UNIT I ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS: ELECTRICAL WIRING

SYSTEMS
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Laws of electrical circuits: Ohms and Kichoffs Laws

Basics of electricity Single/Three phase supply. Earthing for
safety types of earthing ISI specifications
Electrical wiring systems in domestic and commercial
buildings. Conduits, Types of wiring Diagram for connection.
Bus way, Bus Bars, lighting track and conduits (Aluminum
metallic, non metallic) arrangements.
Power handling, equipment, switch board, panel boards.
Lighting conductors: Purpose, materials, fixing, earthing
arrangements
Electronic and Communication systems
Communication and data systems- communication spaces,
pathways, cabling systems, voice and data, communication,
Electronic security systems, computer labs/server, Rooms etc.
Electrical Installations in Buildings. Main and distribution
boards transformers switch gears substations space
requirement and Layout of the same in building types.

Ohm's Law
Georg Simon Ohm (1787-1854) formulated the relationships among voltage,
current, and resistance as follows:
The current in a circuit is directly proportional to the applied voltage and
inversely proportional to the resistance of the circuit.
The circuit below demonstrates these relationships.

Mathematically Ohm's law can be written as:

I = E/R
Where I is current in amperes, E is the applied voltage in volts, and R is
resistance in ohms.
This circuit contains an ammeter measuring current flow in milliamperes.
Notice that as you increase voltage, current flow increases. As you
increase resistance, current flow decreases.
It is important to note that resistance cannot be changed by changing
voltage or current. Resistance in a circuit is a physical constant.
Resistance in a circuit can only be changed by changing components or
resistors rated at more or fewer ohms. The changing of resistance in this
circuit simulates the physical changing of resistors with different ratings .

Voltage
Voltage is the potential energy of an electrical supply stored in the form of an
electrical charge. Voltage can be thought of as the force that pushes electrons
through a conductor and the greater the voltage the greater is its ability to "push"
the electrons through a given circuit. As energy has the ability to do work this
potential energy can be described as the work required in joules to move electrons in
the form of an electrical current around a circuit from one point or node to another.
The difference in voltage between any two nodes in a circuit is known as the
Potential Difference, p.d. sometimes called Voltage Drop.

The Potential difference between two points is measured in Volts with the circuit
symbol V, or lowercase "v", although Energy, E lowercase "e" is sometimes used.
Then the greater the voltage, the greater is the pressure (or pushing force) and the
greater is the capacity to do work.

A constant voltage source is called a DC Voltage with a voltage that varies

periodically with time is called an AC voltage. Voltage is measured in volts, with one
volt being defined as the electrical pressure required to force an electrical current of
one ampere through a resistance of one Ohm. Voltages are generally expressed in
Volts with prefixes used to denote sub-multiples of the voltage such as microvolts ,
(V = 10-6 V ), millivolts ( mV = 10-3 V ) or kilovolts ( kV = 103 V ). Voltage can be
either positive or negative.
Batteries or power supplies are mostly used to produce a steady D.C. (direct
current) voltage source such as 5v, 12v, 24v etc in electronic circuits and systems.
While A.C. (alternating current) voltage sources are available for domestic house
and industrial power and lighting as well as power transmission. The mains voltage
supply in the United Kingdom is currently 230 volts a.c. and 110 volts a.c. in the
USA. General electronic circuits operate on low voltage DC battery supplies of
between 1.5V and 24V d.c. The circuit symbol for a constant voltage source usually
given as a battery symbol with a positive, + and negative, - sign indicating the
direction of the polarity. The circuit symbol for an alternating voltage source is a
circle with a sine wave inside.

Voltage Symbols

A simple relationship can be made between a tank of water and a voltage supply.
The higher the water tank above the outlet the greater the pressure of the water as
more energy is released, the higher the voltage the greater the potential energy as
more electrons are released. Voltage is always measured as the difference between
any two points in a circuit and the voltage between these two points is generally
referred to as the "Voltage drop". Any voltage source whether DC or AC likes an
open or semi-open circuit condition but hates any short circuit condition as this can
destroy it.

Electrical Current
Electrical Current is the movement or flow of electrical charge and is measured in
Amperes, symbol i, for intensity). It is the continuous and uniform flow (called a
drift) of electrons (the negative particles of an atom) around a circuit that are being
"pushed" by the voltage source. In reality, electrons flow from the negative (-ve)
terminal to the positive (+ve) terminal of the supply and for ease of circuit
understanding conventional current flow assumes that the current flows from the
positive to the negative terminal.

