Why do we use alternating current for mains electricity

Question: Why ac is used for mains electricity?

Answer: Alternating current is used in mains because most of the power components require AC. AC Motors are common in air conditioners, washing machines, water pumps, juicer machines, ceiling fans, room coolers.

Electronic equipment like mobile phones, laptop chargers utilize dc power. Modern inverters and compressors also rely on dc current. However, their dc requirement is fulfilled using power supplies. Such supplies are simple in design and are economically available.

On the other hand, dc to ac conversion is uneconomical. Solid state electronic components used are expensive and designing such supplies is somewhat more complex.

Furthermore, the power delivery from generating station to our homes requires voltage stepping at multiple points. AC voltages can easily be stepped up and down using transformers.

Point to remember: A transformer can’t step dc, we require buck and boost converters instead. Such converters are not practically implementable for HV voltages.

All these reasons restrict us to use ac at our mains.


Other questions:

Leave a Reply