My father wanted three-phase in the house for his work (transformer and motor design/test). The power company wanted a minimum of $100/mo. That was in 1959. He decided that the university's power was cheaper. ;-)
You're using around half the average. If the saving was 20% of $130 per month and amortized over, say, 5 years, that would be about $1550.
Would the additional cost exceed $1550 per residence if widely implemented? Would a saving of a few hundred dollars per year in power and fewer appliances trashed make enough of a difference?
Bigger houses are easily in the same league as small commercial installations, so it _should_ make sense economically.
Of course the 20% saving is open to question/ridicule, but whatever.
Best regards, Spehro Pefhany
-- "it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward" speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com
Modern inverters and VFDs can be fed monophase and generate 3-phase. Current consumption may be an issue.
- YD.
Sure. But they need electrolytic caps in the power supply. Expensive, quite bulky, and they can limit the life of the equipment (they're rated in thousands of _hours_ at high temperature).
If they were FED from 3-phase, they wouldn't need such stuff because the ripple from a 3-phase bridge (2 more diodes, with 2/3 the rating) is less than 15% with NO filter capacitors, and the ripple is at 3 * the fundamental.
High power AC adapters could be ungodly small for hundreds of watts or even kW out if you had either 3-phase or DC input.
Automotive alternators use 3-phase, of course.
P.S. If you look at VFDs that can accept either 3-phase or single phase (only the smaller ones can do that), there is _significant_ derating if fed from a single-phase power source.
We (meaning North America) now have three wires going into our homes- two "hot" and one "neutral". Four would be required to maintain the
120VAC from phase to neutral, and we'd have 208 from phase to phase, as is present in many commercial and apartment buildings.Best regards, Spehro Pefhany
-- "it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward" speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com
most single phase induction motors don't use capacitors.
fans, hairdryers, heaters, record-players etc use shaded pole motors. microwave ovens use synchronous motors for the turntable and shaded pole for the cooling fan.
where are you going to use a 3 phase motor? air-con compressor and pool pump and fridge compressor seem to be the only applications
Washing machines are using electric commutation now.
-- For a good time: install ntp --- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: news@netfront.net ---
The minimum charge was several hundred dollars a month around here, the last time I checked. They would have to run two more HV conductors over a mile to reach my property. They charge per foot to build new plant.
-- Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.
I have. Three phase.
It's been surprised to me that all three phase equipment a twice more expensive. At least air compressor.
ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.