General Definition…

A clamp meter is an electrical test tool that integrates a basic digital multimeter with a current sensor.

Basically, clamps measure current. Meanwhile, probes measure voltage. Having a hinged jaw joined into an electrical meter allows technicians to clamp the jaws around a wire, cable, or other conductors at any point in an electrical system, then measure current in that circuit without disconnecting/de-energizing it.

Ultimately, underneath their plastic moldings, hard jaws consist of ferrite iron and are engineered to detect, deliberate, and measure the magnetic field being produced by current as it flows through a conductor.

1. Current-sensing jaw.
2. Tactile barrier (to protect fingers from shocks).
3. Hold button: Freezes the display reading.
4. Dial (aka rotary switch).
5. Display.
6. Backlight button.
7. Min Max button – Can be triggered depending on the amount of pushes.
8. Inrush current button.
9. Zero buttons (yellow): Removes dc offset from dc current measurements. Also serves as the dial’s shift button to select yellow functions scattered around the dial.
10. Jaw release lever.
11. Alignment marks – To meet accuracy specifications.
12. Common input jack.
13. Volts/ohm input jack.
14. Input for the flexible current probe.

Formerly created as a single-purpose test tool, recent clamp meters provide more measurement functions, greater accuracy, and in some cases specialized measurement features. In line with this, today’s clamp meters include most of the straightforward functions of a digital multimeter (DMM), such as the capability to measure voltage, continuity, and resistance.

Clamp meters have developed popular tools primarily for two reasons:

• Safety. Clamp meters allow electricians to avoid the old-school process of cutting into a wire and inserting a meter’s test leads into the circuit to take an in-line current measurement. As a result, the jaws of a clamp meter do not need to touch a conductor throughout a measurement.
• Convenience. During a measurement, it is not compulsory to shut off the circuit carrying current—a big boost in efficiency.

When measuring high levels of current, an ideal tool is a Clamp Meter. Meanwhile, DMMs cannot measure 10 A of current for more than 30 seconds without risking damage to the meter.

Also, clamp meters propose a minimum current range of 0 A to 100 A. Many models have an array of up to 600 A. Others go up to 999 A or 1400 A, and some plug-in clamp accessories such as the iFlex® can measure as high as 2500 A.

However, industrial equipment, industrial controls, residential/commercial/industrial electrical systems, and commercial/industrial HVAC, are used under Clamp meters.

• Service: To repair existing systems on an as-needed basis.
• Installation: To troubleshoot installation problems, perform final circuit tests, and supervise apprentice electricians while installing electrical equipment.
• Maintenance: To perform scheduled and preventative maintenance as well as system troubleshooting.

Three types of clamp meters exist:

• Current transformer clamp meters: measure only alternating current (ac).
• Hall Effect clamp meters: measure both alternating current and direct current (ac and dc).
• Flexible clamp meters: employ a Rogowski coil; measure ac only; good for measuring in tight spaces.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE AND SHOP NOW: Clamp Meters Archives – Presidium PH

By determining hot-neutral voltage, neutral-ground voltage, and hot-ground voltage you are well on your way to answering these receptacle fault questions:

• Is the outlet wired incorrectly?
• Is the branch circuit too heavily loaded?
• Do sensitive electronic loads have the voltage they need?

Basically, these three measurements, all occupied speedily at one outlet, deliver you with a solid acceptance of the building’s electrical supply.

Testing a three-slot receptacle for grounding polarity

Basically, inaccurately wired receptacles are not unusual. A three-slot receptacle has a hot slot (short), a neutral slot (long), and a grounding slot (U-shaped). Are the hot (black) and neutral (white) wires reversed? Are the neutral and ground (green) wires reversed or shorted?

Ultimately, these conditions can go unnoticed for a long time. Many loads aren’t delicate to polarity—they don’t care if hot and neutral are reversed. In contrast, sensitive electronic loads such as computer equipment and instrumentation do care about clean ground – a ground with no voltage and no-load currents on it. A single reversed neutral and ground can cooperate with the entire ground system.

