How do Electric Transmission Lines Work? 

Orbis92 ElectroBOOM is crying in a corner...

At least he's not dying in a corner.

I personally prefer to burn wood with them haha

What is the location in that photo at 3:50?

Sam Hoover dam, Arizona USA

I see Cogent every time I run a traceroute. Guess they own the backhaul in my nearish area once it leaves my ISP's rented ISP, from the line maintenance company (Openreach). I think Openreach own a lot of the UK trunk line structure too, so I guess Cogent is after it leaves the island, especially since most UK servers for big companies are actually hosted in Ireland, and I don't think they have Openreach in the Republic.

_“you may see the ground wires at the top coming down to a lower point on the tower, coiled up, with a silver case in the middle, this is a fiber splice case for OPGWs”_ I have always wondered what that was! And it never occurred to me it was a kind of fiber splice! (DUHHH! in hindsight). Thanks!

@thenerdnetwork If lightning wires are being replaced with optic fibres cables the phases are not protected anymore? Or are this optic fibres being placed next to the lightning cable but then the optic would get burned if a light struck?

*@All Goals* The fiber optic fibers are usually embedded in the middle of the stranded shield wire. The shield wire still does the same job, just the fiber is along for the ride.

@@allgoals1325 Here is what OPGW looks: teletechnonet.com/en/products/networking/fibra-optica/optical-fiber-composite-ground-wire-opgw So nothing gets burned in case of a lightning strike. But yea, the guy who responded was correct, optical ground wire does the same job, but carries high speed communications cables that are naturally 100% immune to electrical interference (glass is not not a conductor but rather an insulator). Essentially the fiber optic strands provide optics (the end point laser beams) a conduit from 1 point to another, travelling at the speed of light. Its pretty neat stuff.

Agreeed.

so true...

This is what the Internet was meant to be

I have yet to get a midroll ad in his videos

Hire me. I need experience.

Please enlighten me. What might be the best major/minor to get that position? I'm looking at a combination of Civil and Electrical Engineering, but for designing towers some professors have suggested Mechanical Engineering as well. Our transmission infrastructure is outdated and under-appreciated. I will see to it that a little creativity will go a long way to modernize the technology and improve the _A E S T H E T I C S_

Electrical and structural engineering would be your best choices.

Awave3 at the firm I currently work for, we split Transmission and Distribution design into several sub-disciplines. We have geotechnical engineers that do the foundation design. Structural engineers primarily analyze existing lattice structures to see if they are still in good shape or not. Not as many lattice towers are build these days because they can become very complex. Some civil engineers also help with the foundation design of the substation layout and grading plans, but most of us civil engineers design steel concrete and wooden poles as well as the sag/tension designs of the conductors to ensure they meet clearance requirements. We also have a fair number of structural engineers that go my route as well. All of the electrical engineers design the substations and phasing of the new conductors. I’ll be honest, out of all the disciplines I just listed, electrical is by far the one I know the least about. I do feel like knowing electrical would help give you a better understanding of why designs are the way they are. Us civil engineers just follow the specs that the electrical guys designate. All we do is hold up the wire basically.

In my experience as a complete novice but power line gawker, I would identify a third type of structure: the deflection structure. Robust lattice designs do not need special structures where the line changes direction, but other designs (such as steel poles) may, and a change in direction often does not have dead ends.

Yeah it was a great idea, so good I think I might try it at home

@@willdbeast1523 I know you're probably joking but... please don't, that thing is a death trap. That thing has wires live at several thousand volts, and you should stay away from those - literally.

Using microwave oven transformers to do the step-up / step-down usually results in very high losses, and is really only good for demonstration.

@@willdbeast1523 why not just go straight to the source and touch the wires at your local sub station *s

CasuallyPlayinGames totally agree, I knew most of these things and still found the demo cool. Hard to beat seeing something in action!

He can't be a college professor. He's too efficient. They wouldn't be able to charge you a semester per course. He'd teach a semester in a month! His ability to make "complicated" things simple is incredible.

So you're really a mechanical and civil engineer? It must be nice! You can build both weapons _and_ targets!

Break*

S g i just watched it drinking coffee before a power systems class. awesome

Aren't they already designed? What's new?

It's always fun to watch people misunderstand your work... and in a few cases get it right :)

I thought they already designed power lines; where is there room for innovation in power line design?

Being a civil engineer I appreciate these videos.

Man getting a job at Starbucks is tough! ...I kid of course.

