The paper revisits the concepts of instantaneous active and reactive powers and provides a novel definition for basic circuit elements based on quantities utilized in classical mechanics, such as absolute and relative velocity, momentum density, angular momentum and apparent forces. The discussion leverages from recent publications by the authors that interpret the voltage and current as velocities in generalized Lagrangian coordinates. The main result of the paper is a general and compact expression for the instantaneous active and reactive power of inductances, capacitances and resistances as a multivector proportional to the generalized kinetic energy and the geometric frequency multivector. Several numerical examples considering stationary and transient sinusoidal and non-sinusoidal conditions are discussed in the case study.

The paper discusses the relationships between electrical quantities, such as voltages, currents, and frequency, and geometrical ones, namely curvature and torsion. The proposed approach is based on the Frenet frame utilized in differential geometry and provides a general framework for the definition of the time derivative of electrical quantities in stationary as well as transient conditions. As a byproduct, the proposed approach unifies and generalizes the time- and phasor-domain frameworks. Other noteworthy results are a new interpretation of the link between frequency and the time derivatives of voltage and current; and a definition of the rate of change of frequency that includes the novel concept of “torsional frequency.” Several numerical examples based on balanced, unbalanced, harmonically-distorted and transient voltages illustrate the findings of the paper.

This paper proposes to utilize intentional time delays as part of controllers to improve the damping of electromechanical oscillations of power systems. Through stability theory, the control parameter settings for which these delays in Power System Stabilizers (PSSs) improve the small signal stability of a power system are systematically identified, including the key parameter settings for which stability regions in the parameter plane remain connected for effective operation. The paper shows that PSSs with two control channels can be effectively designed to achieve best damping characteristics for a wide range of delays. Analytical results are presented on the One-Machine Infinite-Bus (OMIB) electromechanical power system model. To demonstrate the opportunities in more realistic dynamic models, our results are then implemented via numerical analysis on the IEEE standard 14-bus system.