3 ms·
Voltage is limited by insulation. For most transmission lines, that’s the air. Higher voltages would result in more sparking between lines
by SkyPuncher 3y ago
Voltage is limited by insulation. For most transmission lines, that’s the air.
Higher voltages would result in more sparking between lines
- Qem 3y agoPerhaps there's room for improvement in the last mile. Copper is expensive, insulation is cheap. Wonder how much higher the tensions in electric outlets could be made while still keeping overall safety of the system.
- hi-v-rocknroll 3y agoFor transmission lines, AAAC, AAC, and AACSR exist. For residential grid hookup, aluminum has been an option for a long time. While aluminum residential wiring has historical baggage of risky and bad practices, the problem with it is inherent fatigue failure. Copper should be required for residential structural high voltage wiring. Locating, mining, and recycling more copper is necessary because demand is far exceeding supply. Perhaps at some point in the future, we may need to mine disused 20th-century waste dumps for metals and rare earths we just threw away and failed to recycle.
- hi-v-rocknroll 3y agoIf a higher voltage were implemented, most/all of the switchgear and power lines would be retrofitted per engineering specifications. Design values change, but not as much as you think. 1 cm for every 10 kV is reasonable between parallel plates. The dielectric strength of air is roughly 3 kV/mm.