Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim

Frequently Asked Questions in Viva Voce

Based on Electrical Wiring & Drafting (EEE 220)

1. What is Diversity factor in Electrical Installation?

In a building, the whole load of Electrical Wiring installation doesnt use at the same
time. In other words, we do not use all the loads at once at home i.e., we do not Switch
ON all the fans, light points, Air conditioner, TV, fridge, Water gazer, heater, Electric
iron etc at once. Therefore, keep in mind this (diversity factor) factor while selecting the
proper and most suitable size of cable for electrical wiring installation.
Diversity factor may e defined as:
Diversity Factor = Total Connected Load / Actual Maximum Load
Good to know:

Diversity factor may neglect in case of final sub circuits.

Instead of Homes and buildings, Diversity factor in electrical wiring installation may
neglect in offices or those places where all connected loads operate at once.

2. What is the difference between MCB & MCCB, Where it can be used?

MCB is miniature circuit breaker which is thermal operated and use for short circuit
protection in small current rating circuit. Normally it is used where normal current is less
than 100A.

MCCB molded case circuit breaker and is thermal operated for over load current and
magnetic operation for instant trip in short circuit condition. Under voltage and under
frequency may be inbuilt. Normally it is used where normal current is more than 100A.

3. Why in a three pin plug the earth pin is thicker and longer than the other pins?
It depends upon R=L/A where area (A) is inversely proportional to resistance (R), so
if area (A) increases, R decreases & if R is less the leakage current will take low
resistance path so the earth pin should be thicker. It is longer because the First to make
the connection and last to disconnect should be earth Pin. This assures Safety for the
person who uses the electrical instrument.

4. Why Delta Star Transformers are used for Lighting Loads?

For lighting loads, neutral conductor is must and hence the secondary must be star
winding and this lighting load is always unbalanced in all three phases. To minimize the
current unbalance in the primary we use delta winding in the primary So delta / star
transformer is used for lighting loads.

Prepared by:
Engr. M. Jalal Uddin
Lecturer (Adjunct)
Department of EEE, United International University (UIU)
 Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
Frequently Asked Questions in Viva Voce
Based on Electrical Wiring & Drafting (EEE 220)

5. If one lamp connects between two phases it will glow or not?

If the voltage between the two phases is equal to the lamp voltage then the lamp will
glow. When the voltage difference is big it will damage the lamp and when the difference
is smaller the lamp will glow depending on the type of lamp.

6. What are HRC fuses and where it is used?

HRC stand for high rupturing capacity fuse and it is used in distribution system for electrical
transformers.

7. What is the difference between earth resistance and earth electrode resistance?
Only one of the terminals is evident in the earth resistance. In order to find the second
terminal we should recourse to its definition:
Earth Resistance is the resistance existing between the electrically accessible part of a
buried electrode and another point of the earth, which is far away.

8. Two bulbs of 100w and 40w respectively connected in series across a 230v supply
which bulb will glow bright and why?
Since two bulbs are in series they will get equal amount of electrical current but as the
supply voltage is constant across the Bulb (P=V^2/R).So the resistance of 40W bulb is
greater and voltage across 40W is more (V=IR) so 40W bulb will glow brighter.

9. What happen if we give 220 volts dc supply to bulb or tube light?

Bulbs or devices for AC are designed to operate such that it offers high impedance to AC
supply. Normally they have low resistance. When DC supply is applied, due to low
resistance, the current through lamp would be so high that it may damage the bulb
element.

10. What will happen if DC supply is given on the primary of a transformer?

Mainly transformer has high inductance and low resistance. In case of DC supply there is
no inductance, only resistance will act in the electrical circuit. So high electrical current
will flow through primary side of the transformer. So for this reason coil and insulation
will burn out. When AC current flow to primary winding it induced alternating flux
which also link to secondary winding so secondary current flow in secondary winding
according to primary current.Secondary current also induced emf (Back emf) in
secondary winding which oppose induced emf of primary winding and thus control
primary current also.
If DC current apply to Primary winding than alternating flux is not produced so no
secondary emf induced in secondary winding so primary current may goes high and burn
transformer winding.
Prepared by:
Engr. M. Jalal Uddin
Lecturer (Adjunct)
Department of EEE, United International University (UIU)
 Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
Frequently Asked Questions in Viva Voce
Based on Electrical Wiring & Drafting (EEE 220)
11. What are the points to be considered for MCB (miniature circuit breaker selection)?
I(L)x1.25=I(MAX) maximum current. Mcb specification is done on maximum current
flow in circuit.

12. How can we start-up the 40w tube light with 230v AC/DC without using any
choke/Coil?
It is possible by means of Electronic choke. Otherwise its not possible to ionize the
particles in tube. Light, with normal voltage.