Generally in circuit diagrams the flow of current through the circuit usually has an
arrow associated with the symbol, I, or lowercase i to indicate the actual direction of
the current flow. However, this arrow usually indicates the direction of conventional
current flow and not necessarily the direction of the actual flow.

Conventional Current Flow

Conventionally this is the flow of positive charge around a circuit. The diagram at
the left shows the movement of the positive charge (holes) which flows from the
positive terminal of the battery, through the circuit and returns to the negative
terminal of the battery. This was the convention chosen during the discovery of
electricity in which the direction of electric current was thought to flow in a circuit.
In circuit diagrams, the arrows shown on symbols for components such as diodes
and transistors point in the direction of conventional current flow. Conventional
Current Flow is the opposite in direction to the flow of electrons.

Electron Flow
The flow of electrons around the circuit is opposite to the direction of the
conventional current flow. The current flowing in a circuit is composed of electrons
that flow from the negative pole of the battery (the cathode) and return to the
positive pole (the anode). This is because the charge on an electron is negative by
definition and so is attracted to the positive terminal. The flow of electrons is called
Electron Current Flow. Therefore, electrons flow from the negative terminal to the
positive.
Both conventional current flow and electron flow are used by many textbooks. In
fact, it makes no difference which way the current is flowing around the circuit as
long as the direction is used consistently. The direction of current flow does not
affect what the current does within the circuit. Generally it is much easier to
understand the conventional current flow - positive to negative.

In electronic circuits, a current source is a circuit element that provides a specified

amount of current for example, 1A, 5A 10 Amps etc, with the circuit symbol for a
constant current source given as a circle with an arrow inside indicating its
direction. Current is measured in Amps and an amp or ampere is defined as the
number of electrons or charge (Q in Coulombs) passing a certain point in the circuit
in one second, (t in Seconds). Current is generally expressed in Amps with prefixes
used to denote micro amps (A = 10-6A) or milli amps (mA = 10-3A). Electrical
current can be either positive or negative.

Current that flows in a single direction is called Direct Current, or D.C. and current
that alternates back and forth through the circuit is known as Alternating Current,
or A.C.. Whether AC or DC current only flows through a circuit when a voltage
source is connected to it with its "flow" being limited to both the resistance of the
circuit and the voltage source pushing it. Also, as AC currents (and voltages) are
periodic and vary with time the "effective" or "RMS", (Root Mean Squared) value
given as Irms produces the same average power loss equivalent to a DC current I I
Iaverage . Current sources are the opposite to voltage sources in that they like short or
closed circuit conditions but hate open circuit conditions as no current will flow.
Using the tank of water relationship, current is the equivalent of the flow of water
through the pipe with the flow being the same throughout the pipe. The faster the
flow of water the greater the current. Any current source whether DC or AC likes a
short or semi-short circuit condition but hates any open circuit condition as this
prevents it from flowing.

Resistance
The Resistance of a circuit is its ability to resist or prevent the flow of current
(electron flow) through it making it necessary to apply a bigger voltage to the circuit
to cause the current to flow again. Resistance is measured in Ohms, Greek symbol
( , Omega ) with prefixes used to denote Kilo-ohms (k = 103) and Mega-ohms
(M = 106). Resistance cannot be negative only positive.

Resistor Symbols

The amount of resistance determines whether the circuit is a "good conductor" low resistance, or a "bad conductor" - high resistance. Low resistance, for example
1 or less implies that the circuit is a good conductor made from materials such as
copper, aluminium or carbon while a high resistance, 1M or more implies the
circuit is a bad conductor made from insulating materials such as glass, porcelain or
plastic. A "semiconductor" on the other hand such as silicon or germanium, is a
material whose resistance is half way between that of a good conductor and a good
insulator. Semiconductors are used to make Diodes and Transistors etc.
Resistance can be linear in nature or non-linear in nature. Linear resistance obeys
Ohm's Law and controls or limits the amount of current flowing within a circuit in
proportion to the voltage supply connected to it and therefore the transfer of power
to the load. Non-linear resistance, does not obey Ohm's Law but has a voltage drop
across it that is proportional to some power of the current. Resistance is pure and is
not affected by frequency with the AC impedance of a resistance being equal to its
DC resistance and as a result can not be negative. resistance is always positive. Also,
resistance is an attenuator which has the ability to change the characteristics of a
circuit by the effect of load resistance or by temperature which changes its
resistivity.
For very low values of resistance, for example milli-ohms, (ms) it is sometimes
more easier to use the reciprocal of resistance (1/R) rather than resistance (R) itself.
The reciprocal of resistance is called Conductance, symbol (G) and it is the ability of
a conductor or device to conduct electricity with high values of conductance
implying a good conductor and low values of conductance implying a bad conductor.
The unit of conductance is the Siemen, symbol (S).
Again, using the water relationship, resistance is the diameter or the length of the
pipe the water flows through. The smaller the diameter of the pipe the larger the
resistance to the flow of water, and therefore the larger the resistance.
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Relationship between Voltage and Current in a circuit of constant resistance.

