Power components in a system with sinusoidal and nonsinusoidal voltages and/or currents

Abstract

Currently accepted definitions of power components are reviewed, and their disadvantages are analysed. New definitions of active, reactive, distortion, and apparent power are discussed. It is attempted to find a clear physical interpretation, and to formulate this for each power component in systems with sinusoidal and/or nonsinusoidal voltage and current. Formulas for the straightforward calculation of each power component are obtained. It is shown that (a) distortion power, as defined here consists of both active and reactive terms (b) apparent power in a nonsinusoidal system must be represented as a many-dimensional vector, and not as a vector of three dimensions as is generally accepted today. Examples are given to illustrate the application of the developed theory.