solving a Power System Capacity Problem
Jun 1, 2006, By Vaughn DeCrausaz, Starboard Electric, and Wade Thompson, Fluke Corp.
In 1996, a ski resort near Silverthorne, Colo. installed a pumping system to lift water up to a river, whose water flows into a lake at the base village...
Identifying and Mitigating Harmonics in AC Drive Applications
May 1, 2006, By Rick Hoadley, Rockwell Automation
Common to any production operation is movement, usually driven by electric motors. Better control of this movement contributes to improved operational...
Applying Pole-Mounted Overvoltage Protection
May 1, 2006, By John DeDad, Editorial Director
A modern distribution system that feeds a facility having a significant environment of susceptible electronic equipment requires protection against lightning-induced...