Its the insulators right?

@@Joe-Mamasixtyninefourtwenty Yes sir

@@Joe-Mamasixtyninefourtwenty also more than one wire per phase

corn holio that depends, you can't use that alone as our low voltage systems at 230V and our transmission system at 275kV both may have 1 or multiple conductors per phase depending on application

i built you lol (i’m a lineman)

but if you increase the voltage shouldn't the current also increase thus giving you more power? how do transformers increase the voltage while making sure current stays the same?

Thanks for pointing this out. I scrolled through the comments to see if anyone had made this correction because I noticed the discrepancy too. His audio explanation is correct as he describes the relationship between >powerresistance

@@MA-qz1sd I hope you got your answer. if not, consider this P = I V -> assuming P is constant ('which is the demand") doubling the voltage will give us half the current. in your second question, transforms change the voltage and using ohms law the current will be I(out) = V(out) / Z(load) or I(out) = V(out) / R(load) if the load is purely resistive. which means that the current is dependent on the voltage and impedance.

Yeah thanks for the Demo! You're the best!

Kirchhoff is the easy simplification… try from Maxwells equations… :-)

But Ohm's Law dos not require algebra, just arithmetic.

Here in the Netherlands we have some high voltage powerlines above ground but all the low and medium voltage is already in the ground. New high voltage lines are also laid into the ground nowadays. So no not really. Wires in the earth are not only used for communications and other stuff..

@@brinkshows2720 Well that works because the Netherlands are really dense in population, small in size and not subjected to earthquakes (except Groningen but w/e) Population density and size helps because digging holes is friggin expensive. Having less distance needed and more people able to pay for it is good. And the no earthquakes and other mayor disturbances makes ground cabling relatively worthwhile to do. Also, when you move further and further away from the randstad the powerlines start appearing.

@@Torchedini Yeah thats because in the Randstad the powerlines above ground have been replaced. But more outside the Randstad if there are new powerlines they are also laid inground. About the population density. This is true that its really dense, but if you look anywhere in the country there is no low or medium voltage line found above ground. Also in foreign countries you also see low voltage powerlines in cities above ground. Yes we don't any earthquakes (except for Groningen a little), but powerlines are one of the utilities that is least affected by earthquakes. Some even say its better to lay them in ground because when an earthquake hits powerpoles fall over and create damage and dangerous situations, while if they where in the ground they wouldn't have.

The company that runs the transmission lines replaced the upper shield wire on the 120 kV line in my yard. The new shield wire has 1700 optical fibers. But they aren't used for communication, at least not yet. They haven't gotten permission from the railroad to work over the tracks. The rest of the fancy new cable is spooled on the tower across the tracks from the substation.

@@brinkshows2720 he is talking earth as in ground wires... Not literally in the Earth. I understand English is your second language, but don't respond if you don't understand.

Here, if you want to know about the parameters on choosing conductors, you might be interested in this video. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_pGbLXu6YWQ.html

Dido.

I still don’t. V=IR, so decreasing I will also decrease V. It’s not clear how increasing voltage reduced the current.

​@@AdamSmith-kl1rs V=IR is the equation used to measure the voltage drop across a resistor, in this case representing the line as a resistor. It does not tell you what the voltage on the line is from the source, only how much the voltage reduces between the two ends you're measuring from. The voltage on the line is decided by the source and the transformers. What is held constant on a line is the total power, P=VI, which combines both used and wasted power. The source produces some fixed amount of power, and that energy has to be conserved. Therefore, it either is lost as heat on the line or makes it to the consumer, in this simplified model. Because of the fact we can control the voltage using transformers, we can raise the voltage which decreases the current, keeping the total power constant. To avoid further confusion, when calculating the power lost in the line as heat the voltage used in P=VI must be the voltage drop across the conductor. This is why we can substitute V=IR and end up with P=I^2R. Let me know if anything is still unclear

​@@AdamSmith-kl1rs​ Side note, the point in the video where Grady clarified this was in the line "The only way to reduce the current and *still get the same amount of power* is to increase the voltage" Although it is easy to miss that, I admit.

@@Misterspork57 thanks this really helped!

theshuman100 But ElectroBOOM always gets yeeted by those angry pixies

This just made my day 😂

*people near Forked River being diagnosed with cancer at an increasing rate.* NJ Government: "Definitely not the power plant that's had multiple radiation leaks."

The nice towns are not near industrialized area's. Just the poor towns and poor people deal with the mess. Same story in my state of Ma. and the rest of the country.

