DAY 6: A LITTLE ABOUT ELECTRICITY (Part 2) : CURRENTS

 
    
 Day6 of #100daysofsolarnuggets

         Hello Everyone , I promised to make my daily posts about solar so very easy to understand(and i plan on keeping that promise), I am going to go a bit technical here (again) so please bear with me, I would advise that you look up at our day 3 Lesson (A little about electricity ) .

Lets Jump right in.
  When I explained about the basics of solar Energy(day 2) ,I talked about a particular component called an Inverter. I said an Inverter converts  D.C(Direct Current) to.A.C(Alternating Current)
So I want to explain a little About these two types of current as it relates to Solar Energy only.

       In Power generation there are two distinct types of current ,we have
.1)  Alternating Current (A.C.)
.2 Direct Current (D.C).

      Alternating current (A.C.) : This type of current is commonly used in homes and offices,your Fan, Refrigerator, T.V, Air conditioning Unit all use Alternating Current, Alternating Current is supplied by the energy/Utility companies to our homes.

       A few things to note about A.C
Alternating current has a frequency of 50HZ or 60Hz depends on the country, Here in Nigeria we have frequency of 50HZ and the voltage output is between 220 – 240V

      Direct Current (D.C.) : Solar panels produce Direct Current,The output current from our batteries are also Direct current
        Now this why we use Inverter?
    We use Inverter in our solar energy systems because the current output we get from our Solar panels and batteries is D.C,while majority of our appliances use A.C.
    Inverter enables us to use the energy created by our solar panels in our homes by converting the Direct current generated by the solar panels to Alternating current.(easy enough)

      Why do we have two types of current and why is A.C used in our homes? (This question would be on a lot of people's mind)
    They both have there different advantages and disadvantages, but in summary A.C current is much more cost effective compared to D.C current when it comes to transmitting it over long distances(generally the generating stations,where electricity is generated are usually located very far away from residential areas where they are consumed), that is why the Utility companies transmit A.C current(at extremely high voltages) and that is why more importantly it is being used in our homes.

I figured it is very important I explained this in the beginning, going forward in later posts when I discuss about Inverter we would understand why.