Nonlinear load

A nonlinear load is a load (an element of circuit which consumes a power, active or reactivates, on the system of Alimentation - not to confuse with the electric Charge) which is not exclusively made up of electric dipoles linear.

This has several consequences:

Supplied with sinusoidal tensions, this load is crossed by currents which are not purely sinusoidal: one speaks about Courants harmonics
the Power-factor cannot be comparable to the cosine of the dephasing of the current compared to the tension (for the good reason which the current is not sinusoidal).

In a load made up of many dipoles, only one nonlinear dipole (for example a diode) makes this load nonlinear.

The majority of the devices of the electronic of power behave like nonlinear loads. For example, a directly supplied halogenous lamp is a linear load whereas this same lamp supplied through a Gradateur is a nonlinear load.

In certain cases the distinction between linear Load and charges nonlinear is more delicate: in a certain range of tension and current, a reactance with iron core can be regarded as a linear load. Beyond a certain threshold, saturation is felt and this reactance must be regarded as a nonlinear load.

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