There is the view, widespread in the electrical engineering community, that the effectiveness of energy transfer in electrical systems, thus the power factor, is reduced by energy oscillations which, according to this view, are the cause of the reactive power. This view is challenged in this article. It demonstrates on a variety of circuits that this view is not right. Power factor can decline without energy oscillations, or energy oscillations do not cause its decline. In addition, the reactive power can occur in the absence of energy oscillations or their presence does not cause the reactive power. This observation has not only cognitive but practical merit as well. According to Instantaneous Reactive Power p-q theory, to improve the power factor, energy oscillations between the supply source and the load should be compensated. Because this conclusion is erroneous, an active power filter, controlled according to this recommendation in the presence of the supply voltage distortion or/and asymmetry, instead of improving the power factor can worsen it. The physical meaning of the reactive power is also investigated in this article, with the conclusion that there is no physical phenomenon in electrical systems that could be described in terms of reactive power.

中文翻译：

---

能量振荡会降低电气系统中的能量传递吗？

在电气工程界普遍存在的一种观点是，电气系统中能量传输的效率（即功率因数）会因能量振荡而降低，根据这种观点，能量振荡是无功功率的原因。本文对此观点提出了挑战。它在各种电路上证明了这种观点是不正确的。功率因数可以在没有能量振荡的情况下下降，或者能量振荡不会导致其下降。另外，无功功率可以在没有能量振荡的情况下发生，或者它们的存在不会引起无功功率。这种观察不仅具有认知能力，而且具有实践价值。根据瞬时无功功率q理论上，为了提高功率因数，应该补偿电源和负载之间的能量振荡。由于该结论是错误的，因此在电源电压失真或/和/或不对称的情况下根据此建议进行控制的有源功率滤波器会导致功率恶化，而不是提高功率因数。本文还研究了无功功率的物理含义，得出的结论是，电气系统中没有可以用无功功率来描述的物理现象。