Machines · machine
Transformer
Electric machine · 1885
- Year
- 1885
- Kind
- Electric machine
- Materials
- Grain-oriented silicon-steel laminations to cut eddy currents, copper or aluminium windings, mineral oil for cooling and insulation.
- Efficiency
- 98–99.7 %.
- Used In
- Every substation, every pole, every phone charger.
- Power Density
- Not a prime mover; the largest weigh hundreds of tonnes.
- Cycle
- None
How It Works
Two coils on a common iron core. Alternating current in one makes an alternating field in the core, which induces voltage in the other in proportion to the turns. No moving parts, and so efficient that stepping voltage up for transmission and down for use costs almost nothing — the reason the grid runs on AC.
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