To introduce the student to basic electrical measurements, the basics of AC and DC electrical circuit theory, analogue electronic components and circuits and the application of formulae and analysis techniques to these circuits.
Electrical Quantities and Measurements
SI system, prefixes, scientific & engineering notation; Introduction to current flow; electrical units. Conductors, insulators, resistivity,temperature coefficient of resistance. Ohm's Law, DC network solutions. The ammeter, voltmeter and multi-meter, their use asmeasurement tools.
DC Circuit Theory
Resistive circuits. Resistors in series/parallel. The Wheatstone Bridge. Voltage and current divider rules. Power and energy in a resistivecircuit. Maximum power transferred to a load resistor. Negative voltages and currents. Kirchoff's Voltage and Current Laws.The Capacitor and Inductor in a DC network. Charging and discharging curves for the capacitor and inductor in a DC circuit.
Introduction to AC Circuit Theory
Generation of alternating EMF. Average, rms and max values of waveform. Frequency. Electrical supply network. Principle of simple DC generator.Principle of simple AC generator. Definition of cycle, period, frequency and amplitude of sinusoidal waves.
Electrostatics and Electromagnetism
The nature of electrical current and electrical charge. Capacitors and capacitance: electric fields, dielectrics, parallel plate capacitor, capacitors in series and in parallel, applications of capacitors. Concept of magnetic fields, field strength and flux. Simple magnetic circuits. B-H curves.Induced emf, self inductance and inductors, inductors in series and in parallel, energy stored in an inductor, mutual induction. Applications of electromagnetic induction: The transformer its operation and application. Electric bell, solenoid, moving coil instruments
Semiconductor Materials
Structure of an atom. Types of semiconductor materials. Covalent bonding. Electron current and hole current. N-Type and P-Type semiconductors. Characteristics of a forward and reverse biased PN Junction
Diodes and Rectification
Characteristics of bias, analysis of operation, diode approximations, typical circuits and applications of rectifier, zener, light emitting and photo diodes. Half wave rectifier. Full wave bridge rectifier. Filtering the output from either a half wave or full wave bridge rectifier using a capacitor filter. Voltage regulation using a zener diode. Fault finding and diagnosis of rectifier circuits
Introduction to Transistors
Structure of Bipolar Junction Transistors. NPN and PNP junctions. Relationships between transistor voltages and currents, DC current gain. The BJT as a switch. Fault finding and diagnosis of a BJT device and BJT switch circuits. Structure and principle of operation of FET. Structure and principle of operation of IGBT
| Module Content & Assessment | |
|---|---|
| Assessment Breakdown | % |
| Formal Examination | 50 |
| Other Assessment(s) | 50 |