I hate 60Hz. The period sucks; 16.6666666667 mS for a full cycle or even uglier; 8.3333333333 mS for half cycle as used in phase angle control etc.

I've done a few microcontroller apps for mains phase angle control etc and it's MUCH nicer in 50 Hz where a mains period equals 20mS or 10mS half cycle.

And if doing inverters etc any standard xtal 4,8,10,20 MHz can divide evenly to 50Hz, but to get 60 Hz you need a 6 or 12 MHz xtal which are much less common.

Dividing things by 6 should be banned. Dozens are SO last century, or the century before that.

 

People divide 5 MHz to 1pps with no problem.

 

Q; How many 60's are in 5 million?
A; 83333.33333333333333333333 (keyboard run out of 3's)

 

I guess it depends on your job. If you were in Europe designing clocks, you'd be complaining that 50 Hz is such a pain to make 60 seconds with.

Let's just make the second longer, and all go to 50 Hz power.

 

I vote for a push for DC. Then we wouldn't have to deal with AC hum.
And while we're at it, eliminate all wall-warts.

 

I think they are now suggesting that DC would be better even for high voltage transmission and that low and high voltage systems would be better yet,

You would have say 48 VDC to run all of your routers, computers, TV's, LED lighting etc. and a high voltage supply to run motors.

It would be NICE if all circuits had two grounds and were home runs too, One ground being a reference and the other protective.

Some washers use three phase motors from a 120/240 single phase AC source.
The microwave, the oven, the water heater, the stove, the toaster and the AC are the high current stuff, Nearly everything else could run on DC.

 

I guess it depends on your job. If you were in Europe designing clocks, you'd be complaining that 50 Hz is such a pain to make 60 seconds with.
...

Umm, 60 seconds is 50Hz * 60s = 3000 pulses.

or; 60Hz * 60s = 3600 pulses.

There's little difference, but as the guy who writes the math software I'm still preferring the first option. Multiplying sixes by six doesn't make it any better.

 

But in the days of mechanical clocks, having a motor that turned at 3600 rpm instead of 3000 rpm makes building cheap, reliable clocks in volume much easier. You can use the same gear sets to get your seconds, your minutes, and your hours in cascade.

 

That's clever, using the same gear sets.

But my experience fixing synch motor clocks is that the clock manufacturer always just bought an off the shelf synchronous gearmotor, which they can source cheap from multiple suppliers. That means less mechanicals needed in the clock itself making the clock cheaper (especially with a common 1 RPM gearmotor).

 

Don't think many synchronous mechanical clocks used a 3600rpm motor. Typically they have multiple poles and operated at a few hundred rpm I believe.

 

The ones I have seen used small synchronous gearmotors, with slow output shaft speeds.

No idea what the armature RPM was, but then again these would have mainly all been 50Hz gearmotors as I'm in a 50Hz country (Australia).

If the clock manufacturer uses a 1 RPS or 1 RPM motor in their design (both common types) they can sell to 50Hz and 60Hz countries just by sourcing two different motors and the rest of the clock product remains the same. Likewise for 120v/240v; just pop in a different voltage motor.

 

Don't think many synchronous mechanical clocks used a 3600rpm motor. Typically they have multiple poles and operated at a few hundred rpm I believe.

Yes, but if I recall from something I read years and years (decades) ago, the gear reduction isn't 60:1 all in one fell swoop since that would require gears with a diameter ratio of 60:1. Instead, it is done in stages. I forget the details but I think it was something like a 3:1, a 4:1, and a 5:1. So you could use a partial gear set to work with a multi-pole motor. Of course, you could conceivably do something similar for 50Hz if you can make the numbers work out.

It would be interesting to track down something that describes how the first line-frequency regulated clocks where actually built, both in 50Hz and 60Hz domains, particularly if it shed some light on the pros and cons of the designs.