What is the definition of warp. How is warp used in textiles. What are the applications of warp in nautical contexts. How does warping affect materials. What role does warp play in physics and space-time theories. How is warp utilized in manufacturing processes. What are the implications of warp in psychology and perception.
The Multifaceted Nature of Warp: Exploring Its Various Meanings
The term “warp” carries a rich tapestry of meanings across different fields and contexts. Its versatility makes it a fascinating subject of study, with applications ranging from textiles to physics and psychology. Let’s delve into the diverse interpretations and uses of this intriguing concept.
Etymology and Basic Definition
The word “warp” has its roots in Old English, derived from “weorpan,” meaning “to throw.” This origin hints at the word’s connection to movement and change, which is reflected in its modern usage. In its most basic sense, to warp means to bend or twist out of shape, often due to external forces such as heat or moisture.
Warp in Textiles: The Foundation of Fabric
In the textile industry, warp takes on a specific and crucial role. It refers to the longitudinal threads in a woven fabric, running parallel to the selvage. These threads are stretched lengthwise on a loom before the weaving process begins. The warp threads are then interlaced with the weft (also known as the fill) threads, which run perpendicular to create the fabric structure.
The Importance of Warp in Weaving
Why is the warp so important in weaving? The warp threads provide the strength and structure to the fabric. They bear most of the tension during the weaving process and contribute significantly to the fabric’s durability. The characteristics of the warp threads, such as their fiber content, thickness, and tension, greatly influence the final properties of the woven material.
Nautical Applications: Warping in Maritime Navigation
In nautical contexts, warping takes on a completely different meaning. It refers to the process of moving a vessel by pulling on ropes or cables that are attached to a fixed point, such as a pier, buoy, or anchor. This method is particularly useful in confined spaces or when precise maneuvering is required.
Techniques and Tools for Nautical Warping
How do sailors perform warping? The process typically involves using a warping line, which is a strong rope or cable. Sailors may use various tools to assist in warping, including:
- Capstans: Vertical drums used to wind the warping line
- Winches: Horizontal drums that serve a similar purpose
- Warping bollards: Fixed posts on the dock used as anchor points
Warping requires skill and careful coordination to avoid damaging the vessel or surrounding structures.
The Physics of Warping: From Materials Science to Space-Time
In physics and materials science, warping describes the deformation of an object from its original shape. This phenomenon can occur due to various factors, including temperature changes, moisture, or applied forces. Understanding and controlling warping is crucial in many manufacturing processes and engineering applications.
Space-Time Warps: A Concept in Modern Physics
In theoretical physics, particularly in relation to Einstein’s theory of relativity, the concept of warping takes on a profound significance. Space-time warps refer to hypothetical distortions in the fabric of space and time. These theoretical constructs play a crucial role in explaining phenomena such as gravity and are central to concepts like wormholes and time travel in science fiction.
Psychological and Perceptual Warping: Distortions of the Mind
The concept of warping extends beyond the physical realm into the domains of psychology and perception. In these contexts, warping refers to distortions in thinking, memory, or perception that deviate from objective reality.
Cognitive Biases and Warped Perceptions
How do cognitive biases lead to warped perceptions? Our brains often take shortcuts in processing information, which can result in systematic errors or biases. These biases can “warp” our understanding of situations, leading to flawed decision-making or inaccurate judgments. Examples of such cognitive warping include:
- Confirmation bias: Seeking information that confirms pre-existing beliefs
- Anchoring bias: Relying too heavily on the first piece of information encountered
- Availability heuristic: Overestimating the likelihood of events based on their memorability
Recognizing these cognitive warps is crucial for developing critical thinking skills and making more objective assessments.
Warp in Manufacturing and Engineering
In manufacturing and engineering, warping is often an undesired effect that needs to be controlled or prevented. Various materials, from wood to plastics and metals, can experience warping under certain conditions. Understanding the causes and mechanisms of warping is essential for producing high-quality, dimensionally stable products.
Preventing and Controlling Warp in Manufacturing
How can manufacturers prevent or minimize warping? Several strategies can be employed:
- Material selection: Choosing materials with appropriate properties to resist warping
- Environmental control: Maintaining stable temperature and humidity conditions during production and storage
- Design considerations: Incorporating features that enhance structural stability
- Processing techniques: Using methods that minimize internal stresses in materials
- Post-processing treatments: Applying techniques like annealing to relieve internal stresses
By implementing these strategies, manufacturers can significantly reduce the occurrence of warping and improve product quality.
The Cultural Impact of Warp: Metaphors and Expressions
The concept of warping has permeated cultural expressions and language, often used metaphorically to describe distortions or alterations in various contexts. These linguistic uses reflect the versatility and broad applicability of the warp concept.
Warped Perspectives in Literature and Art
How is the concept of warping utilized in creative fields? In literature and art, “warped” often describes characters with distorted worldviews or morals. Artists may use visual warping techniques to create surreal or disorienting effects. These creative applications of warping serve to challenge perceptions and provoke thought about reality and perspective.
The term “time warp” has become a popular cultural reference, often used to describe situations that seem anachronistic or out of sync with contemporary norms. This usage demonstrates how the concept of warping has extended beyond its literal meanings to capture more abstract ideas of displacement or incongruity.
Warp Speed: The Concept in Science Fiction and Technology
In science fiction, particularly in space-themed narratives, “warp speed” has become a ubiquitous concept. It represents faster-than-light travel, often achieved through some form of space-time manipulation. While purely fictional, this concept has inspired real scientific inquiries into the possibilities of faster-than-light travel.
From Fiction to Reality: Warp Drive Research
Is warp drive possible in reality? While the concept remains firmly in the realm of science fiction, it has stimulated serious scientific discussion and research. Theoretical physicists have explored concepts like the Alcubierre drive, which proposes a method of warping space-time to achieve faster-than-light travel without violating the laws of physics as we understand them.
These investigations, while highly speculative, demonstrate how fictional concepts can inspire real scientific inquiry and push the boundaries of our understanding of the universe.
The Future of Warp: Emerging Technologies and Concepts
As our understanding of materials, physics, and technology advances, new applications and interpretations of warp continue to emerge. From innovative manufacturing techniques to cutting-edge physics research, the concept of warping remains relevant and continues to evolve.
Warp in Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology
How might the concept of warping be applied in future technologies? In the field of advanced materials and nanotechnology, controlled warping at the molecular level could lead to the development of materials with unprecedented properties. For example:
- Self-adjusting structures that respond to environmental changes
- Nano-scale machines that utilize warping for movement or functionality
- Materials with programmable shapes and properties
These potential applications highlight the ongoing relevance of the warp concept in cutting-edge scientific and technological research.
In conclusion, the concept of warp, with its rich history and diverse applications, continues to play a significant role across multiple disciplines. From its practical uses in textiles and navigation to its theoretical implications in physics and psychology, warp remains a fascinating and multifaceted concept. As we continue to push the boundaries of science and technology, the idea of warping – whether of materials, space-time, or perception – will likely remain an important area of study and innovation.
definition of warps by The Free Dictionary
warp
(wôrp)
v. warped, warp·ing, warps
v.tr.
1. To turn or twist (wood, for example) out of shape; deform.
2. To alter from a normal, proper, or healthy state; twist or pervert: “He was ruthlessly vindictive and allowed personal grudges to warp his political perspective” (Julian E. Zelizer). See Synonyms at distort.
3. To arrange strands of yarn or thread lengthwise onto (a loom) in preparation for weaving.
4. Nautical To move (a vessel) by hauling on a line that is fastened to or around a piling, anchor, or pier.
v.intr.
1. To become bent or twisted out of shape: The wooden frame warped in the humidity.
2. To become altered from what is normal, proper, or healthy.
3. Nautical To move a vessel by hauling on a line that is fastened to or around a piling, anchor, or pier.
n.
1. The state of being twisted or bent out of shape.
2. A distortion or twist, especially in a piece of wood.
3. A mental or moral twist, aberration, or deviation.
4. The threads that run lengthwise in a woven fabric, crossed at right angles to the woof.
5. Warp and woof.
6. Nautical A towline used in warping a vessel.
warp′er n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
warp
(wɔːp) vb
1. to twist or cause to twist out of shape, as from heat, damp, etc
2. to turn or cause to turn from a true, correct, or proper course
3. to pervert or be perverted
4. (Textiles) (tr) to prepare (yarn) as a warp
5. (Nautical Terms) nautical to move (a vessel) by hauling on a rope fixed to a stationary object ashore or (of a vessel) to be moved thus
6. (Aeronautics) (tr) (formerly) to curve or twist (an aircraft wing) in order to assist control in flight
7. (Physical Geography) (tr) to flood (land) with water from which alluvial matter is deposited
n
8. the state or condition of being twisted out of shape
9. a twist, distortion, or bias
10. (Psychology) a mental or moral deviation
11. (Textiles) the yarns arranged lengthways on a loom, forming the threads through which the weft yarns are woven
12. (Automotive Engineering) the heavy threads used to reinforce the rubber in the casing of a pneumatic tyre
13. (Nautical Terms) nautical a rope used for warping a vessel
14. (Physical Geography) alluvial sediment deposited by water
[Old English wearp a throw; related to Old High German warf, Old Norse varp throw of a dragging net, Old English weorpan to throw]
ˈwarpage n
warped adj
ˈwarper n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
warp
(wɔrp)
v. t.
1. to bend or twist out of shape, esp. from a straight or flat form, as timbers or flooring.
2. to bend or turn from the natural or true direction or course.
3. to distort or cause to distort from the truth, fact, etc.; bias; falsify.
4. to move (a vessel) into a desired place or position by hauling on a rope that has been fastened to something fixed, as a buoy.
v.i.
5. to become bent or twisted out of shape, esp. out of a straight or flat form.
6. to hold or change an opinion due to prejudice, influence, etc.
7.
a. to warp a ship or boat into position.
b. (of a ship or boat) to move by being warped.
n.
