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On Sun, 29 Oct 2017 14:46:02 -0500 |
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Dale <rdalek1967@×××××.com> wrote: |
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> I've always seen UPSs as the best insurance of decent power. I find |
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> them handy for almost anything electronic. No matter where a person |
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> lives, good power is sometimes just not going to be there. |
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I spent an instructive 1990 summer afternoon in Minnesota talking to an |
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experienced linesman. He described a two-phase, 110V 60Hz supply to most |
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consumers in USA (180-degree phase angle), with floating earths and |
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immensely long, thin links between population centres. I was appalled at |
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the rickety, piecemeal system he described - though of course the geography |
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necessitates the long links. |
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That was just one view, of course. |
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In the UK our supplies are three-phase, 230V at 50Hz (120-degree phase |
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angles), with all earths tied down securely at distribution voltages (33KV |
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and below - the ones on wooden poles where they're above ground). Grid and |
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supergrid lines are delta-connected though, rather than the star |
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connections of lower voltages. |
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Today's forecasts of doom are the result of 30 years of dithering by |
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governments of all stripes, neglecting to invest in new generation in spite |
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of its absolute indispensability. Not to mention the squandering of North |
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Sea gas on small-scale generation to fill gaps. |
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Whatever happened to the long-term, whole-system view? It all makes me want |
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to weep sometimes. |
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-- |
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Regards, |
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Peter. |
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