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2.1 INTRODUCTION
In electrical engineering, sinusoidal forcing functions are particularly
important. The alternating sinusoidal current of power frequencies (50 Hz,
60 Hz) is extensively used for producing, transmitting and utilizing electric
energy in industry and in the home. High-frequency sinusoids (of kilohertz,
megahertz and gigahertz) are used as carrier signals for communication
purposes. Sinusoids are in abundance in nature, as, for example, in the
movement of a pendulum, in the bouncing of a ball, and in the vibrations of
strings and membranes.
Historically, in the late 1800s the primary use of electricity was in direct
current (d.c.) operating systems. The first big power system in New York
and New Jersey was Edison's direct current system. However, it became
clear that some of the disadvantages of d.c. had hindered the development
of the widespread use of electric power. Thus, the use of alternating current
(a.c.) and its 'competition' with d.c. began. It is evident that the a.c. system
won this competition.
The main advantage of the a.c. over d.c. is the efficiency of transmission.
Alternating voltage can be transformed to high voltages, thus reducing the
loss on the transmission line. If a line has a wire resistance R and the power
transmitted is proportional to V], the power lost in the lines is ]2 R. Thus, if
the transmitted voltage could be set at a high level (typically today up to
765 kV) which allows the current to be kept low, the line losses would be
minimized. Transformers, which are used to step up and step down the a.c.
voltage, also are very efficient and require practically no maintenance.
Typically, in a power station the output voltage of the a.c. generators (also