DECEMBER 2011 - Electrical Business Magazine

More documents

Recommendations

Info

WEB PROFILES www.csa.ca www.flukenetworks.ca www.flukecanada.ca CSA STANDARDS Shop.csa.ca is your one-stop for purchasing standards, application tools and related training offered by CSA Standards, Canada’s pre-eminent Standards Development Organization. Fluke Networks provides innovative solutions for the installation and certification, testing, monitoring and analysis of copper, fiber and wireless networks used by enterprises and telecommunications carriers. The company’s comprehensive line of Network SuperVision Solutions provide network installers, owners, and maintainers with superior vision, combining speed, accuracy and ease of use to optimize network performance. Fluke Electronics Canada offers complete families of professional test tools, including power quality, thermography, digital multimeters, clamp meters, insulation resistance testers, portable oscilloscopes, thermometers, process testing equipment and accessories, as well as educational and training resources. www.leviton.com www.ge-ed.ca www.gelighting.ca LEVITON MANUFACTURING OF CANADA LTD. Leviton Manufacturing of Canada Ltd. is the only company in the Canadian marketplace to offer a complete range of products, including switches, receptacles, connectors and lighting controls, as well as transient surge protectors and voice/data communication products. GE ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION Leading the future of electrification with an expanded focus on customer challenges, GE Energy – Industrial Solutions offers electrical distribution solutions for commercial, industrial, institutional and residential applications. GE LIGHTING Discover GE Lighting’s complete range of lighting products for commercial, industrial, residential and OEM applications. Explore lighting solutions for specific industry segments and access educational resources and tools. www.rcce.com www.standardpro.com www.sylvania.com RCC ELECTRONICS Test Equipment solutions provided by RCC Electronics are Recorders, Data Loggers, Power Analyzers, Breaker Timers, Transformer Ratiometers, Insulation Testers, Relay Testers, VLF Cable Diagnostics, Ultrasound. STANDARD PRODUCTS Whether your application is commercial, industrial or retail driven, STANDARD has the answer. For a complete list of our innovative products, visit our website at www.standardpro.com. OSRAM SYLVANIA LTD. OSRAM SYLVANIA LTD. OSRAM SYLVANIA LTD. provides innovative and environmentally responsible lighting products that produce more light while consuming less energy. Find comprehensive technical and application information for sustainable lighting solutions at www.sylvania.com. EBMag’s bi-weekly newsletter E-Line: Your Industry News Broadcast E-Line delivers unique, timely information that “fills the void” between editions of Electrical Business. 40 • December 2011 • www.EBMag.com Sign up at www.EBMag.com – it’s FREE!
POWER from the sun is not new David Herres And it’s coming into its own... are you ready? We think of the PV system as a contemporary solution to the energy crisis and perhaps the wave of the future, but our knowledge of solar power as a source of electrical energy dates back to the 19th Century. In 1839, Edmond Becqueril first used sunlight to make current flow through a conductor. Another century elapsed before researchers ascertained how this process occurred on an atomic level. The picture that emerged contains a fascinating insight regarding subatomic reality; it indicates that the underlying process may, in the future, provide an answer to our fossil fuel-based energy dilemma. How promising is solar power? Over 89,000 terawatts of solar energy fall upon the surface of the earth. This is close to 6000 times the amount of power consumed by the people who populate our planet. Solar technology looks promising as a way to power our culture without harming our planet. Since mid 2008, the price of PV (photovoltaic) modules has declined 60%, and the slide appears to be ongoing. The solar option seems to become more favourable in contrast to fossil and nuclear power as time goes by. How does it compare to wind power? Historically the two have followed similar trajectories and both are consolidating recent gains. When the economy gets back on track, both technologies will doubtless enjoy accelerated growth. Solar power enjoys two significant advantages