Introduction to Electrical Engineering & Power Utilisation

The course aims to help students understand: (a) DC Networks including DC circuits, series and parallel connection, Kirchhoff?s laws, Mesh Analysis, DC Network theorems (Thevenin, Norton, etc); (b) Fundamentals of AC including generation, concepts of waveform, period, frequency, angular velocity, phase etc., average, peak and RMS values; (c) Single Phase AC Circuit including AC through resistance (R), inductance (L) and capacitance (C), concept of reactance and impedance, phasors, single-phase AC series and parallel circuits, concept of active power, reactive power, apparent power and power factor; (d) Simple Magnetic Circuits including definition of magnetic circuits, simple and composite magnetic circuits, magnetic circuit calculations, magnetic hysteresis, core loss, sinusoidal excitation of magnetic circuits and induced voltage; (e) Single-phase Transformers including core construction, principle of operation, e.m.f. equation and transformation ratio, no-load and on-load operation, phasor diagram under no-load and full-load operation with lagging and leading loads, exact and approximate equivalent circuits, open and short circuit tests, losses and efficiency, voltage regulation. (f) Three-phase systems (g) electrical loads and tariffs; (h) DC machines including motors and generators briefly.

DP requirements: 100% Laboratory attendance. 80% tutorial attendance and 50% mark for laboratories.

Assessment: Lab (10%), Class Test (30%), June Examination (60%)

The University of Cape Town awards credits based on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) to determine course and contact hour recommendations per course. 1 NQF credit represents roughly 10 notional hours of work which includes study time, assignments and examinations. Notional hours may very per courses depending on the course level and modality therefore, CEA recommends using NQF credits as a basis to determine U.S. equivalencies (1 NQF=.222 semester credits)