1/30/2017 ElectricalSystems:ComplexPowerandPowerTriangle

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Electrical
Systems
Friends,HereIamcommittedtomakethe
materialsassimpleaspossible.Ipromiseto
minimizetheuseofschoolmathssothat ComplexPowerandPowerTriangle
bothTechnocratsandstudentswillbenefit
fromthearticles.Herethemainaimisto
developclearconcept. Introduction

InthelastarticlewediscussedthebasicsofElectricalPowerandrelatedterminologies.Herewewilldevelopthe
conceptofComplexPowerandPowerTriangle.Thesetwoareveryimportantconceptsusedfrequentlybypower
engineers.Asthisarticlerequirestheknowledgeofpreviousarticlesoitisadvisedtoatleasthavealookatthelast
article.
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Search Fromthepreviousarticlethefollowingpointsareclear.

Theinstantaneouspowerpiscomposedofrealpowerandreactivepower.
archive
Thetimeaveragevalueofinstantaneouspoweristherealpower(truepower)is|V||I|cos
2012(8) Theinstantaneousreactivepoweroscillatesaboutthehorizontalaxis,soitsaveragevalueiszero
Themaximumvalueofthereactivepoweris|V||I|sin
2011(17)
December(1)

November(1) Itshouldberememberedthatrealpoweristheaveragevalueandthereactivepowerismaximumvalue.

October(1)
ComplexPower
September(1)

August(1) InpowersystemanalysistheconceptofComplexPowerisfrequentlyusedtocalculatetherealandreactivepower.

July(1)
Thisisaverysimpleandimportantrepresentationofrealandreactivepowerwhenvoltageandcurrentphasorsare
June(2) known.ComplexPowerisdefinedastheproductofVoltagephasorandconjugateofcurrentphasor.SeeFigA
ComplexPowerand
PowerTriangle

Instantaneous,Average,
RealandReactive
Power

May(1)

April(3)

March(2)

February(2)

January(1)

2010(15)

followers

LetvoltageacrossaloadisrepresentedbyphasorVandcurrentthroughtheloadisI.

IfSisthecomplexpowerthen,

S=V.I
*

VisthephasorrepresentationofvoltageandI*istheconjugateofcurrentphasor.

SoifVisthereferencephasorthenVcanbewrittenas|V|0.
(Usuallyonephasoristakenreferencewhichmakeszerodegreeswithrealaxis.Iteliminatesthenecessityof
introducinganonzerophaseangleforvoltage)

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1/30/2017 ElectricalSystems:ComplexPowerandPowerTriangle
Followers(192)Next
Letcurrentlagsvoltagebyanangle,soI=|I|
(currentphasormakesdegreeswithrealaxis)

I*=|I|
So,
S=|V||I|(0+)=|V||I|

(Formultiplicationofphasorswehaveconsideredpolarformtofacilitatecalculation)

WrittingtheaboveformulaforSinrectangularformweget

S=|V||I|cos+j|V||I|sin

Follow TherealpartofcomplexpowerSis|V||I|coswhichistherealpoweroraveragepowerandthe
imaginarypart|V||I|sinisthereactivepower.
Therewasanerrorinthis
gadget So,S=P+jQ
PoweredbyBlogger.

WhereP=|V||I|cosandQ=|V||I|sin

ItshouldbenotedthatSisconsideredhereasacomplexnumber.TherealpartPisaveragepowerwhichisthe
averagevalue,whereasimaginarypartisreactivepowerwhichisamaximumvalue.SoIdonotwanttodiscuss
furtherandcallSasphasor.IfyoulikemoretroubleIalsoadviseyoutoreadmyarticleaboutphasororsomeother
articlesonphasorandcomplexnumbers.

