Power transmission

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Power transmission

Power transmission is the movement of energy

Energy

In physics, energy is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of Work_ that can be performed by a force. Energy is an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law....
from its place of generation to a location where it is applied to performing useful work

Mechanical work

In physics, mechanical work is the amount of energy transferred by a force acting through a distance. Like energy, it is a scalar quantity, with SI of joules....
.

Power

Power (physics)

In physics, power is the rate at which mechanical work is performed or energy is transmitted, or the amount of energy required or expended for a given unit of time....
is defined formally as units of energy

Energy

Time

Time is a component of the measurement used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify the motions of objects....
. In SI

Si, si, or SI may refer to :...
units: 1 watt

WATT

WATT is a radio station broadcasting a News radio-Talk radio-Sports radio format. Licensed to Cadillac, Michigan, it first began broadcasting in 1945....
= 1 joule

Joule

The joule is the SI derived unit of energy in the International System of Units. It is defined as:One joule is the amount of energy required to perform the following actions:...
/s = 1 newton

Newton

The newton is the International System of Units SI derived unit of force, named after Isaac Newton in recognition of his work on classical mechanics....
* meter/second (1W=1J/s=1N·m/s).

Since the development of technology

Technology

Transmission (mechanics)

Using the principle of mechanical advantage, transmissions provide a speed-torque conversion from a higher speed motor to a slower but more forceful output or vice-versa....
and storage systems have been of immense interest to technologists and technology

Technology

Technology is a broad concept that deals with an animal species' usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects an animal species' ability to control and adapt to its Natural environment....
users.

widespread establishment of power grids, power transmission has come to be associated most often with electric power transmission

Electric power transmission

Electric power transmission is the bulk transfer of electrical power , a process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. A power transmission grid typically connects power plants to multiple Electrical substation near a populated area....
.

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Encyclopedia

Power transmission is the movement of energy

Energy

Mechanical work

In physics, mechanical work is the amount of energy transferred by a force acting through a distance. Like energy, it is a scalar quantity, with SI of joules....
.

Power

Power (physics)

Energy

Time

Time is a component of the measurement used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify the motions of objects....
. In SI

Si, si, or SI may refer to :...
units: 1 watt

WATT

WATT is a radio station broadcasting a News radio-Talk radio-Sports radio format. Licensed to Cadillac, Michigan, it first began broadcasting in 1945....
= 1 joule

Joule

The joule is the SI derived unit of energy in the International System of Units. It is defined as:One joule is the amount of energy required to perform the following actions:...
/s = 1 newton

Newton

Technology

Transmission (mechanics)

Technology

Electrical power

With widespread establishment of power grids, power transmission has come to be associated most often with electric power transmission

Electric power transmission

Alternating current

In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. An electric charge would for instance move forward, then backward, then forward, then backward, over and over again....
is normally preferred as its voltage may be easily stepped up by a transformer

Transformer

A transformer is a device that transfers electrical energy from one electrical network to another through inductive coupling conductors — the transformer's coils or "windings"....
in order to minimize resistive

Electrical resistance

The electrical resistance of an object is a measure of its opposition to the passage of a steady electrical current. An object of uniform cross section will have a resistance proportional to its length and inversely proportional to its cross-sectional area, and proportional to the resistivity of the material....
loss in the conductors used to transmit power over great distances; another set of transformers is required to step it back down to safer or more usable voltage levels at destination.

Power may also be transmitted by changing electromagnetic field

Electromagnetic field

The electromagnetic field is a physical field produced by electric charge. It affects the behavior of charged objects in the vicinity of the field....
s or by radio waves

Radio waves

Radio waves are Electromagnetic radiation occurring on the radio frequency portion of the electromagnetic spectrum....
; microwave

Microwave

Microwaves are electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from 1 mm to 1 m, or frequency between 0.3 hertz and 300 GHz....
energy may be carried efficiently over short distances by a waveguide

Waveguide

A waveguide is a structure which guides waves, such as electromagnetic waves or sound waves. There are different types of waveguide for each type of wave....
.

Mechanical power

Electrical power transmission has replaced mechanical power transmission in all but the very shortest distances. From the 16th century through the industrial revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, production, and transportation had a profound effect on the socioeconomics and cultural conditions in United Kingdom....
to the end of the 19th century mechanical power transmission was the norm. The oldest long-distance power transmission technology involved systems of push-rods (stängenkunst or feldsätngen) connecting waterwheels to distant mine-drainage and brine-well pumps. A surviving example from 1780 exists at Bad Kösen

Bad Kösen

is a Hot spring town in Germany, on the Saale river in the small German German wine-growing region of Saale-Unstrut. It belongs to the Burgenlandkreis district of Saxony-Anhalt....
that transmits power approximately 200 meters from a waterwheel to a salt well, and from there, an additional 150 meters to a brine evaporator. This technology survived into the 21st century in a handful of oilfields in the US, transmitting power from a central pumping engine to the numerous pump-jacks in the oil field.

