EEE3352-ELECTROMECHANICS

AND MACHINES
Lecturers: S. MPANGA: Room 114
Dr A. ZULU: Room 121
 COURSE OUTLINE
• Introductory Concepts:
Dimensions and units; scalars, vectors, phasors. Laws of
Faraday, Ampere and conservation. Introduction to
magnetostatic, electrostatic and current conduction fields.
Total reluctance, capacitance, resistance. Energy and power
density, mechanical force.
• Magnetic Circuits:
Inductance, iron loss. Reluctance and excitation forces,
torques.
• Transformers:
Single -phase ideal transformer, equivalent circuit of real
transformer, phasor diagram, maximum flux density, referred
quantities, regulation, efficiency, rating.
• Introduction to Electric Power Systems:
Features of generation, transmission, distribution, and
utilisation. Three-phase star and delta connections,
power measurement. Introduction to electromechanical
energy conversion. Induced voltages in windings, slip
rings, commutator.
• Generators & Motors:
DC machine equivalent circuit, field, connections. Voltage-
current output characteristics of d.c. generators. Torque-
speed output characteristics of d.c. motors. Qualitative
treatment of 3-phase synchronous generators and motors.
• Illumination:
Introduction to concepts, light sources and user requirements.
 TIME ALLOCATION
• 4 hour lectures + 3 hour laboratories/tutorials per week.
ASSESSMENT:
• Assignments - 5%
• Laboratory - 15 %
• Test - 20 %
• Examination - 60 %
PRESCRIBED TEXTBOOK
Edward Hughes., ‘Electrical and Electronic Technology,’ 10th
ed., 2008, Pearson Education Limited, England., ISBN: 978-0-
13-206011-0
RECOMMENDED TEXTBOOK
Hughes E., Electrical Technology, 6th Ed., 1987, Longman ELBS,
ISBN 0-582-01326-7.
 OBJECTIVES:
By the end of the course students should be able to:
1. understand the relationship between electricity and
magnetism
2. derive formulae for capacitance in series and parallel
and use these formulae to solve problems;
3. determine the relationship between capacitance and
its dimensions;
4. define the terms: electric field strength, electric flux
density, permittivity of free space and relative
permittivity and use these terms in the solution of
problems;
6. determine the capacitance for fixed and
variable capacitors;
7. appreciate the electromechanical energy con
versions that take place in a modern power s
ystem.
8. have knowledge about the illumination phen
omena and be able to perform simple calcula
tions relating to luminance.
VECTOR ANALYSIS
 Coulomb’s Law
• The electrostatic force obeys the law of
superposition.
• So that, the force on a charge due to a group
of charges is the vector sum due to each
charge separately.

q1 q2
   
+ - F3  F13  F23  F43

q3 + + q4

8
 Definition of a Coulomb
• Charge is measured in coulombs, a rather
bizarre unit of charge.
• One proton has a charge of 1.602x10-19 C. The
choice of the unit of charge will appear slightly
more convenient when we study magnetism
later in the course.
• The charge on electrons and protons, which
are equal and opposite, are noted as e =
1.602x10-19 Coulombs.
 Coulomb’s Law
• Problem Solving Technique.
1. Draw a free body diagram.
2. Indicate only the forces acting on the
particular particle and their direction.

Example 1
Find the repulsive Coulomb force between
two protons in a nucleus of iron?

10
 SOLUTION:

We know that the charge of protons is

19
q1  q2  1.6  10 C, and
-15
distance r  4 10 m
1 q1q2
F 2
4 O r


9

9 10  1.6 10 
19 2
 14.4 N
4 10  15 2
 Example 2
The distance between the proton and the electron in
the hydrogen atom is r=5.3×10-11 m. What is the
magnitude of the force between the two particles?
SOLUTION:
q1  q2  1.6 1019 C
r  5.3 10-11 m
1 q1q2
F
4 O r 2
9  10  1.6 10
9

19 2
  8.2 108 N
5.3 10 
11 2
 Example 3
A particle is charged with 20 C and placed 50 cm
from another 70 C charged particle. Find the force
between them.
SOLUTION:
q1  20 C, q2  70 C
Distance r  0.5 m
1 q1q2
F
4 O r 2
9 109  20  70

0.52

 5.04 1013 N
 Analogy between electric and
gravitational forces
• The electric(Coulomb's Law) and gravitational forces
have similar forms:
qa qb M aMb
F  k F  G
r2 r2

