Randy wrote:
This group seems to have alot of electrical knowledge, sooo.....

The US is 60 HZ and Europe is 50 HZ, a 60HZ motor is more efficient,
so, what would happen if the US or the world for that matter would
switch to 120 HZ or maybe even as high as 400HZ (which is common in
aircraft). Motors and transformers would be much more efficient,
power savings could be enormous, both in transmission and use.

Others have addressed the true efficiency topic, so I won't. But, there
are a bunch of downsides to the use of 400 Hz power. First, ever heard
the whine of 400 Hz equipment in aircraft? If you think "hum" in your
Hi-Fi is annoying, just imagine what 800 Hz (full-wave rectified 400 Hz)
would sound like! And, for equipment powered by 3-phase, that would be
2400 Hz, totally piercing.

Another annoying point would be the speeds of motors. An ordinary
2-pole AC motor would run at 24,000 RPM! Now, of course, you can add a
bunch of poles in the winding, and get to more reasonable speeds, but
that all costs money, as do the much thinner motor laminations.
The power companies would be horrified, as they'd have to build those
transmission substation transformers with many feet of thin iron
laminations, and use Litz wire for the windings to control eddy
currents. Also, the radiation from the lines would be greatly
increased. That's a major reason why really long transmission lines
have gone to DC.

Jon