UTILISATION OF
ELECTRICAL POWER
PRATHYUSH M
Electric heating and welding- advantages and types of electric heating- properties
of resistance heating materials- design of heating elements- Resistance ovens-
methods of temperature controls.
Induction heating- Principle- factors affecting induction heating- induction furnace-
core type and core less type- high frequency eddy current heating- dielectric
heating- equivalent circuit -loss angle application of dielectric heating- Arc furnace-
direct and indirect types.
Electric welding- types- resistance welding- spot welding- pre welding- seam
welding- electric arc welding- electrical properties of negative resistance- types of
arc welding- requirements of welding generators and transformers- use of reactor
for control of welding current- third brush and bipolar welding generators-
description.
Electric traction-
Electric heating
➢ Electric heating is extensively used both for domestic and industrial
applications.
➢ Domestic applications include (i) room heaters (ii) immersion heaters for
water heating (iii) hot plates for cooking (iv) electric kettles (v) electric irons (vi)
pop-corn plants (vii) electric ovens for bakeries and (viii) electric toasters etc.
➢Industrial applications of electric heating include (i) melting of metals (ii) heat
treatment of metals like annealing, tempering, soldering and brazing etc. (iii)
moulding of glass (iv) baking of insulators (v) enamelling of copper wires etc
Advantages of Electric Heating
As compared to other methods of heating using gas, coal and fire etc., electric
heating is far superior for the following reasons :
(i) Cleanliness. Since neither dust nor ash is produced in electric heating, it is
a clean system of heating requiring minimum cost of cleaning. Moreover, the
material to be heated does not get contaminated.
(ii) No Pollution. Since no flue gases are produced in electric heating, no
provision has to be made for their exit.
(iii) Economical. Electric heating is economical because electric furnaces are
cheaper in their initial cost as well as maintenance cost since they do not
require big space for installation or for storage of coal and wood. Moreover,
there is no need to construct any chimney or to provide extra heat installation.
(iv) Ease of Control. It is easy to control and regulate the temperature of an
electric furnace with the help of manual or automatic devices. Temperature
can be controlled within ± 5°C which is not possible in any other form of
heating.
(v) Special Heating Requirement. Special heating requirements such as
uniform heating of a material or heating one particular portion of the job
without affecting its other parts or heating with no oxidation can be met only by
electric heating.
(vi) Higher Efficiency. Heat produced electrically does not go away waste
through the chimney and other by products. Consequently, most of the heat
produced is utilised for heating the material itself. Hence, electric heating has
higher efficiency as compared to other types of heating.
(vii) Better Working Conditions. Since electric heating produces no irritating
noises and also the radiation losses are low, it results in low ambient
temperature. Hence, working with electric furnaces is convenient and cool.
(viii) Heating of Bad Conductors. Bad conductors of heat and electricity like
wood, plastic and bakery items can be uniformly and suitably heated with
dielectric heating process.
(ix) Safety. Electric heating is quite safe because it responds quickly to the
controlled signals.
(x) Lower Attention and Maintenance Cost. Electric heating equipment
generally will not require much attention and supervision and their maintenance
cost is almost negligible.
Hence, labour charges are negligibly small as compared to other forms of
heating.
Different Methods of Heat Transfer
The different methods by which heat is transferred from a hot body to a cold
body are as under:
1. Conduction
In this mode of heat transfer, one molecule of the body gets heated and transfers
some of the heat to the adjacent molecule and so on. There is a temperature
gradient between the two ends of the body being heated.
2. Convection
➢In this process, heat is transferred by the flow of hot and cold air currents.
➢This process is applied in the heating of water by immersion heater or heating
of buildings.
➢The quantity of heat absorbed by the body by convection process depends
mainly on the temperature of the heating element above the surroundings and
upon the size of the surface of the heater.
➢ It also depends, to some extent, on the position of the heater.
➢The amount of heat dissipated is given by
3. Radiation
➢ It is the transfer of heat from a hot body to a cold body in a straight line without
affecting the intervening medium.
➢The rate of heat emission is given by Stefan’s law according to which
Methods of Electric Heating
➢Basically, heat is produced due to the circulation of current through a
resistance.
➢The current may circulate directly due to the application of potential difference
or it may be due to induced eddy currents.
➢Similarly, in magnetic materials, hysteresis losses are used to create heat.
➢In dielectric heating, molecular friction is employed for heating the substance.
➢An arc established between an electrode and the material to be heated can be
made a source of heat.
➢Bombarding the surface of material by high energy particles can be used to
heat the body.
Resistance Heating
➢It is based on the I2R effect. When current is passed through a resistance
element I2R loss takes place which produces heat.
➢There are two methods of resistance heating
(a) Direct Resistance Heating.
➢In this method the material (or charge) to be heated is treated as a
resistance and current is passed through it.
➢The charge may be in the form of powder, small solid pieces or liquid.
➢The two electrodes are inserted in the charge and connected to either a.c. or
d.c. supply
➢Obviously, two electrodes will be
required in the case of d.c. or single-phase
a.c. supply but there would be three
electrodes in the case of 3-phase supply.
➢When the charge is in the form of small
pieces, a powder of high resistivity
material is sprinkled over the surface of
the charge to avoid direct short circuit.
➢Heat is produced when current passes
through it.
➢This method of heating has high
efficiency because the heat is produced in
the charge itself.
(b) Indirect Resistance Heating.
➢In this method of heating, electric current is passed through a resistance
element which is placed in an electric oven.
➢Heat produced is proportional to I2R losses in the heating element.
➢The heat so produced is delivered to the charge either by radiation or
convection or by a combination of the two.