Here’s what you can find.

Hot-neutral is the load voltage. Voltage should read about 120 V (typically 115 V to 125 V). You measure exactly 118.5 V.

• Neutral ground is a voltage drop (also called IR drop) caused by load current flowing through the impedance of the white wire. Let’s say you measure 1.5 V.
• The hot ground can be thought of as the source of voltage available at the receptacle. You read 120.0 V. Therefore, you note that hot-ground is higher than hot-neutral. In fact, the hot-ground is equal to the sum of the hot-neutral and neutral-ground voltages.

Are these readings normal? Is the outlet wired correctly?

How to detect mis-wired receptacles

The most common mis-wiring occurs if hot and neutral are switched, or if neutral and ground are either switched or shorted. How do you spot these conditions?

1. Measuring hot-neutral by itself does not tell you if they’ve been switched. You need to measure neutral-ground or hot-ground. If neutral-ground voltage is about 120 V and hot-ground is a few volts or less, then hot and neutral have been reversed.
2. Below load conditions, there should be some neutral-ground voltage – 2 V or a little bit less is pretty typical. If neutral-ground voltage is 0 V – again assuming that there is a load on the circuit – then check for a neutral-ground connection in the receptacle, whether accidental or intentional.
3. In checking if neutral and ground are switched, measure hot-neutral and hot-ground under load. In line with this, Hot-ground should be greater than hot-neutral. The greater the load, the more the difference. If hot-neutral voltage, measured with the load on the circuit, is greater than hot-ground, then the neutral and ground are switched. This is a probable safety hazard and the condition should be modified immediately.

Remember…

Hot-ground reading should be the highest of the three readings. Therefore, the ground circuit, under normal, non-fault conditions, should have no current and therefore no IR drop on it. You can think of the ground connection as a wire running back to the source (the main panel or the transformer), where it’s connected to the neutral. On the receptacle end of the ground path, where the measurement is being made, the ground is not connected to any voltage source (again, assuming there is not a fault). So the ground wire is like a long test lead back to the source voltage.

When there is a load connected, the hot-ground receptacle source voltage should be the sum of the hot-neutral voltage (the voltage across the load) and the neutral-ground voltage (the voltage drop on the neutral all the way back to its connection to the ground circuit).

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A General Description…

“Ohms” is another way to call this element. Initially, it is a hindrance to the movement of electrons in the material. While a potential difference across the conductor encourages the flow of electrons, resistance discourages it. The rate at which charge flows between two terminals is a combination of these two factors.

All materials resist current flow to some degree. They fall into one of two broad categories:

Conductors: Materials that offer very little resistance where electrons can move easily. Examples: silver, copper, gold, and aluminum.

Insulators: Materials that present high resistance and restrict the flow of electrons. Examples: Rubber, paper, glass, wood, and plastic.

Initially, these measures are taken to specify a component or a circuit. The elevated the ohms are, the lower the current flow. If it is too high, a possible cause can be damaged conductors because of burning or corrosion. Overheating is a definite issue of resistance. This is because all conductors give off some degree of heat. They reduce impedance, the greater the current flow. Possible causes: insulators damaged by moisture or overheating.

Keep in mind…

Many components, such as heating elements and resistors, have a fixed-resistance value. These values are often printed on the components’ nameplates or in manuals for reference. The measured value should be within the specified resistance range. Any significant change in the said component value usually indicates a problem. This element may sound negative, but electricity can provide advantages.

The ohms of a conductor, or circuit element, generally increase with increasing temperature. When cooled to extremely low temperatures, some conductors have zero resistance. Currents continue to flow in these substances, called superconductors, after the removal of the applied electromotive force.

Meanwhile, this can have good and bad effects. If we are trying to transmit electricity from one place to another through a conductor, resistance is undesirable. Why? This is because electrical energy can turn into heat.

