Polyphase system

A polyphase system (the term coined by Silvanus Thompson) is a means of distributing alternating-current (AC) electrical power that utilizes more than one AC phase, which refers to the phase offset value (in degrees) between AC in multiple conducting wires; phases may also refer to the corresponding terminals and conductors, as in color codes. Polyphase systems have two or more energized electrical conductors carrying alternating currents with a defined phase between the voltage waves in each conductor; early systems used 4 wire two-phase) with a 90° phase angle but for three-phase voltage, the phase angle is 120° or 2π/3 radians as Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrovolsky mathematically had shown this reduce the magnetic field fluctuation from 40% to a mere 15%. Polyphase systems are particularly useful for transmitting power to electric motors which rely on alternating current to rotate. The most common example is the three-phase power system used for industrial applications and for power transmission. Compared to a single-phase, two-wire system, a three-phase three-wire system transmits three times as much power for the same conductor size and voltage.

This article is about electrical power distribution. For the signal processing concept with the same name, see Polyphase matrix.

Systems with more than three phases are often used for rectifier and power conversion systems, and have been studied for power transmission.

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