Power plants and residential areas are rarely located near each other. Electrical energy must be transmitted over long distances through conducting cables that have resistance. Transformers — devices based on the principle of mutual induction — are used to step voltages up and down to make transmission efficient. An ideal transformer obeys: V<sub>s</sub>/V<sub>p</sub> = N<sub>s</sub>/N<sub>p</sub> and, for an ideal transformer, V<sub>p</sub>I<sub>p</sub> = V<sub>s</sub>I<sub>s</sub>. Power lost in a cable of resistance R carrying current I is P<sub>loss</sub> = I²R.
A small town is connected to a power plant 20 km away. The plant generates 10 kW of power at 500 V. To reduce transmission losses, a step-up transformer at the plant boosts the voltage to 10,000 V before transmission through cables of total resistance 50 Ω. A step-down transformer at the town end then reduces the voltage for domestic use.
(i) Calculate the current in the transmission line.
(ii) Calculate the power lost in the transmission cables.
(iii) If the power lost in transmission must be reduced to one-fourth of the value found in part (ii), by what factor must the transmission voltage be increased (keeping the generated power constant)?
(iv) State ONE reason why AC is preferred over DC for long-distance power transmission.
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By the relation for an ideal transformer, the power transmitted equals the power generated (ideal step-up transformer at the plant).
P = V<sub>trans</sub> × I<sub>trans</sub>
∴ I<sub>trans</sub> = P / V<sub>trans</sub> = 10,000 W / 10,000 V
∴ I<sub>trans</sub> = 1 A
(ii) Power lost in transmission cables:
By P<sub>loss</sub> = I²R, where R = 50 Ω and I = 1 A,
P<sub>loss</sub> = (1)<sup>2</sup> × 50
∴ P<sub>loss</sub> = 50 W
(iii) Factor by which transmission voltage must be increased:
For constant generated power P, the transmission current I ∝ 1/V<sub>trans</sub>.
Since P<sub>loss</sub> = I²R ∝ 1/V<sub>trans</sub>², reducing P<sub>loss</sub> to one-fourth requires I to be halved, which requires V<sub>trans</sub> to be doubled.
∴ The transmission voltage must be increased by a factor of 2 (i.e., to 20,000 V).
(iv) AC is preferred over DC for long-distance transmission because the voltage of AC can be easily stepped up or stepped down using transformers (which work on the principle of electromagnetic induction and require a changing — i.e., alternating — current). Higher transmission voltage means lower current and hence much lower I²R losses in the cables.