power factor

noun

power factor

noun
1

Business, Electrical engineering, Electricity, Electromagnetism, Energy, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics The ratio of the actual power to the apparent power in an alternating current power system; specifically, the cosine of the phase angle between the voltage and the current.

  • The power factor is of interest because it is a measure of the power which does useful work.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.