Summary
Hopefully by know you have an idea of how voltage, current and resistance are
related. The relationship between Voltage, Current and Resistance forms the basis of
Ohm's law which in a linear circuit states that if we increase the voltage, the current
goes up and if we increase the resistance, the current goes down. A basic summary of
the three units is given below.

Voltage or potential difference is the measure of potential energy between

two points in a circuit and is commonly referred to as its "volt drop".
When a voltage source is connected to a closed loop circuit the voltage will
produce a current flowing around the circuit.
In D.C. voltage sources the symbols +ve (positive) and -ve (negative) are
used to denote the polarity of the voltage supply.

Voltage is measured in "Volts" and has the symbol "V" for voltage or "E"
for energy.
Current flow is a combination of electron flow and hole flow through a
circuit.
Current is the continuous and uniform flow of charge around the circuit and
is measured in "Amperes" or "Amps" and has the symbol "I".
The effective (rms) value of an AC current has the same average power loss
equivalent to a DC current flowing through a resistive element.
Resistance is the opposition to current flowing around a circuit.
Low values of resistance implies a conductor and high values of resistance
implies an insulator.
Resistance is measured in "Ohms" and has the Greek symbol "" or the
letter "R".

Quantity

Symbol

Unit of
Measure

Abbreviation

Voltage

V or E

Volt

Current

Amp

Resistance

Ohms

In the next tutorial about DC Theory we will look at Ohms Law which is a
mathematical equation explaining the relationship between Voltage, Current, and
Resistance within electrical circuits and is the foundation of electronics and
electrical engineering. Ohm's Law is defined as: E = I x R.

Kirchoff's Circuit Law

We saw in the Resistors tutorial that a single equivalent resistance, ( RT ) can be
found when two or more resistors are connected together in either series, parallel or
combinations of both, and that these circuits obey Ohm's Law. However, sometimes
in complex circuits such as bridge or T networks, we can not simply use Ohm's Law
alone to find the voltages or currents circulating within the circuit. For these types
of calculations we need certain rules which allow us to obtain the circuit equations
and for this we can use Kirchoff's Circuit Law.
In 1845, a German physicist, Gustav Kirchoff developed a pair or set of rules or
laws which deal with the conservation of current and energy within electrical

circuits, one of these laws deals with current flow, Kirchoff's Current Law, (KCL)
and the other one which deals with voltage, Kirchoff's Voltage Law, (KVL).

Kirchoff's First Law - The Current Law, (KCL)

Kirchoff's Current Law or KCL, states that the "total current or charge entering a
junction or node is exactly equal to the charge leaving the node as it has no other place
to go except to leave, as no charge is lost within the node". In other words the
algebraic sum of ALL the currents entering and leaving a node must be equal to
zero, I(exiting) + I(entering) = 0. This idea by Kirchoff is known as the Conservation of
Charge.

Kirchoff's Current Law

Here, the 3 currents entering the node, I1, I2, I3 are all positive in value and the 2
currents leaving the node, I4 and I5 are negative in value. Then this means we can
also rewrite the equation as;
I1 + I2 + I3 - I4 - I5 = 0

The term Node in an electrical circuit generally refers to a connection or junction of

two or more current carrying paths or elements such as cables and components.
Also for current to flow either in or out of a node a closed circuit path must exist.
We can use Kirchoff's current law when analysing parallel circuits.

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Kirchoff's Second Law - The Voltage Law, (KVL)

Kirchoff's Voltage Law or KVL, states that "in any closed loop network, the total
voltage around the loop is equal to the sum of all the voltage drops within the same
loop" which is also equal to zero. In other words the algebraic sum of all voltages
within the loop must be equal to zero. This idea by Kirchoff is known as the
Conservation of Energy.

