Household Circuits Flashcards
transmission of power from generating station to consumer
power generating station (11 kV)
grid substation (132 kV)
main substation {to heavy industry} (33 kV)
intermediate substation {to light industry} (11 kV)
city substation {to consumer} (220 V)
why is power generated at generating station not directly transmitted to consumers at 11 kV
voltage is raised to reduce the loss of energy in the form of heat in transmission line wires
why is ac used instead of dc
it is impossible to step up and step down with dc, so ac is used where there is an alternating voltage
how are live and neutral wires connected
the neutral and earth wires are connected at the local substation so that they have the same potential 0V
company fuse
before connecting the cable from a pole to the meter in a house, first a fuse of high rating is connected in the live wire at the pole
rating of company fuse depends on
load for which the connection is taken from the company
main switch also known as
earth leakage circuit breaker/ ELCB
ELCB
connected to both live and neutral wires
MCB
connected only to live wire
what type is main switch
double pole switch
advantage of main switch
breaks the connections of live and neutral wire simultaneously from main supply
consumer unit
contains a main switch/ELCB and an MCB for each circuit of the house
rating of MCB in ring circuit
30 A
advantages of ring system
- current from mains to the appliance has two separate paths. each appliance gets connected to the mains through a thick wire. wire of main ring is of lower current capacity than that which would be required to connect the appliance directly to the mains, and cost of wiring reduces
- each appliance has a separate fuse
- all plugs and sockets used are same size, but each socket should have its own fuse of rating suitable for appliance connected
- while installing new appliance, a new line up to the distribution box is not required, but can be directly connected to ring circuit in that room (precaution: total current drawn from mains by ring does not exceed rating on main fuse)
advantages of parallel connection
- each appliance gets 220 V
- operates independently and is not affected by the working of other appliances