A transformer is a passive electrical device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another through electromagnetic induction, using a varying current in one coil to produce a varying magnetic flux that induces a voltage in another coil wound on the same core. The underlying principle was discovered independently by Michael Faraday in 1831 and Joseph Henry in 1832. The first widely used transformer design was the induction coil, invented by the Irish clergyman Nicholas Callan of Maynooth College in 1836, and the first efficient closed-core transformer suited to power distribution was developed in 1885 by the Hungarian engineers Karoly Zipernowsky, Otto Blathy and Miksa Deri at the Ganz factory.
Facts
YearSourced to the subject's own account SignificanceSourced to the subject's own accountThe ZBD transformer's closed magnetic circuit design was roughly 3.4 times more efficient than the earlier open-core devices of Gaulard and Gibbs, establishing the design principle every later power transformer follows. 1 FAQs
Why did the closed-core transformer matter for electric power?
It made centralised power generation and wide-area distribution economically viable.
The engineers Károly Zipernowsky, Ottó Bláthy and Miksa Déri at the Ganz factory in Budapest developed the world's first closed-core transformer. The device was exhibited at the Hungarian National Exhibition in 1885, where it caused an international sensation. The Ganz company describes the closed-core design as the step that made centralised electricity generation and wide-area distribution economically viable for the first time.
Connections
Associated With
Amorphous metal cores reduce eddy-current losses in electrical transformers versus ordinary silicon steel cores.
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Source Karoly Zipernowsky (Wikipedia)
Source Miksa Déri (Wikipedia)
Source Ottó Bláthy (Wikipedia)
Source William Stanley (Engineering and Technology History Wiki)
In Field
Source Transformer (Wikipedia)
Invented By
Source Transformer (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Transformer (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHistory section, ZBD paragraph, first unit shipped sentence
The Ganz factory had also, in the autumn of 1884, made delivery of the world's first five high-efficiency AC transformers, the first of these units having been shipped on September 16, 1884.
History section, ZBD efficiency paragraph, sentence 1
The new transformers were 3.4 times more efficient than the open-core bipolar devices of Gaulard and Gibbs.
Infobox: invention_year
1831
In Field: Electrical Engineering, Categories
Electric power conversion
Invented By: Michael Faraday, Infobox: inventor
Michael Faraday
View the Source Karoly Zipernowsky (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Karoly Zipernowsky, Lead or Career section [associated-with]Quote, Associated With: Karoly Zipernowsky, Lead or Career section [associated-with]
which led to the invention of the ZBD alternating current transformer in 1885
William Stanley (Engineering and Technology History Wiki)
Associated With: William Stanley Jr., Biography [associated-with]Quote, Associated With: William Stanley Jr., Biography [associated-with]
and focused on the area he had pioneered: transformers
Ottó Bláthy (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Otto Blathy, Lead [associated-with]Quote, Associated With: Otto Blathy, Lead [associated-with]
co-inventor of the modern electric transformer
Miksa Déri (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Miksa Déri, Introduction [associated-with]Quote, Associated With: Miksa Déri, Introduction [associated-with]
in the development of the closed iron core transformer and the ZBD model
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