Factories were fitted with overhead line shaft

Line shaft

The line shaft was the power transmission system at the heart of the Industrial Revolution. Prior to the widespread use of electric motors, line shafting was used to distribute power throughout a factory or mill....
s providing rotary power. Short line-shaft systems were described by Agricola

Agricola

Agricola is Latin language for farmer and can refer to a number of different people and things....
, connecting a waterwheel to numerous ore-processing machines. While the machines described by Agricola used geared connections from the shafts to the machinery, by the 19th century, drivebelts

Belt (mechanical)

A Belt is a looped strip of flexible material, used to mechanically link two or more rotating shafts. They may be used as a source of motion, to efficiently Transmission , or to track relative movement....
would become the norm for linking individual machines to the line shafts. One mid 19th century factory had 1,948 feet of line shafting with 541 pullies.

Mechanical power may be transmitted directly using a solid structure such as a driveshaft

Driveshaft

A drive shaft, driving shaft, propeller shaft, or Universal joint#History shaft is a mechanical component for transmitting torque and rotation, usually used to connect other components of a drive train that cannot be connected directly because of distance or the need to allow for relative movement between them....
; transmission

Transmission (mechanics)

Torque

Torque is the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis . Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist....
or force

Force

In physics, a force is that which can cause an object with mass to change its velocity. Force has both Euclidean_vector#Length of a vector and Direction , making it a Vector quantity....
vs. speed

Speed

Speed is the rate of Motion , or equivalently the rate of change of distance.Speed is a Scalar quantity with dimensions length/time; the equivalent Vector quantity to speed is velocity....
in much the same way an electrical transformer adjusts voltage

Voltage

Electrical tension is the potential difference between two points of an electrical or electronic circuit, expressed in volts. It is the measurement of the potential for an electric field to cause an electric current in an electrical conductor....
vs current.

Hydraulic systems use liquid under pressure to transmit power; canals and hydroelectric power generation facilities harness natural water power to lift ships or generate electricity. Pumping water or pushing mass uphill with (windmill

Windmill

A windmill is a machine that is powered by the energy of the wind. It is designed to convert the energy of the wind into more useful forms using rotating blades or sails....
pumps) is one possible means of energy storage. London

London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
had a hydraulic network

Hydraulic network

A hydraulic power network is a system of interconnected pipings carrying pressurized liquid used to transmit Power from a power source, like a pump, to hydraulic equipment like lifts or motors....
powered by five pumping station

Pumping station

Pumping stations are facilities including pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastructure systems that many people take for granted, such as the supply of water to canals, the drainage of low-lying land, and the removal of sewage to processing sites....
s operated be the London Hydraulic Power Company

London Hydraulic Power Company

The London Hydraulic Power Company was set up by an Act of Parliament in 1883 to install a hydraulic power network of high-pressure cast iron water mains under London....
, with a total effect of 5 MW.

Pneumatic systems use gasses under pressure to transmit power; compressed air

Pneumatics

Pneumatics is the use of pressurized gas to affect mechanical motion.Pneumatic power is used in industry, where factory machines are commonly plumbed for compressed air; other compressed inert gases can also be used....
is commonly used to operate pneumatic tool

Tool

A broad definition of a tool is an entity used to interface between two or more domains that facilitates more effective action of one domain upon the other....
s in factories and repair garages. A pneumatic wrench (for instance) is used to remove and install automotive tyres far more quickly than could be done with standard manual hand tools.

A pneumatic system was proposed by proponents of Edison's

Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph and the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb....
direct current

Direct current

Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as battery , thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type....
as the basis of the power grid. Compressed air generated at Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

The Niagara Falls are massive waterfalls on the Niagara River, straddling the Canada?United States border between the Provinces and territories of Canada of Ontario and the U.S....
would drive far away generators of DC power. The War of Currents

War of Currents

In the "War of Currents" era in the late 1880s, George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison became adversaries due to Edison's promotion of direct current for electric power distribution over alternating current advocated by Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla....
ended with alternating current

Alternating current

In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. An electric charge would for instance move forward, then backward, then forward, then backward, over and over again....
(AC) as the only means of long distance power transmission.

Chemicals and fuels

Power (and energy) may be transmitted by physically transporting chemical or nuclear

Nuclear power

Nuclear power is any nuclear technology designed to extract usable energy from atomic nucleus via controlled nuclear reactions. The only method in use today is through nuclear fission, though other methods might one day include nuclear fusion and radioactive decay ....
fuel

Fuel

Fuel is any material that is burned or altered in order to obtain energy and to heat or to move an object. Fuel releases its energy either through a chemical reaction means, such as combustion, or nuclear means, such as nuclear fission or nuclear fusion....
s. Possible artificial fuels include radioactive isotopes, wood alcohol, grain alcohol, methane

Methane

Methane is a chemical compound with the molecular formula . It is the simplest alkane, and the principal component of natural gas. Methane's bond angles are 109.5 degrees....
, synthetic gas, cryogenic gas

Gas

In physics, a gas is a state of matter, consisting of a collection of particles without a definite shape or volume that are in more or less random motion....
, hydrogen

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the chemical symbol H. At standard temperature and pressure, hydrogen is a colorless, odorless, nonmetallic, tasteless, highly combustion and explosive Diatomic molecule gas with the molecular formula H2....
gas (H₂) and liquefied natural gas

Liquefied natural gas

Not to be confused with Natural Gas Liquids .Liquefied natural gas or LNG is natural gas that has been converted temporarily to liquid form for ease of storage or transport....
(LNG).

Power transmission

Electrical power

Mechanical power

Chemicals and fuels

See also