Maintenance Technician Practice Test

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The power factor of an AC power system may NOT be:

-0.85
0.7
1.5
0.2

The correct answer is: 1.5

The power factor in an alternating current (AC) power system is a measure of how effectively electrical power is being converted into useful work output. It is defined as the cosine of the phase angle between the current and voltage waveforms and ranges from -1 to 1 for typical AC systems. A power factor of 1 indicates that the current and voltage are perfectly in phase, meaning all the power supplied is used effectively for work. A power factor of 0 indicates that the current and voltage are out of phase by 90 degrees, with no real power being used. Negative values indicate that the current is leading the voltage in phase, which can happen in capacitive circuits. Since the power factor cannot exceed 1 or be less than -1 in a standard AC system, a value of 1.5 is not physically possible for a power factor. Therefore, it is the only choice that cannot be a valid power factor in this context.