Grid Standard Proposal 2

Specification

Type	Alternating Current
Voltage	250 Volts
Frequency	400 Hz

Reasoning

Electrical resistance of conductors varies with the frequency. The resistance (impedance) seen by AC system can be much lower than the DC resistance of the same piece of wire.

Also, the degree of inductive coupling between primary coil and secondary coil in transformers can increase with higher frequencies. Therefore, higher frequencies are desirable because transformers used for converting voltage can be both smaller and more efficient.

There are limiting factors, however.

• AC can cause a hum, typically the changing magnetic field causes the transformer core plates to expand and contract, causing sound waves to be generated. In a habitable area, a hypothetical 1 kHz would be like having the microwave oven beeping continuously. But on Earth, lower frequencies are used in domestic situations, and good design can eliminate any detectable hum.
• Higher frequencies in the RF region can radiate like a radio transmitter, and cause EMI (Electro Magnetic Interference). EMI in turn requires shielding, special grounding and other techniques know as EMC (Electro Magnetic Compatibility) Design to reduce the amount of RF leakage and/or reduce the amount of coupling to the electronic "victim". EMI can be a problem for sensitive electronic equipment, such as some scientific experiments
• At higher frequencies electricity tends to travel more towards the outside of the wire (Skin Effect) reducing efficiency. Some conductors have a thin highly conductive outer layer (e.g. gold) and a lower conductive inner core made of cheaper material, to take advantage of this phenomenon.

Various frequencies are used in AC systems. 50HZ is used in the UK for domestic 240V AC, and the USA and Canada use 60 Hz at 110 V. 400 Hz is a frequency that has in the past been used by trains and buses for running florescent lights. Even higher frequencies are used for high tension long distance power transmission on Earth.

References

[Electric Field]

Pros

Clean-Sheet Design

This design is not tied to 19th century technological or political considerations.

Cons

Incompatible with Terrestrial Systems

Terrestrial products will require adaptation to work on a power grid using this specification.

Changes

There have been no changes to this specification