Homework - 1

Hand-In 24-02-2016
February 11, 2016

1. Charge

Figure 1: Lead based car battery

Figure 1 shows a typical car battery. As emphasized on the picture the battery's capacity is
given as 74 Ah. This means that the battery (theoretically) can supply a current of e.g. 1 A
for 74 hours, or 74 A for 1 hour, or 37 A for 2 hours until it is fully discharged.
1. Amperehours [Ah] is a very useful unit in practice. However how many Coulomb [C}
are 74 Ah?
2. How many electrons are "stored" in this battery if it is fully charged?
3. Consider the case that this number of electrons is distributed equally onto metal
spheres placed at a distance of 20 cm to each other. What would be the force between
the two spheres?

ELT M1 S16 2016 02-11 JEOJ

2. Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Resistance

Figure 2: Part of a schematic diagram

Figure 3: Close up of a PCB

Figure 2 shows a part of a schematic diagram. The components (here two resistors)
shown are connected to each other by lines. These lines are thought of as perfect conductors - thus having zero resistance.
Figure 3 shows a printed circuit board, which is used to manufacture electronic circuits.
Connections between two components are made of thin coppertracks under a (typically
green) layer of protective lacquer. These tracks have a typical thickness of 35 m and a
width down to 0.15 mm.
Calculate the resistance of such a printed circuit wire track of 5 cm length. Assume that
this track makes the connection between the two resistors shown in the diagram section.
Do you think it is reasonable to regard this connection as ideal?
The specific resistance of copper is:
Cu = 1,678x10-2 mm2/m

(1)
ELT M1 S16 2016 02-11 JEOJ

3. Maximum cable length

Figure 4 shows a typical mains power cable as it is used in Denmark (and other European
countries). This kind of cable is made of copper conductors.

Figure 4: Typical domestic mains cable

An often used cross-section is 1.5 mm2. Such a cable is allowed to carry a current of 10 A.
In a domestic 230V installation a voltage drop between the main distribution panel and the
load must not be more than 4%.
1. What is the maximum length of the cable when the voltage drop across the cable shall
stay below these 4% and a current load of 10 A?
2. When a current of 10 A flows through a cable with the length calculated in the previous
question, what is the power loss over this distance?
Note: The mentioned 230V system is of course an AC system, but for this type of calculation it is correct to calculate as if it were DC. Why this is so will be explained later on in the
course.

ELT M1 S16 2016 02-11 JEOJ

4. Heating Element
Your washing machine is not working properly any longer. It seems like working normally
but it never finishes the program. It keeps washing and washing for hours. You realize that
the water remains cold, although you selected a 60 oC wash. You speculate that the machine keeps washing because the controller waits for the water to get warm, which is
never obtained, hence it doesn't finish. The water is heated with an electric heating element as shown in figure 5.
In electrical terms a heating element is just a high power resistor, which is heated by the
current flowing through it. The heating element is immersed into the water, thus the electric
power heats the water. If the heating element is burned out, then this would be a logical
explanation of the malfunction. Of course it could also be a defect in the machine's control
box which causes the heating element never to be switched on.
Instead of just replacing the heating element on a trial and error basis, you measure
Its resistance and you read 725 . The question is whether this is a reasonable resistance
or not? As an additional information do you have the machines nameplate as shown in figure 6. This tells you that the machine has a maximum power dissipation of 2.2 kW. The
heating element uses most of this. Motor and other loads account for perhaps 200 W. Calculate with this information whether the heating element is OK or not.

Figure 5: Typical Heating Element

ELT M1 S16 2016 02-11 JEOJ

Figure 6: Nameplate

5. Resistors
A 10 k resistor with a maximum power rating of P = 2 W is given.
What is the maximum voltage this resistor can be operated at without exceeding its power
rating?

ELT M1 S16 2016 02-11 JEOJ