War of the Currents

Introduction

War of the currents is the series of events carried out in discovering electric transmission path between 1880 and 1890. This all started by the three brilliant inventors, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse. Among these three, Edison played a major role in promoting the use of electricity in day to day life. These great inventors battled over the usage of direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) in long distance electric transmission path. In this dispute, Edison was on the side of direct current system, while Tesla and Westinghouse were promoting the usage of alternating current system.

Rise of Direct Current (DC):

Edison was famous among many other inventors in 1870 for his invention of low voltage DC bulbs which had a greater impact all over the world. To further promote his discovery he started producing electricity and distributing them for residential and commercial purpose. He was the master mind behind the revolution of electricity all around the world. Under Edison Illuminating Company in New York, 110V supply is provided for lighting the incandescent lamps. The problems Edison faced were that, 110V supply must be connected from the generation unit to load directly which led to shortening of the transmission line range. The other problem is that, DC supply was not much supportive for motors and industrial purpose. At this situation, Tesla, a young Serbian engineer, immigrated to America and went to work for Edison.

Rise of Alternating Current (AC):

While Edison was a business minded person who earned a lot through his inventions, Tesla was a visionary who had thoughts only on technological advancements. Tesla helped Edison in improving DC generators. At this process, Tesla showed his interest in AC motors and thus started working in improving AC. Edison did put an end to Tesla research, claiming that AC had no future. Tesla quit his job and started working on AC technology and even received number of patents on AC technology. Development in AC started affecting the reputation held by Edison in electricity industry. Through the connections kept by Edison, he started holding campaign against AC technology.

Rivalry between AC and DC:

He spread out the disadvantages in using alternating current, the danger in using high voltage. To prove his point, he has gone to the extent of electrocuting stray animals. Further Edison used his connections and used AC to electrocute a convicted criminal to prove how lethal it is against human. Tesla was not able to further extend his research; at this situation he sold his patents to George Westinghouse who owned Westinghouse Electric Company, which became a competitor for Edison.  Tesla and George Westinghouse worked together to build a large AC motor. Further, George Westinghouse used the concept of transformer to transfer voltage through long transmission line.

End of rivalry between AC and DC:

The technological advancement of AC did not convince Edison that AC is better than DC. He was adamant in his point that Tesla’s AC system has a major safety concern which will directly affect the humans. But George Westinghouse started promoting AC, claiming that Edison is trying to create discredit on AC system to promote his own DC system. The words of Edison were ultimately made true when the transmission line with AC is introduced for residential and commercial purpose. People of all age got affected through shock and falling of transmission lines which led to death of innocent people. These incidents strengthen the anti AC campaign and people were against using AC technology. Tesla and George Westinghouse duo still claimed that, AC can be perfected with more security concern and started providing AC supply. Even with the Westinghouse propaganda losses, the war of currents itself was winding down with direct current on the losing side. This was due in part to Thomas Edison himself leaving the electric power business. Edison till his last days was sure that DC will gain advantage over AC with more years to come.

The major advantage that AC held is that the voltage level of AC can be altered such that the same amount of power can be transferred with less current. Thus transferring power between the consumer and generator facility can be achieved at small loss even if it is at larger distance. Still, the words of Edison came to revelation in 1970’s, where DC led to digital revolution all around the world. The digital world is completely dependent on DC power. The digital devices such as laptops, mobile device, LED systems and other major devices which we use on our day to day lives operate on DC power.

Conclusion:

War of the currents has never ended till this day as the debate between AC and DC power is a never ending story. Once, AC was considered as effective in supplying power to the consumers. As the power demand increased, the problems with AC also increased through harmonics and power quality problems which can be avoided through DC supply. Converting the standard AC transmission system to DC transmission system is near to impossible but still DC supply are directly incorporated near the consumer point through renewable energy resources.

Apart from all these debates, this world is very much thankful to Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla for their inventions of DC and AC. Researchers in all areas have harnessed their inventions and achieved a lot in their fields by harnessing the advantages of AC and DC.