Question

An American traveler in China carries a transformer to convert China's standard 220 V to 120 V so that she can use some small appliances on her trip.
a. What is the ratio of turns in the primary and secondary coils of her transformer?
Np / Ns = ____________

b. What is the ratio of input to output current?
Iin /Iout = ___________

c. How could a Chinese person traveling in the United States use this same transformer to power her 220 V appliances from 120 V?

Answer 1

Answer:

(a) The ratio of turns in the primary and secondary coils of her transformer is 1.833

(b) The ratio of input to output current is 0.55

(c) To increase the output voltage, you can either increase the number of turns in the secondary coil (step-up) or increase the input current. Therefore, the Chinese person has to increase the input current of the transformer to achieve an increased output voltage that can power her 220 V appliances.

Explanation:

Given;

input voltage, $V_p$ = 220 V

output voltage, $V_s$ = 120 V

General transformer equation is given as;

$\frac{V_p}{V_s} = \frac{N_p}{N_s} = \frac{I_s}{I_p}$

where;

Np is number of turns in the primary coil

Ns is number of turns in the secondary coil

Is - is the secondary current or output current

Ip - is the primary current or input current

(a) The ratio of turns in the primary and secondary coils of her transformer;

$\frac{N_p}{N_s} = \frac{V_p}{V_s} \\\\\frac{N_p}{N_s} = \frac{220}{120} = 1.833$

(b) The ratio of input to output current;

$\frac{I_p}{I_s} = \frac{V_s}{V_p} \\\\\frac{I_p}{I_s} = \frac{120}{220} \\\\\frac{I_p}{I_s} = 0.55$

(c) To increase the output voltage, you can either increase the number of turns in the secondary coil (step-up) or increase the input current. Therefore, the Chinese person has to increase the input current of the transformer to achieve an increased output voltage that can power her 220 V appliances.