Returningtoourmainpoint,fromtheaboveformulaitissurethatPisalwaysmorethanzero.Qispositivewhen
ispositiveorcurrentlagsvoltagebydegrees.Thisisthecaseofinductiveload.Wepreviouslysaidthatinductance
andcapacitancedonotconsumepower.Thepowersystemengineersoftensayaboutreactivepowerconsumption
andgeneration.Itissaidthatinductiveloadsconsumereactivepowerandcapacitorsproducereactivepower.This
incorrectterminologycreatesconfusion.

Thefactisthatmostoftheloadsareinductiveandtheyunnecessarilydrawmorecurrentfromsource.Althoughin
eachcyclebothinductanceandcapacitancedrawpowerfromthesourceandreturnsameamountofpowertothe
sourcebutthebehaviorofinductanceandcapacitanceareopposingtoeachother.Whencapacitorsareconnected
inparalleltoinductiveloadthepowerrequirementofinductiveloadissuppliedbycapacitorinhalfcycleandinnext
halfcyclethereversehappens.Dependinguponthevaluesofcapacitorthispowerrequirementofinductanceinthe
loadmaybefullyorpartiallysatisfied.Ifpartiallysatisfiedtherestwillbedrawnfromthedistantsource.Byproperly
selectingthecapacitancethemaximumvalueofreactivepower(Q)drawnfromthedistantsource(orreturnedto
thedistantsource)isreduced.Thisreductioninreactivepowerresultsinreductionoflinecurrentsothereduction
oflossesintransmissionlineandimprovementinvoltageatloadend.

PowerTriangle

Returningtothecomplexpowerformula,P,QandSarerepresentedinapowertriangleasshowninfigurebelow.

Sisthehypotenuseofthetriangle,knownasApparentPower.Thevalueofapparentpoweris|V||I|

or|S|=|V||I|

ItismeasuredinVoltAmporVA.

PismeasuredinwattandQismeasuredinVoltAmpReactiveorVAR.Inpowersystemsinsteadofthesesmaller
unitslargerunitslikeMegawatt,MVARandMVAisused.

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Theratioofrealpowerandapparentpoweristhepowerfactoroftheload.

powerfactor=Cos=|P|/|S|

=|P|/(P2+Q2)

ThereactivepowerQandapparentpowerSarealsoimportantinpowersystemanalysis.Asjustshownabovethe
controlofreactivepowerisimportanttomaintainthevoltagewithintheallowedlimits.Apparentpowerisimportant
forratingtheelectricalequipmentormachines.

TotalPowerofParallelCircuits

Inrealworldtheloadsareusuallyconnectedinparallel.Herewewillshowthetotalpowerconsumedbyparallel
branches.SeeFigureC.Ithastwobranches.

Firstwehavetodrawtheindividualpowertrianglesforeachbranch.Nextthepowertrianglesarearrangedbackto
backkeepingrealpowerinpositivexdirectionasshown.Thetotalpowerconsumedisobtainedbyconnecting
startingpointOtothetipoflasttriangle.Thisisactuallytheresultofadditionofcomplexnumbers.

IfS1 =P1 +jQ 1

S2 =P2 +jQ 2

Then,S=S1+S2

or S=(P1+P2 )+j(Q 1+Q 2 )

P=P1+P2
Q=Q 1+Q 2

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1/30/2017 ElectricalSystems:ComplexPowerandPowerTriangle

Intheabovediagram S1 P1, Q 1and 1correspondtobranch1andS2 P2, Q 2and 2 correspondtobranch2.

S,P,Qandcorrespondtototalpowerconsumptionasseenbythegenerator

Labels:Basics

6comments:

Anonymoussaid...
Clearandconcise.Amazing!

October28,2015at3:11AM

Unknownsaid...
butwhydoweuseconjugateofcurrentthantheoriginalphasorinthecalculation?

May7,2016at8:51AM

SumitRaisaid...
BESTTECHNIQUETOEXPLAIN

May20,2016at9:20AM

AbhishekSinghsaid...
Greatwork

December20,2016at10:49PM

AbhishekSinghsaid...
Greatwork!Beneficialforsociety

December20,2016at10:51PM

Anonymoussaid...
superbb

January22,2017at9:19AM

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