telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

and the

electrical power industry Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

, the term demand factor is used to refer to the fractional amount of some quantity being used relative to the maximum amount that could be used by the same system. The demand factor is always less than or equal to one. As the amount of demand is a time dependent quantity so is the demand factor. :

f_\text(t) = \frac

The demand factor is often implicitly averaged over time when the time period of demand is understood by the context.

Electrical engineering

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

the demand factor is taken as a time independent quantity where the numerator is taken as the maximum demand in the specified time period instead of the averaged or instantaneous demand. :

f_\text = \frac

This is the peak in the load profile divided by the full load of the device. Example: If a residence has equipment which could draw 6,000 W when all equipment was drawing a full load, drew a maximum of 3,000 W in a specified time, then the demand factor = 3,000 W / 6,000 W = 0.5 This quantity is relevant when trying to establish the amount of load for which a system should be rated. In the above example, it would be unlikely that the system would be rated to 6,000 W, even though there may be a slight possibility that this amount of power can be drawn. This is closely related to the load factor which is the average load divided by the peak load in a specified time period. :

f_\text = \frac

References

* {{Electricity generation Power engineering

Electrical engineering

See also

References