8. a bend or other variation from a straight or flat form.
9. a mental twist, bias, or quirk.
10. the set of yarns placed lengthwise in a loom, crossed by and interlaced with the filling, and forming the lengthwise threads in a woven fabric. .
11. a hypothetical eccentricity or discontinuity in the space-time continuum: a space warp.
12. a situation, environment, etc., that seems characteristic of another era and out of touch with contemporary life.
13. a rope for warping or hauling a ship or boat along or into position.
[before 900; Middle English werpen, Old English weorpan to throw, c. Old Saxon werpan, Old High German werfan, Old Norse verpa, Gothic wairpan]
warp′age, n.
warp′er, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
Warp
a throw or cast; a set of four items.
Examples: warp of cod, 1533; of fish, 1598; of herrings, 1894; of oysters, 1796; of salt-fish, 1436; of weeks (four weeks), 1599.
Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
What’s the Difference Between Warp and Fill?
At Acadian Industrial Textiles, we are proud to be a source of knowledge and information to help our customers find the right products for their customers.
In this article, we’ll talk a little bit about warp and fill, and why it’s important to know the difference between the two.
What are warp and fill?
Warp and fill (also called weft) refer to the orientation of woven fabric. The warp direction refers to the threads that run the length of the fabric. This is also known as the machine direction because it’s the direction the threads run on the loom. It forms the longer dimension of the fabric and is the direction of the roll length.
The fill, or weft, refers to the yarns that are pulled and inserted perpendicularly to the warp yarns across the width of the fabric. You can see the difference between these in the diagram below.
A little bit of trivia: warp comes from the Old Norse word, varp, which means “the cast of a net.” The “net” of warp threads catch the fill threads to create a secure weave. Weft is from an Old English word, wefan, which means “to weave.”
Knitted and other nonwoven fabrics do not have warp and fill orientations.
Why are warp and fill important?
Warp and fill are tested separately in fabric strength tests. When shopping different fabrics, it’s important to know which direction a strength test was conducted in so you can compare like measurements.
For example, Acadian’s tennis windscreen’s tensile strength is 290 lbs. across warp, and 140 lbs. across fill. If you compared this fabric’s warp strength to another fabric’s fill strength, it wouldn’t be an accurate picture of their differences.
Read more about tensile strength here and more about tear strength here.
How do warp and fill affect my products?
Depending on the application, warp and fill are critical to pay attention to. If the fabric will be stretched or pulled in a particular direction, make sure it is strong enough to withstand the force in that orientation. This is especially important in applications like truck covers, containment, and shade fabric.
What if I still need help?
That’s why we’re here! We are more than happy to help you choose the right fabric for a customer or answer any other questions you have about fabric specifications.
Warp and Weft – Meaning & Differences
Learn all about warp and weft, what are their meaning and differences. On the Star Trek series, space crafts were propelled through star systems and into space via a different warp speed. It must have been a direct flight path because the warp is the straight length grain of the fabric. In sewing circles, the warp, combined with the weft, make up the weave of the fabric. It is these two components that turn yarn into fabric.
Warp and Weft
Warp and Weft
The warp and weft refer to the direction of the woven threads.
What is Warp?
The warp is the lengthwise threads on the fabric loom. These threads are held stationary. The warp lies parallel with the selvage or edge of the fabric. The warp threads are the support network for the weft. In the photo below, the warp are the white threads.
What is Weft?
The weft, sometimes known as the woof, are the horizontal threads. They are threaded over and under the warp threads. The single thread of yarn that goes across the warp is known as a pick. In the photo below, the weft threads are colored.
Warp and Weft – White is Warp and Colored is Weft
Warp and Weft – Which is Stronger
Warp and weft yarns are prepared separately and the warp thread is generally the stronger of the two.
The warp thread needs to be stronger because it is the thread that is pulled taut on the loom while the weft thread is woven in and out of the warp threads to create the weave of the fabric.
When you look at a bolt of fabric rolled and ready to cut, it is the weft threads you will see running across the fabric in the width direction.
Warp and Weft
During the weaving process, the warp remains stationary in the loom, while the weft weaves in and out, in different thread counts. The warp threads are sized or treated with chemicals before weaving takes place. These may be natural or chemical and are used to strengthen the thread while it is pulled taut on the loom. The weft is more supple as it is moved in and out of the warp. This weft weave is sometimes known as the fill or the filling yarn.
The weft thread is easier to pull out of the woven fabric if necessary. Pulling out the weft thread is a method used to find a straight line across the fabric. It is used as a way to find the straight line across the fabric and cut it accurately. More about cutting fabric.
Fabric Weaving Using Warp and Weft
There are different patterns used to weave different fabrics. The patterns are based on the number of threads that are picked up in each row. Most fabrics are known as warp facing, especially denim with the blue warp thread dominating the top or right side of the fabric.
In the garment industry, the warp direction is used as the length of the garment. This is because its lengthwise direction improves the fabric drape and the fall of the garment.
Warp and Weft
Different ways of weaving the weft thread create different piles or textures. A satin weave for example has each warp thread sitting over 16 weft threads. During the Industrial Revolution, the picking stick was modified into what became known as the flying shuttle. Weaving became faster and more industrialized.
The weft is more versatile than the warp because it is woven or moved over the warp that is stationary. Supplementary weft textures are created by a technique known as floating. This is when extra weft threads wrap over the warp without disturbing the basic weave. Wefts are threaded along the main passage of the weft, through the warp, and then woven to create the design. This method is carried out on a loom and known as brocading. Extra weft threads can be woven between normal thread directions to create different patterns.
What are the 3 Basic Weaves Using Warp and Weft
The 3 basic weaves using warp and weft are the plain weave, satin weave and twill weave.
Plain weave – This is the most common and simplest warp and weft weave. It is considered durable and is often used for fashion and home decor products. The plain weave has the warp and weft threads crossing at right angles and going over one by one. Examples of plain weave include cotton, linen, chiffon, organza and taffeta.
Satin Weave – Satin weave refers to the weaving of the warp and weft threads rather than the name of the fabric itself. The satin weave has four or more weft threads going over a single warp thread. Satin often has a shiny top and a matt back and is used for lingerie, ties and blouses.
Twill Weave – This weave has a pattern comprised of diagonal ribs. It is created by passing the weft thread over two or more warp threads then one more. This step is what creates the diagonal pattern. Twill is known for its drape. Read what is twill fabric?
Even-Weave
One of the well known woven fabrics used for embroidery is called even-weave. This fabric has an even number of warp and weft threads woven to create the canvass used for embroidery. Even-weave makes it easier for the embroiderer to count the threads and create the even patterns for an embroidered piece of work or a tapestry.
Fringes
A self fringe to finish a piece of embroidery is easily created by pulling out the warp or the weft threads after neatening the edge. The stitching to hold the threads is indented like a hem. It may be decorative, but its purpose is to hold the warp and weft threads in place while the loose threads are pulled out.
Denim
Denim uses the warp and weft threading to its advantage. The different color of the threads produces denim look. The warp thread is dyed blue and creates the twill denim texture with the bleached weft threads. The warp threads are dyed before weaving with indigo dye and the weft threads are left bleached without the indigo dye. This is why cotton denim is blue on one side and white or bleached on the other.
More About Denim:
Wovens
Warp and weft ‘wovens’ are specialized types of fabrics made by weaving different colors of threads together to make unique collections of fabrics in various patterns and designs. These warp and weft ‘wovens’ as they are called, are very versatile. They are soft and very vibrant. They make beautiful quilts, home décor, and stunning bags. The distinct designs make the warp and weft ‘wovens’ very individual and creative.
Warp and Weft Thread Counts
Woven fabrics made with a high warp and a weft count are more durable generally speaking. These fabrics are easy to cut and turn into garments in different styles. The disadvantage of having a woven fabric is the warp and weft threads can fray easily.
The fabrics with a greater number of threads, or higher thread count, keep their shape better than the fabrics with fewer threads in the warp and weft. Low thread counts tend to be less durable and stretch as well as snag easily.
Modern power looms are able to create greater weft density. The weft threads can be pushed up with the ‘beater’ to be more securely in place and tighter. The weaving mills add lubricants to the warp threads in particular. Natural fibers use lubricants made with PVA, methylcellulose, synthetic wax or potato starch. Unsized fabrics, where the warp and weft have not been primed, are used for artists’ canvasses.
Warp and Weft – In Conclusion
Knowing about the warp and weft gives you the edge on choosing fabric and using it to the best advantage. You will have a better idea about the weave and the creation of the warp direction. Knowing about the function of the warp and weft is a useful guide to cutting and designing your own garments.
More About Fabrics
Sewing Fabrics
Now you know all about the warp and weft it is time to get sewing. Here are articles on sewing various types of fabrics.
- CHIFFON – Sewing Chiffon
- BATIK – What is Batik
- CANVAS – Sewing Canvas
- COTTON – Sewing Cotton
- DENIM – Sewing Denim
- FELT – Sewing Felt
- FUR – Sewing Fur
- KNITS – How to Sew Stretch Fabric
- INTERFACING – Types of Interfacing
- LACE – How to Sew Lace
- LEATHER – Sewing Leather
- RAYON – Sewing Rayon
- SHEER – Sewing Sheer Fabrics
- SILK – How to Sew Silk
- THICK – Sewing Thick Fabrics
- VELVET Sewing Velvet
- WOOL – Sewing Wool
Introduction to GPUs: CUDA
Overview
Teaching: 30 min
Exercises: 0 minQuestions
What is CUDA and how is it used for computing?
What is the basic programming model used by CUDA?
How are CUDA programs structured?
What is the importance of memory in a CUDA program?
In November 2006, NVIDIA introduced CUDA, which originally stood for “Compute Unified Device Architecture”, a general purpose parallel computing
platform and programming model that leverages the parallel compute engine in NVIDIA GPUs to solve many complex computational problems in a more
efficient way than on a CPU.
