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A recent AP report states that there is a proposal in place to change the frequency various parts of the national electrical grid run at. The frequency differences will be minor, but will force an end to the national grid as we know it. The only way frequencies can be different at all in separate locations around the nation is to not have a grid at all. They are attempting to childishly play this down as something that will mess up clocks. But what it really means is that they are going to dismantle the national power grid entirely. And now I will dissect and shred this article First of all, they are saying that this is going to be a "year long experiment". It won't be. Since dismantling the grid amounts to an act of war, once it is dismantled we will not get it back. This "experiment" is exactly what you would want to do to a nation as a pre-emptive measure before attacking it. When destroying a nation, the basics have to go. You need to destroy the water, electrical, and food supplies to force people to surrender. By running different frequencies in different parts of the grid,the laws of physics clearly dictate that it has to be run in sections, all isolated from each other.
Originally posted by PatriciusCaesar
reply to post by Iamonlyhuman
Ignorant.
Assume for a moment that the grid consists mostly of generators attached to steam turbines. These turbines are large, complex pieces of equipment that are designed to run at precisely at 60 Hertz (In the US and North America) 50 Hertz, almost everywhere else) and if they get operated off frequency, it causes undesirable harmonics to be set up in the equipment. Most turbine-generators have no problems running under load within a half-hertz of their design frequency, but the harmonics can cause so many problems that allowable operation outside that range (up to about 1 1/2 Hertz (typically) off design frequency is limited to only a VERY FEW MINUTES over the 40-to-60 year design life of the equipment. Operation at more than 1 1/2 Hertz off design frequency is strictly prohibited and the operation manuals insist that if frequency gets that far off design that the turbine-generator be immediately tripped and removed from service and typically the generators are connected to a relay which monitors and trips the turbine based entirely upon system frequency.
This is exactly the situation you have. Utilities East and West of the Mississippi River are not really interconnected. In order to avoid 'interstate' Federal regulation and interference in their affairs ERCOT (the power grid in Texas) stands alone and is not connected to either of them.
Originally posted by mwc273
Sorry Human. I thought it of great importance, preparedness wise. So I posted for ATS to see. As I am not an expert on the power grid, I thought it best to let the article speak for itself. The author makes some very pointy points...
Originally posted by OZtracized
reply to post by ANNED
I half agree with you.
I'm an Electrician working in power generation and I can confirm to anyone reading this post that systems running anything more than minor differences in frequency (and, to a lesser degree, voltage) cannot be run in parallel i.e. interconnected.
The big issue is phase angle. If a diesel generator running say 415V between phases at 50Hz is connected to mains at 415V and 50Hz "out of phase" then fireworks will likely ensue. This is because the sine wave generated by the diesel generator must not only match mains in wavelength (frequency) and voltage (amplitude) they must both occur AT THE SAME TIME.
Generator controllers capable of synchronising to a live bus are relatively cheap these days and I dare say could probably synch a gen set running at 60Hz (1800rpm) to mains at 50Hz (1500rpm)(assuming a 4 pole alternator) but would be analogous to a scooter governed to run at 60MPH "locking in" to a Mack truck governed to run at 50MPH. Sure a clever system to couple the two "on the go" could be implemented but what do you think would happen when the scooter governed to run at 60MPH is mechanically locked to the truck governed to run at 50MPH?
Easy. The scooter would be burdened with the impossible task of pulling the 50MPH truck at 60MPH.
The bigger generators will simply be fighting the smaller ones if they are all connected to the same grid and an average will naturally be found relative to torque/rotating mass of each power station. In reality, power grids with different frequencies cannot be practically run in parallel i.e. must be separate.
I could go into much more detail but I already feel the need to punch myself.