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NEW!!! NEW!!! NEW!!! POWER CONVERSION CALCULATORS BE SURE TO CHECK OUT OUR NEW POWER CONVERSION CALCULATORS!! ELCTRICO UNIDAD DE CONVERSIN Ahora disponible en espaol tambin! This site offers formulas for converting between electrical units. It is dedicated to sharing information, formulas and other documentation to aide in the conversion of given electrical, force or power values into other electrical, force or power values. The formulae below are commonly known and used universally. I use them here in examples to demonstrate the application of conversion formulae. I have done my best to be accurate but I cannot guarantee that all of the following information is correct or appropriate for your purposes. I welcome any comments or corrections. Thanks to all who have notified me of inaccuracies. This type of participation makes this site more valuable. Please click here for a link to email your comment, correction, suggestion or question.
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Basics
You cannot convert Watts to amps, since Watts are power (ultimately horsepower) and amps are current (or flow if you like) unless you have the added element of voltage to complete the equation. You must have at least least two of the following three: amps, volts and Watts, to be able to calculate the missing one. Since Watts are amps multiplied by volts, there is a clear relationship between them. Click here to see my Ohm's Law Pie Chart that shows the relationships between power (P), voltage (E), current (I) and resistance (R) .
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Introduction
You may need to convert voltage, amperage and electrical specifications from equipment into kW, kVA and BTU information that can be used to calculate overall power and HVAC requirements. The following section addresses the process of taking basic electrical values and converting them into other types of electrical values. The specification nameplates on most pieces of computer, radio or network equipment usually list required electrical power values. These values are usually expressed in volts, amps, kilovolt-amps (kVA), Watts or some combination of all of the above. If you are an architect or engineer using equipment nameplate information to compute power and cooling requirements, you will find that the total power and cooling values will exceed the actual run requirements of the equipment. Reason: the nameplate value is designed to ensure that the equipment will start and run safely. Manufacturers build in a "safety factor" (sometimes called an "engineering cushion") when developing nameplate specifications. Some nameplates specify power requirements that are higher than the equipment will ever need. The most common engineering solution is to utilize only 80% of available capacity and therefore your computed results will overstate the power and cooling equipment requirement by a factor close to 20%. Develop the power and cooling budget using the nameplate specifications inserted into the formulae below and use the resultant documentation as your baseline. Document everything. There will come a day when you will need every amp of power you projected. Power budgets are notoriously consumed in a much shorter time than predicted. Don't forget to add a "future factor" to your power and cooling budget. Power supplies double in power draw and heat output every two to three years. If you don't include these factors in your budgets, you will consume a 10 year power and cooling budget in three years (this happened to me, I know this is true).
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208-240 SINGLE-PHASE (2-POLE SINGLE-PHASE) Example: An enterprise computer bvserver with a 4.7 amp rating and requiring a 208-240 power source. Use 220 volts for our calculations. kilovolt-Amps (kVA) = Volts x Amps /1000 220 x 4.7 = 1034 THREE-PHASE Example: A large disk storage system loaded with disks. The equipment documentation shows a requirement for a 50-amp 208-240 VAC power source. Do not calculate any value for the plug or receptacle. Use 220 volts for the calculation. kilovolt-Amps (kVA) = Volts x Amps x 1.73 / 1000 220 x 50 x 1.73 = 19,030 19,030 / 1000 = 19.030 kVA This would be rounded to 19 1034 / 1000 = 1.034 kVA
Computing KiloWatts
Finding KiloWatts requires using a power factor in the computation. The power factor is a number that adjusts the power calculation to reflect the efficiency of the use of the electricity supplied to the system. This factor can vary widely (usually from 60% to 95%) and is never published on the equipment nameplate and is not often supplied with product information. For purposes of these calculations, we use a power factor of .85. This random number places a slight inaccuracy into the numbers. Its OK and it gets us very close for the work we need to do. Most UPS equipment will claim a power factor of 1.00. It is common for the power factor to be considered 1.0 for devices less than 3 years old. SINGLE PHASE Example: We have a medium-sized Intel server that draws 6.0 amps and the power supply has a power factor of .85. kiloWatt (kW) = Volts x Amps x Power Factor / 1000 120 x 6.0 = 720 VA 720 VA x .85 = 612 612 / 1000 = .612 kW
208-240 SINGLE-PHASE (2-POLE SINGLE-PHASE) Example: An enterprise computer server has a 4.7 amp rating and requires a 208-240 power source. I'll use 220 volts and a power factor of .85 for our example calculations. kiloWatt (kW) = Volts x Amps x Power Factor x 2 / 1000 220 x 4.7 x 2 = 2068 THREE-PHASE Example: A large storage system loaded with disks. The equipment documentation shows a requirement for a 50amp 208 VAC Power source. Do not calculate any value for the plug or receptacle. Use 220 volts for the calculation. kiloWatt (kW) = Volts x Amps x Power Factor x 1.73 2068 x .85 = 1757.8 1757.8 / 1000 = 1.76 kW
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Computing BTUs
Known Standard: 1 kW = 3413 BTUs (or 3.413 kBTUs) If you divide the electrical nameplate BTU value by 3413 you may not get the published kW value. If the BTU information is provided by the manufacturer, use it, otherwise use the above formula.
Shotgun Section
Here are conversions, short and sweet:
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To convert kVA to Amps: Multiply kVA by 1000/voltage [ (kVA x 1000) / E ] For 3 Phase power divide by 1.73 [ (kVA x 1000) / E x 1.73 ] To convert Watts to Volts when amps are known: Voltage = Watts / Amps E=P/I To convert Watts to Amps when volts are known: Amps = Watts / Voltage I=P/E For 3 Phase power divide by 1.73 To convert Amps to Watts when volts are known: Watts = Voltage x Amps P = ExI For 3 Phase power multiply by 1.73 To convert Horsepower to Amps: Horsepower = (E x I x EFF) / 746 Efficiency = (746 x HP) / (V x A) Multiply Horsepower by 746W (1 HP = 746 Watts) Find Circuit Voltage and Phase
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HOW TO FIND WATTS (P) When E and I are known: When R and I are known: When E and R are known:
(See abbrev iations ex plained below)
IxE R x I2 E2 / R
HOW TO FIND KILOWATTS (kW) Direct Current E and I must be known: SINGLE PHASE E, I and PF must be known: THREE PHASE E, I and PF must be known:
(See abbrev iations ex plained below)
E x I / 1000
E x I x PF / 1000
E x I x PF x 1.73 / 1000
E x I / 1000
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E x I x 1.73 / 1000
HOW TO FIND HORSEPOWER (HP) Direct Current E, I and EFF must be known: SINGLE PHASE E, I, PF and EFF must be known: THREE PHASE E, I, PF and EFF must be known:
(See abbrev iations ex plained below)
E x I x EFF / 746
E x I x PF x EFF / 746
E = VOLTS P = WATTS R = OHMS I = AMPS HP = HORSEPOWER PF = POWER FACTOR kW = KILOWATTS kVA = KILOVOLT-AMPS EFF = EFFICIENCY (decimal)
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poundal 7.2330 pdl 7.2330 x 10-5 pdl 70.932 pdl 32.174 pdl = 1 lb x ft/s2
= 9.80665 N = 980665 dyn = gn x (1 kg) 4.448222 N 444822 dyn 0.45359 kp 0.138255 N 13825 dyn 0.014098 kp
The value of gn as used in the official definition of the kilogram-force is used here for all gravitational units.
Mechanical
General Approximations - RULES OF THUMB
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