How does ring final circuit work

[dyschen]

Hello all

I used to believe that the power of circuit is running from live to neutral,then go back to the distributor.But when I see ring final circuit,I get confused...I know the power goes from both side of live cable,then it goes back to the circuit breaker?

Sorry about my poor description.I really want to know how does ring final work.I will appreciate it if anyone can give me some clue.

 

[PEG]

Hi dude,the circuit you first describe,is a rough approximation of what may be occurring when in use. The ring final circuit,when not under load,has one line,neutral and earth connection,which at any one point,has two connections to it's source.

Imagine a "normal" circuit,where the three conductors arrive at their destination. Now,split each conductor,lengthwise,leaving them still as one,at the source,and at the destination. This,is in essence,what a ring final circuit is.

 

[Richard Burns]

Welcome to the forum
A ring final circuit is a circuit that has two parallel conductors at each point of use.

Current flows along both of the two lines, through the load and then flows via both neutrals back to the supply.

At any point of use there are two paths that the current takes.

 

[Darkwood]

Take L and N and form a ring, no matter where you tap your load onto this ring the Electricity will take all available routes down the Live through the load and return down all available routes through the Neutral because the potential difference exists on both legs of the ring... the current will divide itself down the legs according to resistance met and basically shared the load down the 2 legs... it's self balancing because if say both legs were equal length and one side had a higher current flowing it would heat the copper a little bit more than the other leg, create resistance and once it exceed the resistance of the other leg a little more current will flow down the other lower resistive leg... this happens millions of times a second, the current doesn't actually swap legs it just adjusts the amount flowing down each side trying to maintain balance with the least overall resistance path.
Just to add a little complication to this you need to remember its AC so the current flow will reverse direction 100 times a second in a 50hz system.

 

[Pete999]

Hello all

I used to believe that the power of circuit is running from live to neutral,then go back to the distributor.But when I see ring final circuit,I get confused...I know the power goes from both side of live cable,then it goes back to the circuit breaker?

Sorry about my poor description.I really want to know how does ring final work.I will appreciate it if anyone can give me some clue.

Wiring a Ring Main | Electrical Wiring | Wiring a Circuit | Electrical Circuits | Mains Wiring - http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/ringmain.htm

 

[telectrix]

a ring final is comparable to a lib-dem. councils traffic management system. nobody can fathom out which way to go.

 

[Richard Burns]

It is the anarchists traffic management: it takes every available route, no matter how inconvenient.