Dictionary of Electrical Engineering

Commonly used terms in the Electrical industry.

leakage reactance
the amount of inductive reactance associated with leakage flux. The leakage flux is the flux which traverses in paths farther from the designated paths such as the magnetic core in transformers and the air gap in electric machines and constitutes the non-useful flux. The electric circuit symbol of leakage reactance is Xl . It is a function of the leakage inductance and the frequency of operation. Higher values of leakage reactance affect the regulation and efficiency of the system. Xl is expressed in ohms.