3-phase power; was: cctalk Digest, Vol 88, Issue 2

[Paul Koning]

> On Jan 4, 2022, at 7:08 PM, Jonathan Chapman via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> 
>> much of it related to Niagara Falls and other power systems
>> modeled after it.
> 
> The IIRC oldest US generating station still in operation (on original hardware anyway) is at Mechanicville, NY. It is hydroelectric and originally fed 40 Hz AC to Schenectady. They just sped up the alternators when they connect it to the 60 Hz grid!
> 
> I hear the European equivalent of US 25 Hz traction power is 16.6 Hz.

That's one of the choices.  When I was in high school, I saw an ad in a technical (engineering) magazine for an electric train, a "four system" one that could run anywhere in western Europe.  It could handle 1500 V DC (used in Holland), 3 kV DC, 15 kV AC I think 50 Hz, and 30 kV AC 16.67 Hz -- or maybe the frequencies were the other way around.  An electric system that can handle a 20:1 ratio of voltage inputs, and probably several megawatts, in a mobile device is rather impressive.  Especially in the 1960s.

	paul