Glossary of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

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AC adapter

An external power supply for portable devices that allows them to operate from wall-socket electricity.

AC power plugs and sockets

Electrical connectors used with alternating current.

AC power

Electric power where the current reverses direction periodically.

AC/AC converter

A power converter where the input and output are both alternating current, but may differ in frequency or other characteristics.

AC/DC receiver design

A radio receiver that can operate from either alternating current or direct current wall socket power.

AC/DC conversion

Rectification of AC current, so that current flows in only one direction.

Active rectification

A circuit where rectifier devices are externally controlled to change AC to current flowing in one direction.

Actuator

An end device of a control system, that manipulates a physical variable such as a valve opening or position of a machine part.

Adaptive control

A control strategy where parameters are adjusted as the controlled process changes.

Additive white Gaussian noise

A noise model that is used in telecommunications to model the effects of various random processes.

Adjustable-speed drive

Control for a motor that allows more than one speed to be selected.

Advanced Z-transform

A mathematical technique used to model and analyze digital systems.

Affinity laws

Mathematical formulas that relate the speed, flow, and diameter of pumps, fans, blowers, and turbines, useful for predicting output under varying conditions.

Agbioeletric

A brand name of a kind of vegetable oil for use in transformers.

AIEE

American Institute of Electrical Engineers, predecessor organization to IEEE.

Alpha–beta transformation

A mathematical technique useful in analysis of three-phase circuits.

Altair 8800

An early microcomputer.

Alternating current

Electric current that reverses direction periodically.

Alternator

An electrical machine that converts mechanical power into AC electric power.

Alternator synchronization

The process of synchronizing an alternator to a grid or another alternator.

Aluminium smelting

Reduction of aluminium ore to metal, by use of large amounts of electric power.

Ammeter

An instrument that measures electric current.

Amorphous metal transformer

A power transformer where the metallic core is made of metals cooled so quickly that they do not form a crystal structure; such transformers can reduce some kinds of energy loss.

Ampacity

Current carrying capacity of a conductor, in the context of electric power wiring.

Ampere

The SI unit of electrical current.

Ampère's circuital law

The mathematical relation between the integral of the magnetic field over some closed curve to the current passing through the region bound by the curve.

Ampère's force law

The mathematical relation between the force between two current carrying conductors and the current flowing in them.

Ampère's law

Ampère's circuital law.

Amplidyne

An electric machine that allows a small current to control a much larger current.

Amplifier

An system that produces an output that replicates an input signal but with a larger magnitude.

Amplitude modulation

Transmission of information by changing the magnitude of a carrier signal, for example sending sound by radio.

Analog circuit

A circuit where currents and voltages vary continually within some practical range, in proportion to some signal.

Analog filter

An analog circuit that alters some frequency-related property of a signal.

Analog signal processing

Generally, techniques used to alter signals that rely on voltages or currents that vary continually over a practical range.

Analog signal

A signal whose properties (current, voltage) vary proportionally to the information transmitted.

Analog-to-digital converter

A circuit that produces a number proportional to the magnitude of a voltage or current.

Anode

The terminal of an electrochemical or electronic device through which conventional current flows inward.

Antenna (radio)

A structure which converts between electromagnetic waves in space and currents in a conductor.

Apparent power

In an alternating current power circuit, the product of the magnitude of RMS voltage and current.

Apple Computer

A company that makes mobile telephones and computers.

Arbitrary waveform generator

A type of signal generator that can generate almost any waveform.

Arc converter

A device once used to generate radio waves.

Arc furnace

A furnace that melts material by use of an electric arc.

Arc lamp

An electric lamp that generates light from an electric arc.

Arc welder

A device used to join metals by melting them with an electric arc.

Armature (electrical engineering)

That part of an electrical machine that converts electrical energy to mechanical energy (or vice versa).

Artificial intelligence

A computer system that replicates some feature of human intelligence.

Artificial neural networks

An electrical network that mimics the function of a biological nervous system.

Asymptotic stability

A condition of a control system where the output eventually reaches a steady-state value in response to any input.

Asynchronous circuit

A digital circuit where states propagate through a circuit without a synchronizing clock impulse.

Audio and video connector

An electrical fitting used to connect cables carrying audio or video signals.

Audio equipment

Equipment used to handle signals at frequencies within the human range of hearing.

