AC power

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(Redirected from Real power) Jump to: navigation, search This article deals with power in AC systems. See Mains electricity for information on utility supplied AC power.

Usually hidden from the unaided eye, the blinking of (non-incandescent) lighting powered by AC mains is revealed in this motion-blurred long exposure of city lights. Light is emitted twice each cycle. Power is defined as the rate of flow of energy past a given point. In alternating current circuits, voltage and current do not have to change at the same time. When there is significant current with less voltage, the power equipment carries less power than it might. Basically, the extra current heats the equipment, but with less voltage it conveys less power. The size (and cost) of the equipment is chosen so that it can still remain cool as it carries a given amount of current. So, if it carries current with less voltage, some of the capacity (and cost) of the equipment is wasted. This waste is critical for engineers concerned with AC electric power systems. The energy that is not consumed is reflected back to the generator(s), but the reflection wastes energy because of the resistance of the wires. The currents and voltages are forced out of synchrony by attached devices that store and release energy in different ways at different times. In AC power systems, attached loads that store energy behave like combinations of coils and capacitors. Coils store power as magnetic fields, behave something like "electrical flywheels" and delay changes in the current. Capacitors store power as electric charge, behave something like "electrical springs" and therefore advance changes in currents. The portion of power flow averaged over a complete cycle of the AC waveform that results in net transfer of energy in one direction is known as real power. The portion of power flow due to stored energy which returns to the source in each cycle is known as reactive power.

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1 Real, reactive, and apparent power 2 Reactive power flow 3 Unbalanced polyphase systems 4 Basic calculations using real numbers 5 More generally using phasors/complex numbers 6 Multiple frequency systems 7 References

[edit] Real, reactive, and apparent power

The apparent power is the vector sum of real and reactive power Engineers use the following terms to describe energy flow in a system (and assign each of them a different unit to differentiate between them):

Real power (P) [Unit: W] Reactive power (Q) [Unit: VAR] Complex power (S) Apparent Power (|S|) [Unit: VA]: i.e. the absolute value of complex power S.

In the diagram, P is the real power, Q is the reactive power (in this case negative), S is the complex power and the length of S is the apparent power. The unit for all forms of power is the watt (symbol: W). However, this unit is generally reserved for the real power component. Apparent power is conventionally expressed in volt-amperes (VA) since it is the simple product of rms voltage and rms current. The unit for reactive power is given the special name "VAR", which stands for volt-amperes reactive (since reactive power flow transfers no net energy to the load, it is sometimes called "wattless" power). Note that it does not make sense to assign a single unit to

complex power because it is a complex number and it is therefore defined as a pair of two units: W and VAR. Understanding the relationship between these three quantities lies at the heart of understanding power engineering. The mathematical relationship among them can be represented by vectors or expressed using complex numbers, (where j is the imaginary unit). The complex value S is referred to as the complex power. Consider an ideal alternating current (AC) circuit consisting of a source and a generalized load, where both the current and voltage are sinusoidal. If the load is purely resistive, the two quantities reverse their polarity at the same time, the direction of energy flow does not reverse, and only real power flows. If the load is purely reactive, then the voltage and current are 90 degrees out of phase and there is no net power flow. This energy flowing backwards and forwards is known as reactive power. If a capacitor and an inductor are placed in parallel, then the currents flowing through the inductor and the capacitor oppose and tend to cancel out rather than adding. Conventionally, capacitors are considered to generate reactive power and inductors to consume it. This is the fundamental mechanism for controlling the power factor in electric power transmission; capacitors (or inductors) are inserted in a circuit to partially cancel reactive power of the load. A practical load will have resistive, inductive, and capacitive parts, and so both real and reactive power will flow to the load. The apparent power is the product of voltage and current. Apparent power is handy for sizing of equipment or wiring. However, adding the apparent power for two loads will not accurately give the total apparent power unless they have the same displacement between current and voltage. 'Bold text==Power factor== Main article: Power factor Power factor measures the efficiency of an AC power system. Power factor is the real power per unit of apparent power. (pf = Wh/VAh) A power factor of one is perfect, and 99% is good. Where the waveforms are purely sinusoidal, the power factor is the cosine of the phase angle () between the current and voltage sinusoid waveforms. Equipment data sheets and nameplates often will abbreviate power factor as "cos" for this reason. Power factor equals 1 when the voltage and current are in phase, and is zero when the current leads or lags the voltage by 90 degrees. Power factors are usually stated as "leading" or "lagging" to show the sign of the phase angle, where leading indicates a negative sign. For two systems transmitting the same amount of real power, the system with the lower power factor will have higher circulating currents due to energy that

