2.5 COMPLEX POWER = If the phasor expressions for voltage and current are known, the calculation of real and reactive power is accomplished conveniently in complex form. If the voltage across and the current into a certain load or part of a circuit are ex. pressed by V = |V|/a and I = |I|/f, the product of voltage times the conju- gate of the current is Vit = Vax 1/—B=|¥|-|t|fe-B8 221) This quantity, called the complex power, is usually designated by S. In rectangu- lar form ‘ S=|V|-|I| cos (« - B)+J|V|*|1| sin (@ — B) (2.22) Since » — B, the phase angle between voltage and current, is 8 in the previous equations, S=P+j0 (2.23) Reactive power Q will be positive when the phase angle a — between voltage and current is positive, that is, when a > B, which means that current is lagging the voltage. Conversely, Q will be negative for B >«, which indicates current leading the voltage. This agrees with the selection of a positive sign for the reactive power of an inductive circuit and a negative-sign for the reactive powet of a capacitive circuit. To obtain the proper sign for Q, it is necessary to calcu- late S as VI*, rather than V*I, which would reverse the sign for Q. 2.6 THE POWER TRIANGLE Equation (2.23) suggests a graphical method of obtaining the overall P, Q, and phase angle for several loads in parallel since cos 0 is P/|S|. A power triangle can be drawn for an inductive load, as shown in Fig. 2.7. For several loads in &Figure 2.7 Power triangle for an inductive load parallel, the total P will be the sum of the average powers of the individual loads, which should be plotted along the horizontal axis for a graphical analysis. For an inductive load, Q will be drawn vertically upward since it is positive. A capacitive load will have negative reactive power, and Q will be vertically down- ward. Figure 28 illustrates the power triangle composed of P,, Q,, and S, for a lagging load having a phase angle @, combined with the power triangle composed of P2, Q,, and S;, which is for a capacitive load with a negative 9, . These two loads in parallel result in the triangle having sides P; + Py, Q, + Q> and hypotenuse S,. The phase angle between voltage and current supplied to the combined loads is Oy.