ELECTRICAL SUPPLY AND INSTALLATIONS

Electricity Generation and Supply

In 1831 Michael Faraday succeeded in producing electricity by plunging a bar magnet into a coil of wire. This is credited as being the elementary process by which we produce electricity today, but the coils of wire are cut by a magnetic field as the magnet rotates.

M Faraday

Electricity Distribution
The electricity is produced at power generating stations at 25 kilovolt (kV) potential, in three-phase supply. Thereafter it is processed by step-up transformers to 132, 275 or 400 kV before connecting to the national grid. Power to large towns and cities is by overhead lines at 132 kV or 33 kV where it is

transformed to an 11 kV underground supply to sub-stations.

From these sub-stations the supply is again transformed to the lower potential of 400 volts, three-phase supply and 230 volts, single-phase supply for general distribution.

Step-up transformer

Electricity Intake to a Building

The termination and metering of services cables to buildings is determined by the electricity authority's supply arrangements. Most domestic supplies are underground with the service cable terminating at the meter cupboard, as shown. Depth of cover to underground cables should be at least 750 mm below roads and 450

mm below open ground.

In remote areas the supply may be overhead. All equipment up to and including the meter is the property and responsibility of the supplier. Meters are preferably sited in a purpose-made reinforced plastic compartment set in or

on the external wall of a building.

Consumer Unit

Historically, electrical installations required a separate fuse and isolator for each circuit.
Modern practice is to rationalize this into one `fuse box' , known as a consumer 's power supply control unit or consumer unit for short. Each fuse or mcb is selected with a rating in accordance with its circuit function. Traditional fuses are rated at 5, 15, 20, 30 and 45 amps whilst the more modern mcbs

are rated in accordance with BS EN 60898: Circuit breakers for over current protection
for household and similar installations.

Consumer Unit

Power Sockets
Power sockets should be positioned between 150 mm and 250 mm above work surfaces and between 450 mm and 1200 mm above floor levels. An exception is in buildings designed for the elderly or infirm, where socket heights should be between 750 and 900 mm above the floor. Every socket terminal should be fitted with a double outlet to reduce the need for

adaptors.

Power Socket with Double Outlet

The following provides guidance on the minimum provision for power sockets in domestic accommodation:

Light
Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation. It is similar in nature and behavior to radio waves at one end of the frequency spectrum and X-rays at the other.

Light is reflected from a polished (specular) surface at the same angle that strikes it.
A matt surface reflects in a number of directions and a semi-matt surface responds somewhere between a polished and a matt surface.

E.g. 1 - A spotlight of luminous intensity 20,000 candelas directed perpendicularly onto a flat surface at 6 m distance. Calculate the illumination on the surface?

Definitions and units of measurement:

1. Luminous intensity - candela (cd), a measurement of the magnitude of luminance or light reflected from a surface, i.e. cd/m 2 .

2. Luminous flux - lumen (lm), a measurement of the visible light energy emitted.
3. Illuminance - Lumens per square metre (lm/m falling on a surface. 4. Efficacy - efficiency of lamps in lumens per watt (lm/W). Luminous efficacy Luminous flux output Electrical power input.
2

) or lux (lx), a measure of the light

5. Glare index - a numerical comparison ranging from about 10 for shaded light to
about 30 for an exposed lamp. Calculated by considering the light source size, location, luminances and effect of its surroundings.

Examples of illumination levels and limiting glare indices for different activities:

Electric Lamps
Filament lamps
The tungsten iodine lamp is used for floodlighting. Evaporation from the filament is controlled by the presence of iodine vapor. The gas-filled, general-purpose filament lamp has a fine tungsten wire sealed within a glass bulb. The wire is heated to incandescence (white heat) by the passage of an electric current.

Gas-filled filament lamps

Flood lights

Flood Lights

Discharge lamps
1. These do not have a filament, but produce light by excitation of a gas. When voltage is applied to the two electrodes, ionization occurs until a critical value is reached when current flows between them. 2. As the temperature rises, the mercury vaporizes and electrical discharge between the main electrodes causes light to be emitted.

Fluorescent tube
1. This is a low pressure variation of the mercury discharge lamp.

2. Energized mercury atoms emit ultra-violet radiation and a blue/green light.

3. The tube is coated internally with a fluorescent powder which absorbs the ultra-violet light and re-radiates it as visible light.

Discharge lamps

Fluorescent tube

High pressure sodium discharge lamps produce a consistent golden white light
in which it is possible to distinguish colors.
They are suitable for floodlighting, commercial and industrial lighting and illumination of highways.

Lighting Design
The lumen method of lighting design is used to determine a lighting layout that will provide a design maintained illuminance. It is valid if the luminaires are mounted above the working plane in a regular pattern. The method uses the formula:

The utilization factor (U) is the ratio of the lumens received on the working plane to the total flux output of lamps in the scheme. The maintenance factor (M) is a ratio which takes into account the light lost due to an average expectation of dirtiness of light fittings and surfaces.

Spacing-to-height ratio (SHR) is the centre-to-centre (S) distance between adjacent luminaires to their mounting height (H) above the working plane.

Example
An office 8 m long by 7 m wide requires an illumination level of 400 lux on the working plane. It is proposed to use 80 W fluorescent fittings having a rated output of 7375 lumens each. Assuming a utilization factor of 0.5 and a maintenance factor of 0.8 design the lighting scheme.

Solution:

Day lighting
The daylight received inside a building can be expressed as ` the ratio of the illumination at the working point indoors, to the total light available simultaneously outdoors ' . This can also be expressed as a percentage and it is known as the ` daylight factor ' . The daylight factor includes light from: 1. Sky component - light received directly from the sky; excluding direct sunlight. 2. External reflected component - light received from exterior reflecting surfaces. 3. Internal reflected component - light received from internal reflecting surfaces.

If equal daylight factor contours are drawn for a room, they will indicate how day lighting falls as distance increases from a window.