I have been reading wikipedia and have gotten confused.Va.Number of Coils on side a---- ._________________Vb.Number of Coils on side bwikipedia mentioned how power companys use transformers for converting to high voltage power li nes then use transformers to bring the voltage back down.Focusing on the transformer that jacks the voltage upwirea-[side a-Transformerxyz- side b]-wirebso assum wireb is the high voltage power line.--Which side of transformerxyz would have more coils ? My guess is that side b has more coils then side a--Is it safe to say that the wattage of side a is equal to side b?--they said something about magnetic flux, does this just mean that the material connecting side a to side b has to be magnetic?--they said that the insulation wears down in transformers over time due to heat. what is causing this heat?--they said something about leakage and spacing of coils, what does this mean?tyVVVVVVVm
The previous answer is correct, but the following may be helpful. A transformer works by the linking of changing magnetic flux produced by one loop or coil (the primary winding) with another coil (the secondary). That is why transformers only work with alternating current or pulses. Magnetic iron has the ability to increase the magnetic flux produced by a coil. This is called its magnetic permeability and can increase the flux produced by factors of several thousand or more. Leakage flux in a real transformer is the amount of flux produced by the primary that does not link the secondary. This flux is wasted and reduces the efficiency of the transformer. Heating of the wire insulaltion not only comes from the resistive heat of the windings, but also the heat produced in the magnetic material (core) of the transformer. These losses are called eddy current and hysteresis losses and can be quite substantial. The reason that cores of transformers are laminated (stacked thin sheets of magnetic iron) is to reduce the eddy current losses.
The number of turns is proportional to the voltage on that side. So if you connect a voltage to the side with 100 turns, and the other side has 1000 turns, you will get out 10 times the voltage you put in. However, the current available is only 1/10 as much, so the output power is the same as the input power (wattsvolts*amps). To transfer power efficiently, especially at low frequencies, both coils of the transformer are wound around the same piece of magnetic material. All wire has some electrical resistance. When current flows through it, voltage is produced (voltsamps*ohms), and the combination of voltage and current produces heat. The wires making up the coils are covered with insulation, and there is insulation between the coil and the core, and between the two windings, but the voltages may be 100,000 volts or more, and this is enough to cause sparks between windings or from the windings to the frame if there is a spot with no insulation.