The CUDA parallel programming model has three key abstractions at its core:
- a hierarchy of thread groups
- shared memories
- barrier synchronization
There are exposed to the programmer as a minimal set of language extensions.
In parallel programming, granularity means the amount of computation in relation to communication (or transfer) of data. Fine-grained
parallelism means individual tasks are relatively small in terms of code size and execution time. The data is transferred among processors
frequently in amounts of one or a few memory words. Coarse-grained is the opposite in that data is communicated infrequently, after larger
amounts of computation.
The CUDA abstractions provide fine-grained data parallelism and thread parallelism, nested within coarse-grained data parallelism and task
parallelism. They guide the programmer to partition the problem into coarse sub-problems that can be solved independently in parallel by
blocks of threads, and each sub-problem into finer pieces that can be solved cooperatively in parallel by all threads within the block.
A kernel is executed in parallel by an array of threads:
- All threads run the same code.
- Each thread has an ID that it uses to compute memory addresses and make control decisions.
Threads are arranged as a grid of thread blocks:
- Different kernels can have different grid/block configuration
- Threads from the same block have access to a shared memory and their execution can be synchronized
Thread blocks are required to execute independently: It must be possible to execute them in any order, in parallel or in series. This independence r
equirement allows thread blocks to be scheduled in any order across any number of cores, enabling programmers to write code that scales with the
number of cores. Threads within a block can cooperate by sharing data through some shared memory and by synchronizing their execution to
coordinate memory accesses.
The grid of blocks and the thread blocks can be 1, 2, or 3-dimensional.
The CUDA architecture is built around a scalable array of multithreaded Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs) as shown below. Each SM has a set of
execution units, a set of registers and a chunk of shared memory.
In an NVIDIA GPU, the basic unit of execution is the warp. A warp is a collection of threads, 32 in current implementations, that are executed
simultaneously by an SM. Multiple warps can be executed on an SM at once.
When a CUDA program on the host CPU invokes a kernel grid, the blocks of the grid are enumerated and distributed to SMs with available execution
capacity. The threads of a thread block execute concurrently on one SM, and multiple thread blocks can execute concurrently on one SM. As thread
blocks terminate, new blocks are launched on the vacated SMs.
The mapping between warps and thread blocks can affect the performance of the kernel. It is usually a good idea to keep the size of a thread block
a multiple of 32 in order to avoid this as much as possible.
Thread Identity
The index of a thread and its thread ID relate to each other as follows:
- For a 1-dimensional block, the thread index and thread ID are the same
- For a 2-dimensional block, the thread index (x,y) has thread ID=x+yDx, for block size (Dx,Dy)
- For a 3-dimensional block, the thread index (x,y,x) has thread ID=x+yDx+zDxDy, for
block size (Dx,Dy,Dz)
When a kernel is started, the number of blocks per grid and the number of threads per block are fixed (gridDim
and blockDim
). CUDA makes
four pieces of information available to each thread:
- The thread index (
threadIdx
) - The block index (
blockIdx
) - The size and shape of a block (
blockDim
) - The size and shape of a grid (
gridDim
)
Typically, each thread in a kernel will compute one element of an array. There is a common pattern to do this that most CUDA programs use are shown
below.
For a 1-dimensional grid:
tx = cuda.threadIdx.x
bx = cuda.blockIdx.x
bw = cuda.blockDim.x
i = tx + bx * bw
array[i] = compute(i)
For a 2-dimensional grid:
tx = cuda.threadIdx.x
ty = cuda.threadIdx.y
bx = cuda.blockIdx.x
by = cuda.blockIdx.y
bw = cuda.blockDim.x
bh = cuda.blockDim.y
x = tx + bx * bw
y = ty + by * bh
array[x, y] = compute(x, y)
Memory Hierarchy
The CPU and GPU have separate memory spaces. This means that data that is processed by the GPU must be moved from the CPU to the GPU before
the computation starts, and the results of the computation must be moved back to the CPU once processing has completed.
Global memory
This memory is accessible to all threads as well as the host (CPU).
- Global memory is allocated and deallocated by the host
- Used to initialize the data that the GPU will work on
Shared memory
Each thread block has its own shared memory
- Accessible only by threads within the block
- Much faster than local or global memory
- Requires special handling to get maximum performance
- Only exists for the lifetime of the block
Local memory
Each thread has its own private local memory
- Only exists for the lifetime of the thread
- Generally handled automatically by the compiler
Constant and texture memory
These are read-only memory spaces accessible by all threads.
- Constant memory is used to cache values that are shared by all functional units
- Texture memory is optimized for texturing operations provided by the hardware
Key Points
CUDA is designed for a specific GPU architecture, namely NVIDIA’s Streaming Multiprocessors.
CUDA has many programming operations that are common to other parallel programming paradigms.
The memory architecture is extremely important to obtaining good performance from CUDA programs.
Copyright © 2017 New York University
Achieved Occupancy
Achieved Occupancy
Open topic with navigation
Overview
For all CUDA kernel launches recorded in both Profile and Trace modes, the Occupancy experiment detail pane shows “Theoretical Occupancy”, the upper limit for occupancy imposed by the kernel launch configuration and the capabilities of the CUDA device. The Achieved Occupancy Profile mode experiment measures occupancy during execution of the kernel, and adds the achieved values to the Occupancy experiment detail pane alongside the theoretical values. Additional graphs show achieved occupancy per SM, and illustrate how occupancy can be controlled by varying compiler and launch parameters.
Background
Definition of Occupancy
The CUDA C Programming Guide explains how a CUDA device’s hardware implementation groups adjacent threads within a block into warps. A warp is considered active from the time its threads begin executing to the time when all threads in the warp have exited from the kernel. There is a maximum number of warps which can be concurrently active on a Streaming Multiprocessor (SM), as listed in the Programming Guide’s table of compute capabilities. Occupancy is defined as the ratio of active warps on an SM to the maximum number of active warps supported by the SM. Occupancy varies over time as warps begin and end, and can be different for each SM.
Low occupancy results in poor instruction issue efficiency, because there are not enough eligible warps to hide latency between dependent instructions. When occupancy is at a sufficient level to hide latency, increasing it further may degrade performance due to the reduction in resources per thread. An early step of kernel performance analysis should be to check occupancy and observe the effects on kernel execution time when running at different occupancy levels.
Theoretical Occupancy
There is an upper limit for active warps, and thus also for occupancy, derivable from the launch configuration, compile options for the kernel, and device capabilities. Each block of a kernel launch gets distributed to one of the SMs for execution. A block is considered active from the time its warps begin executing to the time when all warps in the block have exited from the kernel. The number of blocks which can execute concurrently on an SM is limited by the factors listed below. The upper limit for active warps is the product of the upper limit for active blocks and the number of warps per block. Thus, the upper limit for active warps can be raised by increasing the number of warps per block (defined by block dimensions), or by changing the factors limiting how many blocks can fit on an SM to allow more active blocks. The limiting factors are:
- Warps per SM
-
The SM has a maximum number of warps that can be active at once. Since occupancy is the ratio of active warps to maximum supported active warps, occupancy is 100% if the number of active warps equals the maximum. If this factor is limiting active blocks, occupancy cannot be increased. For example, on a GPU that supports 64 active warps per SM, 8 active blocks with 256 threads per block (8 warps per block) results in 64 active warps, and 100% theoretical occupancy. Similarly, 16 active blocks with 128 threads per block (4 warps per block) would also result in 64 active warps, and 100% theoretical occupancy.
-
- Blocks per SM
-
The SM has a maximum number of blocks that can be active at once. If occupancy is below 100% and this factor is limiting active blocks, it means each block does not contain enough warps to reach 100% occupancy when the device’s active block limit is reached. Occupancy can be increased by increasing block size. For example, on a GPU that supports 16 active blocks and 64 active warps per SM, blocks with 32 threads (1 warp per block) result in at most 16 active warps (25% theoretical occupancy), because only 16 blocks can be active, and each block has only one warp. On this GPU, increasing block size to 4 warps per block makes it possible to achieve 100% theoretical occupancy.
-
- Registers per SM
-
The SM has a set of registers shared by all active threads. If this factor is limiting active blocks, it means the number of registers per thread allocated by the compiler can be reduced to increase occupancy (see __launch_bounds__). Kernel execution time and average eligible warps should be monitored carefully when adjusting registers per thread to control occupancy. The performance gain from improved latency hiding due to increased occupancy may be outweighed by the performance loss of having fewer registers per thread, and spilling to local memory more often. The best-performing balance of occupancy and registers per thread can be found experimentally by tracing the kernel compiled with different numbers of registers per thread, controlled via __launch_bounds__.
-
- Shared Memory per SM
-
The SM has a fixed amount of shared memory shared by all active threads. If this factor is limiting active blocks, it means the shared memory needed per thread can be reduced to increase occupancy. Shared memory per thread is the sum of “static shared memory,” the total size needed for all __shared__ variables, and “dynamic shared memory,” the amount of shared memory specified as a parameter to the kernel launch. For some CUDA devices, the amount of shared memory per SM is configurable, trading between shared memory size and L1 cache size. If such a GPU is configured to use more L1 cache and shared memory is the limiting factor for occupancy, then occupancy can also be increased by choosing to use less L1 cache and more shared memory.
-
Achieved Occupancy
Theoretical occupancy shows the upper bound active warps on an SM, but the true number of active warps varies over the duration of the kernel, as warps begin and end. As explained in Issue Efficiency, an SM contain one or more warp schedulers. Each warp scheduler attempts to issue instructions from a warp on each clock cycle. To sufficiently hide latencies between dependent instructions, each scheduler must have at least one warp eligible to issue an instruction every clock cycle. Maintaining as many active warps as possible (a high occupancy) throughout the execution of the kernel helps to avoid situations where all warps are stalled and no instructions are issued. Achieved occupancy is measured on each warp scheduler using hardware performance counters to count the number of active warps on that scheduler every clock cycle. These counts are then summed across all warp schedulers on each SM and divided by the clock cycles the SM is active to find the average active warps per SM. Dividing by the SM’s maximum supported number of active warps gives the achieved occupancy per SM averaged over the duration of the kernel, which is shown in the Achieved Occupancy Chart. Averaging across all SMs gives the overall achieved occupancy, which is shown alongside theoretical occupancy in the experiment details pane.
