Power generationTHE WORD power generation seems familiar to us but as a matter of fact most of us didnt have any sound knowledge regarding it. Most of the people know that power is generated at Tarballa or Mangla dam with the help of turbines and transmitted to consumers through cables while in cities it is distributed from power houses. Its the basic structure but there are a lot of things involved in it which are beyond the thinking of a normal person.

At Tarballa or Mangla hydel power is generated with the pressure flow of water. Water enters a turbine with pressure which makes the motor of turbine to rotate. Rotating motor converts mechanical energy of flowing water to electrical energy. This water flow to the turbine is controlled in such a way that the power is generated at 50 hertz, which is our major requirement. This whole process is called power generation. At power generation site couples of generators work in parallel and high voltage (in hundreds of kilo volt) is generated. This method of power generation is known as hydel power generation.

Power generated by other methods is a bit different but all have the same mechanism. Power generated through fossils or atomic powers has similar methods. Burning of fossils produces intense heat that is used to convert water into steam. This steam has low velocity, which is then increased by making it pass through nozzles, which are relatively bigger in size. This high speed steam hits the blade of motor and causes it to rotate and hence electrical power is the result from mechanical source. Similar procedure is adopted for the power generation through atomic plants.

After generation the problem that arises is the transmission of power to the distant areas. But a huge amount of power is wasted. To overcome this headache, transformers are used installed at generation site. These transformers raise the generated high voltage further higher and the current is lowered. This exercise reduces the power transmission losses. Another amazing fact is that it is proven both mathematically and practically that for higher currents, thicker wires especially copper wires had to be used. While low currents relatively requires thinner wires which reduces the cost of wires. Although high voltages and low currents save the power loss during transmission, yet 25-30 per cent of power is still wasted during the transmission process. That is still a major problem. Furthermore, we have no solution to overcome this loss right now.

These high voltages are hazardous for human health. Due to this hazard, transmission lines are taken at some height outside the cities. At the receiving end outside the urban are

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