Using Ohm’s Law

Accordingly, troubleshooting technicians often determine resistance by taking voltage and current measurements and applying Ohm’s Law:

E = I x R

That is volts = amps x ohms. R stands for resistance in this formula. On the other hand, you can also convert the formula to R = E/I (ohms = volts divided by amps). However, this works only when the resistance is unknown.

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Cogeneration captures heat from energy-intensive industrial methods and puts it back to work. Basically, steam is the outcome of this process. And that steam can lead to a turbine generator or warm other components of the facility. For instance, heat recovery can increase energy efficiency by 30 percent or more. Cogeneration has accumulated a lot of attention. As a result, sophisticated and almost turnkey cogeneration solutions are now available in a variety of sizes.

Here are the three key areas of the cogeneration process to help your plant maximize productivity.

Enhancing heat recovery

Everything that permits heat to escape from a heat recovery system decreases efficiency. Insufficient or damaged insulation and failed steam traps are two areas that merit close attention. To find failed insulation, begin with a careful visual inspection. A thermal imaging tool is a big help here. Initially, what may look good to the naked eye may look completely different when viewed with a thermal imager. Inspection of all insulated piping and equipment with a thermal imager should be performed annually and after any maintenance that requires the removal of insulation.

Optimizing mechanical systems and equipment

Thermal imaging can also guide with repairing mechanical problems that can diminish the efficiency and reliability of a cogeneration operation. A vibration tester can then track the cause of overheated mechanical parts that have been detected with a thermal imager.

Peak Efficiency Cogeneration: Improving electrical systems

Electrical inefficiencies in cogeneration systems can be in both the electrical generation and distribution system and in electrical equipment that operates as part of the cogeneration system. If the generator of the cogeneration facility is providing a huge number of inductive loads, for instance, motors and transformers, it may be running at a poor power factor. Increasing power factor correction capacitors in the electrical distribution system will innovate the power factor, and more power from the generator will be available to do useful work in the distribution system.

Peak efficiency cogeneration maximizes the power of combined heat and proper with proper measurement and maintenance in three aspects in order to help your plant maximize reliability. Visit https://presidium.ph/ for more information.

Take temperature measurements from a safe distance with Fluke infrared thermometers.

Avoid hot and cold air blowing in your face from your HVAC system or blowers while taking measurements. For more safety precautions, trust in Fluke infrared thermometers to get accurate temperature readings from a safe distance.

Why use infrared thermometers?

The use of infrared thermometers is one of the most widely used tools to get safe and accurate temperature readings. With Fluke tools, you do not only get safe and accurate, but you also get to experience firsthand the iconic ruggedness that this device offers. It comes with a laser pointer which allows you to precisely take readings from hard to reach spots.

Furthermore, this also puts your safety first since it will allow you to take long-distance temperature readings. Have the security and confidence to take readings from transformers, motors, pumps, panels, breakers, compressors, ducts, steam lines, valves, and vents without worrying about your safety. Although this all sounds great, infrared thermometers also have their limitations in regards to usage. Here, you’ll get to know those limitations and how you can further take precise readings with your infrared thermometer.

Visit our website at Thermometers Archives – Presidium PH to know more about our products our contact us at +63282515165 / +63282570795.

You could shop at our official store:

Shopee: Presidium.Ph Corporation, Online Shop | Shopee Philippines

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What is Indoor Air Quality?

There are a lot of airborne particle forms ranging from animal dander, plant pollen, and airborne bacteria, to fiberglass, asbestos, and combustion particles that are generated from part of the production equipment or process. To properly identify and troubleshoot IAQ problems, the technician needs a tool that not only reads particle concentrations for a spot check but also provides continuous monitoring for process control. Ultimately, all things are made easier with the help of the Fluke Air Particle device.

In a highly sensitive environment of healthcare facilities, where both infection patients and those highly susceptible to infection receive treatment, it is essential to minimize the possibility of infection and disease transmission.

