What is an electrical transformer for?
What is an electrical transformer for?
The powerful power lines that crisscross our countryside or move quietly under the streets of cities carry electricity at very high voltage power plants to our homes. It is not uncommon for a power line to be 400,000 to 750,000 volts! But household appliances and other equipment, such as lighting, use voltages thousands of times smaller, ranging from a few volts to 250 volts only. If you try to power a toaster, TV or LED strip from an electricity tower, it will explode instantly! There is a need to find a way to reduce high-voltage electricity from power plants to low-voltage electricity used by factories, offices and homes. The element that makes it possible to go from one level of electrical voltage to another is called the electrical transformer. Let's take a closer look at how it all works.
Why do we use high voltages?
Your first question is probably this: if our homes and offices use 12 to 250-volt devices, why is the power grid not just supplying electricity at this voltage? Why use such high voltages? To explain this, we need to know a little more about how electricity flows.
Electrical principles
As electricity flows along the lines, the electrons that carry its energy shake the metal structure by bumping against each other and creating heat on the wires. This is the joules effect and it is this property that is used in the manufacture of toasters and other electric heaters. If this heat is not contained, it may result in the melting of the electric cables. It turns out that the higher the voltage used and the lower the current, the less heat is produced and the energy wasted during the electrical transport. This is why electricity from power plants is sent into the wires at extremely high voltages. Simply to save energy.
The use of the
There is also another reason why the voltage is so high when coming out of the plants. Industrial factories have machines that consume far more energy than all domestic appliances. The energy used by a device is proportionally related to the voltage it uses, instead of operating on a voltage of 12-250 volts, industrial machines can use 10,000 to 30,000 volts. Smaller factories and machine shops may need a voltage of about 400 volts. In other words, different electricity users need different voltages. It is a good idea to ship high voltage electricity from the plant and use an electrical transformer to adapt it to each use.
Definition of the electrical transformer
The transformers created on the basis of a very simple electrical fact. When an electric current passes through a wire, it generates a magnetic field or magnetic flux around it. Since the force of magnetism is directly related to the intensity of the electric current, the greater the intensity, the stronger the magnetic field. But there is another interesting fact. When a magnetic field fluctuates around a piece of wire, it generates an electric current in that wire. So, if we put a second coil of wire next to the first, and we send a fluctuating electric current into the first coil, we will create an electric current in the second wire. The current in the first coil is usually called the primary current and the current in the second wire is the secondary current. What we have done here is to pass an electric current in empty space from one coil of wire to another. This is called electromagnetic induction. The current in the first coil induces a current in the second coil. It is this principle that is used in the manufacture of the electrical transformer. An electrical transformer is, therefore, an assembly consisting of 2 electric coils. The current from the power plants is injected into the primary coil and is then induced in the secondary coil. Depending on the number of windings in each coil, an electrical transformer can raise or lower the voltage.
Step-down transformers
The coils of an electrical transformer are made of winding or turns. In the case where the primary coil has a number of turns greater than one second, the voltage delivered by the electrical transformer is lower than that provided by the electrical network. This is the principle that is used in local transformer stations to switch from high voltage to medium or low voltage (12 to 240 volts). It is also the same principle that is used in the battery chargers of our phones or the electrical transformer for LED strips.
Lift transformers
Unlike a step-down electrical transformer, we have step-up transformers that amplify a low voltage into a high voltage. Here, the number of windings of the primary coils is lower than that of the secondary. These electrical transformers are typically used by power plants to raise the voltage before transporting it over long distances.
The electric transformer in your house
There are a lot of transformers in towns and villages where high voltage electricity from power lines is converted to low voltage. But there are also a lot of electrical transformers in your house. Major appliances such as washing machines and dishwashers use relatively high voltages, ranging from 110 to 240 volts, but electronic devices like laptops and chargers for MP3 players and mobile phones use relatively high voltages. low. A laptop requires about 15V, a charger for 12V iPod, and a mobile phone typically requires less than 6V when charging its battery. Thus, electronic devices of this type are equipped with small transformers (often mounted at the end of the power cable) to convert the 220 volts of the domestic power supply to a lower voltage that they can use.
The electric transformer for LED luminaire
The LED Lights are becoming more popular because LEDs are energy efficient and outperform traditional incandescent light. The electrical transformer that will allow you to adapt the current and voltage to the need of your lighting fixture without encountering problems. Several types of transformers for LED luminaires exist. The transformer 220V 12V transforms the 220 volts of the electric plug in 12 V usable without risk for your luminaries. It is perfectly suited to power 12V LED ribbons in particular. As for the 220V 24V transformer, the voltage supplied by the distribution network will be suitable for devices requiring a 24-volt supply voltage, such as the 24V LED strip. The use of an electrical transformer has several advantages. It protects your installation against short circuits, overheating and overloads. It adapts the voltage to the energy requirement of your LED luminaire installation for optimal operation and long life. With a waterproof electric transformer, your LED installation can be done with peace of mind outside and in the bathroom.
The electric transformer in practice
The power grid is based on towers and cables for transport and distribution, but also on electrical transformers to adapt the voltage to each use. Since the plants, we have a very high voltage (between 225 000 and 400 000 volts). This is directed to transformer stations that lower it through a high transformer power to switch to medium voltage. The medium voltage is then routed to the distribution network. It is at this stage that the energy is transformed into low voltage once more by the electrical transformer. An electrical transformer is an indispensable machine in the electrical system. Yet its role does not stop with the transportation and distribution of the electricity grid. There are transformers that hold in the hand. Hold, the charger of your mobile. Just like the 220V 12V transformer and the 220V 24V transformer that allows you to power your lighting fixtures. The electrical transformer is part of our daily lives.