Power network

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kraftnetz is a colloquial, historically developed name for part of the low-voltage network in the public electricity network , which supplies consumers with electrical energy . The three-phase alternating current made available is colloquially referred to as power current , three-phase current , construction site current or, incorrectly, also as high- voltage current .

Concept emergence

In the past, private consumers required only small amounts of energy for lighting , radios and televisions . Usually in private households only one phase ( outer conductor ) of the three-phase alternating current common in Europe with 400  V (formerly 380 V) mains voltage and a mains frequency of 50  Hz was connected to the neutral conductor . So 230 V (formerly 220 V) alternating current , also as luminous current or household current , was provided for the sockets (in Germany and Austria Schuko , in Switzerland SEV 1011 ).

Only commercial or industrial consumers required higher performance and used power . Mainly for operating more powerful electric motors as machine drives, for example also on construction sites for circular saws and concrete mixers . It became notwithstanding the terminology in physics , the term force equivalent to mechanical work needed, thus the term power network has emerged. The term power plant was also coined in this way.

distribution

Today, three-phase alternating current is generally used for house connections in order to operate larger loads of up to a few tens of kilowatts, such as electric stoves , electric water heaters , sauna stoves or chargers for electric cars . In the house distribution , which also houses the electricity meter , several circuits , usually individually protected by miniature circuit breakers , are installed on the various phases. This means that consumers for 230  volts alternating current are integrated evenly into the power network. Larger devices with electrical outputs of up to 3.6  kilowatts such as washing machines or dishwashers are usually protected individually.

In Switzerland, three-phase plugs and sockets are particularly common in the commercial and industrial sector (T15 and T25 according to SEV 1011 ), but they can also be found in apartments for connecting larger consumers such as washing machines.

On construction sites or in mobile use, site power distributors or CEE power distributors with standardized connections according to IEC 60309 are used to provide the required voltages and secure the connections. In addition to the connections 230  volts / 16  amps (maximum 3680 watts), power connections 400 V and 16 or 32 A, or more rarely 63 and 125 A.

Web links

Remarks

  1. In the VDE, the term "high-voltage" system was used until around the year 2000 for all systems up to 1000 V that did not fall under low voltage (colloquially "low current"), regardless of whether they were single or multi-phase. In current VDE regulations, the term for the range up to 1000 V has been replaced by "low-voltage systems" and the term "high-voltage systems" has only been used since then for standards in connection with systems from 1 kV nominal voltage.

Individual evidence

  1. Udo Leuschner: Only one of the three phases of the three-phase current is connected to the domestic socket . Energy Knowledge, accessed August 27, 2012