Audio filter

A circuit intended to alter some frequency-related property of a signal carrying sound information.

Audio frequency

A signal whose frequency is within the range of human hearing.

Audio noise reduction

Reduction of interfering signals in an audio signal.

Audio signal processing

Alteration of any properties of a signal carrying sound information (dynamic range, frequency response, or others).

Audion tube

An early three electrode vacuum tube that had amplifying properties.

Austin transformer

A kind of isolation transformer.

Automatic gain control

A circuit that automatically adjusts the magnitude of a signal to prevent it from becoming too small or too large.

Automatic transfer switch

An electrical switch used to automatically select a standby source of electrical power when the principal source is lost.

Automation

Automatic control of a process.

Autorecloser

A circuit protection device for overhead power distribution lines which briefly interrupts a circuit when a fault is detected, then restores the circuit in the expectation the fault has cleared.

Autotransformer

A transformer where the primary and secondary circuits share some of the transformer windings.

Availability factor

The fraction of time that a power plant is available to produce power.

Avalanche diode

A diode intended for regular operation in the reverse, avalanche breakdown, mode. Used as a voltage reference, noise source, and in certain classes of microwave oscillator device.

Average rectified value

The average value of an alternating current waveform, taking the absolute value of the waveform. The average value is generally different from the root-mean-square value.

Backward wave oscillator

A type of microwave oscillator vacuum tube.

Balanced line

A transmission line with two conductors, with equal impedances to earth ground.

Ball bearing motor

A conceptual motor that does not use electro-magnetism.

Balun

A device that connects a balanced transmission line to an unbalanced line.

Band-pass filter

A filter that lets through signals within a range of frequencies.

Band-stop filter

A filter that blocks signals with a particular range of frequencies.

Bandwidth (signal processing)

The range of frequencies over which a system generates or uses significant signal power.

Bang-bang control

A controller that switches a final element on or off instead of providing a proportional response.

Barlow's wheel

A demonstration of electromagnetic principles.

Bartlett's bisection theorem

A mathematical theorem used in network analysis.

Base load power plant

An electric power plant that furnishes the part of load that does not vary during a day.

Battery

An electrochemical device that produces electric power from chemical reactions.

Battery eliminator

An AC adapter, which allows battery operated equipment to run on wall-socket AC power.

Bayer filter

An optical filter used in color digital cameras.

Beam tetrode

A type of vacuum tube with four active elements plus a pair of beam forming plates.

Beat frequency

A frequency produced by non-linear mixing of signals at two other frequencies.

Bell Telephone Laboratories

Formerly, the research and development laboratory of the American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation.

Biasing

The practice of setting the quiescent operating conditions of an amplifying device to obtain desired response.

BIBO stability

A control system that produces finite outputs for any finite input.

Bilinear transform

A mathematical technique to obtain the parameters for a digital filter to duplicate the response of some analog filter transfer function.

Bimetallic strip

A temperature sensing element made of two metals that have different coefficients of expansion intimately bonded together.

Biot–Savart law

The mathematical relationship between a magnetic field and the current producing that field.

Bipolar junction transistor

A type of transistor with two kinds of charge carriers.

Blocked rotor test

A test of an electric machine where the machine is energized but the shaft is prevented from turning.

Blu-ray disc

A type of optical disc written and read using a blue/violet laser.

Bode plot

A plot of the amplitude and phase frequency response of a system, where the actual response is approximated by straight line segments.

Boolean algebra (logic)

A type of algebra that deals with values that can only hold values "true" and "false", of great use in design and analysis of digital systems.

Boost converter

Any power converter circuit that can produce an output voltage larger than its input voltage.

Booster (electric power)

A device used to increase voltage on an electric power distribution system, such as a motor-generator set on a DC system.

Bound charge

Electric charge in a material that is not free to move through the material.

Braking chopper

A device used to absorb energy from a motor to slow it down.

Branch circuit

In building wiring, any circuit from the main panelboard to utilization equipment or receptacles.

Breakdown voltage

The maximum voltage a device can withstand without damage.

Bridge rectifier

A set of rectifier diodes used to convert alternating current to direct current.

Broadcasting

Transmission of a signal to many receivers.

Brush (electric)

A sliding electrical contact between a moving part and a stationary part.

Brushed DC electric motor

An electric motor with brushes.

Brushless DC electric motor

An electric motor without brushes.

