3 ms·
> As voltage goes up, the thickness of metal needed goes down. The insulator thickness goes up - that either means taller towers or thicker plastic. Why insula
by voxadam 4y ago
> As voltage goes up, the thickness of metal needed goes down. The insulator thickness goes up - that either means taller towers or thicker plastic.
Why insulate the lines at all? HVAC lines aren't insulated.
- londons_explore 4y agoThey're insulated with air... Thats why the lines have to be so high up. As the voltage gets higher, the lines have to be higher up, and get more expensive to build. The alternative is to bury the lines, and then you use a thick layer of plastic instead. At 1 million volts, you need a layer of plastic multiple inches thick, and that starts to get heavy and expensive.
- jojobas 4y agoNot that simple. High voltage causes corona discharge, air is not perfectly dielectric. Reducing coronas requires spaced wire bundles for larger effective diameter. There is a sweet spot in terms of voltage above which the costs go up.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 4y agoThey need to be insulated against earth somehow, not necessarily by wrapping them in plastic - e.g. "taller towers".