These responses are great. At the suggestion of jbartos, I played with sinusoids and phasor diagrams for hours; a tough exercise for a mechanical engineer. I did confirm that 180 was the worst case, but depending on the exact moment of breaker closure, 120 degrees could be just as bad. After...
If you have a 60-hz, 2-pole AC generator running at 3600-rpm, what is the worst case scenario for synchronizing out of phase? I've heard both 120-degrees and 180-degrees. I can't find any technical explanation for the 120-degrees. I know the windings are 120-degrees apart, but that shouldn't...
