Thread

Hitachi to double US production of small and medium-sized power transformers

37 points · 20 comments · JumpCrisscross

jakedata · 1790586198 · focus · HN ↗
I read about Solid State Transformers <a href="https://www.powermag.com/the-solid-state-shift-reinventing-the-transformer-for-modern-grids/" rel="nofollow">https://www.powermag.com/the-solid-state-shift-reinventing-t... with some interest. However they have some weird failure modes. At least large chunks of metal twisted around large chunks of a different metal are predictable and don't need firmware updates.
<a href="https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_16.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_16.html
1. ahartmetz · 1790586892 · focus · HN ↗
  Solid state transformers are a misnomer: Traditional transformers are already solid state - no moving parts. And SSTs do the actual voltage / current transformation using a smaller, higher frequency traditional transformer. A more appropriate name for SSTs would be high frequency transformers or IF (intermediate frequency) transformers or something.
  1. algo_trader · 1790597026 · focus · HN ↗
    What's the top V these cretins will reach? Can they reach 10-20kV? Can they be "stacked" ?
    IIUC the real bottleneck is in transmission (>50kv) not distribution transformers.
    ahartmetz · 1790602941 · focus · HN ↗
    It seems like solid-state transformers aren't entirely stupid - they can be smaller and lighter and control phase angle (to control power flow direction and power factor) like HVDC connections do. But their efficiency is less than the 98-99% of the traditional big hunks of copper and steel, so until that improves, they likely won't see widespread use.
    jauntywundrkind · 1790622112 · focus · HN ↗
    Yeah, it's all stacking. Lots and lots and lots of IGBT in series. Now though they have pretty advanced gate control, to build "Modular Multi-Level Converter (MMC)", switching various groups of modules on and off to approximate a sine wave. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HVDC_converter#Modular_Multi-Level_Converter_(MMC)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HVDC_converter#Modular_Multi-L...
    Fun facts: the Trans-Bay Cable is credited by wikipedia at least as the first MMC implementation. Started ~2003, permitted 2007, completed 2010, the cable is 53 miles, and runs at 230kV, providing reliable power to SF; a response to a critical 1998 power outage when two local power plants shut down (since decomissioned for good) and the grid failed to carry the load. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_Bay_Cable" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_Bay_Cable
    Coincidentaly, the original patent expired in 2003, so uh, interest may have started rising recently. None the less, thanks Rainer Marquardt and Anton Lesnicar for your MMC invention. <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1304403" rel="nofollow">https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1304403

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.