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Understanding Complex Power Units

The document discusses the concept of complex power in AC circuits, detailing the decomposition of instantaneous power into real and reactive components. It explains how real power (P) is measured in watts and reactive power (Q) in volt amperes reactive (VAR), emphasizing the importance of minimizing reactive power. Additionally, it introduces the definition of complex power (S) and its graphical interpretation in the complex plane, along with methods for calculating real and reactive power for given loads.

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Ken
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7 views2 pages

Understanding Complex Power Units

The document discusses the concept of complex power in AC circuits, detailing the decomposition of instantaneous power into real and reactive components. It explains how real power (P) is measured in watts and reactive power (Q) in volt amperes reactive (VAR), emphasizing the importance of minimizing reactive power. Additionally, it introduces the definition of complex power (S) and its graphical interpretation in the complex plane, along with methods for calculating real and reactive power for given loads.

Uploaded by

Ken
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

COMPLEX POWER

The expression for the instantaneous power given in equation

may be expanded to provide further insight into AC power. Using trigonometric identities, we obtain the following expressions:

Recalling the geometric interpretation of the impedance Z, you may recognize that |Z| cosθ = R and |Z| sin θ = X are the
resistive and reactive components of the load impedance, respectively. On the basis of this fact, it becomes possible to write the
instantaneous power as

The physical interpretation of this expression for the instantaneous power should be intuitively appealing at this point. As the
equation above suggests, the instantaneous power dissipated by a complex load consists of the following three components:

Since Pav corresponds to the power absorbed by the load resistance, it is also called the real power, measured in units of watts
(W). On the other hand, Q takes the name of reactive power, since it is associated with the load reactance. Table 7.1 shows the
general methods of calculating P and Q.

The units of Q are volt amperes reactive, or VAR. Note that Q represents an exchange of energy between the source and the
reactive part of the load; thus, no net power is gained or lost in the process, since the average reactive power is zero. In general,
it is desirable to minimize the reactive power in a load.
The computation of AC power is greatly simplified by defining a fictitious but very useful quantity called the complex power S

where the asterisk denotes the complex conjugate. You may easily verify that this definition leads to the convenient expression
or

The complex power S may be interpreted graphically as a vector in the complex plane, as shown in the figure below
The magnitude of S, denoted by |S|, is measured in units of volt amperes (VA) and is called the apparent
power, because this is the quantity one would compute by measuring the rms load voltage and
currents without regard for the phase angle of the load. The complex power may also be expressed by
the product of the square of the rms current through the load and the complex load impedance:

or, equivalently, by the ratio of the square of the rms voltage across the load to the complex conjugate of the load impedance:

Solve the following problems:


1. Use the definition of complex power to calculate real and reactive power for the load.

2. Use the definition of complex power to calculate the real and reactive power for the load in the figure. Repeat the calculation when
the inductor is removed from the load, and compare the real power transfer between source and load for the two cases.

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