answersLogoWhite

0

AC power comes from an electrical generator, which is a set of stationary coils (the stator) around a rotating magnetic field (the rotor). This configuration produces a sinewave output. We use a sine wave on the power grid because that's the way the electricity is generated, and it is a "natural" thing to do. It's a "pain" to have to convert it to another waveshape. There is also the fact that some nasty harmonics will appear on the power grid if we try to use triangular or square waves. Particularly with a square wave. The electrical loss will be higher, too. See the generator link below. Additionally, the sine wave is the the 'purest' waveform, being the root of all other period waveforms. See Fourier series link below.

User Avatar

Wiki User

16y ago

What else can I help you with?

Continue Learning about Movies & Television

What type of electrical waveform is produced by a Ferroresonant Power Supply?

Sine wave


What is RMS in electricity?

RMS stands for Root Mean Square. Power is calculated as V2/R where V is the voltage and R is the resistive component of a load, This is easy toi calculate for a DC voltage, but how to calculate it for a sinusoidal voltage? The answer is to take all the instantaneous voltages in the sine wave, square them, take the mean of the squares, then take the square root of the result. This is defined as the "heating effect voltage". For a sine wave, this is 0.707 of the peak voltage.


Is square wave inverter harmful to electronic devices?

Depends on the device. For instance almost all laptop power supplies use a international (aka universal) switch mode power supply. They don't care about modified sine wave output at all! Almost all low-cost inverters use a step-wave output that approximates a RMS sine wave (like wall voltage). This is a double square wave with a gap between the negative going and positive going squares. The inverter companies call this "modified sine" which is kind of a misnomer used as a marketing term. The more expensive inverters use a high-frequency Class-D amplifier to produce a more accurate approximation of a sine wave. It's usually not "pure", as it has some amount of harmonic distortion, but for marketing reasons they try to distinguish their product from the "modified-sine" by using the "pure sine" misnomer. The front end of all switch-mode power supplies rectify the incoming AC into DC as a first step in conversion. Step wave rectifies just as well as a normal sine wave! The ONLY reason to run "pure sine" inverters is if you are running sensitive audio gear with linear power supplies, as step-wave will induce a buzzing noise in the audio signals whereas the smoother approximation will not. Don't believe the hype that the "pure sine" inverter companies promote, it simply isn't true. The only things that are dangerous to run on step-wave are things with triac devices or capacitor-based power supplies. This includes things like Dewalt power tool chargers, light dimmers, etc. If it's extremely light (feels like there's nothing in it), and/or it has a 120V rating only, then it's probably not safe for step-wave use. Dewalt chargers have been known to fail and overheat on step-wave! If your power supply has a wide input voltage, such as almost all laptop supplies (100-240v), it is a universal switch mode supply and therefore safe. This includes most small electronics chargers, like for phones, iPods and cameras. If the voltage requirement reads only 120V and it's NOT a heavy "wall-wart" type supply, it's probably not safe. Check your nameplates! If your device has sound such as a TV or Stereo and it emits a buzzing sound out of it's speaker when you run it on step-wave, then that's not harmful, but is an annoying side-effect. You can buy the more expensive "pure-sine" model if this is undesirable.


How UPS work?

A UPS or "Uninterrupted Power Supply" is a device which converts mains power to DC then back to mains power. At the DC level, energy is stored in batteries or capacitors so that when there is an interru[tion to the normal mains supply, energy is taken from the power storage devices and delivered to the output so that the output is always at the cvorrect mains voltage, surge free.


Explain about multi-step inverter?

An inverter is designed to provide an AC voltage from a battery or DC supply. The AC voltage provided varies in waveform makeup from a square wave to a true sine wave. In between the two extremes are the multi step devices that have as many steps in their modified sine wave as they have switching devices needed to provide each step. Multi step inverters with as many as 48 steps have been manufactured to produce a relatively clean AC waveform.

Related Questions

How do you figure out the sine of a triangle?

An angle can have a sine ratio, not a triangle.


What is a signaling function?

a signal source is a function it can be square , triangle sine and any combination of the three


What is signalling function?

a signal source is a function it can be square , triangle sine and any combination of the three


What type of electrical waveform is produced by a Ferroresonant Power Supply?

Sine wave


What is waveshaping circuits?

Circuits whose output is in the form of a wave. For instance, there are sine waves, square waves, triangle waves, and others.


What is the area of a triangle having sides of 22 cm by 62 cm by 48 cm?

Using the cosine and sine rules the area of the triangle works out as 457 square cm rounded.


How do you determine sine in a right triangle?

The sine of an angle in a right triangle is opposite/hypotenuse, where opposite is the only side that is not adjacent to the angle you want to find the sine of, and the hypotenuse is the side opposite the right angle in the triangle. Just find opposite/hypotenuse.


What is the sine co sine and tangent of a 90 degree angle if it is on an isosceles right triangle?

0.602


How do you find sine?

In a right angle triangle divide the opposite by the hypotenuse to find the sine ratio.


What ratio do you use to find the sine of an angle in a right triangle?

Sine ratio = opposite/hypotenuse


What is the tangent if the sine is three fifths?

If the sine is 3/5, the tangent must be 3/4, and the triangle must be a 3-4-5 Pythagorean triangle.


Math terms that begin with the letter S?

* subtract * solve * scalene (type of triangle) * square * square root * sum * six * seven * square feet * symmetry * symbol * set * sub set * sine