Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
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 (the full period is called a cycle). "Alternating current" most commonly refers to power distribution, but a wide range of other applications are technically ...
In an alternating current (AC) electric power system, synchronization is the process of matching the frequency, phase and voltage of a generator or other source to an electrical grid in order to transfer power. If two unconnected segments of a grid are to be connected to each other, they cannot safely exchange AC power until they are synchronized.
Current lagging voltage (quadrant I vector), current leading voltage (quadrant IV vector). These are all denoted in the adjacent diagram (called a power triangle). In the diagram, P is the active power, Q is the reactive power (in this case positive), S is the complex power and the length of S is the apparent power.
Alternating current is any current that reverses direction repeatedly; almost always this takes the form of a sine wave. [46]: 206–07 Alternating current thus pulses back and forth within a conductor without the charge moving any net distance over time. The time-averaged value of an alternating current is zero, but it delivers energy in first ...
Three-phase electric power (abbreviated 3ϕ [1]) is a common type of alternating current (AC) used in electricity generation, transmission, and distribution. [2] It is a type of polyphase system employing three wires (or four including an optional neutral return wire) and is the most common method used by electrical grids worldwide to transfer ...
The waveform of 230 V and 50 Hz compared with 120 V and 60 Hz. The utility frequency, (power) line frequency (American English) or mains frequency (British English) is the nominal frequency of the oscillations of alternating current (AC) in a wide area synchronous grid transmitted from a power station to the end-user.
Mains electricity, utility power, grid power, domestic power, wall power, household current, [2] or, in some parts of Canada, hydro, is a general-purpose alternating-current (AC) electric power supply. It is the form of electrical power that is delivered to homes and businesses through the electrical grid in many parts of the world. People use ...
Alternating current can also be converted to direct current through use of a rectifier. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or even through a vacuum as in electron or ion beams. An old name for direct current was galvanic current. [17]