@@JerryKosloski Ah, LNT bullshit! Not to mention both Salem and Hope creek generating stations are over 100 miles away from the Forked River.

lol yep i live in NJ I can confirm

Me too. She has definitely earned her snarky commentary merit badge.

You know a video is good when there are comments about the ads.

"Nice shallot stack"..now that’s a compliment ;)

That was a cool demonstration

They are so ridiculously adorable

That's a side effect, but making the line cheaper is the main reason. Higher voltage means less amps going through the conductor, which means you can use a smaller conductor. Smaller conductors are vastly cheaper.

Jovet distance as well

@@stevenutter3614 thanks

Exactly! Even I replayed that part over multiple times as I could not get it over my head as Current is directly proportional to Voltage, so if he keeps the resistance constant then current must increase with increase in voltage.

Yeah, that part of the video is extremely confusing and misleading. The part with "V↑ = I↓ * R" should clearly be removed. The video talks about two different type of power in quick succession without clearly differentiating them. There is Pr, power lost due to resistance on the transmission line, and Pc, power to the consumer. Pr = I * Vw = I * I * R Power lost due to transmission resistance is related to the current and the Vw, voltage lost on the line. However voltage lost is related to the current * resistance. Therefor to reduce the Pr, power loss due to transmission, the current and resistance can be played with. If we want to keep the power to the consumer the same, we can look at a similar power formula: Pc = I * Vc The voltage here is different from the previous one. This is Vc, the voltage the consumer sees. However, it is the same current. So to lower Pr and keep Pc the same, Pc = I↓ * Vc↑ and Pr↓ = I↓ * I↓ * R.

@@colin4349 Exactly, that way would be more explicit.

Re-watched the segment and don't see your point. If you listen to what is being said it all works out. He describes the situation and the variables and the formulas reflect this.

@@joeshmoe7967 there is no way to get higher V with lower I. that formula is the wrong one

That is an electric discharge of the air. So basically, the power lines leak electricity into the air. The air then dissipates the energy and that produces a buzzing. There are steps to be taken to help minimize the problem, but it'll occur in any high voltage system.

krembo Electricity Earplugs

@@Azivegu u basically dodged his question so what about not replying if ur not gonna provide an answer in the first place.

@@AksamRafiz you high bro?

@@AksamRafiz He just provided the answer

He did!! The transformer part alone in his ac vs DC video

He wouldn't: you can only get electrocuted once

Electroboom has a high tolerance for pain. That's his call to fame....

@@crackedemerald4930 "He wouldn't: you can only get electrocuted once" That depends on whether you use the word as it was defined when it was coined over 100 years ago, or the way it's used and defined today. Word definitions change over time. Denying that reality makes you both a pedant and incorrect.

@KarlBunker - yes. It gets so annoying when people argue with modern definitions of words because they don't agree with them, and forcibly try and deny the existence of the new meaning. That, or use a dictionary to justify why a colloquial meaning is 'wrong', completely missing the fact that a dictionary is a DESCRIPTIVE text, not a PRESCRIPTIVE one. (That is, a dictionary contains an explanation of observed usage up to the point the dictionary was published, rather than containing a description of what a word is supposed to mean according to some kind of authority.) Words change meaning. Sometimes substantially. To deny that is to deny the reality of how language functions. (grammar also changes over time of course. But that's a side issue. - for that matter, grammar and even spelling is contextual; a statement like HI HOW R U is valid in some contexts, but not in others. To say nothing of dialect related variations, such as colour, aluminum, and the like...)

Thomas Walder i agree, i love large engineering of any kind

me too

Are you talking about flywheel energy storage?

J.J. Shank pretty much

@@General12th Probably more traditional power generation methods that involve large spinning turbines. However, there's an initiative with some North American Energy Reliability Organizations to study the impacts of inverter-based generation technologies on the Bulk Electric System. This may lead to stronger voltage/frequency performance requirements years from now.

THIS IS A MYSTERY FOR ME UNTIL NOW.

Yes I thought that didn't make any sense and it was left unexplained in the video, as voltage and current don't have an inverse relationship. Thank you for explaining. Your linked video also highlights the fact that ohms law refers to the relationship of V and I for a given circuit, but transformers are based around 2 different circuits.

Having done an electrical apprenticeship in machine tool electrical engineering, and done courses on heavy current technologies, such as this video. Then going into IT and teaching a lot of telecomms stuff, I reckon you are in a good career area.

