Alternating current
Alternating current is an electric current that periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time, in contrast to direct current, which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in which electric power is delivered to businesses and residences, and it is the form of electrical energy that consumers typically use when they plug kitchen appliances, televisions, fans and electric lamps into a wall socket. The abbreviations AC and DC are often used to mean simply alternating and direct, respectively, as when they modify current or voltage.
The usual waveform of alternating current in most electric power circuits is a sine wave, whose positive half-period corresponds with positive direction of the current and vice versa. "Alternating current" most commonly refers to power distribution, but a wide range of other applications are technically alternating current although it is less common to describe them by that term. In many applications, like guitar amplifiers, different waveforms are used, such as triangular waves or square waves. Audio and radio signals carried on electrical wires are also examples of alternating current. These types of alternating current carry information such as sound or images sometimes carried by modulation of an AC carrier signal. These currents typically alternate at higher frequencies than those used in power transmission.
Transmission, distribution, and domestic power supply
Electrical energy is distributed as alternating current because AC voltage may be increased or decreased with a transformer. This allows the power to be transmitted through power lines efficiently at high voltage, which reduces the energy lost as heat due to resistance of the wire, and transformed to a lower, safer voltage for use. Use of a higher voltage leads to significantly more efficient transmission of power. The power losses in the wire are a product of the square of the current and the resistance of the wire, described by the formula:This means that when transmitting a fixed power on a given wire, if the current is halved, the power loss due to the wire's resistance will be reduced by a factor of four.
The power transmitted is equal to the product of the current and the voltage ; that is,
Consequently, power transmitted at a higher voltage requires less loss-producing current than for the same power at a lower voltage. Power is often transmitted at hundreds of kilovolts on pylons, and transformed down to tens of kilovolts to be transmitted on lower level lines, and finally transformed down to 100 V – 240 V for domestic use.
File:Highvoltagetransmissionlines.jpg|thumb|Three-phase high-voltage electric power transmission lines use alternating currents to distribute power over long distances between electric generation plants and consumers. The lines in the picture are located in eastern Utah.
High voltages have disadvantages, such as the increased insulation required, and generally increased difficulty in their safe handling. In a power plant, energy is generated at a convenient voltage for the design of a generator, and then stepped up to a high voltage for transmission. Near the loads, the transmission voltage is stepped down to the voltages used by equipment. Consumer voltages vary somewhat depending on the country and size of load, but generally motors and lighting are built to use up to a few hundred volts between phases. The voltage delivered to equipment such as lighting and motor loads is standardized, with an allowable range of voltage over which equipment is expected to operate. Standard power utilization voltages and percentage tolerance vary in the different mains power systems found in the world.
High-voltage direct-current electric power transmission systems have become more viable as technology has provided efficient means of changing the voltage of DC power. Transmission with high voltage direct current was not feasible in the early days of electric power transmission, as there was then no economically viable way to step the voltage of DC down for end user applications such as lighting incandescent bulbs.
Three-phase electrical generation is very common. The simplest way is to use three separate coils in the generator stator, physically offset by an angle of 120° to each other. Three current waveforms are produced that are equal in magnitude and 120° out of phase to each other. If coils are added opposite to these, they generate the same phases with reverse polarity and can be wired together. In practice, higher pole orders are commonly used. For example, a 12-pole machine would have 36 coils. The advantage is that lower rotational speeds can be used to generate the same frequency. For example, a 2-pole machine running at 3600 rpm and a 12-pole machine running at 600 rpm produce the same frequency; the lower speed is preferable for larger machines. If the load on a three-phase system is balanced equally among the phases, no current flows through the neutral point. Even in the worst-case unbalanced load, the neutral current will not exceed the highest of the phase currents. Non-linear loads may require an oversized neutral bus and neutral conductor in the upstream distribution panel to handle harmonics. Harmonics can cause neutral conductor current levels to exceed that of one or all phase conductors.
