Review of Basic Electrical Engineering

Concepts

ABE 22 - AB Electrification and Control Systems

 What is
electricity?
 What is electricity?
Everything is made of atoms which contain POSITIVE
particles called PROTONS and NEGATIVE particles called
ELECTRONS.

Electron (-) Proton (+)

Neutron
ATOM
1
2
1 - neutron

2 - proton
3
1 & 2 - nucleus
3 - electron

valence electrons - electrons at the outermost shell,

farthest from the nucleus

- controls the chemical & electrical

properties of the atom
The electrons of different types of atoms have different
degrees of freedom to move around.

The relative mobility of electrons within a material is known as

electric conductivity.

Conductivity is determined by:

• types of atoms in a material (the number of protons in
each atom’s nucleus, determining its chemical identity)
• how the atoms are linked together with one another.
Materials with high electron mobility (many free
electrons) are called conductors

while materials with low electron mobility (few

or no free electrons) are called insulators.
CONDUCTORS

silver copper gold aluminum

iron steel brass bronze

mercury graphite concrete dirty water

INSULATORS

glass rubber asphalt fiberglass

oil ceramic quartz porcelain

air plastic diamond pure water

(dry) cotton (dry) paper (dry) wood

c
o w
p i
p r
e e
r

Random wandering of the electrons from one atom to

another make the atoms remain neutral
 O
u f
t o
s r
i c
d e
e

The outside force disturbs the balance and tends the

electrons to move in one direction
 O
u f
t o
s r
i c
d e
e

Current is the result of the non-random movement

of electrons
Just like water flowing through the emptiness of a pipe,
electrons are able to move within the empty space within and
between the atoms of a conductor.

The conductor may appear to be solid to our eyes, but any

material composed of atoms is mostly empty space

The liquid-flow analogy is so fitting that the motion of electrons

through a conductor is often referred to as a ”flow.”
 “marbles in a tube analogy”

If we want electrons to flow in a certain direction to a certain

place, we must provide the proper path for them to move,
just as a plumber must install piping to get water to flow
where he or she wants it to flow.

To facilitate this, wires are made of highly conductive metals

such as copper or aluminum in a wide variety of sizes.
Remember that electrons can flow only when they have
the opportunity to move in the space between the
atoms of a material.

This means that there can be electric current only where

there exists a continuous path of conductive material
providing a conduit for electrons to travel through.
Water flow = electron flow
pump = battery
Pipe = wire
SHORT CIRCUIT
 Bulb
→ more opposition/resistance
to electron flow

The heat energy is enough to

cause the filament to glow
white-hot, producing light,
whereas the wires
connecting the lamp
to the battery
(which have much lower resistance)
hardly even get warm while
conducting the same amount
CLOSED CIRCUIT of current.
Going back to the water flow analogy . . .
OPEN CIRCUIT
SWITCH – used to open and close circuits
 Charge
•Symbol: (q)
•Unit: Coulomb (C)
•Name after: Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (French physicist)

–The fundamental electric quantity –Charge in an electron:

is charge.
qe = -1.602x10-19 C
–Atoms are composed of charge
carrying particles: electrons and
protons, and neutral particles, –Charge in a proton:
neutrons.
qp = 1.602x10-19 C
–The smallest amount of charge
-One coulomb is equal to the charge
that exists is carried by an electron
on 6.241 x 1018 protons
and a proton.
 Current

•Symbol: I
•Unit: Ampere
•Name after: Andre-Marie Ampere
(French mathematician and physicist)

–Current moves through a circuit – Essentially, flow of electrons in an

element “through variable.” electric circuit leads to the establishment
of current.
–Current is rate of flow of I(t) = dq
negatively-charged particles, dt
called electrons, through a
predetermined cross-sectional • q : relatively charged electrons (C)
area in a conductor. • I = C/sec

–Like water flow. =1V/Ω

• Often measured in milliamps, mA
Current-Water Analogy
 Voltage
•Symbol: V
•Unit: Volt, kg⋅m2⋅s−3⋅A−1
•Name after: Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta
Italian physicist, chemist, and pioneer of electricity and power

– Potential difference across – Let A be the lower potential/voltage

two terminals in a circuit terminal
“across variable.”
– Let B be the higher potential/voltage
– In order to move charge from terminal
point A to point B, work
needs to be done. • Then, voltage across A and B is the
cost in energy required to move a unit
– Like potential energy at a positive charge from A to B.
water fall.
• 1 V = 1 J/C
= 1 A-Ω
Voltage-Water Analogy
 Resistor
Resistance
- the relative difficulty with which current
can be transmitted in a material

Unit of Measurement: Ohm (Ω)

Name after:
Georg Simon Ohm, a German physicist and mathematician

The magnitude of resistance is dictated by electric properties of the

material and material geometry.
Assumptions:
 Conductor wires have negligible resistance
 Resistance of load is constant
OHMS LAW
 Electrical Power
Electric power in an electric device is defined as the potential
energy or voltage times the current passing through the
device.

Unit: watts (W)

Name after: James Watt - Scottish inventor, mechanical

engineer, and chemist

One watt is defined as the energy consumption rate of one

joule per second (W = J/s).

P = VI
Where:
P = electric power, watts
V = voltage used
I = current in amperes
 Electrical Energy

• type of kinetic energy caused by moving electric charges

Systems of UNITS & CONVERSION
SI Prefixes
Resistance is directly proportional to length of the path and inversely
proportional to the cross-sectional area.

