Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.153.29] on Saturday, November 22, 2014 at 16:29:06 :
In Reply to: I can't imagine parking a Dymaxion posted by Eric B. [99.100.188.129] on Saturday, November 22, 2014 at 15:49:02 :
One easy one would be to standardize the power grid on 400 Hz rather than 60 Hz. If we did, all motors and transformers could use 15% of the iron they currently use. With the iron that much smaller, less length of copper would be needed to wrap around it, and since the copper isn't as long, a smaller diameter could be used without incurring too much copper loss. The result would be all motors and transformers a tiny fraction of their current size, and in many cases lighter structures to support them. That's why 400 Hz is used on aircraft.
60 Hz was only picked because with the iron available in the 1880s, a higher frequency would cause too much hysteresis (iron loss). By WWII, much better iron had been invented, but we were already stuck with the old frequency. In the '50s they did a serious study on converting our whole power system from 60 to 400 Hz and concluded that despite all the technical advantages and future economic benefits, it would simply cost too much to replace every motor, generator, and transformer in the country. So, we're still running our entire power system on the basis of 19th century iron.