Causes of Low Achieved Occupancy
Achieved occupancy cannot exceed theoretical occupancy, so the first step toward increasing occupancy should be to increase theoretical occupancy by adjusting the limiting factors. The next step is to check if the achieved value is close to the theoretical value. The achieved value will be lower than the theoretical value when the theoretical number of active warps is not maintained for the full time the SM is active. This occurs in the following situations:
- Unbalanced workload within blocks
-
If warps within a block do not all execute for the same amount of time, the workload is said to be unbalanced. This means there are fewer active warps at the end of the kernel, which is a problem known as “tail effect”. The best solution is to try having a more balanced workload among the warps in each block.
-
- Unbalanced workload across blocks
-
If blocks within a grid do not all execute for the same amount of time, this workload is also unbalanced, but the efficiency of the device can be improved without having to change to a more balanced workload. Launching more blocks will allow new blocks to begin as others finish, meaning the tail effect does not occur inside every block, but only at the end of the kernel. If there are not more blocks to launch, running concurrent kernels with similar block properties can achieve the same effect.
-
- Too few blocks launched
-
The upper limit for active blocks per SM is determined by the theoretical occupancy, but that calculation does not account for a launch with fewer than that number of blocks per SM. The number of SMs on the device times the maximum active blocks per SM is called a “full wave”, and launching less than a full wave results in low achieved occupancy. For example, on a device with 15 SMs, and a configuration expecting 100% theoretical occupancy with 4 blocks per SM, a full wave would be 60 blocks. Launching only 45 blocks (assuming a balanced workload) will result in approximately 75% achieved occupancy.
-
- Partial last wave
-
The SM has a maximum number of warps that can be active at once. Since occupancy is the ratio of active warps to maximum supported active warps, occupancy is 100% if the number of active warps equals the maximum. If this factor is limiting active blocks, occupancy cannot be increased. For example, on a GPU that supports 64 active warps per SM, 8 active blocks with 256 threads per block (8 warps per block) results in 64 active warps, and 100% theoretical occupancy. Similarly, 16 active blocks with 128 threads per block (4 warps per block) would also result in 64 active warps, and 100% theoretical occupancy.
-
Charts
Varying Block Size
|
Varying Register Count
|
Varying Shared Memory Usage
|
Achieved Occupancy Per SM
|
Analysis
-
Low occupancy is not a problem in itself, but it usually results in having too few eligible warps. If the percentage of cycles with no eligible warp in the Warp Issue Efficiency chart is high …-
… try to increase the number of active warps if possible. In many cases increasing the number of active warps will result in an larger pool of eligible warps. If …-
… the theoretical occupancy is low, try to optimize the execution configuration of the kernel launch, using the Occupancy table to identify which factor(s) are limiting occupancy. If you are register limited do not rule out experimenting with launch bounds to increase occupancy, even if this results in some register spilling. -
… the achieved occupancy is well below the theoretical occupancy, check the Instruction Statistics experiment for highly unbalanced workloads or tail effects. Potential strategies may include splitting the kernel grid in a more fine granular way, distribute work across the blocks in a more balanced way, avoiding gathering the final result on a single block, warp, or thread. -
… the Pipe Utilization experiment shows a particular pipeline is already fully utilized, increasing active warps is unlikely to results in more eligible warps, because all additional active warps will stall trying to access the oversubscribed pipeline. In this case, try to reduce the load on this pipeline or investigate if the expected peak performance for the target hardware is already reached.
-
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NVIDIA GameWorks Documentation Rev. 1.0.150630 ©2015. NVIDIA Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Warp factor | Memory Alpha
Multiple realities
(covers information from several alternate timelines)
In the alternate reality, the main viewscreen of USS Enterprise depicted the sublight and faster-than-light speed of the ship in warp factors at a three decimal place accuracy
A warp field dynamics monitor displayed the warp factors of the warp 5 engine and their relative faster-than-light speed equivalents
“They say gossip travels faster than warp speed.“
Warp factor was the primary means of measuring speeds attained using warp drive. The term was often shortened to warp when followed by its value, so that saying “warp six” was the same as saying “warp factor six. ” An alternative term time-warp factor was also used. (TOS: “The Cage”) Light speed travel began at warp one, whereas lower fractional values sometimes measured sublight speeds or sublight factors. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture; Star Trek; ENT: “First Flight” display graphic) Spacecraft ordinarily traveled at a higher integer warp factor.
By the mid-24th century, warp ten became infinite velocity and thus unattainable by conventional means. (VOY: “Threshold”) Because of this, extremely high warp speeds mapped to decimal values between nine and ten, such as warp 9.975. (TNG: “Encounter at Farpoint”; VOY: “Caretaker”)
According to Geoffrey Mandel’s reference book Star Trek Maps, the alternative term “time-warp” used in TOS: “The Cage” [1] is so called due to the time dilation effects that occur during warp travel. The term was also used in the final draft script of “Mudd’s Women”, though it isn’t in the final version of that installment
Warp factor was one of the vocabulary words listed on the chart “A Tunnel in the Sky”. This chart was seen in the schoolroom aboard Deep Space 9 in 2369. (DS9: “In the Hands of the Prophets”)
Warp factor vs. average speed
The following is a list of warp factor values that have been given a relativistic speed equivalent on screen. Average speeds are typically calculated from given values for travel time and distance. Some figures were depicted in charts and others given as statements in dialogue. See: Variations in relative speed for more information.
Warp factor | Average speed (×c) | Distance traveled | Travel time | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|
.5 | 0.304 – 0.496 | ~3.95 – 6.45 au (Earth to Jupiter) | 1.8 hours | Star Trek: The Motion Picture |
1 | 1 | depicted in warp factor chart | n/a | ENT: “First Flight” |
2 | 8 | depicted in warp factor chart | n/a | ENT: “First Flight” |
3 | 27 | depicted in warp factor chart | n/a | ENT: “First Flight” |
3 | 39 | 0. 102 light years | 23 hours | TNG: “The Most Toys” |
3 | 487 | 4 light years | 3 days | ENT: “Damage” |
4 | 100 | 70,000 light years | ~700 years | VOY: “Resolutions” |
4.4 | 100 | 30,000,000 kilometers | 1 second | ENT: “Broken Bow” |
4.5 | 83 | 59.86 au (Earth to Neptune and back) | 6 minutes | ENT: “Broken Bow” |
4.5 | 8,218 | ~90 light years | 4 days | ENT: “Broken Bow” |
4.7 | 175 | 10 light years | 3 weeks | VOY: “Dreadnought” |
5 | 200 | 50 light years (Earth to an area inside the Delphic Expanse) | ~3 months | ENT: “The Expanse”, “The Xindi” |
5 | 91.3125 | .5 light years | 2 days | ENT: “Rajiin” |
6+ | 0. 02 | 10,000 kilometer intervals as a Klingon D7 approached | ~2 seconds per interval | TOS: “Elaan of Troyius” |
6.9 | 2,117 | 11.6 light years | 2 days | ENT: “E²” |
7 | 4,000,000-10,000,000 | 0.6 light years | 2-5 seconds | VOY: “Emanations” |
7.3 | 2,001 | 30 billion kilometers | 50 seconds | TNG: “Emergence” |
8.4 to 14.1 | 765,000 | 990.7 light years | 11.337 hours | TOS: “That Which Survives” |
8.5 | 1,251 | 2,500 light years | 2 years | VOY: “Night” |
9 | 834 | approximately 300 billion kilometers (0.032 light years) | ~20 minutes | TNG: “Bloodlines” |
9 | 1,718 | 10 light years | 51 hours | VOY: “Dreadnought” |
9. 9 | 21,473 | about 4 billion miles [1] (0.0007 light years) | 1 second | VOY: “The 37’s” |
9.975 | 1,000 | 75,000 light years | 75 years | VOY: “Caretaker” |
9.975 | 33 | 10 million kilometers | ~1 second | VOY: “Parallax” |
9.975 | 1,554 – 1,721 | 132 light years | 1 month | VOY: “Relativity”, “Friendship One” |
9.975 | 2,922 | 40 light years | 5 days | VOY: “Relativity”, “Scorpion, Part II” |
9.975 | 2,739 | 15 light years | 2 days | VOY: “Hope and Fear” |
9.99 [2] | 8,333 | 2.5 million light years (to Andromeda Galaxy) | 300 years | TOS: “By Any Other Name” |
9.99 | 8,766 | 2 light years | 2 hours | VOY: “Unimatrix Zero” |
9. 99 | 9,000 | 2.7 million light years | 300 years | TNG: “Where No One Has Gone Before” |
10 | ∞ | ∞ | 0 | VOY: “Threshold” |
- ↑ Although Tom Paris clearly articulates the distance and time, it is unclear if he was engaging in hyperbole since these parameters indicate that, at warp factor 9.9 as specified, 75,000 light years can be traversed in less than 3.5 years.
- ↑ The Kelvans modified the USS Enterprise to travel at warp eleven through the galactic barrier. They did not clarify whether the same warp factor would have been used for intergalactic travel also.
