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Power Generator

Almost all modern power generators work on the simple principle of an electromagnet. The concept goes like this: when a magnet is spun inside a coil of electrically conductive material; it will generate an electric current within the coil. This current can be harnessed and used to power electric appliances. The concept is not a new one, the first incarnation of a generator was the dynamo.

The dynamo is the great grandfather of the modern power generator. It was invented by Anyos Jedlik , who was building on Michael Faraday’s work on electric current. Jedlik’s dynamo was powered by hand, with a crank that spun the magnet. The incoming source of power is what separates modern power generators from each other.

For example, coal and nuclear power plants both use the energy they create to heat water into steam, and then use that steam to spin a turbine. The turbine is attached via gears to a magnet in a generator, which ends up producing the current that the power plant is after. Hydroelectric and wind powered facilities use water and wind directly to spin their turbines and create power. Solar power even dabbled in the generator business for a while in the form of solar thermal generators, but photovoltaic power has since shown greater potential.

 

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