Electrical power

https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/the-smarter-grid/utilities-probed-as-potential-cause-of-california-fires Automatic reclosers are pole-mounted circuit breakers that can quickly restore power after outages. Reclosers make quick work of many line faults, the great majority of which result from temporary insults such as a tree branch striking a line or the electrocution of an unlucky squirrel. Reclosers usually try restarting a line 2-3 times before giving up →

I today that someone had made a partial tear-down of street light lamp post. So let’s take a look at wiring inside… There is not much here, just some thick wiring, wire connection blocks and fuse holder. →

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2017/06/26/debunking-the-unscientific-fantasy-of-100-renewables/#611600d529f9 Mark Jacobson of Stanford said America could easily become 100% renewable by mid-century. Jacobson published a paper in 2015 that claimed we could get rid of all other energy sources except wind and solar, and a tiny bit of other renewables, by 2050, and that it would be easier and cheaper than any other alternative mix. Jacobson’s paper →

https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/the-smarter-grid/learning-from-grid-failures-a-conversation-with-nicholas-abisamra North America’s electric transmission may be an engineering marvel, but that doesn’t make it immune to failure.  Efforts intended merely to harden infrastructure are not enough—the grid also needs to be resilient. Resiliency refers to characteristics of the infrastructure and operations such as strength and the ability to make a fast recovery.  Making system more resilient starts →

Here is teardown of 10 A DIN rail mounted miniature circuit breaker (Biltema brand) What you see when you open the case Turn around – circuit open/off/tripped Device reseted to “on” position On the left side of mechanism there is bimetallic overcurrent triggering mechanism – load current goes through bimetallic strip and heats it.  On →

A circuit breaker is an automatically operated electrical switch designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by excess current, typically resulting from an overload or short circuit. Its basic function is to interrupt current flow after a fault is detected. In small mains and low voltage circuit breakers, fault current is usually done →

Electrical motors need protection devices. EATON Moeller PKZM0-0.63 is a Motor Protective Circuit Breaker with manually actuated motor-protective circuit-breaker IEC/EN 60947-4-1, VDE 0660 part 102, rotating handle with clear switch position display ON and OFF. The current rating of this AC motor protection device can be adjusted from 0.4A to 0.63A. In addition to thermal →

https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/fuel-cells-poised-to-replace-indias-diesel-generators Diesel generators are widely used for decentralized power generation. These generators, although inexpensive, are inefficient and pose great environmental and health risks. Scientists are investigating cleaner, cost-effective, and more dependable technology for powering telecom towers and eventually buildings. A promising answer to the cost and pollution conundrum can be found in proton exchange membrane fuel →

https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/the-smarter-grid/what-causes-cascading-power-grid-failures Scientists have pinpointed vulnerable transmission lines in the North American grid that could lead to massive blackouts, helping prevent them in the future. “In the North American power grid, the set of power lines that are susceptible to failures were found to represent a surprisingly small fraction of the whole network →

https://m.slashdot.org/story/333535 It look like Bitcoin is not very “clean” technology: Bitcoin’s incredible price run to break over $7,000 this year has sent its overall electricity consumption soaring, as people worldwide bring more energy-hungry computers online to mine the digital currency.  Bitcoin miners burn through over 24 terawatt-hours of electricity annually. This averages out to a shocking 215 →