A student paper 1896

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gar

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gar

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Thanks Ingenieur. I perused your reference some, but did not do any thorough search at this time.

I have found a date reference for the Steinmetz article I mentioned.
ON THE LAW OF HYSTERESIS.BY CHAS. PROTEUS STEINMETZ.
from the American lnstitute of Elecfrical EngineersTransactions, vol. 9, pp. 344,1892. Copyright 1892 by the AmericanInstitute of Electrical Engineers.
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A copy of the article is at http://www.garagehacker.com/files/C.P Steinmetz - On the Law of Hysteresis - Pt 1.pdf
Also a limited study of this did not provide a definition of power factor.

What is apparent is that a very substantial understanding of AC circuit theory existed by 1892, at least by Steinmetz.

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gar

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Smart $:

Thanks.

Steinmetz clearly uses Power Factor = Power / Vrms*Irms in the chapter you referenced. The book is 1900 and his statement is so off handed that I assume he considered it common knowledge at that time.

My guess is that he may have been the inventor of the power factor equation, possibly 1892 or 93 or earlier.

From Wiki

he emigrated to the United States in 1889.
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AC hysteresis theory[edit]

Shortly after arriving in the United States, Steinmetz went to work for Rudolf Eickemeyer in Yonkers, New York, and published in the field of magnetic hysteresis, which gave him worldwide professional recognition.[11] Eickemeyer's firm developed transformers for use in the transmission of electrical power among many other mechanical and electrical devices. In 1893 Eickemeyer's company, along with all of its patents and designs, was bought by the newly formed General Electric Company, where he quickly became known as the engineering wizard in GE's engineering community.[11]
AC steady state circuit theory[edit]

Steinmetz's work revolutionized ACcircuit theory and analysis, which had been carried out using complicated, time-consuming calculus-based methods. In the groundbreaking paper, "Complex Quantities and Their Use in Electrical Engineering", presented at a July 1893 meeting published in the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE), Steinmetz simplified these complicated methods to "a simple problem of algebra". He systematized the use of complex numberphasor representation in electrical engineering education texts, whereby the lower-case letter "j" is used to designate the 90-degree rotation operator in AC system analysis.[2][12] His seminal books and many other AIEE papers "taught a whole generation of engineers how to deal with AC phenomena".[2][13]
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gar

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Ingenieur:

Precisely where does Steinmetz first define power factor, and at that location does he define himself as the inventor of the concept? Or is there a reference somewhere that defines him as the inventor?

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mivey

mivey

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mivey said:
"power factor" originated by J.A. Fleming in paper published in 1892.
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Brittanica cites the following where Fleming coined the term:

"Journal of the Institution Electrical Engineers" vol 21 pg 606, London 1892
 
mivey

mivey

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mivey said:
Brittanica cites the following where Fleming coined the term:

"Journal of the Institution Electrical Engineers" vol 21 pg 606, London 1892
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article specifics:

"Experimental researches on alternate-current transformers"
Author(s): J.A. Fleming
Source: Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, Volume 21, Issue 101, p. 594 –686
 
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gar

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mivey:

Thanks.

How do I find the original source on the Internet?

I found a University of Illinois copy of an index up to volume 20, and I found a Dr. J. A. Fleming in at least two places. This index indicates that a tremendous amount of electrical knowledge existed by 1890.

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mivey

mivey

Senior Member
gar said:
170620-1205 EDT

mivey:

Thanks.

How do I find the original source on the Internet?

I found a University of Illinois copy of an index up to volume 20, and I found a Dr. J. A. Fleming in at least two places. This index indicates that a tremendous amount of electrical knowledge existed by 1890.

.
Click to expand...
Universities should have it. I can get you a link.
 
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gar

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mivey:

Thanks for the specific link.

This is a most interesting paper. I have only looked at portions so far. Where Fleming defines power factor he does not explicity say he invented the concept, but to date this is the earliest reference I have seen where power factor is mentioned and defined. And the basic definition is clearly stated as Power Factor = Power / Vrms*Irms .

This Fleming paper is extremely interesting from the perspective of the measurement problems he encountered.

Prior to 1878-79 when Edison developed his electrical power system and components there were virtually no electrical measuring instruments for DC or AC. The only physical instruments Edison had for measurement where: galvanometer (Thomson 1858 patent), therometer, and a weight scale for measuring torque and thus power.

d'Arsonval (1882), and Weston improvement (1888) created the moving coil DC meter. Other instrumentation had to evolve to make AC measurements possible. In the Feming paper electrostatic voltmeters were used and a couple types of AC wattmeter. There were no scopes, no DVMs, no rectifier AC meters, and no recording oscillographs. Hot wire meters were not mentioned in the paper. Fleming was looking for fractional percent accuracy.

AC frequency was measured, but I saw no mention of how.

This paper indicats that a lot of good work (knowledge, math, and analysis) had been done on AC power and components by 1892.

Fleming may have been using the power factor concept for a couple years before this paper. Note: that at least indirectly Fleming discusses power factor correction.

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mivey

mivey

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gar,

you're welcome. I have seen a lot if these old papers and these guys were all over the developing knowledge of the day, ravenous even. It is amazing to read some follow-up discussions and see commentary from the giants of electrical history.

What a club that must have been! Something like: "Hey, my paper was published and you should have read what that Steinmetz had to say. I'm going to respond and set him straight!"
 
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gar

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170622-0741 EDT

Fleming mentioned in his 1892 paper that at times transformers would explode and blow apart when AC power was first applied. 1890 time frame, or somewhat before. He had no scopes or other test instruments like we have. He then discusses how he used available components to prove that there were random times when the transformer inrush current was very high, and he further discussed why.

Back around 1878 Edison had discovered that iron core magnetic materials had magnetic saturation characteristics. Apparently unknown before this and dynamos were quite inefficient because fields were being way overdriven wasting generated power. So magnetic saturation was common knowledge by the late 1880s. Foucault in 1855 discovered eddy current effects. Edison was aware of Foucault currents and used laminated material in his generator rotor core.

Both Fleming and Steinmetz worked for transformer manufacturers in the late 1880s studying transformer losses.

A lot was unknown about transformers in the late 1880s. It appears that Fleming created and used his power factor equation to evaluate transformer losses. Not quite the same as our use of the equation.

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