Basic Calculations Using Real Numbers
A perfect resistor stores no energy, so current and voltage are in phase. Therefore there is no reactive power and . Therefore for a perfect resistor
For a perfect capacitor or inductor there is no net power transfer, so all power is reactive. Therefore for a perfect capacitor or inductor:
Where X is the reactance of the capacitor or inductor.
If X is defined as being positive for an inductor and negative for a capacitor then we can remove the modulus signs from Q and X and get
Instantaneous power is defined as:
where v(t) and i(t) are the time varying voltage and current waveforms.
This definition is useful because it applies to all waveforms, whether they are sinusoidal or not. This is particularly useful in power electronics, where nonsinusoidal waveforms are common.
In general, we are interested in the real power averaged over a period of time, whether it is a low frequency line cycle or a high frequency power converter switching period. The simplest way to get that result is to take the integral of the instantaneous calculation over the desired period.
This method of calculating the average power gives the real power regardless of harmonic content of the waveform. In practical applications, this would be done in the digital domain, where the calculation becomes trivial when compared to the use of rms and phase to determine real power.
Read more about this topic: AC Power
Famous quotes containing the words basic, calculations, real and/or numbers:
“Justice begins with the recognition of the necessity of sharing. The oldest law is that which regulates it, and this is still the most important law today and, as such, has remained the basic concern of all movements which have at heart the community of human activities and of human existence in general.”
—Elias Canetti (b. 1905)
“Nowhere are our calculations more frequently upset than in war.”
—Titus Livius (Livy)
“Children ... seldom have a proper sense of their own tragedy, discounting and keeping hidden the true horrors of their short lives, humbly imagining real calamity to be some prestigious drama of the grown-up world.”
—Shirley Hazzard (b. 1931)
“The only phenomenon with which writing has always been concomitant is the creation of cities and empires, that is the integration of large numbers of individuals into a political system, and their grading into castes or classes.... It seems to have favored the exploitation of human beings rather than their enlightenment.”
—Claude Lévi-Strauss (b. 1908)