What is Voltage Drop

What_is_Voltage_Drop.pdf

What is Voltage Drop?

Describes how supplied energy from a voltage source is reduced as current passes through various electrical elements in a circuit.

• Elements include:
  • Conductors
  • Contacts
  • Electrical load
  • Any resistive element in the circuit

How to eliminate Voltage Drop

Increase the size of the conductor that is being used to carry power the electrical load

• Will reduce the amount of resistance on the conductors carrying power
• Reduces the overall resistance on the entire electrical circuit
  

Distribute higher amounts of voltage which can then reduce the overall voltage drop if done in the correct applications

Use of active elements to reduce voltage drop across a given circuit

Transcript:

[0m:4s] Hi I'm Josh Bloom, welcome to another video in the RSP Supply education series. If you find that these videos are helpful to you, it certainly helps us out if you could give us a big thumbs up and subscribe to our channel.
[0m:16s] In today's video, we are going to be talking about a very simple electrical principle that has an effect on almost every electrical circuit.
[0m:26s] I am talking about voltage drop.
[0m:29s] As I mentioned before, voltage drop impacts almost every electrical circuit in some form or another. However,
[0m:37s] in some poorly planned, electrical circuits, voltage drop can result in poor device performance or potentially damaging electrical equipment.
[0m:48s] Voltage drop is a direct result of Ohm's law.
[0m:53s] Which has to do with the relationship between voltage in a circuit,
[0m:57s] the electrical resistance, and the amount of current passing through that circuit.
[1m:3s] In this video we will talk about what voltage drop is and where it occurs. We will also talk about the effect it can have on electrical circuitry and how to plan for voltage drop to ensure any loads on that electrical circuit function as expected.
[1m:21s] We will also talk about ways to reduce voltage drop in scenarios where might cause unsatisfactory performance or damage to electrical equipment.
[1m:32s] So, first and foremost, what is voltage drop?
[1m:36s] Voltage drop simply describes how supplied energy from a voltage source is reduced as the electrical current passes through the different electrical elements within a circuit.
[1m:50s] These elements can range from the conductor that is actually carrying the energy,
[1m:56s] as well as any contacts and resistive elements that do not supply voltage.
[2m:1s] Voltage drop will also occur across any resistive type elements, including any loads on the circuit and any other circuit elements.
[2m:11s] To better illustrate how this works let's look at an example of a motor that has a total resistance value of 15 ohms,
[2m:20s] while the conductors that actually supply the energy to the motor
[2m:25s] have a resistive value of 0.3 ohms.
[2m:29s] This means that the conductors running to that motor make up about four and a half percent of the total resistance in the entire circuit.
[2m:40s] If there is too much resistance in these conductors, it can increase the overall voltage drop across the whole circuit,
[2m:48s] thus potentially leading to poor performance from the motor, or possibly damaging the motor because of low voltage levels.
[2m:58s] So, it is important to understand what the minimum voltage requirements are when dealing with electrical equipment,
[3m:5s] and to also calculate what the voltage drop will be in the conductors that carry power to that equipment.
[3m:13s] There are NEC codes in place that dictate what acceptable levels of voltage drop are depending on the situation that you're in.
[3m:23s] It is important to follow these codes to avoid hazardous situations and potentially damaging equipment.
[3m:30s] There are ways to reduce voltage drop across an electrical circuit which can assist with power transmission to your load.
[3m:38s] The simplest way to decrease voltage drop is to simply increase the size of the conductor that is being used to carry power to the electrical load.
[3m:49s] This increased conductor size will reduce the amount of resistance on the conductor's carrying power, thus reducing the overall resistance on the entire electrical circuit.
[4m:2s] There are also methods in which you can distribute higher amounts of voltage, which can then reduce the overall voltage drop if done in the correct applications along with other techniques that use active elements to reduce voltage drop across a given circuit.
[4m:20s] Having a solid understanding of this principle and how is applied to various electrical circuits will allow us to design and implement how to distribute power to different loads in all sorts of different applications.
[4m:36s] For a full line of industrial hardware and thousands of other products, please go to our website. For more information or other educational videos, please go to RSPSupply.com, the Internet's top source for industrial hardware. Also, don't forget: like and subscribe.