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A quick lesson on three-phase a.c. terminology.

The three energised ('hot') conductors that connect the load to the supply are termed 'lines' or 'line conductors'. The fourth wire, if present, is called the 'neutral' or 'neutral conductor'.

Anything connected between individual lines, in a three-phase, three-wire, system, are called 'phases'; anything connected between a line and neutral, in a three-phase, four-wire system, are called 'phases'.

So the individual windings of a three-phase alternator or three-phase transformer are phases. The three individual impedances that make up a three-phase load are also phases. The wires that connect the supply to the load are lines.

Voltages measured between lines, and the currents through lines, are called 'line voltages' and 'line currents', respectively. Voltages measured across individual loads, and the currents through those loads, are called 'phase voltages' and 'phase currents', respectively.

(Ignore anyone who calls the conductors that join the supply to the load, 'phases'. This is quite common but completely wrong!)

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