Course Overview
Ever wondered how electricity powers our world? This self-paced video course demystifies electrical power, providing a solid foundation in its principles and applications, designed specifically for professionals outside of engineering. Additionally, students will gain in-depth knowledge of advanced protection schemes for lightning and surge events.
Upon completion, students will be able to:
- Explain the principles of electrical earthing and design effective earthing systems.
- Design and evaluate lightning and surge protection systems for buildings and electrical facilities.
- Identify potential electrical safety hazards and apply preventive measures in line with industry safety regulations.
This program covers:
- Fundamentals: Grasp the basics of electrical circuits, laws, and safety.
- Power’s Journey: Explore generation, transmission, and distribution.
- Practical Applications: Learn about distribution, AC/DC motors, lighting, and customer installations.
- Industry Standards: Understand national electrical codes and load forecasting.
- The Future of Power: Get a glimpse into smart grids and substation automation.
Empower yourself with the knowledge to navigate the increasingly electrified world around us.
Introducing EVA, Your AI Learning Assistant
Throughout this course, you’ll have access to our brand-new support chatbot, EVA. Simply click this box in the bottom right of your screen to connect.
Course Benefits:
- You may be eligible to claim CPD points through your local engineering association
- Receive a Certificate of Completion from EIT
- Flexibility of completing anytime from anywhere, even when you are working full-time
- Interact with our AI chatbot EVA, to guide you through the content and tailor your learning experience.
Course Details
Module 1: Overview of Electrical Power Systems and Basic Concepts
- Units and electrical quantities
- Voltage, current, resistance, power, energy, frequency
- Inductance and capacitance
- Ohm’s law, RMS and average values
- Single and three phase systems
- Power factor
Module 2: Power Generation Transmission and Distribution
- Various forms of energy, energy conversion
- Modern power station
- Coal-fired power plant, hydro and nuclear
- Impact on environment
- Solar, wind, geothermal
- Transmission of electricity, distribution
- Power demand and tariffs, power factor
- HVDC
Module 3: Electrical Measurements and Applications
- Electrical parameters – W/VA/VAr
- Measuring
- Power and energy measurement
- Smart metering
- Measuring voltages, currents and resistance
Module 4: Transformers
- Magnetic fields
- Electromagnetic fields
- Transformer operation
- Step down and step up
- Construction
- Single and polyphase transformers
- Cooling
- Oils and coolants
- Efficiency
- Tap changers
- Voltage regulation
- Earthing (also known as grounding) of transformers
Module 5: Earthing Systems
- Need for earthing (grounding), direct and indirect
- Shocks, touch and step potential
- Types of earthing (grounding), system and protective earthing
(grounding), isolation - Earth conductors and electrodes
- Measurement of earth resistance
- Lightning protection
- Bonding connection
Module 6: Power System Protection
- Incipient and solid faults
- Need for protection, overloads, overvoltage and overcurrent
- Fuses, circuit breakers, relays
- Protection of equipment
Module 7: Fuses Circuit Breakers Relays
- Isolation
- Electrical faults,
- Fuses
- Isolation, switching, tripping
- Circuit breakers
- Components of circuit breakers
- Medium voltage circuit breakers
Module 8: Electrical Rotating Machines AC/DC
- Basic principles
- Machines
- DC motor operation
- Speed, flux and armature voltage
- Speed control
- Single phase AC motors
- 3-phase induction motor
- Synchronous machines
- Torque versus speed
- Efficiency and power factor
Module 9: Electrical Lighting and Illumination
- Incandescent lamps, high intensity discharge lamps, mercury vapour,
metal halide lamps, fluorescent lamps, compact fluorescent lamps,
LEDs - Luminaire concepts
- Energy efficiency
Module 10: Electrical Heating in Industry
- Principles of heating, electrical heating, resistance heating
- Welding
- Electric arc furnaces
- Induction heating
Module 11: Power Electronics and Applications
- Semiconductor devices
- Motor controllers
- Rectifiers
- AC motors and soft starting
- Variable speed drives
Module 12: Power Quality
- Power quality problems
- Voltage variations
- Overvoltage and under-voltages
- Voltage imbalances
- Voltage and frequency variations
- Interruptions and surges
- Lightning and harmonics
- Harmonic compensation
Module 13: Electrical Safety and National Electrical Codes
- Key elements of National Electrical Codes (AS3000/NEC/CEC/SANS)
- Electrical hazards
- Electrical shock
- Arc flash and burns
- Personal protective equipment
- Safety through better design and installation
- Work permits
- Permitted personnel
- Training and first aid
- Legislation
Module 14: Customer Installations
- Metering and billing
- Tariff structures
- Connections
Module 15: The Engineering Team
- Design rules, specification, procurement
- Installation
- Commissioning
- Punch list of defects
- Contractual disputes
- Certificate of compliance
Module 16: Planning and Load Forecasting
- Load forecasting principles
- Forward planning
- Supply and demand side management
- Evaluation of electrical projects
Module 17: Modern Developments
- The smart grid
- Substation automation and industrial IT
- Data communications (including wireless)
- Cost of carbon/emissions trading
Upon completion, students should be able to:
- Identify the key components, principles and applications of electrical power systems.
- Describe the purpose and operation of common electrical protection, earthing and safety systems.
- Recognise common electrical hazards, safety requirements and relevant electrical standards and codes used in electrical installations.
- Perform basic electrical calculations and interpret fundamental electrical quantities.
To obtain a certificate of completion for this Self-paced Professional Certificate of Competency, students must complete 4 quizzes with a score of 100%. If a student does not achieve the required score, they will be able to reattempt the quiz to obtain the required score.
When you pay for this course, your payment will expire 180 days from the payment date. During this 180-day period, you may attempt the course multiple times. If you don’t earn your Certificate within 180 days, you’ll need to pay the fee again.
Payments for this course are made through our secure payment process on Stripe.
Designed for maximum flexibility, this online, self-paced program is structured to accommodate the schedules of full-time professionals. Expect to dedicate approximately 10 hours to the core content, in addition to any supplemental reading and study time.
Registrations are open for our upcoming intakes. As this is a self-paced course, your access begins from the date of payment.