For three-phase at utilization voltages a four-wire system is often used. When stepping down three-phase, a transformer with a Delta primary and a Star secondary is often used so there is no need for a neutral on the supply side. For smaller customers only a single phase and neutral, or two phases and neutral, are taken to the property. For larger installations, all three phases and neutral are taken to the main distribution panel. From the three-phase main panel, both single and three-phase circuits may lead off. Three-wire single-phase systems, with a single center-tapped transformer giving two live conductors, is a common distribution scheme for residential and small commercial buildings in North America. This arrangement is sometimes incorrectly referred to as two phase. A similar method is used for a different reason on construction sites in the UK. Small power tools and lighting are supposed to be supplied by a local center-tapped transformer with a voltage of 55 V between each power conductor and earth. This significantly reduces the risk of electric shock in the event that one of the live conductors becomes exposed through an equipment fault whilst still allowing a reasonable voltage of 110 V between the two conductors for running the tools.
An additional wire, called the bond wire, is often connected between non-current-carrying metal enclosures and earth ground. This conductor provides protection from electric shock due to accidental contact of circuit conductors with the metal chassis of portable appliances and tools. Bonding all non-current-carrying metal parts into one complete system ensures there is always a low electrical impedance path to ground sufficient to carry any fault current for as long as it takes for the system to clear the fault. This low impedance path allows the maximum amount of fault current, causing the overcurrent protection device to trip or burn out as quickly as possible, bringing the electrical system to a safe state. All bond wires are bonded to ground at the main service panel, as is the neutral/identified conductor if present.
AC power supply frequencies
The frequency of the electrical system varies by country and sometimes within a country; most electric power is generated at either 50 or. Some countries have a mixture of 50 Hz and 60 Hz supplies, notably electricity power transmission in Japan.Low frequency
A low frequency eases the design of electric motors, particularly for hoisting, crushing and rolling applications, and commutator-type traction motors for applications such as railways. However, low frequency also causes noticeable flicker in arc lamps and incandescent light bulbs. The use of lower frequencies also provided the advantage of lower transmission losses, which are proportional to frequency.The original Niagara Falls generators were built to produce 25 Hz power, as a compromise between low frequency for traction and heavy induction motors, while still allowing incandescent lighting to operate. Most of the 25 Hz residential and commercial customers for Niagara Falls power were converted to 60 Hz by the late 1950s, although some 25 Hz industrial customers still existed as of the start of the 21st century. 16.7 Hz power is still used in some European rail systems, such as in Austria, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.
High frequency
Off-shore, military, textile industry, marine, aircraft, and spacecraft applications sometimes use 400 Hz, for benefits of reduced weight of apparatus or higher motor speeds. Computer mainframe systems were often powered by 400 Hz or 415 Hz for benefits of ripple reduction while using smaller internal AC to DC conversion units.Effects at high frequencies
A direct current flows uniformly throughout the cross-section of a homogeneous electrically conducting wire. An alternating current of any frequency is forced away from the wire's center, toward its outer surface. This is because an alternating current creates electromagnetic waves. Electric conductors are not conducive to electromagnetic waves, so a wire that is made of a non-perfect conductor pushes the alternating current, along with their associated electromagnetic fields, away from the wire's center. The phenomenon of alternating current being pushed away from the center of the conductor is called skin effect, and a direct current does not exhibit this effect, since a direct current does not create electromagnetic waves.At very high frequencies, the current no longer flows in the wire, but effectively flows on the surface of the wire, within a thickness of a few skin depths. The skin depth is the thickness at which the current density is reduced by 63%. Even at relatively low frequencies used for power transmission, non-uniform distribution of current still occurs in sufficiently thick conductors. For example, the skin depth of a copper conductor is approximately 8.57 mm at 60 Hz, so high-current conductors are usually hollow to reduce their mass and cost. This tendency of alternating current to flow predominantly in the periphery of conductors reduces the effective cross-section of the conductor. This increases the effective AC resistance of the conductor since resistance is inversely proportional to the cross-sectional area. A conductor's AC resistance is higher than its DC resistance, causing a higher energy loss due to Ohmic heating.