Buchholz relay

A gas pressure sensing device for protection of oil-filled transformers.

Buck converter

Any power converter circuit that produces an output voltage less than its input voltage.

Buck–boost converter

Any power converter circuit that can provide a voltage greater or less than its input voltage.

Buck–boost transformer

A transformer that can be used to adjust voltage.

Busbar

A set of conductors used to distribute current to many branches.

Bushing (electrical)

An electrical fitting used to connect external conductors to the interior of apparatus.

Butterworth filter

A type of filter with the flattest possible pass band.

Buzzer

An electromechanical or electronic device that produces a sound when energized.

Canadian Electrical Code

The technical standard for building wiring in Canada.

Canadian Standards Association

Non-profit organization that develops electrical and other technical standards.

Capacitance

The ability of a body to hold an electrical charge.

Capacitor

An electrical component that stores energy in an electric field.

Capacitor-input filter

A power supply network where a capacitor is the first element following the rectfier.

Capacitor voltage transformer

In electrical power systems, an instrument transformer for measuring voltage that uses a capacitive voltage divider.

Capacity factor

The ratio of energy produced by a power plant over some period, over its maximum possible energy production in that time.

Carrier current

A system for communications where a carrier signal is impressed on power line wiring.

Carrier wave

A radio wave that can be modulated (changed systematically) to carry information to a receiver.

Category 3 cable

A performance standard for unshielded twisted pair cables for analog voice and low speed data circuits within a building.

Category 5e cable

A performance standard for unshielded twisted pair cables for telephone and data within a building.

Category 6 cable

A performance standard for unshielded twisted pair cables for telephone and high speed data within a building.

Catenary

A geometric form of curve, the shape of a uniform cable hanging between two supports.

Cathode ray oscilloscope

An electronic instrument that displays the wave shape of electrical signals on a cathode ray tube.

Cathode ray tube

A vacuum tube that relies on an electron beam – usually used to render images on a fluorescent screen such as in television sets.

Cathode

The terminal of an electrochemical or electronic device from which conventional current exits the device.

Cat's-whisker detector

A radio detector that uses a manually-set "whisker" contact to a crystal of galena or other material, to form a rectifying junction.

CATV

Cable television, distribution of television programming over a wire instead of by radio broadcast.

Cavity magnetron

A vacuum tube that is a high power microwave oscillator, using a resonant cavity and electrons traveling through a magnetic field.

CCFL inverter

A power supply to generate the voltages required to operate a cold cathode fluorescent lamp.

CD

A "Compact Disc" used to store digital data or digitally recorded sound using an infra-red laser.

Center tap

A connection on a transformer which has equal voltage to either end of the transformer winding.

Ceramic resonator

A piezoelectric element used to stabilize the frequency of an oscillator.

Channel (communications)

Any communication path between a signal transmitter and a signal receiver, or, a pre-selected operating frequency for a radio system.

Channel capacity

An upper bound on the rate at which information can be reliably transmitted over a communication channel.

Charactron

A kind of text display vacuum tube that used an internal element to shape an electron beam to represent the shape of letters and other symbols.

Charge pump

A DC to DC converter circuit that uses capacitors to store energy between stages.

Charge transfer switch

A kind of charge pump circuit.

Charge-coupled device

An imaging sensor or data storage device that represents a signal, or pixel, by the charge stored in a capacitor and is able to move that charge from one capacitor to the next.

Chebyshev filter

A form of filter that has a steep frequency selective characteristic.

Choke (electronics)

An induction coil used to block alternating current and pass direct current, or to block high frequencies and pass lower frequencies.

Chopper (electronic)

A circuit that switches on and off at a high rate, used either for power conversion or to convert a DC signal to a more easily processed AC signal.

Circle diagram

A representation of the voltage and current characteristics of an electrical machine; the plot traces out a circle or part of a circle.

Circuit breaker panel

A distribution board for electric power that uses circuit breakers as protective elements.

Circuit breaker

An automatically operated electrical switch that opens to interrupt a short circuit or other fault.

Circuit theory

The mathematical theory of electrical circuits.

Circuit Total Limitation (CTL)

A US National Electrical Code rule for the number of circuits in a panel board.

Clamp meter

An ammeter that measures current with a split core that can be clamped on a wire.

Clapp oscillator

An electronic oscillator circuit that uses three capacitors and an inductor.