over wind power: permitting is less difficult and community opposition less of an impediment since, by their very nature, wind turbines stand high above their occasionally indignant neighbours, whereas solar arrays lay flat on the ground. Solar technology The solar cell is the individual unit that makes up solar modules and entire solar arrays, but how does it work? It is a specialized type of diode—or solidstate one-way gate—that conducts in one direction but blocks the flow of electrons when reverse-biased. A solar cell has the additional property of generating electrical power when exposed to sunlight. It is a reverse counterpart to the light-emitting diode, or LED. Solar radiation that strikes a PV cell is reflected, absorbed or passes through. Only the portion that is absorbed results in electron flow, or usable electricity. The most common PV cell consists of two layers of semi-conducting silicon placed in contact. The two layers are n-type and p-type silicon. One of the reasons that silicon is a useful material in this application is that it has four electrons in its outer, or valence, layer. It is that outer layer that is responsible for atomic interaction. (Adjacent atoms bond more or less strongly when their valence electrons interact in various ways.) Silicon (Si) has an atomic number of 14. It is the eighth most common element by mass in the universe. Silicate minerals comprise over 90% of the earth’s crust. The material is widely used in such diverse applications as Portland cement, glass and silicone products. A small fraction of the total usage is in semiconductors for electronics products. Solar cells fall into this category. N-type silicon has excess electrons while p-type silicon has excess holes, or lack of electrons. Nevertheless, both materials are electrically neutral unless they are bonded together and exposed to light. When that happens, the absorbed energy causes an electrical charge to appear across the barrier between the n- and p-type materials. When connected to a load, this voltage creates a flow of electrons, or electrical current, provided electrodes are attached to the PV cell. The mechanism by which light is converted into electrical energy has been well-known since 1905, when Albert Einstein uncovered the key to this mystery. He described light as discrete quanta, now known as photons, and he outlined the basic principle of particle absorption. It is now known that by placing n-type silicon in contact with p-type silicon, a p-n junction is created. When this region absorbs light particles, excess electrons move from the n-type area to the p-type area, resulting in positive and negative charges. A utility-interactive solar array. The alt-azimuth angle and southern orientation are arranged for maximum power generation and the installation does not harm our planet’s environment. Photo © Judith Howcroft. www.EBMag.com • December 2011 • 41
Page 1: AN ANNEX PUBLISHING & PRINTING INC.
Page 4 and 5: industry news RECALL — Conglom re
Page 6 and 7: industry news Eaton Canada graduate
Page 8 and 9: industry news Source Atlantic celeb
Page 10 and 11: personalities Cate Gutowski, sales
Page 12 and 13: case study Glen Cove parking struct
Page 14 and 15: Techspan IEC309 Pin & Sleeve connec
Page 16 and 17: MANUFACTURERS 3M CANADA PO Box 5757
Page 18 and 19: MANUFACTURERS COOPER BUSSMANN 114 O
Page 20 and 21: MANUFACTURERS GE SECURITY 625 6th S
Page 22 and 23: MANUFACTURERS NORTH SAFETY PRODUCTS
Page 24 and 25: MANUFACTURERS SILVER FOX Swallow Co
Page 27 and 28: HomeLine load centers Reduce instal
Page 29 and 30: MANUFACTURERS PRODUCTS INCANDESCENT
Page 31 and 32: MANUFACTURERS PRODUCTS Capital Safe
Page 33 and 34: DISTRIBUTORS EG PENNER 200 Park Rd.
Page 35 and 36: DISTRIBUTORS GEORGE M. FRASER LTD.
Page 37 and 38: DISTRIBUTORS MANUFACTURERS SALES AG
Page 39: art tm me ent 2 Untitled-3 1 A new
Page 43 and 44: Advertisement NEW PRODUCTS FROM IPE
Page 45 and 46: Plug-in hybrids and electric vehicl
Page 47 and 48: calendar Visit EBMag.com and click
Page 49 and 50: Protecting personnel from arc flash
Page 51 and 52: RELIABLE HANGING SUPPORT OF FIXTURE
Page 53 and 54: The final say on storage Investing
Page 55 and 56: products Dymo’s CardScan Device r
Page 57 and 58: ® LINE/LIGNE BA LAST LAMP/LAMPE LI
Page 59 and 60: 3.7” 4.3” 3.7” SIMPULL HEAD

DECEMBER 2011 - Electrical Business Magazine

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?