Name: Daniel Allen
Status: Other
Age: 20s
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
At an energy show I saw something that floored me. A
large AC Incuction motor driving a generator load that when hooked to a
bank of capacitors it then drew 1/2 the amps while driving the full
load! How did they do this?
Replies:
I can't tell from the question what was hooked up to what, what the
load was, what the generator was connected to, or whether the
capacitors were driving the motor or being driven by the generator,
so I'm not sure my answer is going to be relevant.
I can at least say that driving a capacitor is pretty much like bouncing
on a trampoline: in the ideal case it requires no energy over a
complete cycle because all the energy you put into it in the first half
cycle is given back to you in the second half.
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