Project - Analysis of a practical automotive wiring circuit

1. Major Components in the wiring diagram:

• Battery
• Starter
• Ignition Coil
• Breaker
• Distributor
• Junction Box
• Generator
• Current and voltage regulator
• Fuse
• Ammeter
• Foot Selector switch

2. Purpose and Working:

1.  Battery: Battery supplies electrical energy to the circuit. It converts chemical energy stored within the battery to electrical energy. Batteries can be rechargable or non rechargable(primary). The batteries used in automotives are rechargable. The batteries used in vehicles are lead acid or lithium ion batteries. While in case of EVs mostly Lithium ion batteries are used due to their superior energy desnity.

• The Purpose of battery in automotive circuit is to provide energy to the circuit; enabling the various components of the circuit to perform their function.
• The Battery works on principle of storing chemical energy and converting this chemical energy into electrical energy. THe flow of electrons takes place once the circuit is complete. The storage of positive and negative charge on terminals of the battery creates an electric potential(voltage) and this potential allows fro the flow of electrons through the circuit powering the various loads.

b.  Fuse: Fuse is a safety devide that breaks the circuit in the case when thje current exceeds the circuit rating. 

• The purpose of the fuse is to break the circuit and prevent damage to the components in the circuit in case of surge of current. In case of a fault in circuit, if there is a conditioon of short circuit, excess current will flow through the components; Exceeding current may damage the loads by generating an arc within the component also there is a significant heat damage due to this surge current.
• The fuse works by heating up and melting, thus breaking the circuit. The heat generated by the surge current will mwlt the fuse. The fuse wire can be replaced easily and harm to other loads is prevented. The fuses are rated for specific currents. While selecting the fuse we need to make sure that the desired current in the circuit is lesser than the fuse rating

c. Generator: The generator generates electricity, i.e. it converts the mechanical rotational engergy into electrical energy.

• The Purpose of the generator in an automobile circuit is to generate electricity to recharge the battery. It recharges the battery while the car is running. This recharge helps the battery to continously put out electricity and power the loads in the circuit.
• The Generator works on the principle of electromagnetic induction: When a coil is rotated in the presence of an uniform magnetic field, current is induced in the circuit. This current is used to charge the battery of the vehicle.

3. If the total load is 10A, a standard 15 A fuse can be used. This will protect the circuit from current greater than 15A. If we select 10A fuse, it might break down even if there are very minute surges from the intended current.

4.  Load: 500W

Voltage: 12V(take)

Wquating the power; 500W = V*I= 12*I

Current= 500/12= 33.33Amps.

5.  Generator and the current and voltage regulator are connected in parallel so that they have equal voltage differemce across their terminals allowing for proper regulation of voltage su pplied back to the circuit.

6. The Ignition coil and the distributor are connected in series, this is done due to the fact that the ignition coil generates high voltage and the distributor uses this high voltage electricity to send sparks for ignition.