What Are Transfomers?

There are some times when the power that is coming into a building isn't the right voltage. When that happens, there needs to be a way to transform the power from one type to another or from one voltage to another. The way to do that is with a transformer. 

Transformers

Transformers range from something as large as the ones you can see on the electric poles to ones that are small enough to be part of an appliance in your home. It doesn't matter what size they are; they all work in the same basic way. Also, contrary to popular belief, the device on your laptop cord isn't a transformer, since transformers only transform voltages. The thing on your laptop cord or other similar device is actually a converter, changing the incoming AC power to DC so that it will charge the battery in your laptop. 

How Transformers Work

A transformer, in it's most basic form, is a box with two poles in it. Each of those poles is wrapped with copper wire. The primary pole is the incoming pole and the secondary pole is the outgoing pole. The primary pole has the number of wraps needed to carry the incoming current. The secondary pole will have a lesser or greater number, depending on what the result needs to be. For example, say that you have a machine that needs to have 50 volts to power it. However, the only power that is coming into your building is 100 volts, and it would damage your machine, so you need to have a way to change it. So, you get a transformer in between the incoming power source and your machine. The primary pole will have 100 wraps around it, and the second pole, which doesn't touch the first, will have 50. Then the power that leaves the transformer will be the right voltage.

On the larger power lines, especially the high voltage transmission lines, the transformers may have several poles, each one with fewer and fewer wraps until it gets to the right voltage, or there may be a series of transformers set in sequence, especially when the wires need to split off to other directions. 

A lot of people think that electricity is always the same. The fact is, there are different voltages, amperages, and wattages, and even different kinds of current. Transformers can make sure that the right voltages get to the right place. 

If you need a transformer, contact a current transformer supplier today.


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