Tests on Continuous Currents at 100,000 Volts.

Progress, Volume I, Issue II, 1 September 1906, Page 311

Tests on Continuous Currents at 100,000 Volts.

After the St. Maurice-Lausanne power transmission plant (20,000 volts continuous current) had been set in operation, the Electrical Industrial

Company of Geneva, Switzerland, made a series of interesting experiments on three continuouscurrent machines of 20,000 volts each, in order to determine whether it was possible to attain a tension of 60,000 volts with such plant. These experiments having given satisfactory results, the Mou tiers-Lyons electric power transmission plant (180 km. in length) which is being completed at the present moment, was arranged for a pressure of 56-57,000 volts. In view of the encouraging results obtained in this connection, the Electrical Industrial Company are continuing their tests in the presence of Swiss, French, and English engineers on direct currents of even higher pressures. It is thus possible for the first time to observe the effects of continuous current at pressures ranging up to 100,000 volts between the line and the ground, corresponding to a pressure of 200,000 volts between the wires, m the case of a power transmission plant. It should be remembered m this connection that the highest pressure realised in the case of alternating currents is 60,000 volts, which figure is, however, considered by many electricians as excessive. The experiments in question will no doubt greatly increase the possibilities of long-distance power transmission, without involving the drawbacks inherent to the use of alternating currents.