In the mid-1980s, I embarked on a mission to resolve persistent “power failure” complaints from the National Accelerator Centre (NAC) in Faure, Western Cape, now known as iThemba LABS—the largest accelerator facility in the Southern Hemisphere. Invited for private tours, I delved into their operations, even entering the high-stakes environment of the operating room. Witnessing […]
Monthly Archives: October 2023
To mitigate the effects of Load-Shedding, many homeowners have decided to install PV Solar Energy systems. And, as I said before, they are more worried about how much it would cost than the quality of the products. If they can pay the lowest possible price for the entire installation, they are happy and do not […]
Practical imperfections which can result in unbalances are: A three-phase equipment such as induction motor with unbalance in its windings. If the reactance of three phases is not same, it will result in varying current flowing in three phases and give out system unbalance. With continuous operation, motor’s physical environment cause degradation of rotor and […]
In recent times, I have attended several seminars and that makes me wonder whether the entire process of Solar Energy Systems installation has anything to do with Electrical Engineering, or is it perhaps closer to something like tree cutting where there are so many claiming to be “experts” in that field. Almost daily, we receive […]
In a balanced three-phase network, the magnitudes of the voltages and currents in all three phases are the same and these voltages and currents phase are shifted symmetrically by 120 degrees to each other. If the magnitudes are not the same and phase-shifts are different from the 120 degrees, the network is unbalanced. Eskom strive […]