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AC, DC, what about PC?

SagaLore

Elite Member
Direct Current is about pushing electrons down a line at as continous as a rate as possible.

Alternating Current sends eletrons back and forth at huge sweeps.

What about Pulse Current? Is basically the same as AC, but only half the cycle - big wave of electricity, then another big wave, then another - all in one direction.

Bad idea?
 
A better question is, how or why?
AC is used because that's what generators make naturally. An added bonus is that it's easily transformed, but that would be the case for PC too.
DC is used in most electronics because of a need for a stable flow.
Extra work would have to be done to AC to turn it into PC, and for what benefit?
 
this is already easily done on the end of the line (where you want to use it). its called a half-wave rectifier. you can use the top or bottom of the sine wave and also transform it into whatever voltage you need.
 
Originally posted by: Bigsm00th
this is already easily done on the end of the line (where you want to use it). its called a half-wave rectifier. you can use the top or bottom of the sine wave and also transform it into whatever voltage you need.

I'm thinking for long distance transport.
 
There are many problems. One is that a pulse containts a lot of high frequency components which means you would need a wide-bands system.

The obvious question is of course why? I would not be very efficient.

However, pulse-width modulation (PWM) is quite common in electronic component. It can e.g. be used to digitally regulate the amount of power you transfer to a component (say a light bulb) by "chopping" the signal into pieces using a on/off switch.

 
Originally posted by: f95toli
There are many problems. One is that a pulse containts a lot of high frequency components which means you would need a wide-bands system.

The obvious question is of course why? I would not be very efficient.

How would it be less efficient than AC, over long distances?
 
Originally posted by: SagaLore
Direct Current is about pushing electrons down a line at as continous as a rate as possible.

Alternating Current sends eletrons back and forth at huge sweeps.

What about Pulse Current? Is basically the same as AC, but only half the cycle - big wave of electricity, then another big wave, then another - all in one direction.

Bad idea?

Um.. you are basically talking about rectified DC. When you convert an AC sinewave to DC, the first thing you do is use a rectifier on it to get it all positive (or negative) then filter it to make it a constant level. The most basic example of this would be putting a diode in series with an AC signal. It would only pass the positive (or negative depending on the orientation of the diode) half cycle. There would be no benefit to using "PC" (cute term though) over AC.
 
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