AC POWER and ENERGY BASICS

WATT, KILOWATT, VA, and POWER FACTOR

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There is a common confusion about the distinction between the watt and volt-amp (VA) measures for AC electric power, as well as about power factor. In this tutorial you will find an explanation of these terms, the usage of these quantities in specifying backup energy sources, conversion formulas, and a calculator.
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POWER: WATT and VA RELATIONSHIP Energy in general is defined as the capacity for doing work. Power by definition is the rate of work or energy flow (which are numerically the same): P = Energy/Time.

Hydrogen It can be shown that in electrical circuits the instantaneous power is p(t)=v(t)i(t). In this equation Alternatives v(t) and i(t) are instantaneous voltage and current as functions of time t. In alternating current (AC) circuits all these quantities are continuously varying. The value of the main interest in electrical industry is an average value of p(t) over a complete AC cycle. This quantity is called real (active) power and is measured in watts (symbol: W): Sponsored Ads

Watts=average{v(t)i(t)}
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It represents that actual work done by an electric current or an actual energy consumed by a load to create for example heat, light or motion. Electrical systems normally have inductors and capacitors, which are referred to as reactive components. Ideal reactive components do not dissipate any energy, but they draw currents and create voltage drops, which makes the impression that they actually do. This "imaginary power" is called reactive power. Its average value over a complete AC cycle is zero because of the phase shift between voltage and current. It doesn't contribute to net transfer of energy, but circulates back and force between the source and the load and places a heavier load on the utility. Reactive power is measured in Volt-Amps-Reactive (VAR). Contrary to wattage which represents an average value, numerically VAR represents an amplitude of the instantaneous reactive power. Besides reactances, practical electrical systems also contain non-linear components such as rectifiers, which distort current waveform and create current harmonics. All these harmonics except for the fundamental one, do not contribute to the net energy transfer. The combination of real, distortion and reactive power makes up apparent (or total) power, measured in Volt-Amps (VA): VA= VI

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In this formula V and I are root-mean-square (RMS) values of voltage and current. WHAT IS POWER FACTOR (PF)? PF by definition is the ratio of real to apparent power: PF=W / VA People are often looking for a calculator to convert volt-amps (VA) to watts. Well, you need to know the value of PF to do the calculation: W=VAPF, where PF is in decimal. Likewise, you can convert watt to VA power by using this formula: VA=W/PF. Unfortunately, PF value is practically never stated in appliance's spec sheet. Old computers used to have PF=0.6-0.65. Modern computers normally have an SMPS

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