A Transformer is a device that changes the voltage of alternating current (AC). The transformer is the key component in power transmission and distribution. It steps up the voltage to high levels for long-distance transmission and then steps it down again for local use.
The first transformers were built in 1885 by George Westinghouse. He needed a way to transmit electricity over long distances without losing power. His solution was to step up the voltage so that more electricity could flow through wires without heating them up and causing them to break.
Today, transformers are used all over the world to transmit electricity from power plants to homes and businesses. They are also used in many electronic devices, such as radios, TVs, and computers.
A transformer is a device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another through inductively coupled conductors—the transformer’s coils. A varying current in the first or primary winding creates a varying magnetic flux in the transformer’s core and thus a varying magnetic field through the secondary winding. This varying magnetic field induces a voltage across the secondary winding. If there is more than one secondary winding, voltages can be induced across each of them by common-mode or differential-mode currents in the primary windings, depending on how the windings are interconnected. Transformers are used for increasing or decreasing voltage levels and for impedance transformation.
Transformers play an important role in our electrical grid system, providing a way to step up or step down voltage as needed. Without transformers, we would not be able to use alternating current (AC) electricity effectively.
Transformers work because of something called electromagnetic induction. This is when an electric current produces a magnetic field, which then induces (or creates) another electric current. In terms of transformers specifically: When AC current flows through the primary coil (the input), it creates a changing magnetic field inside the iron core (magnetic flux). The changing nature of this flux induces AC flow in the output coil(s). But since this second coil has fewer turns than the primary one, it experiences greater change per unit time back into usable AC electricity – meaning that its output will have higher voltage but lower amperage.