• Note that gravitational forces are always attractive (F

is always negative), while the electric force is
attractive for opposite and repulsive for like charges.
• Also notice that the electric force is MUCH stronger:
k = 8.99x109 Nm2/C2      G = 6.67x10-11 Nm2/kg2
             
 Example 4
Find the ratio of the electrical force between a
proton and an electron to the gravitational force
between the two. Why doesn’t it matter that you
aren’t told the distance between them?
SOLUTION:
 Example 5
Two charges, one twice as large as the other, are
located 15 cm apart and experience a repulsive force
of 95 N. What is the magnitude of the larger charge?
SOLUTION:
Let q2  2q1
kq1q2 9 109  2q12
F 2  2
 95
r 0.15
 q12  1.1875  10 10 C 2
 q1  1.09 10 5 C
 q2  2q1  2.18 10 5 C  21.8 μC
 Example 6
Four identical charges q form a square of side a. Find
the magnitude of the electric force on any one of the
charges.
SOLUTION:
By symmetry, the magnitude of the force on any
charge is the same. Let’s find this for the charge at
the lower left corner, which we take as the origin.
 
r1  0, r2  aˆj , r3  a iˆ  ˆj , r4  aiˆ
 2
F  kq 
 r r
1 2

r1  r3

r1  r4 
 kq  3 
 
ˆ a iˆ  ˆj aiˆ 
2   aj
 3
3 3 3
 a a 
3
 r1  r2 r1  r3 r1  r4  2 2a
kq 2 ˆ ˆ  1  1.91kq 2
a

  2 i  j 1   
a2
 2 2
 Electric Potential Energy
• Just like in the gravitational case, the potential energy
falls proportional to r-1.
• The form of the potential energy U looks the same as
that for the force F except for the power of r.
qa qb qa qb
F k 2 U k
r r
• Again, note that the potential energy is positive when
the two charges have the same sign and negative
otherwise.
• Note that the potential energy of a set of charges, qa,
qb,...qz is the sum of the potential energies of the pairs.
• For instance, if there are 3 charges, qa, qb, qc, the net
potential energy is:
qa qb qb qc qa qc
U k k k
r r r

Electrical Potential, V
• This is the work done in moving a unit positive
charge from one point to another in an electric field.
• Thus, a potential of 1 V is the work done in moving 1
C of charge through 1 m in a uniform electric field of
1 N/C.
• In general, work done is U  qV OR W  qV Joules
• When a unit charge is moved a distance L in a
direction opposite to the field strength E, the work
done is W  El .
• If the change in potential of the unit charge is ∆V,
V dV
thenV  El and thusE  l  dl .
• In a uniform electric field, as shown in the figure
below, E  Vl .
• Consider a charge +q moving in the direction of a

uniform electric field E  E  ˆj , as shown in Fig.(a).
• Because the path taken is parallel to E , the electric
potential difference between points A and B is given
by
• Therefore point B is at a lower potential compared
to point A. In fact, electric field lines always point
from higher potential to lower.
• The change in potential energy is
ΔU =UB −UA = −qEd.
• Because q > 0, for this motion ΔU < 0, the potential
energy of a positive charge decreases as it moves
along the direction of the electric field.
• The corresponding gravity analogy, depicted in
Figure (b), is that a mass m loses potential energy
( ΔU = −mgd ) as it moves in the direction of the
gravitation field g.
 Example 7
A particle of charge q1=+6.0 μC is located on the x-axis at the point
x=5.1 cm. A second particle of charge q2=-5.0 μC is placed on the x-
axis at x=-3.4 cm. What is the absolute electric potential at the
origin? How much work must we perform in order to slowly move a
charge of q3=-7.0 μC from infinity to the origin, whilst keeping the
other two charges fixed?
SOLUTION:
The absolute electric potential at the origin due to the first charge is
q1 8.988  109  6  106 6
V1  k  2
 1.06  10 V
x1 5.110
Likewise, the absolute electric potential at the origin due to the second
charge is
q2 8.988 109  (5)  106 6
V2  k    1.32  10 V
x2 3.4 10 2
 The net electric potentialVat the origin is simply the algebraic sum
of the potentials due to each charge taken in isolation. Thus,
V  V1  V2  2.6 105 V
• The work which we must perform in order to slowly
move a charge from infinity to the origin is simply the
product of the charge and the potential difference
between the end and beginning points. Thus,
W  q3V   7 10 6   2.64  105   1.85 J