➢Sometimes, resistance is placed in a cylinder which is surrounded by the
charge placed in the jacket as shown in the Fig.
➢ This arrangement provides uniform temperature. Moreover, automatic
temperature control can also be provided.
Requirement of a Good Heating Element
(1) High Specific Resistance When specific resistance of the material of the
wire is high, only short length of it will be required for a particular resistance (and
hence heat) or for the same length of the wire and the currrent, heat produced
will be more.
(2) High Melting Temperature. If the melting temperature of the heating element
is high, it would be possible to obtain higher operating temperatures.
(3) Low Temperature Coefficient of Resistance. In case the material has low
temperature coefficient of resistance, there would be only small variations in its
resistance over its normal range of temperature. Hence, the current drawn by the
heating element when cold (i.e., at start) would be practically the same when it is
hot.
(4) High Oxidising Temperature. Oxidisation temperature of the heating
element should be high in order to ensure longer life.
(5) Positive Temperature Coefficient of Resistance. If the temperature
coefficient of the resistance of heating element is negative, its resistance will
decrease with rise in temperature and it will draw more current which will produce
more wattage and hence heat. With more heat, the resistance will decrease
further resulting in instability of operation.
(6) Ductile. Since the material of the heating elements has to have convenient
shapes and sizes, it should have high ductility and flexibility.
(7) Mechanical Strength.
The material of the heating element should posses high mechanical strength of
its own.
Resistance Furnaces or Ovens
➢These are suitably-insulated closed chambers with a provision for ventilation
and are used for a wide variety of purposes including heat treatment of metals
like annealing and hardening etc.,
➢stoving of enamelled wares, drying and baking of potteries, vulcanizing and
hardening of synthetic materials and for commercial and domestic heating.
➢Temperatures upto 1000°C can be obtained by using heating elements made of
nickel, chromium and iron.
➢Ovens using heating elements made of graphite can produce temperatures
upto 3000°C.
➢ Heating elements may consist of circular wires or rectangular ribbons.
➢The ovens are usually made of a metal framework having an internal lining of
fire bricks.
➢The heating element may be located on the top, bottom or sides of the oven.
➢The nature of the insulating material is determined by the maximum
temperature required in the oven.
➢An enclosure for charge which is heated by radiation or convection or both is
called a heating chamber.
Temperature Control of Resistance Furnaces
➢ The temperature of a resistance furnace can be changed by controlling the I2R
or V2/R losses.
➢Following different methods are used for the above purpose :
(1) Intermittent Switching.
➢ In this case, the furnace voltage is switched ON and OFF intermittently.
➢ When the voltage supply is switched off, heat production within the surface is
stalled and hence its temperature is reduced.
➢ When the supply is restored, heat production starts and the furnace
temperature begins to increase.
➢ Hence, by this simple method, the furnace temperature can be limited
between two limits.
(2) By Changing the Number of Heating Elements.
➢In this case, the number of heating elements is changed without cutting off the
supply to the entire furnace.
➢Smaller the number of heating elements, lesser the heat produced.
➢In the case of a 3-phase circuit, equal number of heating elements is switched
off from each phase in order to maintain a balanced load condition..
(3) Variation in Circuit Configuration.
➢ In the case of 3-phase secondary load, the heating elements give less heat
when connected in a star than when connected in delta because in the two
cases, voltages across the elements is different.
➢In single-phase circuits, series and parallel grouping of the heating elements
causes change in power dissipation resulting in change of furnace temperature
➢heat produced is more when all these elements are connected in parallel than
when they are connected in series or series-parallel
(4) Change of Applied Voltage.
(a) Obviously, lesser the magnitude of the voltage applied to the load, lesser the
power dissipated and hence, lesser the temperature produced.
➢In the case of a furnace transformer having high voltage primary, the tapping
control is kept in the primary winding because the magnitude of the primary
current is less.
(b) Bucking-Boosting the Secondary Voltage.
➢In this method, the transformer secondary is wound in two sections having
unequal number of turns.
➢If the two sections are connected in series aiding, the secondary voltage is
boosted i.e., increased to (E2 + E3) as shown in Fig. (a).
➢When the two sections are connected in series-opposing [Fig. (b)] the secondary
voltage is reduced i.e., there is bucking effect.
➢Consequently, furnace voltage
becomes (E2 – E3) and, hence,
furnace temperature is reduced.
(c) Autotransformer Control.
➢Fig. 47.8 shows the use of tapped autotransformer used for decreasing the
furnace voltage and, hence, temperature of small electric furnaces.
➢ The required voltage can be selected with the help of a voltage selector.
(d) Series Reactor Voltage.
➢In this case, a heavy-duty core-wounded coil is placed in series with the furnace
as and when desired.
➢ Due to drop in voltage across the impedance of the coil, the voltage available
across the furnace is reduced.
➢With the help of D.P.D.T. switch, high/low, two mode temperature control can be
obtained as shown in the Fig.
➢Since the addition of series coil reduces the power factor, a power capacitor is
simultaneously introduced in the circuit for keeping the p.f. nearly unity.
➢As seen, the inductor is connected in series,
whereas the capacitor is in parallel
with the furnace.
Design of Heating Element
➢Normally, wires of circular cross-section or rectangular conducting ribbons are
used as heating elements.
➢Under steady-state conditions, a heating element dissipates as much heat from
its surface as it receives the power from the electric supply.
➢If P is the power input and H is the heat dissipated by radiation, then P = H under
steady-state conditions.
➢As per Stefan’s law of radiation, heat radiated by a hot body is given by
Ribbon Type Element