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    Alvaro Gurumendi Quijano

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    subtitle (4)

    Uploaded by

    Alvaro Gurumendi Quijano
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    subtitle (4)

    Uploaded by

    Alvaro Gurumendi Quijano

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Behind me is one of the substations

    at Duke University where electricity generated by far away power plants and
    transmitted here along high voltage transmission lines, is step down to
    much lower, more usable voltages, and then distribute it to buildings
    throughout the campus. The change in voltage at the substation
    is accomplished by transformers, a set of which are behind me. Such transformers
    are a critical
    component of the electricity system. They allow electricity generated at
    a single power plant to be distributed to a multitude of locations up to hundreds
    of
    miles or more away from the power plant by minimizing the loss of energy in the
    electricity as it spreads from the plant to the receiving locations
    along a web of power lines. The electric industry
    transmits electricity at high voltages in order to reduce energy
    losses due to power line resistance. In turn, high voltages require
    transformers which are used to step up the voltage of electricity leaving
    power plants, change the voltage of electricity being transferred between
    different sized power lines and step down the voltage of electricity to usable
    levels before it enters the homes and buildings of customers. The simplest and
    least costly
    transformers require alternating current. Which is the primary reason that
    the electric industry relies on alternating current
    instead of direct current. An AC current transformer consists of
    an iron ring that is coiled on one side by the incoming power line and coiled on
    the other side by the outgoing power line. The AC current coursing through the
    coils
    of the incoming power line induces an alternating magnetic
    field within the coils. The strength of which is
    a function of the number of times the incoming line is
    wrapped around the iron core. The iron core concentrates and more
    easily carries the alternating magnetic field than air, conducting it to
    the opposite side of the ring and through the coils of
    the outgoing powerline. At this side in the iron ring,
    the alternating magnetic field induces an alternating current in
    the outgoing line that has a voltage proportional to the number of times the
    outgoing line is coiled around the ring. If the transformer is a step up
    transformer, then the number of coils in the outgoing line exceeds the number
    of coils in the incoming line. And the outgoing electricity has a higher
    voltage than the incoming electricity. The layout is reversed for
    a step-down transformer. The outgoing line has fewer
    coils around the transformer and thus carries electricity with a lower
    voltage than the incoming line. And since the change in voltage is
    directly proportional to the amount of coiling, the voltage difference can be
    precisely controlled through the number of times each power line is wrapped
    around the transformer's iron core. One additional note about transformers,
    the current induced in the outgoing powerline creates a secondary magnetic
    field that opposes the primary magnetic field induced in the transformer's
    iron core by the incoming powerline. And this secondary magnetic field
    leads to a reverse flow of power back towards the power plant. This backflow, which
    is known as
    reactive power, subtracts from, and thus diminishes the power that the transformer
    passes on to the outgoing powerline. The loss can be compensated for by increasing
    the incoming
    power to the transformer. But this increase also heightens
    the reactive power emanating back from the transformer, raising the energy input
    to the plant wasted compensating for the reactive power. This same problem exists
    for
    other components in the electric system, as well as in appliances that
    use electromagnetic induction. In the case of transformers, additional
    electronic components are included in these systems, that adjusts the AC current
    so as to minimize the reactive power and thus increase the energy
    efficiency of the transformers.

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