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All Voltages are not Created Equal by Britt Storkson Owner, P2FlowLLC A few weeks ago, I was explaining electrical control volt- ages to a friend of mine. Only later did I realize maybe he did not understand different types of electrical voltages and why we use them. Voltage is one component of electric power, with the other two being amperage (current) and resistance. A good analogy to explain electricity and how it works is a water system. The typical water system has pipes for containing and directing water. An electrical system uses wires to contain and direct the flow of electrons. Water “pressure” is the force required to push water through the pipe. Similarly, electrical voltage is the “pressure” needed to push electrons through a wire. The flow of electrons is amperage, with gallons per minute being a similar flow rate for water. The water pipe is a resistance to the flow of water (friction against the walls of the pipe) just like the electrical resistance of the wire limits the flow of electrons. One must have voltage to have current (amperage), just as one must have water pressure to push the water through the pipe to wherever we want it to go. If we don’t have water pressure, we won’t get any water out of the pipe. Likewise, if we don’t have voltage, we don’t have amperage . . . no current flow. It is possible to have voltage and no current, but it is not possible to have current without volt- age. Also like a water system pipe, the flow (gallons per minute) of water is the same anywhere along the pipe, but the pressure is different at different points along this same pipe. The water pressure at the source will always be greater than the pressure at the destination under all flow conditions except for zero flow, where the source and destination pressure will be equal (assuming the pipe is completely level, in the case of water). The same goes for electricity. If there is no current (amperage) flow, the voltage will be the same at the source, as wel l as the destination. However when there is current (amperage) flow, the voltage will be different at different points along the wire/cable. When cur- rent flows, the destination voltage will always be lower than the source volt- age. How much lower depends on the source voltage and conductor, plus load resistance values. Resistance limits voltage, which also limits the current. In electronics, there is another use for voltages, called control voltages. It’s a very low-current voltage called a “sig- nal ” . Cont rol vol tages are usual ly between 0 and 5 volts DC (direct cur- rent ) . Al l sensors output a vol tage called a voltage “signal”. The micro- processor “reads” this signal (measures the voltage) and, depending on the volt- age value and the microprocessor pro- gram, comes up wi th a “real-world” value to be used in the computations. The sensor voltage output value is defined by whoever makes the sensors. Pressure sensors come in Storkson cont’d on page 32. Atlantis Vault • Self-Contained • Simple installation • Trouble-free operation For more information call: (270) 786-3010 or visit us online: www.geothermalsupply.com 23 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® SEPTEMBER 2017 Open the Doorway to all the Event Photos during the Alberta Water Well Drilling Association Convention. To see all the photos from this event, go to: media.worldwidedrillingresource.com/gallery/2017/AWWDA2017, or click here. Feel free to download at will and print the photo(s) of your choice. Compliments of WorldWide Drilling Resource ® . Photos are copyrighted and released for personal use only - no commercial use permitted.