Hi Again:
Since you like to think about electrical concepts, here is a question on a finer point. A 3 phase gen star configured being loaded at 100 amps.
The same 3-phase gen being loaded at 100 amps but as a delta.
Now, voltages aside, how do you decide the wire size needed that will satisfy each scenario..??.. A star is basically, at least in a sense, a series connection. Delta parallel in a sense. The more continuous the current is in a wire the more it will heat, I.E. why DC will heat more than 60Hz VAC and the associated wire size recommendations are larger for DC VS single phase AC. My guess is that a star will be somewhere between 33% and 50% less demanding than pure DC current per phase wire and a delta would sit between 50% and 66% less demanding than steady state DC per phase wire. The reason for the range is that the times the wire is carrying current generated by itself in relation to when it is providing a path for the other two phases changes the resistance, as you noted in a different post, which will vary the current as well. The range on my part is the uncertainty of the effect of this changing state. I don't mean this to sound "static" in any sense, all three phases are changing their voltages in relation to each other constantly there by changing their associated currents constantly... etc.. etc.. I would think there should be a three phase wire gauge chart addressing this situation.... or at least correction multipliers...