Class of accuracy in electrical measurements

A measure of the error produced by an electrical measuring instrument.

Closed-loop controller

Any controller that manipulates some process variable to minimize the difference between the current state of the variable and the desired set point, such as temperature, flow, or others.

Coaxial cable

A cable with an inner conductor centered inside a flexible tubular conductor, used for radio frequency transmission lines.

Cockcroft–Walton generator

A kind of circuit for generating very high DC voltage.

Cogeneration

Production of electricity along with some other desired product, such as process steam or desalinated water.

Cold cathode

An element of a vacuum tube that emits electrons without a heating circuit.

Colossus (computer)

A British code breaking system used during World War II.

Combined cycle

A thermal power plant that improves efficiency with two different kinds of energy extraction from the combustion products gas stream, such as a gas turbine followed by a steam boiler.

Communication system

A system intended to convey information from one place to another with an expected degree of performance.

Communications satellite

A satellite in Earth orbit designed for international telephone, television, or data transmission.

Commutation cell

The elementary switching device in a power converter circuit; it could be a transistor, a thyristor, a mercury-arc valve, or others.

Commutator (electric)

A component of a DC electric machine that connects the rotating coils with an external circuit through brushes.

Compact fluorescent lamp

A fluorescent lamp with a folded or spiral tube, designed to fit in the same space as an incandescent lamp of similar light output.

Compactron

A brand of vacuum tube, used in some radio and television sets, that combined multiple independent functions in one envelope.

Compensation winding

A winding on a motor or generator to improve commutation at heavy load.

Computed tomography

Production of images of a cross-section through an object by multiple X-ray measurements processed in a computer.

Computer engineering

The profession of designing computers.

Computer hardware

That part of a computer system with physical existence.

Computer programming

The practice of producing instructions for a computer to achieve some desired effect.

Computer-aided design

A design discipline where a computer is used to produce graphical representation of the design or to assist in calculating performance parameters.

Conduction band

In a conductor, the energy levels of charge carriers that are free to move through the material.

Constant k filter

A method formerly used for designing filters for a required characteristic.

Consumer electronics

Electronic devices intended to be owned by consumers directly; a mobile cell phone is "consumer electronics" but the cell site it communicates with is not.

Contactor

An automatically controlled electrical switch (relay), used to operate motors or other high-current loads.

Continuous Fourier transform

A mathematical operation that expresses a signal in time as the sum of its frequency components.

Continuous signal

A signal that can take any value within its range.

Control engineering

The application of control theory to practical problems.

Control system

The equipment used to adjust some parameter of an ongoing process to regulate its behavior to a desired goal, such as positioning a disk drive head or regulating temperature of a furnace.

Control theory

The mathematical study of behavior of control systems.

Controllability

In control theory, the degree to which a system can be put into any desired state given manipulation of one variable.

Controller (control theory)

A system that adjusts some variable to control a process.

Copper cable certification

The process of testing a computer network cable installation to verify that it meets standards.

Copper loss

That portion of an electric machine or transformer's loss attributed to the resistance of conductors (which are not necessarily made of copper).

Corona ring

A component of a high voltage system intended to smooth out the electric field distribution around energized parts.

Coulomb

The SI unit of electric charge.

Coulomb's law

The mathematical relation between force, electric charge and distance.

CPU

Central Processing Unit, the element of a computer that carries out arithmetic and logic operations.

Crest factor

The ratio of peak to effective (RMS) value of a waveform.

Crossed-field amplifier

A type of microwave amplifier vacuum tube.

Crosstalk

Objectionable presence of a signal from one circuit in another circuit sharing the same transmission path, such as a cable.

Crystal oscillator

An electronic oscillator whose frequency is stabilized by a piezoelectric crystal resonator element.

Ćuk converter

One kind of buck-boost voltage converter that uses a capacitor as an energy storage element.

Current (electricity)

The movement of electric charge.

Current density

The current flowing per unit area of a conductor.

Current source inverter

A type of power inverter where an inductor tends to keep a constant current flowing in the inverter stage.

Current source

In circuit theory, an element that produces a defined current independent of the connected circuit properties.

Current transformer

An instrument transformer used for measuring current in AC power systems.

Current-to-voltage converter

A transducer that produces an output voltage in response to an input current.

Cybernetics

The science of automatic control systems.

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