The particle counter can provide facilities managers with the data they need to detect a number of possible faults. Some of them are IAQ problems, identifying root causes, and verifying conditions when have returned to the right level.

Importantly, a particle counter enables the healthcare facility manager to:

1. Document baseline particle counts within a specific area.
2. Detect when airborne particulate levels diverge from baseline or “normal” levels to keep the levels intact.
3. Have an early warning of underlying issues, such as changes in operating procedures, equipment malfunctions, maintenance shortcomings, or failure to separate construction zones from patient areas.
4. Professionals can test particle levels after operations. This is to ensure that remedies have been effective.

Different locations have varying levels of acceptable particulate concentrations. In a residential and commercial environment (i.e. homes, offices, hotels), health and comfort concerns and fear for litigation often drive IAQ investigations. In industrial and institutional environments (hospitals, food and beverage plants, electronic and precision manufacturing), energy cost, contamination control, and production yields are the primary concern.

Excessive levels can result in medical conditions. Some of these conditions are sick building syndrome, lower productivity, contaminated product, or all of the above. Maintaining acceptable air quality levels undoubtedly lowers the costs associated with downtime. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In actuality, it also reduces or removes costs associated with expensive fixes in the future.

The first step in establishing an IAQ maintenance program is to determine if a problem currently exists. Controlling airborne contamination within healthcare facilities poses a complex set of challenges more than what is mentioned. Numerous additional resources are available to help the professional understand and overcome those challenges. Among those easiest to grasp is the Fluke 985 handheld airborne particle counter.

The key to a successful IAQ investigation is to be aware of the environment as a whole.

Get your Fluke tool from a trusted source!

Presidium PH’s one of the best product is the Fluke 985, a powerful, rugged, and easy-to-use tool to assist the technician in identifying particulate problems and authenticating the efforts to address their root cause.

Presidium PH is an authorized distributor of Fluke test tools in the Philippines. So, if you want to know more about Fuke tools and their functions, visit our website for more info! This is a one-stop shop for the best test tools in the market!

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To tell you the truth, there are electric control issues that most recurrently affect industrial plants. And those issues contain voltage sags and swells, harmonics, transients, and voltage and current unbalance.

In a balanced three-phase system, the phase voltages must be equivalent or very close to equal. Unbalance or imbalance is a measurement of the difference of the phase voltages. Voltage imbalance is the measure of voltage differences between the phases of a three-phase system. It worsens the performance and shortens the life of three-phase motors.

The impact of the transients on motors can be severe. Motor winding insulation can break down, which can then lead to costly early motor failure and unplanned downtime.

Testing for transient voltages in motors

Electrical circuits sometimes experience unwanted spikes or blips. These small malfunctions are what we call transient voltages. Most likely, they can come from any number of sources either inside or outside of an industrial plant.

Adjacent loads turning on or off, power factor correction capacitor banks, or even distant weather can generate transient voltages on distribution systems. These transients, which vary in amplitude and frequency, can erode or cause insulation breakdown in motor windings

Discovering the source of these transients can be challenging because of the frequency of the occurrences and the fact that the symptoms can present themselves in different ways. For example, a transient may appear on control cables that do not necessarily cause equipment impairment directly but may interrupt operations.

The best opportunity to classify and measure transients is to use a three-phase power quality analyzer with a transient function, such as the Fluke 438-II Power Quality and Motor Analyzer. The transient function on the meter is set to great than 50V above the normal voltage. The meter’s display will then show the potentially problematic voltage above 50V – the transients.

If there are no transients found in an initial measurement, it is good training to measure and log the power quality over time with an advanced industrial power quality logger, like the Fluke 1750 Three-Phase Power Quality Logger.

What causes unbalanced voltage?