Warp ten and above
23rd century
An Orion scout ship at warp 10
In the 23rd century, warp factors of 10 and higher were known as generally unsafe velocities. (TOS: “Journey to Babel”) Speeds on the order of warp 15 were called multiwarp speeds. (TOS: “The Changeling”)
- Warp factor 11. In 2267, the Nomad probe improved efficiency in the antimatter input valve and energy release controls on the Enterprise, allowing the ship to achieve at least warp 11. When this happened, Montgomery Scott was in disbelief. Captain James T. Kirk ordered Nomad to reverse the modifications though, as the structure of the Enterprise was not designed to handle the stress of that much power output. (TOS: “The Changeling”) In 2268, the Kelvans who commandeered the ship made similar modification. At that time the ship could maintain warp 11 without danger. (TOS: “By Any Other Name”)
- Warp factor 15. In 2267, the Nomad probe was armed with a weapon system capable of firing energy bolts that traveled at the speed of warp 15. (TOS: “The Changeling”)
Karla Five’s vessel capable of warp 36
In the comic book “A Warp in Space” set in the late-2260s, Starfleet tested the prototype Warp 15 engine on several test ships. Zefram Cochrane also devised modifications to the USS Enterprise that allowed the ship to achieve the speed, though the ship was almost torn apart at that velocity.
- Warp factor 36. In 2270, the Enterprise encountered Karla Five’s vessel, that was about to enter the Beta Niobe nova. At maximum speed, the ship was traveling at approximately warp 36. (TAS: “The Counter-Clock Incident”)
Infinite velocity
USS Enterprise-D accelerated to incredible warp speeds by the Traveler
Shuttlecraft Cochrane accelerating to warp 10
In 24th century warp theory, warp factor 10 had been redesignated to correspond with infinite velocity. A vessel traveling at warp 10 occupied all points in the universe simultaneously. Warp 10 was also known as the transwarp threshold. (VOY: “Threshold”) Warp 10 had also become a slang term referring to anything extremely fast. Kathryn Janeway made the observation in 2376 that rumors traveled fast on the USS Voyager. Chakotay agreed with Janeway, quipping at “warp 10.” (VOY: “The Voyager Conspiracy”)
The slang term was also used in the script for DS9: “Sons and Daughters”, where Alexander Rozhenko’s adrenaline was described as “pumping at warp 10.” [2]According to Star Trek: Starship Spotter, the redesignation of warp 10 as infinite speed occurred in 2312. The warp factor specifications prior to 2312 were rated by Starfleet using the Original Cochrane Unit warp scale, abbreviated as the OCU. Warp factors after 2312 use the Modified Cochrane Unit warp scale, abbreviated as the MCU.
According to Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (p. 55), the ship didn’t actually achieve warp 10 or go beyond it, but it did travel at the extreme speed of about Warp 9.9999999996. This was confirmed in “Threshold” in which Tom Paris becomes the first Human to travel at warp 10.
- Warp factor 10. Although considered a theoretical impossibility at the time, Tom Paris of the USS Voyager reached the warp 10 threshold in 2372, using shuttlecraft Cochrane, which was equipped with a transwarp drive and an extraordinarily rare form of dilithium discovered earlier that year. After it was discovered that such travel induced hyper-evolution, this technology was discontinued after the initial test. (VOY: “Threshold”)
Alternate timelines
An alternative future Enterprise-D refitted for warp 13
In the original future, which was changed by Jean-Luc Picard, around the turning point of the 24th century, warp factor values beyond warp 10 were again used to describe extremely fast speeds. (TNG: “All Good Things…”)
In the October 1995 issue of OMNI [page number? • edit], science advisor Andre Bormanis stated the idea of warp factors beyond 10 in the alternative future was in a recalibration of the warp scale, as ships had gotten faster. Possibly warp 15 was set to be the transwarp threshold instead, according to Bormanis, and warp 13 in that scale would have been the equivalent of warp 9.95 of the previous scale.
Appendices
Related topics
Background information
Variations in relative speed
Although formulas to calculate a relative speed from a warp factor have existed in the writer’s guides, these were rarely used for reference in the episodes and films. To explain the apparent discontinuities of relative speed equivalents for warp factor speeds, reference sources have given several explanations:
- Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (p. 55) states the actual speed values of a warp factor are dependent upon interstellar conditions, for example gas density, electric and magnetic fields in different regions of the galaxy, and fluctuations of the subspace domain. Also quantum drag forces and motive power oscillation cause energy penalties to a ship using warp drive.
- Star Trek Maps (p. 6) introduced a similar concept as the Cochrane factor, that influences the actual speed by multiplying it. It can be as high as a multiplication of 1,500 to the relative speed within the curvature of space caused by the interstellar dust and gas of a galaxy, and as little as 1 in the empty intergalactic void. In the vicinity of massive objects it is so high that disproportionately high speeds are created when approaching them, and they tend to result in the slingshot effect. Between the galaxies there is only the empty void, so the speed follows only the basic cubic formula. (see below) Within the interstellar medium of Federation space the average value for the Cochrane factor has been calculated to be 1292.7238. This value explains, for example, the ball park of the fast relative speed equivalent for warp factor 8.4 from TOS: “That Which Survives”: 8.43 × 1,292.7238 = 766,202.57 times the speed of light.
The slowing down effect of moving away from a source of gravity to the relative speed has been well established in canon. For example in Star Trek, the Enterprise is at maximum warp but is not moving in space at all, due to the gravity of a black hole behind it. Similarly, in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the HMS Bounty engages warp speed while in the atmosphere of Earth, and it takes over two minutes in the film for the ship to achieve and break out of Earth’s orbit, but reaches the Sun’s event horizon only a few minutes later. In TOS: “Elaan of Troyius”, a D7-class starship moving away from a star system at a speed better than warp 6 is moving slower than the speed of light. In some areas of space with unstable or disrupted subspace, it is impossible to use warp drive at all, as was established in such episodes as VOY: “Bride of Chaotica!” and “The Omega Directive”.
Many examples of more subtle variations exist. For example, in “By Any Other Name”, the Kelvans modified the USS Enterprise to accelerate to a speed of warp 11 in order to safely cross the galactic barrier. If this was also meant to represent the velocity of travel to the Andromeda Galaxy, a travel time of three hundred years would indicate a far greater speed than can be derived from the basic cubic scale from the writer’s guide. Warp 8.4 was stated to be much faster in “That Which Survives” than warp 9.9 in “The 37’s”. In TNG: “Allegiance”, warp 7 was stated to be about 55 times faster than warp factor 2, again confirming that fluctuations in the relative speeds exist that are not covered by the basic formula.
Star Trek: The Original Series
In his initial draft proposal, Star Trek is…, Gene Roddenberry established the maximum velocity of the starship as “.73 of one light year per hour”. This would translate to a top speed of approximately 6,400c (equivalent to TOS warp 18.57, or somewhere between TNG warp 9.9 and 9.99).
The original warp scale was described in the writer’s guide, The Star Trek Guide, (third revision, p. 8) as a set of warp factors and multiples of light speed that can be obtained by raising a warp factor to the third power. [3] This information appeared in widespread print in The Making of Star Trek (1968, p. 191). The book also states a shift in relative time occurs while traveling at warp, an hour might equal to three hours experienced outside the ship. (p. 198) In 1975, the warp scale given a more technical gloss in Franz Joseph’s Star Fleet Technical Manual, now extended to include warp factors below 1. In 1977 Roddenberry again adopted the scale for the aborted Star Trek: Phase II series, but abandoned it for Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was not until the 2003 episode “First Flight” of Star Trek: Enterprise, that the warp factor scale made an official on screen debut. Warp factors from 1 to 5 were depicted with their corresponding relative speed values on a large computer graphic.
The scale used by Starfleet in the 22nd and 23rd century is based on a geometric progression, where the speed of a vessel (measured in multiples of c, the speed of light) is equal to the cube of the given warp factor. The warp factor was calculated as follows:
- with
- v being the speed of the signal or starship
- c being the speed of light (3.0 × 108 m/s) and
- wf being the resulting warp factor
Or, to calculate speed (v) in terms of c, the formula would be:
At warp 1, a starship would reach c; at warp 6, it would reach 216 c. This is a much slower velocity than initially proposed by Roddenberry.
Using this scale:
Warp factor | Calculated speed (c) | Distance traveled in 24 hours (light years) | Travel time from Earth to Alpha Centauri |
---|---|---|---|
0. 5 | 0.125 | 0.0003 | 34.64 years |
1 | 1 | 0.003 | 4.33 years |
2 | 8 | 0.022 | 197.69 days |
3 | 27 | 0.074 | 58.57 days |
4 | 64 | 0.175 | 24.71 days |
5 | 125 | 0.342 | 12.65 days |
6 | 216 | 0.591 | 7.32 days |
7 | 343 | 0.939 | 4.61 days |
8 | 512 | 1.402 | 3.09 days |
9 | 729 | 1.996 | 52.07 hours |
10 | 1000 | 2.738 | 37.96 hours |
11 | 1331 | 3.644 | 28.52 hours |
Star Trek: The Next Generation
A document dated May 14, 1986 and attributed to Gene Roddenberry places warp 10 at the top of the scale: “Beyond that time-space continuity is disoperative. “ The corresponding velocity is given as “the speed of light multiplied by the speed of light ten times”, whereas warp 2 is now “the speed of light squared”, implying a general rule of the speed of light to the power of the warp factor. Aside from warp 1 mapping to the speed of light, it is unclear how this was to be applied in practice, since a unit of speed to the second or higher power is no longer a unit of speed. There is, however, a clue in the statement that only 34% of the galaxy has been explored as opposed to 18% in TOS, suggesting improvements without major breakthroughs. [4]
The Writers’/Directors’ Guide revision of March 23, 1987 confirms that warp 1 remains the speed of light and accepts warp 10 as “the physical limit of the universe – beyond that normal time-space relationships do not exist and a ship at that velocity may simply cease to exist.” As in the classic series, warp 6 is the highest cruising speed, though the stated equivalent of a light year per hour is more in keeping with .73 in the format of 1964 than the 41-hour light year by the cubed scale, or the 22 hours it would take to traverse the distance in the final revision. At this early version of warp 6, however, the Enterprise would need 308 years to travel the 2,700,000 light years it covered in TNG: “Where No One Has Gone Before”, consistent with Geordi La Forge’s “over three hundred years” in the episode.
