Maximum power transfer theorem


In electrical engineering, the maximum power transfer theorem states that, to obtain maximum external power from a source with a finite internal resistance, the resistance of the load must equal the resistance of the source as viewed from its output terminals. Moritz von Jacobi published the maximum power theorem around 1840; it is also referred to as "Jacobi's law".
The theorem results in maximum power transfer across the circuit, and not maximum efficiency. If the resistance of the load is made larger than the resistance of the source then efficiency is higher, since a higher percentage of the source power is transferred to the load, but the magnitude of the load power is lower since the total circuit resistance goes up.
If the load resistance is smaller than the source resistance, then most of the power ends up being dissipated in the source, and although the total power dissipated is higher, due to a lower total resistance, it turns out that the amount dissipated in the load is reduced.
The theorem states how to choose the load resistance, once the source resistance is given. It is a common misconception to apply the theorem in the opposite scenario. It does not say how to choose the source resistance for a given load resistance. In fact, the source resistance that maximizes power transfer is always zero, regardless of the value of the load resistance.
The theorem can be extended to alternating current circuits that include reactance, and states that maximum power transfer occurs when the load impedance is equal to the complex conjugate of the source impedance.
In 2013, it was shown that the fundamental mathematics of the maximum power theorem also applies to other physical situations, such as:
The theorem was originally misunderstood to imply that a system consisting of an electric motor driven by a battery could not be more than 50% efficient since, when the impedances were matched, the power lost as heat in the battery would always be equal to the power delivered to the motor.
In 1880 this assumption was shown to be false by either Edison or his colleague Francis Robbins Upton, who realized that maximum efficiency was not the same as maximum power transfer.
To achieve maximum efficiency, the resistance of the source could be made as close to zero as possible. Using this new understanding, they obtained an efficiency of about 90%, and proved that the electric motor was a practical alternative to the heat engine.

The condition of maximum power transfer does not result in maximum efficiency.
If we define the efficiency as the ratio of power dissipated by the load, R, to power developed by the source, V, then it is straightforward to calculate from the above circuit diagram that
Consider three particular cases:
The efficiency is only 50% when maximum power transfer is achieved, but approaches 100% as the load resistance approaches infinity, though the total power level tends towards zero.
Efficiency also approaches 100% if the source resistance approaches zero, and 0% if the load resistance approaches zero. In the latter case, all the power is consumed inside the source, so the power dissipated in a short circuit is zero.

Impedance matching

A related concept is reflectionless impedance matching.
In radio frequency transmission lines, and other electronics, there is often a requirement to match the source impedance to the load impedance to avoid reflections in the transmission line that could overload or damage the transmitter.

Calculus-based proof for purely resistive circuits

In the diagram opposite, power is being transferred from the source, with voltage and fixed source resistance, to a load with resistance, resulting in a current. By Ohm's law, is simply the source voltage divided by the total circuit resistance:
The power dissipated in the load is the square of the current multiplied by the resistance:
The value of for which this expression is a maximum could be calculated by differentiating it, but it is easier to calculate the value of for which the denominator
is a minimum. The result will be the same in either case. Differentiating the denominator with respect to :
For a maximum or minimum, the first derivative is zero, so
or
In practical resistive circuits, and are both positive, so the positive sign in the above is the correct solution.
To find out whether this solution is a minimum or a maximum, the denominator expression is differentiated again:
This is always positive for positive values of and, showing that the denominator is a minimum, and the power is therefore a maximum, when
The above proof assumes fixed source resistance. When the source resistance can be varied, power transferred to the load can be increased by reducing. For example, a 100 Volt source with an of will deliver 250 watts of power to a load; reducing to increases the power delivered to 1000 watts.
Note that this shows that maximum power transfer can also be interpreted as the load voltage being equal to one-half of the Thevenin voltage equivalent of the source.

In reactive circuits

The power transfer theorem also applies when the source and/or load are not purely resistive.
A refinement of the maximum power theorem says that any reactive components of source and load should be of equal magnitude but opposite sign.
Physically realizable sources and loads are not usually purely resistive, having some inductive or capacitive components, and so practical applications of this theorem, under the name of complex conjugate impedance matching, do, in fact, exist.
If the source is totally inductive, then a totally capacitive load, in the absence of resistive losses, would receive 100% of the energy from the source but send it back after a quarter cycle.
The resultant circuit is nothing other than a resonant LC circuit in which the energy continues to oscillate to and fro. This oscillation is called reactive power.
Power factor correction, is essentially the same idea as complex conjugate impedance matching although it is done for entirely different reasons.
For a fixed reactive source, the maximum power theorem maximizes the real power delivered to the load by complex conjugate matching the load to the source.
For a fixed reactive load, power factor correction minimizes the apparent power conducted by the transmission lines, while maintaining the same amount of real power transfer.
This is done by adding a reactance to the load to balance out the load's own reactance, changing the reactive load impedance into a resistive load impedance.

Proof

In this diagram, AC power is being transferred from the source, with phasor magnitude of voltage and fixed source impedance , to a load with impedance , resulting in a magnitude of the current phasor. This magnitude results from dividing the magnitude of the source voltage by the magnitude of the total circuit impedance:
The average power dissipated in the load is the square of the current multiplied by the resistive portion of the load impedance :
where and denote the resistances, that is the real parts, and and denote the reactances, that is the imaginary parts, of respectively the source and load impedances and.
To determine, for a given source voltage and impedance the value of the load impedance for which this expression for the power yields a maximum, one first finds, for each fixed positive value of, the value of the reactive term for which the denominator
is a minimum. Since reactances can be negative, this is achieved by adapting the load reactance to
This reduces the above equation to:
and it remains to find the value of which maximizes this expression. This problem has the same form as in the purely resistive case, and the maximizing condition therefore is
The two maximizing conditions
describe the complex conjugate of the source impedance, denoted by and thus can be concisely combined to: