Thursday, 10 May 2012

Need for High Voltage


Why we are using  High Voltage AC supply..?

Most our consumer gadgets are using DC supply like TV,Computer,Laptop etc.,then why we are using AC ?
          Because the AC supply voltage only we can efficiently and easily stepup or stepdown. We can also stepup or stepdown the DC with the help of modern power electronics devices,but it is complicate and not much efficient.You all know the transformer is the most efficient machine in electrical(more than 90%).
          Again the question is why stepup or stepdown the voltage? We can find the answer from the following formula.
We know power P=V*I
Replace ‘V’ with ‘IR’(ohm’s law)
Power P=I2R
This power equation shows where ever a resistance present it will consume some power as I2R and it proportional to the  square of the current.
          We know our current carrying conductor has some resistance and they will sure consume the electric power. We don’t need the conductor to consume the power actually it just waste the power.Our requirement is to use the power only by the equipment. To avoid this problem we need to reduce the current!
          Only way to minimize the current without changing the power requirement is to stepup the voltage of the supply through a transformer.
          The following practical example will clear the whole concept.
Imagine you have a small factory 50KM away from an electric substation and you need 1000KVA of total power.
Case 1:
   You are going to take that without stepup the voltage, so V=230V
Power P=VI   We know P=1000KVA,V=230V
Current I=1000KVA/230V=4347.82A
Case 2:
You are going stepup the voltage and  transmit,so V=11KV
Power P=VI   We know P=1000KVA,V=11KV
Current I=1000KVA/11KV=90.909A
From the case 1 and 2 we can see that higher the voltage lower the current. Advantages are
1.    Less current so less the losses.
2.    Need Small Conductor because less current.
Only Disadvantage is we need two  transformer and suitable insulation.But it is negligible when we account this for a long time of operation.

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