@@rjones6219 Thanks! Yep, three years from that comment and I still enjoy it here!

That would be awesome. I know that we're building HVDC infrastructure but i don't really understand how it works or how it's better than AC.

@@jmonsted Tom Scott did a video on that. Above a certain voltage and a certain distance, the absence of capacitance and inductance (because it's DC) makes HVDC economical.

YES, I have a friend who used to work with utilities who told me about HVDC and I was wondered how that's possible, if they have higher purity, lower resistance conductors or if something else has changed to make HVDC more efficient.

@@slashetc It's mostly just that the conversion equipment is so much more efficient than it used to be. HVDC made a lot less sense when you lost more converting than you would on transmission losses.

HVDC....quite a few videos here about that....seems dc is going to be preferred as lines reach about 600-700 KV....biggest 'hurdle' of course it the rectification, and generation of DC at that level.

What if the sand turned Gold or diamond?

@@sareeyemanusqaame8723 Harnessing the power of lightning to create gold..... that would be something

Yeah showing Ohm's Law at that part made it very confusing since apparently Ohm's Law only applies separately to the two sub-circuits of a transformer, and can't apply to the whole thing since we have constant power.

shanevmax34 wear gloves? Lol

That is a problem with running AC lines. If these lines were DC this loss would NOT occur.

Impressed voltages another subject

Bahaha I'm so late to this party. This video is 1.5 years old, but if I'd watched it 3 months ago, I'd completely have missed this Salt Bae reference :D

3:30 is not the only cringe-worthy time, but for 9:49 he does a good job and avoids the eyes-glazed-over response that I get when I try to explain transmission lines.

Alfred Jodokus Kwak the key point is that for a given Power, increasing the Voltage reduces the required Current. And the voltage drop (loss) in a line is a function of the Current and Resistance.

​@@deonmurphy6383 That's absolutely correct but that's not what the equation at 3:36 is about.

You're misunderstanding the V in the power equations. P=IV, which substituting with ohm's law (V=IR) also gives V²/R and I²R. However, the V refers to the voltage drop across a load. While the voltage of the power lines in reference to ground definitely goes up, that is not the voltage drop across the line itself from point A to point B, which is ideally constant for a given power line.

@@roberthunter5059 V^2/R isn't a Voltage drop, that's the power usage of a load R at the voltage V

@@coal6tamarack2374 That's what I said.

As a cook, he is a great engineer.

who the fuck cares?

@@VeteranVandal No doubt about that.

Haha, yes. It’s still in their best interest to reduce losses as long as that costs less than generating more electricity, but yep, they factor that in 😂

"You don't think that's baked into the cost of electricity?" In principle, only a portion of it should be and the size of that portion should depend on the elasticity of the supply and demand.

yes and no. Utilities can set the rates they sell it to consumers so all of that is factored into their pricing structure. I wouldn't call it "baked into" because that sounds kind of shady. That said, power sold from utility to utility is typically sold on the open market so you might not have too much control over those prices.

Sure, but it's still a major loss of efficiency, and thus profit or competitive edge. More energy loss = more energy generation required = more maintenance costs & more pollution etc...

@@tchevrier baked in sounds shady to you? That's interesting, because I've always found the opposite - that "it's all been accounted for" sounds sinister but "it's baked in" reminds me of "it does what it says on the tin", but also just.. home baking.

How very innovative of them!

All utility customers pay for the losses. It just may be that your utility is more up front about it.

One significant challenge is phasing. The video omitted the fact that using transformers to change the voltage levels is why the system must use alternating current (AC). Transformers don't work with direct current (DC) and require AC instead. In an AC circuit the voltage rises to a maximum, then falls through zero and then reverses to the opposite maximum. It does this over and over continuously and each reversal is called a "cycle". The power grid operates at a frequency of 60 cycles per second, referred to as 60 Hertz. In a AC power system with multiple generation sources care must be taken to apply all the power to the grid "in phase", which means all the different sources must be applying the highs and lows in the cycle into the system at the exact same time. Otherwise the power from the different sources will oppose each other rather than all working together. This will waste power and if the various inputs get too far out of phase the system can even burn out and fail. The way this problem is overcome is that each individual power source on the grid, including residential contributors, has to constantly monitor the phasing on the entire grid. Then each individual source has to adjust its own phasing to bring itself into lockstep with the rest of the sources on the grid.

Ha! Somebody *DID* notice!