13. What is the difference between Electronic regulator and ordinary rheostat regulator
for fans?
The difference between the electronic and ordinary regulator is that in electronic
regulator power losses are less because as we decrease the speed the electronic regulator
give the power needed for that particular speed .But in case of ordinary rheostat type
regulator the power wastage is same for every speed and no power is saved. In electronic
regulator triac is employed for speed control. by varying the firing angle speed is
controlled but in rheostat control resistance is decreased by steps to achieve speed
control.
14. What will happen when power factor is leading in distribution of power?
If there is high power factor, i.e if the power factor is close to one:
Losses in form of heat will be reduced.
Cable becomes less bulky and easy to carry, and very cheap to afford.
It also reduces over heating of transformers.

15. The difference between Ground and Neutral?

NEUTRAL is the origin of all current flow. In a poly-phase system, as its phase
relationship with all the three phases is the same, (i.e.) as it is not biased towards any one
phase, thus remaining neutral, thats why it is called neutral.

Whereas, GROUND is the EARTH on which we stand. It was perceived to utilize this
vast, omnipresent conductor of electricity, in case of fault, so that the fault current returns
to the source neutral through this conductor given by nature which is available free of
cost. If earth is not used for this purpose, then one has to lay a long. long metallic
conductor for the purpose, thus increasing the cost.

Ground should never be used as neutral. The protection devices (eg ELCB, RCD etc)
work basically on principle that the phase current are balanced with neutral current. In
case you use ground wire as the neutral, these are bound to trip if they are there and
they must be there. at least at substations. And these are kept very sensitive i.e. even
Prepared by:
Engr. M. Jalal Uddin
Lecturer (Adjunct)
Department of EEE, United International University (UIU)
 Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
Frequently Asked Questions in Viva Voce
Based on Electrical Wiring & Drafting (EEE 220)
minute currents are supposed to trip these.One aspect is safety when someone touches a
neutral, you dont want him to be electrocuted do you? Usually if you see the switches
at home are on the phase and not neutral (except at the MCB stage). Any one assumes the
once the switch is off, it is safe (the safety is taken care of in 3 wire system, but again
most of the fixtures are on 2 wire) he will be shocked at the accidental touching of wire
in case the floating neutral is floating too much.

16. Which is more dangerous AC or DC?

Low frequency (50 60 Hz) AC currents can be more dangerous than similar levels of
DC current since the alternating fluctuations can cause the heart to lose coordination,
inducing ventricular fibrillation, which then rapidly leads to death.

However any practical distribution system will use voltage levels quite sufficient to
ensure a dangerous amount of current will flow, whether it uses alternating or direct
current. Since the precautions against electrocution are similar, ultimately, the advantages
of AC power transmission outweighed this theoretical risk, and it was eventually adopted
as the standard.

17. What is Skin Effect and how does it happen??

According to faradays law of electromagnetic induction, a conductor placed in a
changing magnetic field induces an emf. The effect of back emf is maximum at the centre
because of maximum lines of field there. Hence the maximum opposition of current at
inner side of conductor and minimum opposition at the surface. Hence the current tries to
follow at the surface. It is due to this reason that we take hollow tube conductors in bus
duct. Taking into account the inductance effect, its simple consider the DC current. Since
its constant & not varying hence no back emf but if we gradually start increasing the
frequency then the flux cutting the conductor goes on increasing, hence greater the
frequency greater the alternating flux cutting the conductor & hence greater the back emf
& therefore greater the skin effect.
18. Why transformer rating is in KVA or KW?
Because power factor of the load is not defined in case of transformer thats why it is not
possible to rate transformer in KW. The losses (cu loss and iron loss) of the transformer
depends on current and voltage purely, not on load i.e, phase angle between the current
and voltage i.e. why transformer rated in kVA Transformer is not a load and having no
effect on P.F (thats why no change in its power factor) and it only transfer the constant
power from one voltage level to another voltage level without changing frequency. since
both the losses viz copper loss(depends on current) and iron loss(depends on voltage) are
independent of power factor, that is why a Transformers rating is not on kW, but on
KVA.

Prepared by:
Engr. M. Jalal Uddin
Lecturer (Adjunct)
Department of EEE, United International University (UIU)
 Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
Frequently Asked Questions in Viva Voce
Based on Electrical Wiring & Drafting (EEE 220)

19. What is the difference between real ground and virtual ground?
Real ground is when a terminal is connected physically to the ground or earthed. where as
virtual ground is a concept used in Op-Amps in which a node a assumed to have the
potential that of the ground terminal.

20. How To Calculate Your Electricity Bill. Easy & Simple Explanation.

Example:Suppose, a consumer consumes 1000 watts load per hour daily for one month.
Calculate The Total Energy bill of the consumer if per unit rate is 9 (In TK, $, , , INR
,Rs, DHR, Riyal etc) [Take 1 month = 30 Days].

Solution:1unit = 1kWh.
So Total kWh = 1000 Watts x 24 Hrs x 30 Days = 720000 watts/hour.
We want to convert it into Units, Where is 1unit = 1kWh.
So total Consumed units. 720000/1000 (k=kilo=1000). Total Units = 720.
Cost of per unit is 9.
So total Cost or Electricity bill= 720 x 9 = 6480. (In TK,$, , , INR ,Rs, DHR, Riyal etc).

Prepared by:
Engr. M. Jalal Uddin
Lecturer (Adjunct)
Department of EEE, United International University (UIU)