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 the mountains, the shortest way is from peak to peak: but for that you must have long legs. Aphorisms should be peaks: and those to whom they are addressed, great and lofty.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

“What wouldst thou do, old man?
Think’st thou that duty shall have dread to speak
When power to flattery bows?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

“But oh, not the hills of Habersham,
And oh, not the valleys of Hall
Avail: I am fain for to water the plain.
Downward, the voices of Duty call—
Downward, to toil and be mixed with the main,
The dry fields burn, and the mills are to turn,
And a myriad flowers mortally yearn,
And the lordly main from beyond the plain
Calls o’er the hills of Habersham,
Calls through the valleys of Hall.”
—Sidney Lanier (1842–1881)

“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)