returns to the source from energy storage in the load. These higher currents in a practical system will produce higher losses and reduce overall transmission efficiency. A lower power factor circuit will have a higher apparent power and higher losses for the same amount of real power transfer. Purely capacitive circuits cause reactive power with the current waveform leading the voltage wave by 90 degrees, while purely inductive circuits cause reactive power with the current waveform lagging the voltage waveform by 90 degrees. The result of this is that capacitive and inductive circuit elements tend to cancel each other out.

[edit] Reactive power flow

In power transmission and distribution, significant effort is made to control the reactive power flow. This is typically done automatically by switching inductors or capacitor banks in and out, by adjusting generator excitation, and by other means. Electricity retailers may use electricity meters which measure reactive power to financially penalise customers with low power factor loads. This is particularly relevant to customers operating highly inductive loads such as motors at water pumping stations.

[edit] Unbalanced polyphase systems

While real power and reactive power are well defined in any system, the definition of apparent power for unbalanced polyphase systems is considered to be one of the most controversial topics in power engineering. Originally, apparent power arose merely as a figure of merit. Major delineations of the concept are attributed to Stanley's Phenomena of Retardation in the Induction Coil (1888) and Steinmetz's Theoretical Elements of Engineering (1915). However, with the development of three phase power distribution, it became clear that the definition of apparent power and the power factor could not be applied to unbalanced polyphase systems. In 1920, a "Special Joint Committee of the AIEE and the National Electric Light Association met to resolve the issue. They considered two definitions:

that is, the quotient of the sums of the real powers for each phase over the sum of the apparent power for each phase.

that is, the quotient of the sums of the real powers for each phase over the magnitude of the sum of the complex powers for each phase.

The 1920 committee found no consensus and the topic continued to dominate discussions. In 1930 another committee formed and once again failed to resolve the question. The transcripts of their discussions are the lengthiest and most controversial ever published by the AIEE (Emanuel, 1993). Further resolution of this debate did not come until the late 1990s.

[edit] Basic calculations using real numbers

A perfect resistor stores no energy, and current and voltage are in phase. Therefore there is no reactive power and P = S. Therefore for a perfect resistor:

For a perfect capacitor or inductor on the other hand 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.

[edit] More generally using phasors/complex numbers

(In this section tildes (~) will be used to indicate phasor or complex quantities and letters with no annotation will be considered the magnitude of those quantities.) Say we have a series circuit with some resistance and some reactance. From what has been said before we can make up the expression:

which simplifies to:

but the complex impedance

is simply:

so:

However,

(multiplying a complex number by its conjugate squares its so:

magnitude and makes its angle 0) and

[edit] Multiple frequency systems

Since an RMS value can be calculated for any waveform, apparent power can be calculated from this. For real power it would at first appear that we would have to calculate loads of product terms and average all of them. However if we look at one of these product terms in more detail we come to a very interesting result.

however the time average of a function of the form cos(t + k) is zero provided that is nonzero. Therefore the only product terms that have a nonzero average are those where the frequency of voltage and current match. In other words it is possible to calculate real (average) power by simply treating each frequency separately and adding up the answers. Furthermore, if we assume the voltage of the mains supply is a single frequency (which it usually is), this shows that harmonic currents are a bad thing. They will increase the rms current (since there will be non-zero terms added) and therefore apparent power, but they will have no effect on the real power transferred. Hence, harmonic currents will reduce the power factor.

Harmonic currents can be reduced by a filter placed at the input of the device. Typically this will consist of either just a capacitor (relying on parasitic resistance and inductance in the supply) or a capacitor-inductor network. An active power factor correction circuit at the input would generally reduce the harmonic currents further and maintain the power factor closer to unity.

[edit] References