Kirchoff's Voltage Law

Starting at any point in the loop continue in the same direction noting the direction
of all the voltage drops, either positive or negative, and returning back to the same
starting point. It is important to maintain the same direction either clockwise or
anti-clockwise or the final voltage sum will not be equal to zero. We can use
Kirchoff's voltage law when analysing series circuits.
When analysing either DC circuits or AC circuits using Kirchoff's Circuit Laws a
number of definitions and terminologies are used to describe the parts of the circuit
being analysed such as: node, paths, branches, loops and meshes. These terms are
used frequently in circuit analysis so it is important to understand them.

Circuit - a circuit is a closed loop conducting path in which an electrical

current flows.
Path - a line of connecting elements or sources with no elements or sources
included more than once.

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Node - a node is a junction, connection or terminal within a circuit were two

or more circuit elements are connected or joined together giving a
connection point between two or more branches. A node is indicated by a
dot.
Branch - a branch is a single or group of components such as resistors or a
source which are connected between two nodes.
Loop - a loop is a simple closed path in a circuit in which no circuit element
or node is encountered more than once.
Mesh - a mesh is a single open loop that does not have a closed path. No
components are inside a mesh.
Components are connected in series if they carry the same current.
Components are connected in parallel if the same voltage is across them.

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Example No1
Find the current flowing in the 40 Resistor, R3
The circuit has 3 branches, 2 nodes (A and B) and 2 independent loops.
Using Kirchoff's Current Law, KCL the equations are given as;
At node A :

I1 + I2 = I3

At node B :

I3 = I1 + I2

Using Kirchoff's Voltage Law, KVL the equations are given as;
Loop 1 is given as :

10 = R1 x I1 + R3 x I3 = 10I1 + 40I3

Loop 2 is given as :

20 = R2 x I2 + R3 x I3 = 20I2 + 40I3

Loop 3 is given as :

10 - 20 = 10I1 - 20I2

As I3 is the sum of I1 + I2 we can rewrite the equations as;

Eq. No 1 :

10 = 10I1 + 40(I1 + I2) = 50I1 + 40I2

Eq. No 2 :

20 = 20I1 + 40(I1 + I2) = 40I1 + 60I2

We now have two "Simultaneous Equations" that can be reduced to give us the
value of both I1 and I2

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Substitution of I1 in terms of I2 gives us the value of I1 as -0.143 Amps

Substitution of I2 in terms of I1 gives us the value of I2 as +0.429 Amps
As :

I3 = I1 + I2

The current flowing in resistor R3 is given as :

-0.143 + 0.429 = 0.286 Amps

and the voltage across the resistor R3 is given as :

0.286 x 40 = 11.44 volts

The negative sign for I1 means that the direction of current flow initially chosen was
wrong, but never the less still valid. In fact, the 20v battery is charging the 10v
battery.

Electrical Units of Measure

The standard SI units used for the measurement of voltage, current and resistance
are the Volt [ V ], Ampere [ A ] and Ohms [ ] respectively. Sometimes in electrical
or electronic circuits and systems it is necessary to use multiples or sub-multiples
(fractions) of these standard units when the quantities being measured are very
large or very small. The following table gives a list of some of the standard units
used in electrical formulas and component values.

Standard Electrical Units

Parameter

Symbol

Measuring
Unit

Description

Voltage

Volt

V or E

Unit of Electrical Potential

V=IR

Current

Ampere

I or i

Unit of Electrical Current

I=VR

Resistance

Ohm

R or

Unit of DC Resistance
R=VI

Conductance

Siemen

G or

Reciprocal of Resistance
G=1R

Capacitance

Farad

Unit of Capacitance
C=QV

Charge

Coulomb

Unit of Electrical Charge

Q=CV

Inductance

Henry

L or H

Unit of Inductance
VL = -L(di/dt)

Power

Watts

Unit of Power

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P=VI
Impedance

Ohm

Unit of AC Resistance
Z2 = R2 + X2

Frequency

Hertz

Hz

Unit of Frequency
=1T

Multiples and Sub-multiples

There is a huge range of values encountered in electrical and electronic engineering
between a maximum value and a minimum value of a standard electrical unit. For
example, resistance can be lower than 0.01's or higher than 1,000,000's. By using
multiples and submultiple's of the standard unit we can avoid having to write too
many zero's to define the position of the decimal point. The table below gives their
names and abbreviations.
Prefix

Symbol

Multiplier

Power of Ten

Terra

1,000,000,000,000

1012

Giga

1,000,000,000

109

Mega

1,000,000

106

kilo

1,000

103

none

none

100

centi

1/100

10-2

milli

1/1,000

10-3

micro

1/1,000,000

10-6

nano

1/1,000,000,000

10-9

pico

1/1,000,000,000,000

10-12

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