Voltage Converter and the Voltage Conversion Guide Q.10

ANS –

Single Phase Voltage and Frequency -

The voltage usage is different in different countries. American voltage is within the range of 110 and 127 volts while Europe and other countries use voltage ranging between 220 to 240 volts.

Thomas Edison provided us with direct current system with 110V but in the 19^th century, Nicola Tesla found out that 60Hz is the perfect frequency and 240V is the perfect voltage for running any electrical and electronic equipment.

But when the German company was building its first generating device, they kept the frequency at 50Hz, as they were not finding 60Hz suitable for their metric standards. But the 50Hz cycle was made common everywhere only after the World War II. But that turned out to be a mistake. This frequency was making the generating device less effective and caused damages in the system. The electric motors were not working efficiently with such low frequency. This caused extra heat in the device.

Today there are some countries that follow the 60Hz frequency as suggested by Tesla. South Korea, Peru, Guyana, the Philippines and the Leeward Islands are some of these countries where 60Hz frequency is coupled with 220 to 240 volts power supply. US also wanted to change their frequency from 50Hz to 60Hz but they were not ready to invest more money that might have been needed to replace all the electric appliances. But Europe has changed their frequency levels to 60Hz.