120 volt 400Hz

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Jraef

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I once worked on a test stand for the Power Take Offs on the engines for 777 aircraft. They were used to run 400kW 400Hz generators that were the size of a desktop PC. We had to simulate the engine's response to connecting the 400kW generator at full load, which was all but negligible to an 11,000HP machine. So we used a 6,000HP 4 pole AC motor running at 50Hz, going into a 6:1 gearbox to get to the required shaft speed of the turbine. The large gear on the gearbox box was so big that they redesigned the building to have thicker concrete wall just in case that thing broke out and took of rolling toward Seattle...
 

Ainsley Whyte

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Jamaica
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Senior Electrical Engineer
Isn't 400 Hz usually aircraft??
400 hz is Definitely in the Aircraft industry. And the reason for using that high frequency is all about reducing cable wire size, reducing weight as in aviation the challenge is to make the craft as light as possible so as to maximize, more useful weight that needs to be transported.
F= PL/A where F is the frequency
P is resistivity
L is Length
A is area

Therefore A=pl/F SO BY MAKING THE FREQUENCY HIGH then the wire size A can be much smaller therefore much lighter
 
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winnie

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Springfield, MA, USA
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Electric motor research
Therefore A=pl/F SO BY MAKING THE FREQUENCY HIGH then the wire size A can be much smaller therefore much lighter

Are you sure about that? AFAIK increased frequency does nothing to increase the amount of power that can be delivered by a given wire.

It clearly reduces the size of motors and transformers, and thus saves lots of weight there; but if anything it increases the losses in the wire because of skin effect.

-Jon
 

GeorgeB

ElectroHydraulics engineer (retired)
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Greenville SC
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Retired
F= PL/A where F is the frequency
P is resistivity
L is Length
A is area

Therefore A=pl/F SO BY MAKING THE FREQUENCY HIGH then the wire size A can be much smaller therefore much lighter

I see 2 have already questioned you, but in 55+ years of electronics and electricity, I've never seen that relationship. Indeed, if the wire is large enough for skin effect to be of any significance, the opposite would, IME, be true.

Where did you get that relationship?
 
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