Do any generators or powerplants have transmissions the way vehicles do?

Posted September 27th, 2009 in the Generators category.


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Do any generators or powerplants have transmissions the way vehicles do? If not, why is it that cars need transmission but generators and powerplants don’t?

4 Responses to “Do any generators or powerplants have transmissions the way vehicles do?”

  1. Yoho, on September 29th, 2009 at 7:18 pm Said:

    Standard generators do not have transmission. Larger power plants can have transmission to get the generator up to the correct speed due to the large size or to keep the speed constant. The reason cars need a transmission is because the wheels on the car start of slow and end up fast. On the other hand you want a generator to stay at only one given rpm. if there is no load on the generator when it starts up it will turn freely to the set rpm. If there was a load you would have to have a transmission to get it to required rpm just like a car.

  2. linlyons, on October 1st, 2009 at 7:39 am Said:

    transmissions are needed in cars because sometimes you want the wheels to turn at 60 rpm, sometimes 80 rpm, sometimes 20 rpm.

    in a power plant, you want the electricity to always be 60 cycles per second.
    there’s no need to change.

    now there are transmissions in windmills, but i suspect that they are fixed, not variable.
    the same would be true of many power plants.

  3. vmaldia, on October 3rd, 2009 at 8:45 pm Said:

    Most generators do not need a transmission because unlike cars, the motor generally runs at a stable RPM and the load on the motor is more or less constant so you only need a fixed gear ratio instead of a variable gear ratio.

  4. guru, on October 6th, 2009 at 5:56 pm Said:

    Yes of course
    all windmills have very sophisticated transmissions
    others like hydraulic have differentials to adjust and maintain the phase

    The electric power plants operate under static conditions, that is the source of energy is constant and the load does not change much
    Units are switched ON and OFF as power demand fluctuates

    In the automobiles a transmission is not mandatory
    however it saves fuel and provides better performance
    Many automobiles have just a few gear ratios, more exotic automobiles have 7 ratios transmissions

    All large trucks have more ratios, some more than 10

    It is strictly for cost considerations and fuel economy

    Guru

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