Complex Power vs Instantaneous Power

You can call it as you want-no problem with that.

You could have had the information at 8:52AM had you done your own search;

Complex Power

First things first, an English lesson:

- instantaneous means 'for a moment', and colloquially 'right now' or 'at a given time';

- instant means 'immediate'.

For example, a power spike is instantaneous since it lasts only a very short while; someone's reaction to being poked with a needle is instant in the sense that there's no time spent thinking about it.

So, instantaneous power: it's power at a given moment. Instantaneous real power is real power at that moment and no other; instantaneous reactive power is reactive power at that moment. Power's being instantaneous has nothing to do with its being real, reactive, or complex: instantaneous is an adjective that modify the noun 'power' to fix it in time; real, reactive, and complex are other adjectives that modify the noun to fix its type.

Cheers! DZ

P.S. Instant and instantaneous are always being confused in the English language these days.

Another thing to look out for: continual and continuous. Continual means that something continues uninterrupted in time; continuous means something that continues in space. So, some does something continually; and a chain is a continuous series of links.

Every time I see someone titled 'Manager of Continuous Improvement' or a department named 'Dept. of Continuous Improvement', I shudder. I write 'Continual Improvement' all the time and others be damned.

In our next lesson: English outside of the US. Centre (middle) vs. center (the verb); and cheque (a note allowing the transfer of money between bank accounts) vs. check (the verb 'to check'; the noun in the sense of 'doing a check').

Mon Dieu--un Québecois! Rédacteur Cranquechafte?

At least Noah Webster finished off what Samuel Johnson didn't quite manage.

Ben oui, mon Tornado, suis Québécois. Toi, t'es expatrié?

And sorry, I don't know Monsieur Cranquechafte. Who dat? Lolll ...

DZ

P.S. Y'a des francos en Arkansas? Depuis quand ça?

Mon cher M. Cranquechafte:

Editor Crankshaft is an alternative persona I sometimes use when commenting on compositional topics (as in a few CR4 threads). It was my writing group nickname. I simply translated it (sort of) into French.

Do not complicate the matters with a false philosophising names , it depend on the individual understating for the matter and what he means.

If you do not want to confuse people then I suggest that the answer to your question is "NO".

My reasoning is simple - instantaneous power means or at least implies "real power that exists at an instant". This is because "instantaneous" is a descriptor or adjective and "power" is a entity or noun whose common usage means "real" power.

Complex power has imaginary components and would normally be referred to as "instantaneous complex power". Using the short form, "instantaneous power", outside of a conversation that was only about complex power would be likely to mislead people.

Remember lightning fault study in High Voltage Engineering.

1. All electrical power is, by definition, instantaneous. Power is a rate, not a quantity. Power integrated over time is energy.

2. Instantaneous power can be real (watts), reactive (VAR) or complex (VA). To accurately characterize the power, one of these adjectives must be applied.