Toronto Electricians and Electrical Contractors

How does the condensation process affect electrical and electronic equipment during winter? On one hand, automation and control facilities with critical functions and processes are always exposed to changing environments in both thermal and environmental terms. On the other hand, when winter arrives, there can be an acceleration of the phenomenon of corrosion. With winters approach enters the two most important variables that affect corrosion: Low or very low temperatures (<5 ° C) High relative humidity (> 70%) No matter the time of year, surface condensation will occur in areas if – and when – the temperature drops below the dew point . Add that to industrial environments, and you get corrosion rates that rise nearly to the maximum, as indicated in Table 1. Table 1: The (uniform) corrosion rate of steel in different atmospheres. Source: American Galvanizers Association http://ift.tt/2zCc8kQ Now, just why does the dew point exist at all? What sets the onset of condensa...

This is the second in a two-part series on the serious threat of fire caused by arc faults in the electrical systems of commercial, industrial, and residential buildings. In my first post we looked at the kinds of conditions that can cause arc faults, including bad connections, and damaged cables. As mentioned, arc faults often go undetected by protection devices like circuit breakers and residual current devices (RCD). In this post, I’ll talk about the emergence of arc fault detection devices (AFDD) that are helping address this hidden threat. But first, let’s look at what’s driven the development of this new technology. Why the need for AFDDs? First and foremost is the fact that faulty electrical systems continue to pose a serious threat of fire risks to buildings and their occupants. Worldwide, electrical system mishaps are the cause of 25% of all fires – with 80% of building fires occur in dwellings. These fires take an awful toll. For example, from 2011 to 2012, there were n...

Direct current (DC) distribution systems predominated in electricity’s early days, but they have since lost ground to alternating current (AC) approaches in most applications. However, DC has maintained its importance in a number of specific applications – especially those involving battery-based storage equipment and uninterruptible power supplies. Designing protection into DC distribution systems can be complicated, though, and require special attention from the consulting engineers working on such projects. Among DC technology’s advantages is its compatibility with simple battery storage solutions, and it has benefited from the development of power supplies with electronic converters and batteries. Additionally, at its lowest voltages, DC power poses many fewer dangers to installers and maintenance personnel than AC systems, which can reduce requirements for personal protective equipment in some applications. DC systems can be found performing a number of tasks in remote and indust...

In my last blog post, I took a look at how the newest power management solutions are helping healthcare facilities address financial challenges like energy and maintenance costs, as well as meet regulatory requirements. In this post I’d like to look at another top concern of healthcare executives: patient safety. While the healthcare motto is “First, do no harm,” the World Health Organization estimates that “in developed countries, as many as 1 patient in 10 is harmed while receiving hospital care.” Though there are a variety of causes behind this statistic, a facility’s electrical supply can be a contributing factor. For medium and large hospitals as well as smaller outpatient facilities, 24/7 power and data availability are critical. Power availability is a matter of life or death in the hospital environment. To help ensure safe and reliable power for patient and staff well-being, it’s important to safeguard against risks and find issues fast before problems occur. Beyond improvi...