An unbalanced three-phase system can cause three-phase motors and other three-phase loads to experience poor performance or premature failure because of the following:

• Mechanical stresses in motors due to lower than normal torque output
• Higher than the normal current in motors and three-phase rectifiers
• Unbalance current will flow in neutral conductors in three-phase wye systems

Voltage unbalances at the motor terminals cause high current to unbalance, which can be six to 10 times as large as the voltage unbalance. Unbalanced currents turn to torque pulsation, increased vibration and mechanical stress, increased losses, and motor overheating. Voltage and current unbalance could also specify maintenance problems such as unfastened connections and worn contacts.

Unbalance can occur at any point throughout the distribution system. Loads should be equally divided across each phase of a panel board. Should one phase become too heavily loaded in comparison to others, the voltage will be lower on that phase. Transformers and three-phase motors fed from that panel may run hotter. Also, they can be unusually noisy, vibrate excessively, and even suffer premature failure.

How to calculate voltage unbalance?

The calculation for defining voltage unbalance is straightforward. The result is the percentage unbalance and can be used to determine the next steps in troubleshooting motor issues. There are three steps in the calculation:

1. Determine the voltage or current average
2. Calculate the largest voltage or current deviation
3. Divide the maximum deviation by the average voltage or current and multiply by 100 % unbalance = (Max deviation from average V or I/average V or I) x 100

A manual unbalance calculation is a point-in-time determination of voltage or current unbalance. A motor drive analyzer like the Fluke 438-II will show voltage or current unbalance in real-time, including any variations in unbalance.

Get to know more of the product: Fluke 438 – II Three-Phase Power Quality and Motor Analyzer – Presidium PH

What are electrical transmission cables?

Electrical tranmission cables are used to transmit and distribute from generation plants to users. It goes through various sections of low voltage which is below 1000 V. Meanwhile, the high voltage is more than 1000 V cables. Additionally, you use transmission cables to connect secondary outputs of current transformers. Those are located at both ends of the transmission stations.

In order to protect critical equipment and avoid the increase of faults that can impact the entire transmission network. Basically, the pilot cable’s purpose is to monitor any unbalances between the corresponding pairs of CT, which signify fault conditions. On the contrary, you only need one pair of wires to complete operations. These are the connections, operation, and redundancy planning calls for a minimum of three functional pairs of wires.

It is not possible to have a single cable that spans the distance between substations. This is because various joints are formed to connect different sections of cables together. These joints are the weakest links in the system. They are prone to failures caused by environmental factors such as thermal stress and moisture absorption. Basically, the failures will show up when current readings taken at the secondary of CT deviate from the proportional primary current readings

Detecting failures…

The utility team detected these failures and prevents them. They go through the sub-station from one end to another. This is done in order to isolate the affected CT and pilot cable located at the substation. Then they need to travel to the sub-station at the other end to check the insulation resistance of the pilot cable. Note that you must check the wires properly. This and including the remaining 4 or 9 pairs of wires in the same bunch of pilot cable and make sure at least three pairs are functional.

This is because some wires may have permanent damage, there are chances that different color wires are mixed in order to achieve a minimum of 3 functional pairs. Therefore, the team must verify the exact inter-connect pairs and they term this work as phasing. Meanwhile, you can replace faulty joints and replace them with shorter jumper cables. By doing this, you’ll be able to join two new cable joints.

Time is one of the most important things to consider when repairing. One of the main duties of maintenance people is troubleshooting. Additionally, they also need to repair in a short period of time. However, with Insulation resistance, as well as voltage measurements and continuity, checks Fluke 1587 Insulation Multimeter is the solution. Visit https://presidium.ph/ to learn more about our products.

In the industrial world, devices that turn electric power into mechanical power are commonplace. Some examples of these include pumps, motors, conveyors, robots, and more. Voltage signals are actually the ones controlling Oscilloscopes. But what are Voltage signals and how do we capture them? Here’s what you should know about an Oscilloscope.

An oscilloscope or scopes are an important tool for electrons. Waveforms can become visible thanks to these devices. And because of this, they are useful in looking for any problems in the electronics circuit. Its name draws origins from the name cathode-ray oscilloscope (CRO) when it was still used, as seen in the old televisions due to the high voltages it needed.

