For example, apparently the grid on one side of Japan uses 50 Hz and the other side uses 60 Hz, and this means they can’t interconnect, but… why? Why isn’t it the case that current is current is current is current? I’ve heard some super vague explanation about how deviations in the line frequency can damage electrical equipment, but *how* does it do that?
In: Engineering
You ever see in a cartoon where there’s a bunch of people going “heave ho” and all pulling or pushing in unison on something?
Synchronizing is like that. You want all the people pulling at the same time and pushing at the same time, not pushing and pulling at the same time.
Additionally the power grid essentially provides power in a sine wave. Deviations to a perfect sine is survivable by some stuff (like an electric motor driven by VFD, it’s rare or very expensive to get a completely accurate sine off them) but some electronics can be very sensitive to “dirty power” that isn’t roughly a sine wave. If the power stations aren’t synced instead of a perfect sine you get all kinds of whacko wave patterns.
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