In telecommunication, electronics and the electrical power industry, the term demand factor has the following meanings:
1. The ratio of (a) the maximum real power consumed by a system to (b) the maximum real power that would be consumed if the entire load connected to the system were to be activated at the same time.
Note: The maximum real power is usually integrated over a specified time interval, such as 15 or 30 minutes, and is usually expressed in kilowatts. The real power that would be consumed if the entire load connected to the system were to be activated at the same time is obtained by summing the power required by all the connected equipment. This load is expressed in kilowatts if the consumed real power is expressed in kilowatts.
2. The ratio of (a) the maximum power, integrated over a specified time interval, such as 15 or 30 minutes, and usually expressed in kilowatts, consumed by a system, to (b) the maximum volt-amperes, expressed in kilovolt-amperes if the power is expressed in kilowatts, integrated over a time interval of the same duration, though not necessarily during the same interval.
Charges for electrical power may be based on the demand factor as well as the kilowatt-hours of electrical energy consumed, to take account of reactive power.
Famous quotes containing the words demand and/or factor:
“The ceaseless, senseless demand for original scholarship in a number of fields, where only erudition is now possible, has led either to sheer irrelevancy, the famous knowing of more and more about less and less, or to the development of a pseudo- scholarship which actually destroys its object.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)
“It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.... This, in turn, means that our statesmen, our businessmen, our everyman must take on a science fictional way of thinking.”
—Isaac Asimov (1920–1992)