Oscilloscopes display in waveforms the voltage signals, which is a visual representation of the variations of voltage. Think of it this way, a waveform is like a ripple traveling along surface water. But in totality, the best way to see signal changes is through plotting. The vertical (Y) axis shows the voltage magnitude while the horizontal (X) axis shows time.

Some other information you can see in the graph of an oscilloscope include:

• Voltage signal shape when operating as intended
• Current signal shape when using a current clamp suitable for using on an oscilloscope
• Anomalies on the signal
• Amplitude modulation of an oscillating signal and any frequency variations
• Whether the signal has noise and the changes to the noise

As an item used in electronics test equipment, it helps give insight into circuit operations and is the key to finding many issues and resolving them. Most of the modern oscilloscopes are digital which allows for a more detailed and accurate signal measurement as well as fast calculations, data storage capabilities, and even automated analysis. Handheld digital oscilloscopes such as the one by Presidium, offer more advantages over the benchtop models such as it being battery operated, that it uses electrically isolated floating inputs. This is an advantage of added features that makes its usage easier and more accessible to many different workers.

Visit our website at  https://presidium.ph/product-category/products/fluke-industrial-group-tools/portable-oscilloscopes/ to know more about our oscilloscope products or contact us +63282515165 / +63282570795.

Clamp meters are an electrical test tool that incorporates a basic digital multimeter with a current sensor. Clamps measure current. On the other hand, Probes measure voltage. Having a hinged jaw can allow the technician to clamp the jaws around a cable, wire, and other points in an electrical system. It measures the current in the circuit without the risk of disconnecting it. Below their plastic moldings are hard jaws that contain ferrite iron. Clamp meters measure and monitor magnetic fields as it goes through a conductor.

Another name you can call clamp meters is clamp-on ammeters. Additionally, what other thing you might want to know is that they have three types of categories.

Current Transformer

What you must know is that a current transformer is a type of instrument that produces secondary alternate currents. Ultimately, this makes it proportional to the AC current in the primary. This is used when a current or voltage is too high to measure directly. The secondary current is used for measuring instruments or processing electrical equipment. This process generally needs isolation between primary and secondary circuits.

Hall Effect

Hall Effect clamp meters can measure both ac and dc current up to the kilohertz which is 1000 Hz range. Similar to current transformer types, Hall Effect clamp meters use rigid iron jaws. Basically, when you use iron jaws it can actually help your device concentrate on the magnetic field that encircles the conductor. Compared to current transformer clamp meters the jaws are not wrapped by copper wires. Instead, the magnetic field produced by the conductor is focused across one or more gaps in the core after the jaws are clamped around the conductor.

Flexible

Flexible clamp meters evolved in 1912. From simple solenoids came an advanced test tool ready to take over the industrial market. Compared to the Current Transformer and Hall Effect clamp meter, the flexible clamp meter does not have an iron core. Instead, a wound helix-shaped coil that reacts to a conductor’s magnetic field was used. The faster the change in amplitude, the more voltage generated by a coil. The integrator circuit in the measurement device transforms that output to a signal that’s proportional to the signal in the conductor.

While clamp meters have different types, they all have the same fundamental methodology when making measurements. On the contrary, you can actually pass a probe in the conductor. There are multiple ways on how you can achieve this. One is the most convenient since it can be through the hard jaw and into the clamp meter. Another is a flexible coil of clamp accessory. Ultimately, this will result in a sum of currents flowing through the conductor as measured by the meter.

Fluke offers a 323 clamp meter which is a good basic troubleshooting tool for commercial and residential electricians. It includes True RMS measurements, optimized ergonomics, and a large display for efficient troubleshooting. Trust it to help you confidently diagnose problems almost anywhere. Reach us through https://presidium.ph/product-category/products/fluke-industrial-group-tools/clamp-meters/  to know more about our clamp meter products.