alternator
Origin of alternator
1Words Nearby alternator
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use alternator in a sentence
Those considering RV use will be interested to know that a kit is available to allow recharging via the vehicle’s alternator while driving.
The best portable power stations to keep your devices charged | Bob Beacham | October 1, 2021 | Popular-ScienceThe powerful alternator on the Wondership was, of course, worked by the same motor that drove the big propellers.
The Boy Inventors' Radio Telephone | Richard BonnerBedded down upon solid rock there was a high-tension alternator capable of absorbing the entire output of the mighty turbine.
Spacehounds of IPC | Edward Elmer SmithI'm going to run a penstock up those falls, and put in a turbine, driving a high-tension alternator.
Spacehounds of IPC | Edward Elmer SmithThe humming whir of the great alternator rose gradually into a scream like the outcry of some angry thing.
The Man Who Rocked the Earth | Arthur Train
It might be the turbine alternator of the Ring running by its own inertia for some time after the discharge had ceased.
The Man Who Rocked the Earth | Arthur Train
British Dictionary definitions for alternator
/ (ˈɔːltəˌneɪtə) /
an electrical machine that generates an alternating current
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for alternator
[ ôl′tər-nā′tər ]
An electric generator that produces alternating current. The generator's coil is rotated (by a turbine, motor, or other power source), and its circular path causes it to cut cross a magnetic field (set up by strong magnets), first in one direction, then the other, with each cycle. The electric potential induced in the coil by this motion thus alternates between positive and negative once with each cycle, resulting in alternating current. See more at induction.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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