By the creation of Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual, the warp factor scale used by Starfleet in the 24th century was based on a recalibration of the scale used in the Original Series. Rather than a simple geometric progression based on relative speed, warp factors were established to be based upon the amount of power required to transition from one warp plateau to another. For example, the power to initially get to warp factor 1 was much more than the power required to maintain it; likewise warp 2, 3, 4, and so on. Those transitional power points rather than observed speed were then assigned the integer warp factors. These transitional points were established to apply to the original warp scale as well in the canonical warp chart presented in “First Flight”.
According to an article in Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 6, p. 44 by André Bormanis, this scale change occurred in 2312. A term was added to the above equation that caused the speed to rise slightly at lower warp factor, but to become infinite at warp 10. The ratio v/c at a given warp factor is equal to the corresponding cochrane value that describes the subspace distortion.
Gene Roddenberry stated that he wanted to avoid the ever-increasing warp factors used in the original series to force added tension to the story, and so imposed the limit of warp 10 as infinite speed.
For warp factors up to 9, the revised formula became:
- with
- v being the speed of the signal or starship
- c being the speed of light (3.0 × 108 m/s) and
- wf being the resulting warp factor
Or, to calculate speed in terms of c (up to warp 9), the formula would be:
In this case, warp 1 is equivalent to c (as it was in the 23rd century scale), but above warp 9 the speed increases exponentially, approaching infinity as the warp factor approaches 10.
Using this scale:
Warp factor | Calculated speed (c) | Distance traveled in 24 hours (light years) | Travel time from Earth to Alpha Centauri |
---|---|---|---|
0.5 | 0.09921256575 | 0.0002718152486 | 43.64366517 years |
1 | 1 | 0.002739726027 | 4.33 years |
2 | 10.0793684 | 0.02761470794 | 156.8004995 days |
3 | 38.9407384 | 0.1066869545 | 40.58603059 days |
4 | 101.5936673 | 0.2783388146 | 15.55657987 days |
5 | 213.7469933 | 0.5856082009 | 7.394022135 days |
6 | 392.4980481 | 1.075337118 | 4.026644229 days |
7 | 656.1353957 | 1.797631221 | 2.40872541 days |
8 | 1024 | 2.805479452 | 37.07 hours |
9 | 1516.381107 | 4.154468786 | 25.03 hours |
10 | ∞ | ∞ | 0 |
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
According to DS9: “Emissary” and “Battle Lines”, the Bajoran Wormhole connected the Bajoran system to a region in the Gamma Quadrant 70,000 light years away. In “Battle Lines”, Sisko stated that it would take Starfleet’s fastest ship over sixty-seven years to cross the distance, suggesting the fastest ship in 2369 could travel at approximately 1,044 times the speed of light on a flight of that duration. The figure was further explained in the series bible, that it is more specifically a sixty-year journey at warp 9, [5] suggesting warp 9 would be about 1,167 times the speed of light.
In “The Sound of Her Voice”, the USS Defiant, traveling at warp 9, is three days away from a planet. Increasing speed to warp 9.5 took almost a full day away from the travel time. This indicates that warp 9.5 is almost 50% faster than warp 9.
Star Trek: Voyager
In Star Trek: Voyager Technical Manual (pp. 12 & 13) several other speed equivalents are established: Warp 9.6 is 1,909 times the speed of light. Warp 9.99 is 7,912 times the speed of light, which in turn is nearly three times the speed of warp 9.9. Subspace communication signals travel at warp 9.9999, a hundred times faster than warp 9.6, 199,516 times the speed of light.
In the pilot episode of the series, VOY: “Caretaker”, it is established that “at maximum speeds” it would take seventy-five years for Voyager to reach Earth, which was at that time approximated to be 75,000 light years away. This would mean that the maximum speeds of the Voyager were around approximately 933-1,000 times the speed of light. According to the Star Trek: Voyager Technical Manual, this calculation was meant to be based on an unrealistic non-stop direct journey at the speed of warp 9.6 (p. 14) or at warp 9.99 (p. 36). A realistic estimate, according to the manual, was that the journey would last somewhere between two and four hundred years when taking into account the required engine cooling time needed on such an extended journey.
According to Star Trek: Voyager Technical Manual (pp. 4 & 27), a sector (about twenty light years) took four days to cross at warp 9.6, five days at warp 9 and about nineteen days at warp 6. However, in VOY: “The Voyager Conspiracy”, the ship cuts three years off its journey by crossing thirty sectors, implying that they expected to travel more than a month (or approximately 36.5 days) to cross a sector.
In the episode VOY: “Flashback”, Captain Kathryn Janeway stated that the current Starfleet starships in 2373 were twice as fast to what the USS Enterprise-A and the USS Excelsior were in the 2290s. According to Star Trek: Voyager Technical Manual, (p. 13) the maximum rated speed of the ship was warp 9.975 or 3,053 times the speed of light. According to the Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology (p. 180) and Mr. Scott’s Guide to the Enterprise (p. 14), the maximum speed of ships like the Enterprise-A was warp 12 in the old scale, or 1,728 times the speed of light.
Star Trek: Enterprise
Officially and according to the large warp chart featured in “First Flight”, the warp drive of Enterprise NX-01 used the TOS scale. Speeds in ENT: “Broken Bow”, which were mentioned as traveling at 30,000,000 kilometers per second and going to “Neptune and back in six minutes”, fit well into the ballpark of cubic warp factors between 4 and 5. In ENT: “Regeneration”, Trip Tucker states that warp 4.8 (approximately 111 times the speed of light in the TOS scale) is double the speed of warp 3.9 (approximately 59), which is also a close enough margin of error considering it is an offhand comment made without navigational implications.
In the episode ENT: “The Expanse”, a location was given to Jonathan Archer as to where to look for the Xindi inside the Delphic Expanse. The location was stated to be a three-month trip away from Earth at warp 5. In the next episode, ENT: “The Xindi”, when Enterprise had arrived to look for the Xindi in that region, it was said they were fifty light years away from Earth. This indicates warp 5 would equal to a speed of approximately two hundred times the speed of light. This would fall closer to the TNG scale figure for warp 5 instead of the TOS scale figure of 125 times the speed of light estimated in the canonical chart.
There are, however, instances in “Broken Bow” that do not appear to be compatible with any of the basic scales. Zefram Cochrane notes in his recorded speech that the warp five engine would allow a ship to travel a hundred times faster than what they could in 2119. Warp 2 was later on established to be the maximum warp ships in the early 22nd century had achieved in ENT: “Horizon” and “First Flight”. Warp 5, however, was only sixteen or twenty-one times faster than warp 2 in the scales. The journey from Earth to Qo’noS in four days was another instance. In either scale, Enterprise wouldn’t even reach the closest star to Earth in four days.
In ENT: “Fortunate Son”, it is stated that a warp three engine would allow a ship to travel ten times faster than warp factor 1.8. This doesn’t work out in either of the basic formulas, unless we interpret the statement to indicate that a warp three engine would allow a speed of warp factor 3.9 in the TOS scale or 3.6 in the TNG scale. Warp factor 3 would be only around five times faster in either scale.
Alternate reality
The alternate USS Enterprise at warp in Star Trek
In the alternate reality seen in Star Trek, the USS Enterprise traveled from Earth to Vulcan at maximum warp. According to ENT: “Daedalus”, Vulcan is located slightly over sixteen light years away from Earth. According to background sources maximum warp of the ship was Warp factor 8. [6] Directly after the ship had accelerated to and attained maximum warp, Captain Christopher Pike ordered Pavel Chekov to give an announcement of the mission to the crew. At the end of the broadcast, Chekov stated that the ship would arrive within three minutes.
However, there was an unknown amount of time the ship spent accelerating to maximum velocity, so there is no accurate way to ascertain the total travel time of the Enterprise from Earth to Vulcan beyond the obvious implication that it was not an especially lengthy trip. By comparison to the prime reality, in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, when the crew was returning to Earth from Vulcan on board the HMS Bounty, Sulu reported they would arrive in 1.6 hours.
In Star Trek Into Darkness, the Enterprise and the three-times-faster USS Vengeance were capable of traveling from the Sol system through the Neutral Zone to the edge of Klingon space and back in less than a day. Co-writer Roberto Orci acknowledged Montgomery Scott’s line about his time away from the Enterprise should have been something like “one week” rather than “one day”. [7] As a comparison, in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the internal clock of the USS Enterprise-A read 08:27 as the ship left Earth Spacedock and 16:12 when it arrived to the edge of Klingon space to meet up with Kronos One, for a trip of a little under eight hours.
Apocrypha
In the 25th-century timeline of the video game Star Trek Online, the warp speed scale appears to have been re-calibrated yet again to allow for the spread of new technologies such as a transwarp conduit network and quantum slipstream drive systems. Warp factors higher than 10 appear in the game, but only when a ship is using a quantum slipstream drive or exotic equipment such as Borg-enhanced “Assimilated Subtranswarp Engines”. Speeds higher than warp 10 are classified as “transwarp factors”, with higher numbers equating to faster speed. Borg subtranswarp engines allow ships to travel at an average speed of “warp 15”, while activating quantum slipstream gives a temporary speed boost of up to warp 35.
The relation between warp factor and speed is s(F) = (F/20) light-years per second, F being the warp factor.
External links
What does warp mean?
