UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > General Vintage Technology > General Vintage Technology Discussions

Notices

General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc.

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 1st Dec 2015, 1:29 pm   #141
glowinganode
Octode
 
glowinganode's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 1,522
Default Re: Pylons

There will always be a need for STOR, I imagine they will remain all the time they are profitable to the (private) operator.
The biggest benefit to the DNO's is that they do not have the liability of capital investment.
Whilst there are several purpose built outfits such as Chris mentioned, a lot of the sets are existing standby sets with control mods to allow mains paralleling. This provides a subsidiary income and is quite a popular scheme (keeps me in gainful employment).
Rob.
__________________
We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
glowinganode is offline  
Old 1st Dec 2015, 2:43 pm   #142
colly0410
Pentode
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 223
Default Re: Pylons

What an interesting subject, love reading about it. Thanks to all posters..
colly0410 is offline  
Old 1st Dec 2015, 5:01 pm   #143
dave walsh
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Ramsbottom (Nr Bury) Lancs or Bexhill (Nr Hastings) Sussex.
Posts: 5,814
Default Re: Pylons

I agree especially for those of us with no direct experience. I've met Mr Capener who has a fascinating job. I did read about a scheme to bring in power from Norway? Iceland? via the Shetlands and into Scotland a year or so ago. Would that still be in the wrong place at the wrong time in terms of central loads?
I suppose electricity from solar generation, particularly in extra ordinarily hot countries, would be a "route" [via DC?] but [like oil] would not be independent of external events. David Attenborough was on News Night BBC2 yesterday, live from the Climate Change Con...ference. He said that i/500,000th of the Sun's energy that falls on the earth daily would be enough to meet our TOTAL planetary energy need. I thought that this was a very striking and clearly put observation. Let hope they were listening.

Ironically, DC power distribution [of a quite different kind] is now in vogue again. Re Bill's comment p126* I think Edison was against AC because he didn't understand it and was already invested in his own cumbersome DC " A Power Station On Every Block" local generation system, improved and maintained by a new immigrant to New York called Tesla. Ironically again, it was Tesla to whom the vision of a 3 phase alternating current sytem came while he was reciting the poetry of Goethe to himself. I really can't imagine a poetic Edison, he was a slogger not a visionary [ok not everyone will agree].
I think Seans comment that things don't always proceed in a linear way but that there are socio/economic factors at play as well [p127*] chimes with the Edison story. Speaking of the community aspect anyone into "Pylon Power" might want to take a look at "Power To The People" Transmitted by AC and DC techniques on Tuesday 24/11/15 BBC4. It should be on the I-Player for another 3 weeks or so!
Dave W

Last edited by dave walsh; 1st Dec 2015 at 5:21 pm.
dave walsh is offline  
Old 9th Dec 2015, 5:02 am   #144
Synchrodyne
Nonode
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Papamoa Beach, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand
Posts: 2,943
Default Re: Pylons

Quote:
Originally Posted by dave walsh View Post
Re Bill's comment p126* I think Edison was against AC because he didn't understand it and was already invested in his own cumbersome DC " A Power Station On Every Block" local generation system, improved and maintained by a new immigrant to New York called Tesla. Ironically again, it was Tesla to whom the vision of a 3 phase alternating current sytem came while he was reciting the poetry of Goethe to himself. I really can't imagine a poetic Edison, he was a slogger not a visionary [ok not everyone will agree]

That reminds me that our high school physics teacher (mid-1960s) made a similar comment about Edison relative to Tesla. The latter really was a visionary.

Whilst AC in and of itself may have been more difficult to understand, three-phase AC seemed to be particularly difficult in the early days. Apparently the initial set of alternators at the Niagara Falls hydro plant were two-phase, since with orthogonal vectors, it was relatively easy to assess the effects of uneven phase loading, but not so with three-phase. The two-phase was converted to three-phase for transmission, since three phase was the most efficient polyphase system for that purpose. It may have been converted back to two-phase at the destination, though.

Anyway, as a result of Tesla's vision, the pylons that are the subject of this thread mostly carry triple wire sets. That was something that I found odd when I was very young, when we lived in the midst of a major hydro project, and none of the adults around me could provide a satisfactory answer.

Cheers,

Last edited by Synchrodyne; 9th Dec 2015 at 5:10 am.
Synchrodyne is offline  
Old 10th Dec 2015, 10:45 am   #145
Tractorfan
Dekatron
 
Tractorfan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: St. Frajou, l'Isle en Dodon, Haute Garonne, France.(Previously: Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, UK.)
Posts: 3,177
Smile Re: Pylons

Hi,
I explained to some friends years ago that the three wires strung up on poles across their land did NOT directly correspond to the three holes in their power sockets!
Cheers, Pete.
__________________
"Hello?, Yes, I'm on the train, I might lose the signal soon as we're just going into a tunn..."
Tractorfan is offline  
Old 9th Feb 2016, 5:00 am   #146
Refugee
Dekatron
 
Refugee's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,549
Default Re: Pylons

I have found some more different shapes for us to look at. They are in Derbyshire close to the boundary with south Yorkshire.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	pylons.jpg
Views:	155
Size:	88.4 KB
ID:	119821   Click image for larger version

Name:	pylons1.jpg
Views:	157
Size:	80.6 KB
ID:	119823  

Last edited by Refugee; 9th Feb 2016 at 5:15 am.
Refugee is offline  
Old 9th Feb 2016, 11:19 am   #147
Nickthedentist
Dekatron
 
Nickthedentist's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Oxford, UK.
Posts: 17,820
Default Re: Pylons

Nice to see something a bit different. They almost look "foreign".
Nickthedentist is offline  
Old 9th Feb 2016, 12:54 pm   #148
Refugee
Dekatron
 
Refugee's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,549
Default Re: Pylons

The odd thing is that they just appear to be linking several runs of cables on wooden poles.
I can't see any transformers.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	pylons2.jpg
Views:	127
Size:	70.6 KB
ID:	119832  
Refugee is offline  
Old 9th Feb 2016, 2:12 pm   #149
russell_w_b
Dekatron
 
russell_w_b's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Penrith, Cumbria, UK.
Posts: 3,684
Default Re: Pylons

Quote:
Originally Posted by Refugee View Post
The odd thing is that they just appear to be linking several runs of cables on wooden poles.
Is this not just a termination tower bringing the cables underground before they resurface elsewhere, such as the other side of another transmission line?
__________________
Regds,

Russell W. B.
G4YLI.
russell_w_b is offline  
Old 9th Feb 2016, 3:33 pm   #150
Refugee
Dekatron
 
Refugee's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,549
Default Re: Pylons

There are no other transmission lines about. It just looks like a switching station and there is an aerial for remote switching.
Refugee is offline  
Old 9th Feb 2016, 3:59 pm   #151
russell_w_b
Dekatron
 
russell_w_b's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Penrith, Cumbria, UK.
Posts: 3,684
Default Re: Pylons

The 33kV lines between Newton Gate, Penrith, and Hutton End transfer at places between towers and poles. Perhaps they were once all towers and just the down-bound termination towers remain?

I understand there is a deliberate change of cabling as the lines enter the sub, i.e: open copper is terminated some distance beyond the sub, which goes on PICAS or XLPE or whatever, so that there is a change in the characteristic impedance.

If the line gets struck by lightning, the surge will be reflected (that which isn't handled by the surge-diverters, that is) back and forth between deliberately-mismatched terminations util the surge is dissipated, rather than be carried into the switchgear.
__________________
Regds,

Russell W. B.
G4YLI.
russell_w_b is offline  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 10:25 pm.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.