What was Wrong with Fryze’s Approach To Power Theory Development?

Abstract

Prof. Stanisław Fryze, by developing his power theory (PT), made a fundamental contribution to studies on energy transfer in electrical circuits. After that, these studies were continued by scientists and engineers for several decades, and several new power theories were developed. It means that despite his major contribution, his PT still has failed to provide answers to several important questions asked about physical phenomena that associate the electric energy transfer and their mathematical description, as well as the methods of increasing its effectiveness by compensation. This article discusses the causes of the failure of Fryze’s approach to PT development. One of them was the rejection of the concept of harmonics. The extension of his PT to three-phase circuits has failed because he did not try to reveal the power properties of such circuits as a single unit, but expressed them in terms of the power properties of separate supply phases of such circuits.