what is 3 phase power? What makes it different from 1 phase?

Question

How do I know if it's 3 phase? What is 120/240v?

How do I know if it's 3 phase? What is 120/240v?

Answer 1

I'll try to make this simple and brief.

(The engine analogy is like a 2 cycle motor)

Single phase power is like a one cylinder engine whose piston can go only up and down. It makes power once each revolution of the crank shaft. ( a single pole generator )

3 phase power is three power pulses.
Imagine an airplane engine with 3 cylinders in a Wye configuration. ( the cylinders would be evenly spaced 120 degrees around a circle.) each piston fires as the crank shaft moves 1/3 of the way around. The engine would make power 3 times every turn. (a three pole generator)

I realize this is a very simplistic explanation, however, from the form of your question, I don't believe a more complex answer would make it more clear.

Yours: Grumpy

Answer 2

Phase 3 power is one more than phase 2 power and 2 more than phase 1 power.

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
what is 3 phase power? What makes it different from 1 phase?

Answer 4

120 v /240 v is single phase power.

3 Phase power is 120 v /208 or some variation like 277 v / 480 V.

In single phase power you have one hot and one grounded conductor called a neutral. In 3 phase power you have 3 hot wires
the voltage between phases is 208 V or 480 V. If you want single phase power for a 3 phase system, use one phase conductor and the neutral.

Answer 5

Three-phase electrical power is a technique for generating electrical power that has two advantages. First 3-Phase power has properties that make it easier to transmit it over long distances because of the unique relationship between each of the phase currents. Second Three phase power makes it easier to design motors that can develop huge amounts of power as well as methods to simply control the motor's rotation direction.

This is a complex subject and has a great deal of math to further explain the arguable relationships and efficiencies. This falls under the category of " poly phase systems" that use electrical power. power motors and many other devices.

Answer 6

THe AC voltage supplied to your home is single (1) phase.
it changes polarity 60 times per second, 3 phase power also
changes polarity 60 times per second but STARTS doing so at
a different time.

Motors and equipment can get more useable horsepower
from a thre phase system because the power being supplied to it
has a higher AVERAGE peak voltage than just one phase would have.

It's kinda complex but imagine haveing three garden hoses
filling up a barrel with water. 3 can do it more quickly than one.

3 phases of electricity can provide more horsepower (useable energy) than just one.

Answer 7

Three-phase power usually means AC power where there are three voltages which are separated by 120 degrees in phase. Each of the three is referred to as a phase.

Single phase power is just one of the phases.

Three phase power is used in industrial applications; single phase is what you probably have at your house in the using the wall outlets.

if the whole phase thing is confusing, recall that ac voltages can be represented as sinusoids like

sin[120*PI*t + (phase angle)]

here the phase angle is equal to either zero, 120, or 240 degrees. t is a reference to time. PI is 3.14159.. the 120 comes from the 2 times the frequency of the voltage, which in North America is 60 Hertz.

Answer 8

at the power station, then generator has 3 magnetic windings. So this produces 3 lots of single phase power.

The generator spins around, so the 3 phases (windings) are 120 degress apart.

The volatge between any phase and earth is 240v or 110v, depending on what country you are in

Because it is alternating voltage, the voltge goes up to +315 then down to -315. This gives a positive average of 240 and a negative average of -240. (a real average of 0v, as the average of +315 and -315 is zero)

Between any two phases the average is 415v (not 280) as they are 120 degrees apart in their cycle, so as one goes down the others are going up.

Answer 9

3 phase is 2 more than one phase

Answer 10

Most homes have 2 phase, one for each bus bar... allowing for up to 220v in tandem. 120V is single phase, but every other breaker in the panel will be on a different phase. So the 2 phases will be used thought the house. 3 phase is 330V and used for most heavy machinery.