Example 8
Three charges are arranged at the vertices of a right-
angled triangle as shown below, with Q1=4 μC =2Q2
and Q3=-3 μC.
(a) Determine the total potential energy of the three-
charge system.
(b) Determine the work done by an external force to
move Q2 from its present position to infinity.
 SOLUTION:

• NOTE: Electric field E is the force per unit charge:

F
E  [N/C] or [V/m]
q
Calculating Electric Field from Electric
Potential
• Suppose the electric potential due to a certain charge
distribution can be written in Cartesian Coordinates as
V x, y, z   Ax 2 y 2  Bxyz
where A, B and C are constants. What is the associated electric
field?
Solution:
The electric field can be found as follows:
 Electric Potential due to Point
Charges
• Next, let’s compute the potential difference between
two points A and B due to a charge +Q.
• The electric field produced by Q is E = (Q / 4πε0r2 )r ,
where r is a unit vector pointing radially away from
the location of the charge.
  
• From the Figure we see that r.d s  ds cos   dr, which
gives: B Q 
V  VB  VA    rˆ.ds
A 4 r 2
0

B Q Q 1 1
  dr    
A 4 r 2 4 0  rB rA 
0

• Once again, the potential difference ΔV depends only

on the endpoints, independent of the choice of path
taken.
• In practice, it is often convenient to choose the
reference point to be at infinity, so that the electric
potential at a point P becomes
• With this choice of zero potential, we introduce an
electric potential function, V (r) , where r is the
distance from the point-like charged object with
charge Q: 1 Q
V (r ) 
4 0 r
• When more than one point charge is present, by
applying the superposition principle, the electric
potential is the sum of potentials due to individual
charges:
1 qi qi
V (r ) 
4 0
i r  ke i r
i i

• A summary of comparison between gravitation and

electrostatics is tabulated below:
• A summary of comparison between Gravitation and
electrostatics is tabulated below:
Figure: Equipotential curves and electric field lines for (a) a
constant E field, (b) a point charge, and (c) an electric dipole.

Notes about equipotentials and conductors:

 the electric field inside a conductor is zero;
 any net charge must reside on the surface of the conductor;
 the tangential component of the electric field on the surface is zero;
 just outside the conductor, the electric field is normal to the surface;
 Points to remember
 Make sure you understand the difference between
potential and potential energy, and between
potential energy of a charge configuration and the
potential energy of a charge in a charge
configuration.
 A single charge will create a potential at a point in
space, but you need at least two charges for the
potential energy to have any meaning.
 Potential and potential energy are scalars.
 An electric field always exists wherever there is
voltage and a magnetic field always exists wherever
there is a current flowing.
 Electric fields can be felt whereas magnetic fields
cannot be felt.
 Like mass, charge cannot be created or destroyed.
 A field is formally described as a spatial distribution
of a quantity, which may or may not be a function of
time.
 The concept of fields and waves is essential to
describe what Michael Faraday called “action at a
distance”.
 A typical example of such action-at-a-distance is
gravitation: the fact that masses attract each other
and that objects fall to earth.
 Since no mechanical bond exists between the objects,
the concept of gravitational field is necessary to
describe this force.
 Other examples of fields in nature are: thermal fields,
the earth’s magnetic field and electrical conduction
fields.
 In electrical engineering we are particularly interested
in electric and magnetic fields.
 Electromagnetic fields can be used to explain the
propagation of travelling waves along transmission
lines.
 These travelling waves are of importance in high
voltage engineering as overvoltage surges, caused by
lightning, are propagated along the lines.
 EEE3352 ASSIGNMENT 1
1. Two identical small metal spheres initially carry charges q1 and q2, respectively.
When they are 1.0 m apart they experience a 2.5-N attractive force. Then they are
brought together so charge moves from one to the other until they have the same
net charge. They are again placed 1.0 m apart, and now they repel with a 2.5-N
force. What were the original values of q1 and q2?
2. A right isosceles triangle of side a has charges q, +2q and −q arranged on its
vertices, as shown in the Figure below.
(a) What is the electric potential at point P, midway between the line connecting the +q and -q
charges, assuming that V = 0 at infinity?
(b) What is the potential energy U of this configuration of three charges? What is the significance of
the sign of your answer
(c) A fourth charge with charge +3q is slowly moved in from infinity to point P. How much work
must be done in this process? What is the significance of the sign of your answer?

3. Suppose in some region of space the electric potential is given by

4. Write a page about the current understanding of the effects of

electromagnetic fields on our environment.

NOTE: ASSIGNMENT IS DUE IN A WEEK’S TIME