Electrical Components - What They Are

In Electrical Components - What They Are, How They Work and What They Look Like on Drawings , you'll learn ...

• How resistors work
• How capacitors work
• How inductors work
• How switches work

Overview

Credit: 3 PDH

Length: 29 pages

I wrote this course with the intention of showing engineers in all disciplines how to recognize drawings of a variety of common electrical components. This is, by no means, a complete list. A task of that magnitude would be almost impossible. I have selected, however, those components that I have used the most in my career. I did start with a review of the three basic elements from which most electrical and electronic components are made. These are resistance, capacitance, and inductance. If there is some understanding of these basic elements, determining how electrical components function is somewhat easier. There are many drawings of the various components; and voltage, current, and power curves of resistors, capacitors, and inductors.

This course was designed mostly for non electrical engineers. This course would also be a good review for electrical engineers who have gotten away from electrical engineering, and young PE's, just entering the profession. It really helps, when reading electrical prints, to have a basic feeling for what components look like on drawings.

There is very little math involved in doing this course. Some vector algebra understanding is helpful when looking at how resistors, capacitors, and inductors react to alternating current voltages. Other than some representation of AC voltages with vectors, there is no math involved in this course. And even then, it's just pictures, not working with numbers.