tHree pHaSe pOweR MeAsUrEmeNt

INTRODUCTION:

           There are various ways of solutions and mathematical calculations that you can use to get the three-phase power calculation to make sure that your wiring distributes your load evenly maintaining a balanced system.  These ways of calculations are useful for many purposes such as when you have single phase equipment and three-phase equipment running on the same power lines (transmission lines).

 

PRACTICAL APPLICATION:

           Mostly, wye connection is used for long distance transmission of electric power. It is because the line voltage is much greater than the delta connection but line current is smaller. On the other hand, delta connection is used when single-phase circuits are desired from a three-phase source. Since our household lighting and appliances use single-phase power, this transformation or conversion of three-phase to single-phase is required in residential housing.

The animation of three-phase current flow above is taken from this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-phase_electric_power

   














NOTE:

           The total apparent power is NOT just the total of each apparent power phase but the square root of the square of the sum of total real power and reactive power.

The sample problem represented below is taken from the book FUNDAMENTALS OF ELECTRIC CIRCUITS (Fourth Edition) Chapter 12 #29 p528.

LEARNINGS:

            I've learned that it is advantage to have three-phase power systems than single-phase because in terms of power distribution, it uses lesser amount of wire. The power distributed to the source is not the same with the power distributed to the load since source power is greater than the load power.  This is what we called the power loss which converted to other form of energy.