Which unit is used to express duty factor?

Which unit is used to express duty factor?

• A. Percent
• B. Volts
• C. Hertz
• D. Seconds

Answer: (A)

Duty factor describes how much of each cycle a device is active, as a proportion of the total cycle time. Since it’s a ratio of on-time to the full period, it’s inherently dimensionless, and using a percentage makes that proportion easy to read—e.g., 25% means the device is on for a quarter of the cycle. Other units don’t express this proportion: volts relate to electrical potential, hertz to frequency (cycles per second), and seconds to duration. A decimal like 0.25 can be used, but percent is the standard way to express duty factor.

Duty factor describes how much of each cycle a device is active, as a proportion of the total cycle time. Since it’s a ratio of on-time to the full period, it’s inherently dimensionless, and using a percentage makes that proportion easy to read—e.g., 25% means the device is on for a quarter of the cycle. Other units don’t express this proportion: volts relate to electrical potential, hertz to frequency (cycles per second), and seconds to duration. A decimal like 0.25 can be used, but percent is the standard way to express duty factor.