The Need for Effective Electronic System (Surge) Protection

Electronic systems have become central to virtually every aspect of our lives from PCs and building management systems in the office to automated petrol pumps and barcode scanners at the supermarket. The ever-changing pace of technological development, and especially the headlong quest for miniaturization, has created the scenario where increasingly lightning sensitive systems are placed […]

Telecom cell site protection – Key considerations

The effect of Lightning strikes is now a major HSE and of enormous financial concern to many organizations. Having direct and indirect consequences. Telecom cell site are vulnerable because of their usual isolated locations where a strike can damage or cause expensive downtime, ultimately leading to revenue loss. According to the British standard, BS EN […]

What Factors Affect Local Soil Conditions & its Resistivity?

Achieving a good earth mostly depend on the local soil conditions. The electrical resistance of a conductor is its opposition to the passage of an electric current through it. The resistance of a wire is directly proportional to its length and inversely proportional to its cross-sectional area: The constant  is called the resistivity and is […]

Save your Money on Earth Electrodes ……a Case for Copperbonded Steel Earth Rods

Quality earth rods are commonly made from either solid copper, stainless steel or copperbonded steel. The copperbonded steel cored rod is by far the most popular, due to its combination of strength, corrosion resistance, and comparatively low cost. Solid copper and stainless steel rods offer a very high level of corrosion resistance at the expense […]

Why earthing is Vital and what it should be?

Grounding (Earthing) plays a vital role in all electrical systems or infrastructure. It is the number one key power quality (PQ) factor, together with wiring contributes 90% of PQ problems. Proper earthing (grounding) system help resolve power quality issues like Voltage Disturbances, Harmonics, Lightning & Surge Protection, Electromagnetic Interferences and Electrostatic Discharge. All these affect […]

Types of Voltage Disturbances Explained

In Power Quality troubleshooting, voltage disturbances are critical factors. The ability to identify the characteristics and analyze the disturbance is key to the appropriate power quality solution to be deployed. Most often referred as surge (transient overvoltage), while they are not. Today, we shall explain, basically what surges (transient overvoltages) are and what they are […]

Performance Wiring and Grounding (Earthing) – Basic Principles II

Nations have Electrical standards & Codes which are the “bibles” for proper grounding. In each country these standards are designed to protect the public from electrical shocks and fire hazards only. It does not deal with the power quality issues. However, there are recommended practices that meet the requirements for performance grounding which mitigate inherent […]

Performance Wiring and Grounding (Earthing) – Basic Principles I

Wiring and Earthing (Grounding) are essential power quality (PQ) tools used in energy management. The use of best practices in wiring and grounding (earthing) ensures safety, prevents fire hazards and importantly allows a piece of equipment to function in its intended manner without significant loss of performance and life expectancy. It improves efficiency and quality […]

Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) – The Fundamentals

In certain environments, electromagnetic energy is unintentionally generated, propagated and the reception cause major HSE challenges like  noise, discomfort, pollution, affecting performance and physical damage of equipment or systems, injury and even loss of life. Electromagnetic compatibility is concerned with efficient operation and performance of equipment in an electromagnetic environment. The international Electrotechnical Committee (IEC) […]

Power Factor (PF)

Power factor is a critical issue in commercial and industrial establishments. The proper management of power factor for organisations, saves money, enhances operations, extends life expectancy of machinery and saves utility penalties. From the electricity utility perspective it frees up energy for other customers and reduces pressure on electrical infrastructure. It is therefore a power […]