Where:
ρ = resistivity of the material
(varies with temperature)
L = length of the material
A = cross-sectional area of the material
 CIRCULAR MIL

• The circular mil (CM) is a unit of area used

especially when denoting the cross-
sectional size of a wire or cable.
• A circular mil is the equivalent area of a
circle whose diameter is 0.001 (10−3 ) inch,
or approximately 0.7854 millionths of a
square inch.
 Area
American Wire Diameter
(circular mils) Area Diameter
Gauge (mils)
(CM) (mm2) (mm)
AWG - American Wire Gauge (AWG) (10-3 in)
(mil2)
0000 (4/0) 460 211592 107 11.7

000 (3/0) 410 167800 85.0 10.4

• American Wire Gauge (AWG) is a 00 (2/0) 365 133072 67.4 9.27
0 (1/0) 325 105531 53.5 8.25
U.S. standard for wire conductor 1 289 83690 42.4 7.35
size. The "gauge" is related to the 2 258 66369 33.6 6.54
3 229 52633 26.7 5.83
diameter of the wire. 4 204 41740 21.2 5.19
5 182 33101 16.8 4.62

• The AWG standard includes 6

7
162
144
26251
20818
13.3
10.5
4.12
3.67
copper, aluminum and other wire 8 128 16509 8.37 3.26
9 114 13092 6.63 2.91
materials. 10 102 10383 5.26 2.59
11 90.7 8234 4.17 2.31
12 80.8 6530 3.31 2.05
• Typical household copper wiring is 13 72.0 5178 2.62 1.83
AWG number 12 or 14. 14 64.1 4107 2.08 1.63
15 57.1 3257 1.65 1.45
16 50.8 2583 1.31 1.29
• Telephone wire is usually 22, 24, 17 45.3 2048 1.04 1.15
18 40.3 1624 0.823 1.02
or 26. The higher the gauge 20 32.0 1022 0.518 0.812
number, the smaller the diameter 21 28.5 810 0.410 0.723
22 25.3 642 0.326 0.644
and the thinner the wire. 23 22.6 510 0.258 0.573
24 20.1 404 0.205 0.511
25 17.9 320 0.162 0.455
The temperature coefficient of resistance of a conductor is defined as the
proportional change in resistance per degree temperature difference from
some reference temperature

Where:
Rt = resistance at specified temperature, ohm
Ri = resistance at reference temperature, ohm
α = temperature coefficient of resistance, 1/°C
ΔT = difference temperature between specified
and reference, °C
ELECTRIC RESISTIVITY OF SOME METAL
DIRECT CURRENT (DC) ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS
 Direct Current (DC)
• an electric current that is uni-
directional, so the flow of charge is
always in the same direction

• constant flow of electrons from an area

of high electron density to an area of
low electron density

• In circuits involving batteries, this is

illustrated by the constant flow of
charge from the negative terminal of
the battery to the positive terminal of
the battery.
 Direct Current (DC) Electric Circuits
Direct current (DC) electric circuit consists of a source of DC electricity—such as a battery—with
a conducting wire going from one of the source terminals to a set of electric devices and then
back to the other terminal, in a complete circuit.

• DC circuits may be in series,

parallel or a combination.

Simple DC circuit
 SERIES CIRCUIT
components are connected end-to-
end in a line to form a single path
for electrons to flow

RTotal = R1 + R2 + . . Rn
ITotal = I1 = I2 = . . In
ETotal = E1 + E2 + . . En
 PARALLEL CIRCUIT

all components are connected between

the same set of electrically common
points
SERIES-PARALLEL CIRCUIT
 Voltage and Current Comparison

Current Voltage
Symbol I V
Current cannot flow without Voltage can exist without
Relationship
Voltage current

Measured with Ammeter Voltmeter

Unit A or amps or amperage V or volts or voltage
1 volt = 1 joule/coulomb
SI Unit 1 ampere =1 coulomb/second
(V=W/C)
Field Magnetic Electrostatic
Voltage is distributed over
In Series Connection Current is the same through all
components

Current gets distributed over Voltages are the same across all
In Parallel Connection
components components
 Conductance

• electrical conductance is defined as

the potential for a substance to
conduct electricity

• is the measure of how easily electrical

current (i.e. flow of charge) can pass
through a material.

• is the inverse (or reciprocal) of

electrical resistance, represented as
1/R.

Unit of Measurement: mho or Siemens (S)

 Direct Current Circuits
NETWORK THEOREM AND LAWS
Branches
Nodes
Loops
Overview of Kirchhoff’s Laws
Kirchhoff’s Current Law
Kirchhoff’s Current Law for Boundaries
 Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law (KVL)

”The algebraic sum of all voltages in a loop must equal zero”

45V + (-5k) I + (-10k) I + (-7.5k)I + = 0

 Voltage Divider
• Applies to resistors in series
 Current Divider
• Applies to resistors in parallel
 BRANCH CURRENT METHOD

• In this method, we assume directions of currents in a network,

then write equations describing their relationships to each other
through Kirchhoff ’s and Ohm’s Laws.

• Once we have one equation for every unknown current, we can

solve the simultaneous equations and determine all currents, and
therefore all voltage drops in the network.
The first step is to choose a node (junction of wires) in the circuit
to use as a point of reference for our unknown currents
At this node, guess which directions the three wires’
currents take, labeling the three currents
as I1, I2, and I3, respectively.

If it turns out that any of our guesses were wrong, we

will know when we mathematically solve for the
currents (Negative sign).
The next step is to label all voltage drop polarities across
resistors according to the assumed directions of the
currents.

Use KVL
Loop 1:

Loop 2:
 Δ-Y and Y-Δ Conversions
In many circuit applications, we
encounter components
connected together in one of
two ways to form a three-
terminal network: the “Delta,”
or Δ (also known as the “Pi,” or
π) configuration, and the “Y”
(also known as the “T”)
configuration.
Δ and Y Conversion Equations