Electricity
makes our life comfortable and easier. We use electricity more and more every
year and off course we need it in places far from the generation power plants
places. So in most cases electricity must move for along distances from one
place to another before it will be used and the same time there are a standards
present in the loads places that describe the electricity specifications that
will operate our machines and appliances.
Let’s
trace the path of electricity from a generation power plant to the load (a lamp
or other appliance) present in your house:
First, the electricity is
generated at power generation plants and then it moves through conductors to power
transformers that will steps up the electricity
voltage (called step up transformers) to a
standard known level and then
the electricity is transmitted throw of transmission lines network which
called "electric grid" .These transmission lines consist of
huge tower lines that you can see along the highway and all transmission lines
are connected together.
The
reason that makes us step up the voltage before transmission is to reduce
electricity losses in the conductors.
Second, near to cities that comprise
the electrical loads there will be a step down transformers located in
substations (contain transformers + switches + another electrical equipment's)
at the end of the transmission lines referred above, this step down transformers
reduce the voltage value to another standard level.
Third, this reduced voltage
electricity is then carried by distribution
lines that deliver the electricity to another
step down transformers, present in the center of the cities and villages at the
vicinity of the customers electrical loads and usually these step down
transformers are called distribution transformers and they sound as a large
gray metal box mounted on an electric pole. Distribution lines can be overhead lines
or underground cables.
Finally, this reduced voltage
electricity out from the distribution transformers feed your electrical loads in
your house like lamps and other equipment's as the generated reduced voltage is
suitable to operate them according to the standards and to your local
regulation.
The
electricity enters your house through a three-wire cable, controlled by
a
circuit breaker or a fuse to feed your outlets and wall switches in your house
and off course the utility company puts an electric meter beside this circuit
breaker or fuse to measure how much electricity you will use every month.
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