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:

    Sleep shall neither night nor day
    Hang upon his penthouse lid;
    He shall live a man forbid;
    Weary sev’n-nights, nine times nine,
    Shall he dwindle, peak and pine;
    Though his bark cannot be lost,
    Yet it shall be tempest-tossed.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    ... the most important effect of the suffrage is psychological. The permanent consciousness of power for effective action, the knowledge that their own thoughts have an equal chance with those of any other person ... this is what has always rendered the men of a free state so energetic, so acutely intelligent, so powerful.
    Mary Putnam Jacobi (1842–1906)

    Here, my dear Lucy, hide these books. Quick, quick! Fling “Peregrine Pickle” under the toilette—throw “Roderick Random” into the closet—put “The Innocent Adultery” into “The Whole Duty of Man”; thrust “Lord Aimworth” under the sofa! cram “Ovid” behind the bolster; there—put “The Man of Feeling” into your pocket. Now for them.
    Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816)

    Only mediocrities progress. An artist revolves in a cycle of masterpieces, the first of which is no less perfect than the last.
    Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)