kiloampère

The kiloampere, abbreviated kA, is a unit of electric current equal to 1,000 amperes. It is used in contexts where currents are large and convenient to express in thousands of amperes.

The kiloampere is derived from the SI prefix kilo (10^3) applied to the ampere, the base SI unit of electric current. Therefore, 1 kA = 1000 A. While the ampere remains the fundamental unit for current in SI, kiloamperes are commonly used as a practical multiple in engineering and industry.

Kiloamperes are primarily used in electrical engineering and power systems to describe large currents. They appear in specifications for equipment such as circuit breakers, busbars, transformers, and superconducting magnet systems, as well as in fault-current calculations for power distribution networks. In large installations, currents can span from several kA to tens or hundreds of kA depending on the size and purpose of the system.

In technical documentation, kA is written with a lowercase k and an uppercase A (kA). When precise measurements are needed, currents are often converted to amperes (A) for the sake of precision, but using kiloamperes provides readability for high-current scenarios.