Power (physics) - Peak Power and Duty Cycle

Peak Power and Duty Cycle

In the case of a periodic signal of period, like a train of identical pulses, the instantaneous power is also a periodic function of period . The peak power is simply defined by:

$P_0 = \max$ .

The peak power is not always readily measurable, however, and the measurement of the average power is more commonly performed by an instrument. If one defines the energy per pulse as:

$\epsilon_\mathrm{pulse} = \int_{0}^{T}p(t) \mathrm{d}t \,$

then the average power is:

$P_\mathrm{avg} = \frac{1}{T} \int_{0}^{T}p(t) \mathrm{d}t = \frac{\epsilon_\mathrm{pulse}}{T} \,$ .

One may define the pulse length such that so that the ratios

$\frac{P_\mathrm{avg}}{P_0} = \frac{\tau}{T} \,$

are equal. These ratios are called the duty cycle of the pulse train.

Read more about this topic: Power (physics)

Famous quotes containing the words peak, power, duty and/or cycle:

“In all things I would have the island of a man inviolate. Let us sit apart as the gods, talking from peak to peak all round Olympus. No degree of affection need invade this religion.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

“A seashell should be the crest of England, not only because it represents a power built on the waves, but also the hard finish of the men. The Englishman is finished like a cowry or a murex.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

“Never anything can be amiss
When simpleness and duty tender it.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

“The cycle of the machine is now coming to an end. Man has learned much in the hard discipline and the shrewd, unflinching grasp of practical possibilities that the machine has provided in the last three centuries: but we can no more continue to live in the world of the machine than we could live successfully on the barren surface of the moon.”
—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)