How does 3 phase power work?
In: Physics
Electricity transmitted as alternating current travels in waves, here in the usa the waves take 1/60th of a second to pass. The phase is the timing of when the waves pass, so if you divide a second into 120 chunks a on even numbered chunks you would be at the peak of a wave and at odd numbered chunks you would be at the bottom of the valley of a wave. To change the phase of the wave you would change it to be a peak on odd numbered chunks and the bottom of a valley on even numbered chunks. If you combine those two phases at every 1/60th of a second you would be at the peak of one phase and the valley of another phase. 3 phase power works the same way where at every 1/60th of a second you would be at the top, bottom and middle of a wave. There are some applications where more than 3 phases of power are used but they tend to only have very specific uses and are pretty rare.
Latest Answers