Alternating Current

Group 1

History
The first alternator to produce alternating current was a dynamo electric generator based on Michael Faraday's principles constructed by the French instrument maker Hippolyte Pixii in 1832. A power transformer developed by Lucien Gaulard and John Dixon Gibbs was demonstrated in London in 1881, and attracted the interest of Westinghouse. They also exhibited the invention in Turin in 1884, where it was adopted for an electric lighting system. Many of their designs were adapted to the particular laws governing electrical distribution in the UK. In 1882, 1884, and 1885 Gaulard and Gibbs applied for patents on their transformer; however, these were overturned due to prior arts of Nikola Tesla and actions initiated by Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti. William Stanley, Jr. designed one of the first practical devices to transfer AC power efficiently between isolated circuits. Using pairs of coils wound on a common iron core, his design, called an induction coil, was an early transformer.

Alternating Current (AC)

Alternating current (AC) electricity is the type of electricity commonly used in homes and businesses throughout the world. While direct current (DC) electricity flows in one direction through a wire, AC electricity alternates its direction in a back-and-forth motion. The direction alternates between 50 and 60 times per second, depending on the electrical system of the country. In alternating current (AC, also ac), the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current (DC, also dc), the flow of electric charge is only in one direction. The abbreviations AC and DC are often used to mean simply alternating anddirect, as when they modify current or voltage.

Difference between AC and DC electricity

Electrons have negative () electrical charges. Since opposite charges
attract, they will move toward an area consisting of positive (+) charges. This movement is made easier in an electrical conductor, such as a metal wire.

Rate of Change
AC electricity alternates back-and-forth in direction 50 or 60 times per second, according to the electrical system in the country. This is called the frequency and is designated as either 50 Hertz (50Hz) or 60 Hertz (60Hz).

Light Bulbs
Many electrical deviceslike light bulbsonly require that the electrons move. They don't care if the electrons flow through the wire or simply move back-and-forth. Thus a light bulb can be used with either AC or DC electricity.

Ac is Periodic Motion
The regular back-and-forth motion of the electrons in a wire when powered by AC electricity is periodic motion, similar to that of a pendulum. Because of this periodic motion of the electrons, the voltage and current follow a sine waveform, alternating between positive (+) and negative (), as measured with a voltmeter or multimeter. The rate that the voltage or current peaks pass a given point is the frequency of the AC electricity.

Advantages of AC Electricity
There are distinct advantages of AC over DC electricity. The ability to readily transform voltages is the main reason we use AC instead of DC in our homes.

Transforming of Voltage
The major advantage that AC electricity has over DC electricity is that AC voltages can be readily transformed to higher or lower voltage levels, while it is difficult to do that with DC voltages. Since high voltages are more effecient for sending electricity great distances, AC electricity has an advantage over DC. This is because the high voltages from the power station can be easily reduced to a safer voltage for use in the house. Changing voltages is done by the use of a transformer. This device uses properties of AC electromagnets to change the voltages

Tuning Circuits
AC electricity also allows for the use of a capacitor and inductor within an electrical or electronic circuit. These devices can affect the way the alternating current passes through a circuit. They are only effective with AC electricity. A combination of a capacitor, inductor and resistor is used as a tuner in radios and televisions. Without those devices, tuning to different stations would be very difficult.

Summary
We commonly use AC electricity to power our television, lights and computers. In AC electricity, the current alternates in direction. AC electricity was proven to be better for supplying electricity than DC, primarily because the voltages can be transformed. AC also allows for other devices to be used, opening a wide range of applications.

Mathematics of AC Voltages
Alternating currents are accompanied (or caused) by alternating voltages. An AC voltage v can be described mathematically as a function of time by the following equation:

Where: is the peak voltage (unit: volt), is the angular frequency (unit: radians per second) The angular frequency is related to the physical frequency, (unit = hertz), which represents the number of cycles per second, by the equation . is the time (unit: second).

 The peak-to-peak value of an AC voltage is defined as the difference between its positive peak and its negative peak. Since the maximum value of is +1 and the minimum value is 1, an AC voltage swings between and . The peak-to-peak voltage, usually written as or , is therefore .

Power and Root mean Square

The relationship between voltage and the power delivered is

where

represents a load resistance.

Rather than using instantaneous power, , it is more practical to use a time averaged power (where the averaging is performed over any integer number of cycles). Therefore, AC voltage is often expressed as a root mean square (RMS) value, written as , because

For a sinusoidal voltage:

The factor

is called the crest factor, which varies for different waveforms.

For a triangle waveform centered about zero

 For a square waveform centered about zero

For an arbitrary periodic waveform

of period

Example:
To illustrate these concepts, consider a 230 V AC mains supply used in many countries around the world. It is so called because its root mean square value is 230 V. This means that the time-averaged power delivered is equivalent to the power delivered by a DC voltage of 230 V. To determine the peak voltage (amplitude), we can rearrange the above equation to:

For our 230 V AC, the peak voltage is therefore , which is about 325 V. The peak-to-peak value of the 230 V AC is double that, at about 650 V.

Illustration of (AC)

Sample Problem:

What is the peak-to-peak voltage of the waveform in the given circuit? [A].2 V [B].4 V [C].6 V [D].8 V

In the given Sine wave, Highest Peak voltage value = 10v. Lowest Peak voltage value = 2v. Therefore, Peak-to-peak = 10 - 2 = 8 volts. Another values: Highest Peak voltage value = 10v. Lowest Peak voltage value = -5v. Therefore, Peak-to-peak = 10 - (-5) = 15 volts.

Highest Peak voltage value = -10v. Lowest Peak voltage value = -2v. Therefore, Peak-to-peak = (-10) - (-2) = -10 + 2 = -8 = 8 volts.