Warpverb
to throw; hence, to send forth, or throw out, as words; to utter
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
Warpverb
to turn or twist out of shape; esp., to twist or bend out of a flat plane by contraction or otherwise
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
Warpverb
to turn aside from the true direction; to cause to bend or incline; to pervert
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
Warpverb
to weave; to fabricate
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
Warpverb
to tow or move, as a vessel, with a line, or warp, attached to a buoy, anchor, or other fixed object
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
Warpverb
to cast prematurely, as young; — said of cattle, sheep, etc
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
Warpverb
to let the tide or other water in upon (lowlying land), for the purpose of fertilization, by a deposit of warp, or slimy substance
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
Warpverb
to run off the reel into hauls to be tarred, as yarns
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
Warpverb
to arrange (yarns) on a warp beam
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
Warpverb
to turn, twist, or be twisted out of shape; esp., to be twisted or bent out of a flat plane; as, a board warps in seasoning or shrinking
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
Warpverb
to turn or incline from a straight, true, or proper course; to deviate; to swerve
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
Warpverb
to fly with a bending or waving motion; to turn and wave, like a flock of birds or insects
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
Warpverb
to cast the young prematurely; to slink; — said of cattle, sheep, etc
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
Warpverb
to wind yarn off bobbins for forming the warp of a web; to wind a warp on a warp beam
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
Warp
the threads which are extended lengthwise in the loom, and crossed by the woof
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
Warp
a rope used in hauling or moving a vessel, usually with one end attached to an anchor, a post, or other fixed object; a towing line; a warping hawser
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
Warp
a slimy substance deposited on land by tides, etc., by which a rich alluvial soil is formed
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
Warp
a premature casting of young; — said of cattle, sheep, etc
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
Warp
four; esp., four herrings; a cast. See Cast, n., 17
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
Warp
the state of being warped or twisted; as, the warp of a board
Etymology: [OE. warpen; fr. Icel. varpa to throw, cast, varp a casting, fr. verpa to throw; akin to Dan. varpe to warp a ship, Sw. varpa, AS. weorpan to cast, OS. werpan, OFries. werpa, D. & LG. werpen, G. werfen, Goth. warpan; cf. Skr. vj to twist. 144. Cf. Wrap.]
90,000 Phase imbalance in a three-phase network, causes and consequences – engineering company LiderTeh
Question:
What is phase imbalance? What are the pronounced signs that indicate phase imbalance, of course, instability in the operation of three-phase and single-phase electrical equipment.
Answer:
The number and capacity of household appliances and appliances in homes is increasing every year.
The main signs of distortion.
- Unstable operation of electrical appliances.
- When measuring the voltage on the phases, the readings are very different.
Phase imbalance in a three-phase network causes and consequences.
One phase can be overloaded and the voltage on it is low , while others, on the contrary, with low load, and because of this, high voltage appears on them, see fig. 2
Phase imbalance is a great danger to electrical appliances.With low or high voltage, they may not work correctly, even to the point of failure. The most endangered are three-phase appliances such as motors, pumps and compressors.
For example , the service life of electrical appliances is reduced by 10-15% , during long-term operation with the coefficient of unbalance in the reverse sequence K2U = 2 … 4%.
Conversely, when operating at normal , rated load and power supply, doubles the lifespan of .
Phase imbalance in the network is divided into two main types:
- Systematic (probable)
- Random.
- Systematic unbalance (phase imbalance) occurs when one of the phases is constantly overloaded relative to the others.
Probability unbalance occurs depending on random factors (intermittent phase imbalance), when variable loads at different times overload different phases.2. Accidental asymmetry occurs as a result of a short circuit of the phase wire and the neutral wire of the neutral – this phenomenon occurs rarely, and is an emergency. Also, voltages are highly dependent on the resistance of the wires and the internal resistance of the transformer.
In , in the event of accidental phase imbalance, with a break in the neutral wire, the voltages are distributed in phases in proportion to the electrical resistance of the consumers.
Ways to eliminate the effects of phase imbalance may be different. For example, the most popular option is the installation of voltage stabilizers in a private house or the use of balancing transformers .
What is a phase imbalance in a three-phase network and how to eliminate it
Humanity simply cannot imagine life without such good as electricity.After all, it is thanks to him that life has become more comfortable and interesting. But sometimes certain problems can form in the network. And it is better to eliminate them without fail.
Phase imbalance in a three-phase network is a fairly common problem. It is such a state when one or two of the three phases are loaded more than the others.
In three-phase devices, the power becomes much less. The main devices are transformers and motors.But the imbalance in terms of domestic consumption is more pronounced.
Reactive load devices are subject to failure. Fans and compressors of the refrigeration unit, as well as elements with power simple transformers, are most often affected.
A skew occurs when the third phase is underloaded and others are overloaded. It can look like this in real life: most single-phase loads are used from one phase, and the rest are used at a minimum or are not subjected to any load at all.
This is due to the fact that the power consumption is quite often simply not taken into account.
How to fix problem
For most household appliances, phase imbalance can have dire consequences. This is due to the fact that the device can receive electricity in excess or receive less of it.
It is possible to prevent negative effects with a three-phase automatic machine. In the event that the load provided by the device increases in the network, the electricity throughout the house is automatically turned off.
But this is not a solution to the situation. An excellent option would be at the initial stage of design and construction of a capacity planning facility. It is in this way that it is possible to distribute the voltage between the existing phases in an even way.
This will eliminate the skew. In the event that the structure has already been put into operation, then the voltage can be measured separately at each phase. For this purpose, it is recommended to use a specially designed device – a voltmeter.
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If necessary, you can redistribute the load to avoid phase imbalance. It is worth remembering that the approach to creating an electrical network must be treated as responsibly as possible.
Phase imbalance and how to deal with it
The electricity available in every home today is the greatest benefit of our civilization. Thanks to electrical energy, we can use television, computers, household appliances, which makes our life comfortable and convenient. However, electrical energy is not a toy, and its effect on devices and units, if they are incorrectly connected to the mains, can be very negative and even destructive.One of the common problems faced by electricity consumers in private homes and public institutions is power outages, which are called phase imbalance.
Phase imbalance is a situation in the electrical network, when out of the three available phases, one or two are loaded unevenly, much stronger than the rest. As a result of such an uneven load in industrial networks, the power of three-phase devices, transformers and electric motors decreases.At home, phase imbalance leads to the destruction of household electrical appliances – refrigerators, fans and all other devices, which include power-type transformer power supplies. In general, all devices in which there is no galvanic isolation from the mains and protection against overvoltage and undervoltage may be damaged.
For information. Most electrical networks used by humans are three-phase. Therefore, timely detection of power supply problems can protect household appliances from failure, and their owners from significant financial losses.
Possible problems
The main danger for electrical equipment is that in the event of phase imbalance, the power supply will be either insufficient or excessive. Both the one and the other situation interferes with the regular operation of devices and units, and in some cases destroys the electric motors in them. Also, as a result of phase imbalance, significant energy consumption occurs. With a competent distribution of loads, the amount spent on electricity bills actually decreases.
How to identify phase imbalance?
It is possible to establish that there has been a phase imbalance by malfunctioning electrical appliances or, for example, by flashing lights. But the readings of the new three-phase meters, which record all the events occurring in the network, speak about this much more accurately. At the first signs of phase imbalance, urgent measures must be taken to eliminate the problem.
Causes of phase imbalance
There may be several reasons, but most of them appear due to the incorrect distribution of the load on the phases.If a phase imbalance is detected, then the conclusion is unambiguous – there is an overload in one or a pair of phases in the network.
The enterprises in which they operate are most exposed to the risk of phase imbalance:
- induction and ore-thermal furnaces;
- electric welding devices;
- other powerful heating units.
An imbalance can occur when a phase is missing, resulting in a strong increase in currents in undamaged phases.An emergency mode arises, which provokes overloading of electrical equipment and their failure before the deadline. Sometimes the cause of the problem is a problem with the circuit breaker.
How to prevent phase imbalance
In order to avoid voltage asymmetry in a three-phase network, it is necessary to correctly distribute possible loads and powers in phases. For this, an appropriate project is drawn up before building or renovating a house.
During operation, it is necessary to periodically check the current in the network.If a discrepancy is found in this indicator in different phases, it is necessary to transfer the load from more loaded to less loaded. To protect against this phenomenon from the outside, voltage stabilizers are used, which are placed on each phase. All work to protect the network against phase imbalance must be carried out by professional electricians
Generator phase imbalance | Yanmar Russia
Generator phase imbalance occurs in three-phase installations. In normal mode, phase balance is maintained – all three stator windings are used.This allows the system to operate at full capacity. By loading only one phase, the user creates an imbalance.
As a result, the network capacity is hardly a third of the nominal. If the load is increased, the equipment can be overloaded. This will lead to destruction of the stator winding and costly repairs. Electrical devices can also be damaged.
How to avoid skewing
The main cause of phase imbalance in diesel generators is incorrect load distribution.Therefore, it is necessary to evenly connect single-phase consumers in all three phases. For normal operation of the Yanmar generator, the phase difference should not exceed 20%. Connect no more than 1/3 of its rated power to the 1st phase of a three-phase generator. To avoid skewing, you need to maintain this balance.
It is also possible to install a relay for monitoring phases. This equipment performs a number of functions:
- Monitors network status in the background.If a skew occurs, the system reacts and cuts off the power. The phases are rebooted.
- Checks for open circuits on individual phases. If an open circuit is detected, the load is terminated.
- Checks the sequence in the connection of each of the phases. The alternation must be correct so that the load is distributed correctly. If it is not correct, the system turns off the power.
- Monitors the amplitude of the current. Indicators may fall outside the nominal limits.This potentially leads to overloads and phase imbalance. Therefore, if high amplitudes are detected, a trip is performed.
Elimination of phase imbalance
Elimination of phase imbalance (alignment) is possible only as a preventive measure. You can put a relay of control phases, a voltage stabilizer. In an enterprise where a diesel generator is installed, a stabilizer can be installed, and this will reduce the risks. Moreover, it will be possible to connect equipment that requires up to 50% of the phase power to the network.
Stabilizers provide safety to users, eliminate damage to consumers, and reduce energy consumption. The equipment allows 100% imbalance and eliminates the phase imbalance phenomenon, regardless of the cause of its occurrence. Sometimes the problem is a faulty distribution network. In this case, calculating the loads will not help, and the stabilizer will be very effective.
Another solution to the problem is to use oversized generators. If, working on three phases, the windings work only by a third, then there will be no problems when connected with a skew.It is necessary to monitor the load parameters of each phase.
