برق و الکترونیک

At the power station, an electrical generator converts mechanical power into a set of alternating electric currents, one from each electromagnetic coil or winding of the generator. The currents are sinusoidal functions of time, all at the same frequency but offset in time to give different phases. In a three-phase system the phases are spaced equally, giving a phase separation of one-third cycle. The power frequency is typically 50 Hz in Asia, Europe, South America (except Brazil, Colombia and the Dominican Republic) and Australia, and 60 Hz in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Colombia and the Dominican Republic (but see Mains power systems for more detail).

Generators output at a voltage that ranges from hundreds of volts to 30,000 volts. At the power station, transformers "step-up" this voltage to one more suitable for transmission.

After numerous further conversions in the transmission and distribution network the power is finally transformed to the standard mains voltage (i.e. the "household" voltage). The power may already have been split into single phase at this point or it may still be three phase. Where the stepdown is three phase, the output of this transformer is usually star (Y) connected with the standard mains voltage (120 V in North America and 230 V in Europe and Australia) being the phase-neutral voltage. Another system commonly seen in North America is to have a delta connected secondary with a centre tap on one of the windings supplying the ground and neutral. This allows for 240 V three phase as well as three different single phase voltages (120 V between two of the phases and the neutral, 208 V between the third phase (known as a high leg) and neutral and 240 V between any two phases) to be made available from the same supply.

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