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System Notes
Week 2 lecture 3 - Electricity Generation and Distribution
(7/4/15)
HW1 been posted due 14/04/15
Electricity generation turning turbines
Solar directly converting solar energy to electricity
Geothermal pump and steam
Faradays Change in electromagnetic field. Change electric field
around it
Lenzs Law Mechanical > electrical energy. As magnet gets
closer, the coil generates a way to go against the motion of the
magnet. Polarity of magnetic field changes and so does the direction
of the current flow (alternating current)
DC Generator Commutator, changes DC to AC current
AC Generator
Generator converts mechanical to electrical energy.
Estimate Generator Power Head = pressure of water.
Coal heating value burning something and seeing how much
water it can heat. 1J = 1Ws. 1 hour = 3600 seconds
Transformer Ratio of voltage equal to ratio of turns.
Electrical Grid At lower voltages, there is a higher percentage loss
per 100 miles. We lose power to heat over time. Corona charged
particle, forms when we have high voltage i.e. around 1mil volts.
Build up around transmission line equipment, limits how much we
can step up the voltage. This is why the step up voltage is kept
around 765kV.
Sub-transmission in a downtown area
Distribution may be bucket we see outside of houses
U.S. Electrical Grid 3 grids in the US, 1 in Quebec.
The new HVDC
DC is more efficient however; equipment cost is a lot higher when
we try to transform DC
Grid/Power Failure Brown out only in developing countries at the
supply is lower than demand, fluctuations in supply. If something
does fail, we will see blackout e.g. substation blows up.
Grid management difficulties We cannot store electricity very
efficiently. We must generate electricity on demand, whilst it is
being consumed.
Week 2 Lecture 4 - Electrical power in Residential Buildings
(9/4/15)
Load balance calculate how much energy is needed on a certain
day based on historical data, i.e. how much energy was used on this
day with this population.
Load monitor and forecasting collecting a lot more data, how much
energy Is being used with the next 5 minutes instead of looking in
books.
If something happens to a transformer e.g. it blows ups, the system
will automatically reroute to another transformer
Renewables are not constant sources.
Smart appliances means we can pay for energy on demand. Can
meter exactly as it happens e.g. higher costs when demand is high
Nest keeps tracks of how we use our thermostat, smart algorithms
to adjust to learn how to adapt to our comfort levels.
Wires/Conductors
Wire sizes If we have a smaller wire, theres a bigger resistance
which generates heat and may cause the wire to burn out
Need a thicker wire to carry high current
When buying wire how much current and what am I connecting
wire to?
14-3; 14 = gauge, 3=number of conductors within wire
Expansion and contraction of wires that loosen the screw its
connected to over many years. Especially aluminum wiring, greater
expansion coefficient however it is about 3-4 times cheaper than
copper. Not used very often in residential buildings.
Breakers and fuses
Breakers are a safety feature that breaks the circuit when current is
too high to prevent fire
Fuses are designed to burn out with there is too much current and
break the circuit
Black hot, bare/green ground, white neutral
2 prongs are silver for neutral, 2 copper-ish connecter to hot, 1
green to ground
Outlets, GFCI, AFCI
Safety feature against shock., especially in bathroom and kitchen
when your hands are wet and you may act as a conductor.
AFCI stops fire when there are sparks as you plug/unplug
appliances.
240v (220, 250V) connections
Connects circuit at higher voltage
Transforming down stepping from high to low voltage.
When we only connect half, we only get 120V, if we connect both,
we get 240V
Light and switches
Not enough breakers for every switch, is a waste of space and wire.
Have outlets in parallel connected to the same breaker.
To find I, P/V. Outlet =120 volts. About 26 amps. Circuit breaker may
be around 15amps. All appliances may switch off if too many outlets
plugged in.
Week 3 Lecture 5 - Electrical Loads and Equipment in Buildings
For commercial services, same amount of loads.