The YEG series Yangmar generators are equipped with an overload protection system. The system also picks up if an overload occurs on a single phase. The supply of current is interrupted and a restart is performed. Automation prevents breakdowns of components in technology.
What is volatility skew?
Volatility Unevenness is a financial term that refers to a plot of implied volatility as a function of the strike price of an option.It is calculated using market options prices to reverse the Black-Scholes options pricing model to find the volatility of the underlying asset. The chart covers the available strike prices for call and put options. It contains the underlying asset and the expiration date of the option. Investors have named general volatility skews: a U-chart is a smile of volatility, a chart that shows higher volatility at lower prices is a volatility grin or reverse skew, and a chart that shows higher volatility at higher prices is tilt forward.
The Black-Scholes pricing model uses the volatility of an asset to predict the prices of options on that asset. This applies to both call and put options. Call options allow the holder to buy a stock at a predetermined price, called the strike price, regardless of the market price of the stock. Put options allow the holder to sell shares at the strike price.
An example can illustrate the Black-Scholes model. The stock sells today at 35. Tomorrow they have a 50 percent chance of going to 20 and a 50 percent chance of going up to 50.A call option with a strike price of 30 expiring tomorrow will give zero profit in the first case and 20 in the second. Since the probability of each occurrence is 50 percent, today the option value is 10.
The example is oversimplified, allowing only two future states. In real option pricing, probability functions are used to account for the full distribution of potential future states. However, this simplified version illustrates the logic behind options pricing.
Black Scholes assumes that volatility is constant for the underlying asset at strike prices, which makes sense: even if two investors hold options with different strike prices, they will see the same reports coming from the stock exchange.However, implied volatility can vary, creating volatility skew. Using the market price as the option price and reverse the Black-Scholes process above gives the volatility curve for the asset. Implied volatility should be constant, but it is not, implying that options in the real markets are at the wrong price. The change is driven by psychological factors that inflate demand at one end of the price spectrum.
High demand for an option raises the price, which increases the implied volatility of the asset.Options can be divided into classes based on strike prices. In-the-money options are options that investors could profit from if they could exercise them in the present. This means that call options with a strike price that are below the market price and put options with a strike price that are higher than the market price are money. Out of the money options are the opposite, and on-the-money options have a strike price equal to the market price.
Demand varies by class of options, which creates characteristic patterns of volatility skew charts.The pattern of smile volatility is common in the forex market, indicating that investors prefer in-the-money or out-of-the-money options to in-the-money options. The preference for one side of the chart leads to a reverse or forward bias and is caused by investor aversion to risk. For example, commodity markets are skewing forward as calls over money can protect investors from the dangers of delivery failure.
OTHER LANGUAGES
Phase imbalance.What is it and what is it connected with? How to fix?
One of the greatest benefits of civilization is electricity. Due to the fact that this discovery is so widespread in our time, the life of society as a whole, and of each person individually, has become much easier and more comfortable. At the same time, from time to time, difficulties may arise in the power grid that require a solution. With an increase in the average power of household appliances and equipment installed in one place, for example, in an apartment, a phenomenon called phase imbalance often occurs.In such cases, many people ask themselves what causes the phase imbalance? And so, let’s figure it out.
What is the phase imbalance
A three-phase electrical network can ideally be represented by an equilateral triangle with a neutral point in its middle.
Phase imbalance
It reflects the operation of the power transformer at the substation, which is installed in each microdistrict of the city and is designed to evenly distribute electricity to all consumers.The sides of this triangle are vector lines connecting its vertices. Having designated the vertices with points A, B, C and neutral N, you can compile a table of voltages and the relationship between them:
- AB = BC = CA = 380 V
- AN = BN = CN = 220 V
At the same time, the voltages AB, BC, CA 1.73 times more voltages AN, BN, CN. The ideal three-phase generator, which is commonly used to power all household appliances and industrial networks, should provide these voltage levels over a wide range of loads.
Causes of phase imbalance
There may be several reasons for imbalance, however, the most common reason is associated with an incorrect and unevenly distributed load in the phases of internal networks. In the event of imbalance in a three-phase facility, this means that one or two phases are overloaded, while the other phases are much less loaded.
Single-phase consumers often fall on one phase, and in this case, phase imbalance is formed when a large number of household appliances are turned on at the same time.The first signs of skewing may be household appliances, the power of which has dropped noticeably, or they have stopped working altogether. The lighting becomes dim and the fluorescent lights start to flicker.
The main danger of the situation is that household appliances start to work incorrectly, and there is a real possibility of breakdowns up to their complete failure. The largest part of the negative consequences falls on various types of electric motors, which are installed in almost all devices.
After the question of what the phase imbalance is and what it is connected with, it is necessary to consider the main ways to combat this phenomenon. It should be noted right away that these methods are not universal, but are suitable only for specific situations.
Correcting phase imbalance
In order to avoid phase imbalance, it is necessary to carefully plan all capacities and calculate all possible loads with their correct phase distribution. As a rule, a detailed electrical project is drawn up for an apartment or house.
During operation, it is necessary to check the current with special testers. If the need arises, a transfer of single-phase loads from more loaded phases to less loaded phases should be performed. The current in each phase of a three-phase machine must be carefully measured, after which it is necessary to redistribute the single-phase loads so that the currents in each phase are approximately equal. This work should only be performed by a professional with special equipment.
Protection against external phase imbalance can be performed using voltage stabilizers.A certain stabilizer is installed for each phase. It will be more efficient than installing one three-phase stabilizer.
In conclusion, it should be emphasized that phase imbalance can cause damage or complete failure of electrical appliances. Therefore, to eliminate it, it is necessary to install stabilizers or attract professionals who will professionally design the power grid.
Video
See also on this topic:
Overvoltage protection.What can help protect your network?
Uninterruptible power supply for a private house.
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Unwanted phase imbalance: 5 ways to protect the power grid
What is phase imbalance: its permissible values
Phase imbalance is a state of the power grid where one or two of them are overloaded more than the others, and the third is underloaded. Many electrical networks in which this problem occurs are, as a rule, three-phase, four and five.If the load distribution between the phases is the same (asymmetry) and the voltage is 220V current, then the electrical network will work properly.
When observing a skew in industrial networks, the power of three-phase devices will be significantly reduced. In everyday life, this problem will manifest itself in the failure of many electrical appliances: a refrigerator compressor, a power transformer power supply, a fan.
The quality of electricity has its own permissible norms and values, which can be found directly by looking at the special GOSTs and the corresponding PUE.
Permissible value and norms:
- Current ratio between underloaded and overloaded conductors should not exceed 30%;
- In ASU panels, the same ratio is 15%;
- In the reverse sequence, 2% is considered a permissible skew;
- Zero phase – 4%.
Uneven voltage skew in a three-phase network leads to phase imbalance. And this, in turn, threatens a malfunction of the device and even its failure.Breakdowns are especially common in their electric motors. It is imperative to deal with this problem, and it is better to eliminate it altogether.
Voltage imbalance in phases: causes and symptoms of its occurrence
Phase imbalance can occur for several reasons. One and the most important is the incorrect distribution of the load. For example, all appliances that run on electricity and consume a lot of energy are connected to the same outlet, while the rest remain free.
Another important reason for voltage imbalance is a zero break.The neutral wire in a three-phase network is of particular importance, namely, it is a phase balancer. If it breaks, then the function begins to perform the wire, which is the least loaded, and the voltage in the network drops to 127 V.
Whatever unstable power phenomenon is detected, all devices must be disconnected from the network immediately. And after that, start identifying any of its signs.
Signs of instability caused by skew:
- Fluorescent lamps and energy-saving lamps began to flicker;
- Ordinary light bulbs dim or, conversely, shine very brightly;
- All electrical appliances stopped working: the microwave oven or TV did not turn on, the iron, the washing machine turned off;
- The switch is hot;
- Sparks socket with obvious crackling or characteristic pops;
- The protection has worked, the machines have turned off;
- Clicks in the flap.
Whatever the reasons for the skew, you need to know its signs and be able to identify them. All of them testify to the accident that occurred on the line. If you do not have significant knowledge of electrical engineering, then it is better to call a specialist, since self-troubleshooting can be life-threatening.
What threatens phase imbalance: its danger and consequences
Phase imbalance in the mains can lead to negative consequences that are dangerous not only for the devices, but also for the consumer himself.To prevent such moments from happening, you need to think carefully about everything in advance and take protective measures in time.
Due to the uneven load on the phases, a serious disruption in the power supply can occur, and they, in turn, lead to a fire in the wiring or the devices themselves, various injuries.
No matter how many consequences arise, they will need to be corrected, and this will entail high costs, not only monetary, but also electrical.
Three groups of negative moments:
- Electrical receivers.Household appliances and equipment will become unusable or damaged.
- Sources of electricity. Mechanical stress and a decrease in the service life will be of great harm. Electricity consumption will increase significantly.
- Consumers. Electricity consumption will increase significantly, there will be a need to repair devices, injuries are possible.
Avoiding all this can be very simple, you need to plan everything well and correctly distribute all voltage loads in phases.
Phase imbalance protection: popular methods
To avoid problems with electricity in a private house or city apartment, you must first use the services of a professional electrician. He will not only competently plan all the power supply to the home, but also carry out the correct distribution of all the devices involved.
For symmetrical and correct operation of the electrical network, it is customary to install special devices. The device that equalizes the voltage in each hotel circuit is called a stabilizer.Such a stabilizer is able to protect equipment and various electrical devices from interruptions of serious network disruptions.
Each electrician can give recommendations on how to prevent phase imbalances, suggest several ways and advise what will happen if they are not followed.
Methods of protecting a three-phase power network from unbalance:
- Competently draw up a power supply project, taking into account all additional loads;
- Use an automatic leveler;
- If necessary, you need to change the very scheme of the electrical network, designed earlier;
- Change the power of consumers;
- Install an unusual phase control relay that can shut off the power.
Today on the modern market you can find and purchase a special meter that is equipped with an indicator. This small device is able to control and show the voltage that is in the network.