Alternating Current Circuits.I 3-1 INTRODUCTION Earlier we discussed time-independent DC voltages and DC voltages that vary as a function of time, In addition to these characteristics, a periodic, alternating characteristic of the electrical signal must be considered. This is called alternating current (AC). Pure direct current is defined as current that moves in one direction, whereas pure alternating current moves in one direc tion and then back in the other direction repeatedly. Many electrical signals have both AC and DC properties. ‘The simplest form of alternation is the sine wave, andin this chapter we ‘will develop the characteristics of this signal extensively. We will investigate the properties of capacitors and inductors in AC cireuits, introducing such terms as reactance, impedance and phasors. 3-2. THE SINE WAVE AND ITS PROPERTIES ‘The physical representation of a sine wave developed from a rotating vector is presented in Figure 3.1. This representation may be for either current or voltage. At a given tithe ¢, the instantanieous voltage, v(t), is related to the maximum or peak voltage, V,, by the equation u(t) = Vz, sin (wt) Gl \hére o is the angular velocity of the rotating vector in radians per second and lower case v is used for the time-varying voltage, (For sit involv. ing pure resistance, the expression for current is obtained by replacing v(t) by i(t) and V, by f,,) The time taken for one revolution or cycle is called the period, and is symbolized as 1. Hence the frequency, fin cycles per second is related to the period as 1 =-. 3. far 2) ‘There are 2a radians (360°) in one cycle; hence the relationships (3-3) CHAPTER 43Current Cireuits 1 FIGURE 3.1 Rotating vector representation of a sine wave. FIGURE 3.2 Representation of two sine waves of equal amplitude and frequency, with a phase angle between them, ‘The SI unit of cycles per second is the hertz (Hz), named after Heinrich Hertz, (1857-1894), Common multipliers are kilohertz (I kHz = 1 X 10° Hz), megahertz (1 MHz = 1 x 10° Hz) and gigahertz (1 GHz = 1 x 10° Hy). ‘Several signals having the same frequency and peak amplitude will not necessarily have precisely the same instantaneous amplitude, as illustrated in Figure 3.2. This difference is the-result of the phase angle, ¢, which is the angle between the two rotating vectors which define the signals, When we speak of the phase angle of a single sine wave, it is understood that its ro- tating vector is ¢ radians counterclockwise from zero (horizontal) at time 1 = 0. When the peak amplitude, V,, frequency, f and phase angle, , of a sine wave are given, the wave is completely specified, that is, its instanta- neous value at any time ¢ can be calculated, and its equation is : v(t) = Vysin(ot =), @-4) EXAMPLE 3.1 Given that the voltage in Figure 3.3 is represented by v(t) (ot = 6), find V,, w and ¢ from the graph. v, sinChapter 3 wv t o i 15. (econds) -10V FIGURE 3,3. AC signal represented by v() = 10 V sin (0.63 + 1.875). Solution: First, we recognize that V, is the maximum voltage attained by the signal, which in our case is 10 V, Second, we find the period of the signal by noting two identical points in the waveform which are separated by the period—say the points where the wave crosses the time axis on the down- swing side. The first crossing occurs a ¢ = 2.5 5 and the second at 1 = 12.55, thus the period, using Equation 3-3 as, 10s, The frequencies fand « are calculated 0.63 rad/s and ‘To find ¢, we write the signal in terms known as v(t) = 10 sin (0.63 1 = ) and choose a convenient time where we can measure v(t). Here we choose 0 s and from the graph find v(1) = 10 V. Substituting into the above ‘equation and solving for ¢ yields 10 = 10 sin ((0.63 (0)) ~ ) sin(—$) = 1 = = sin“) ‘There is only one solution to the above, but for other values like sin“! (0.5), there are two solutions. Special care must be taken to choose the correct one, ‘The maximum voltage is a wise choice as the point (0 evaluate, since there will be only one solution. ‘The solution to the above is, = 1575 rad = = 90° Alternating Curtent Circuits I 4546 Chapter 3 Alternating Current Circuits T FIGURE 3.4. Resistive circuit with an AC signal applied to it, ‘To verify our solution we can check another point, Choosing ¢ = 10s gives us v(10) = 10 sin (0.63(10) + 1.575) = 10 V, which is the value of the signal at that time. . A simple circuit with an alternating current is shown in Figure 3.4, Note that the schematic symbol for an AC source is a circle with a sine-wave inside, Using Ohm's law, we can write the instantaneous current at time ¢ as BS) or 6) i@ = (4) sin (wt- 4) = i, sin (ot—4). @ The circuit of Figure 3.3 raises an important question: How is the power ‘computation made for a circuit with an alternating signal? Since the algebraic sum of currents over the complete cycle is zero for a sine wave (half is posi- tive and half is negative), we resort to consideration of effective current, or rms (root-mean-square) current, To calculate an rms value, we square the instantaneous values, take the average (or mean), and obtain the square root. By methods of calculus, Ina = a | fe a7 Sea ENT; Substituting i(1) from Equation 3-6, with ¢ taken to be zero, yields =\ 2D p2 st? ra 4 0) os 1, Lone = EE = 0.707 Jy. 3-9) v2 Sa ‘The physical interpretation of the rms current is an AC ctirrent of peak value 1, which will dissipate the same amount of power in 4 resistor as a DC current OF valle Jpg . Likewise, the rms voltage for a sine wave is given by Im which results in ¥, You = fs = 0107 Vp x10) An additional way of describing the current is by the peak-to-peak reading, symbolized by Jp. As the name implies, the peak-to-peak value isChapter 3 Alternating Current Circuits 1 47 1.000 0707 Relative Signal Amplinde 1.000 FIGURE 3.5 Relationships of AC signal designations for a sine wave. the reading from the negative peak to the positive peak of the signal. Figure | 3.5 shows the relationships of the peak current, J,, the rms current, Iya, and ' the peak-to-peak current, Jp», Caution must be exercised when describing the value of an alternating signal; common practice is to speak in terms of rms i values, but itis wise to be specific. To get some idea of the relative sizes of these quantities, consider the | sine wave voltage available at a wall socket in the United States, Vjq, = 117 V at 60 Hz, Translating the rms value into peak and peak-to-peak values yields ¥, = 165 V and V,, = 330 V. ‘The rms quantities for waveforms other than sine waves can be devel- oped in the same manner by using Equation 3-7 with the signal value for i(). ' Several exercises are provided at the end of this chapter to emphasize the relationships. 3.3 REACTANCE, IMPEDANCE AND PHASORS Before analyzing the AC response of capacitor and induetor circuits, we must review complex numbers and phasor notation, The mathematics may seem Uunvvieldy at first, but it will soon become apparent how much simpler such representations make AC circuit analysis. A detailed description of phasors and complex numbers can be found in the appendices. ‘The wide use of capacitors in AC circuitry depends partially on the phase change in the signal which is introduced by the capacitor. Recall that Cv, This equation can be differentiated to obtain (dgldt) = C(dv/do). G11)48 Chapter 3. Alternating Cursent Circuits I Since current is defined as i = (dg/d#) and i(t) = J, sin (ot) for a sine wave with = 0°, we can write (#) = Ipsin (0) G12) which has the solution = (&) sin (ot — 90°) G13) oC, ‘This result states that the voltage across the capacitor remains sinusoidal and, by comparison with Equation 3-6, lags 90° behind the current. (Note that the current and voltage are 90° out of phase, thus no power is dissipated by a capacitor, since P = 1 V cos O, where © is the phase angle between the : curtent and voltage.) Put another way, the current leads the voltage by 90°. ‘This relationship is illustrated in Figure 3.6A.. Further comparison with Equation 3-6 suggests that the quantity 1/aC is equivalent to the “resist- ince” of the capacitor, This quantity is termed the capacitive reactance, Xcx and is defined as Bel = Se sage @-14) Similarly it can be shown that the inductive reactance for an inductor is WX] = ob = 2a (G15) FIGURE 3.64 Sine wave relationships between current and voltage in a" capacitor, "Raquetion 3-14 states that X¢ isa real, negative number. When we speak of magnitudes of Xe or of quantities derived from it, we mean [Zc This designation may be troublessme at first. There Is no appropriate designation which avolds a sense of ambiguity for the reader, however tis our feeling thatthe designation of Xa above (rel but negative number) isthe ‘most straightforward approach,Chapter 3 Alternating Current Cireuits 1 49 FIGURE 3.6B Sine wave relationships between current and vol Inductor, and that the voltage leads the current of an inductor by 90° (Figure 3.6B), ‘opposite the case of the capacitor? ‘The capacitive and inductive, reactances have units of ohms (2). One of the most important characteristics of the reactance is the frequency depend- ence, At DC (f = 0 Hz), the reactance of the inductor is zero (a short cireuit) whereas the reactance of the capacitor is infinite (an open circuit), As the Frequency increases, the reactance of the inductor increases, and that of the capacitor decreases. At high frequencies the inductor has a very high react- ance and the capacitor has a very low reactance, | ‘Ohm's law can be applied to impedances of reactive elements if phase f relationships are taken into account properly, To do this in a manageable way E wwe introduce two different, but equivalent notations for impedance: the com- plex and the phasor representations. For those unfamiliar with complex num- ber representation and phasors, a review is given in Appendix A. The net resistance to current flow in circuits including reactive compo- nents is called impedance. Impedance, Z, is defined as Z=R+iK G19) Z where R represents the purely resistive portion, X represents the reactive por- I tion of the overall circuit and j = V=1. Thos Z may be purely resistive if X = 0; it may be purely reactive if R = 0; or it may be a mixture of both if neither R nor X is zero, in which case Z is a complex number. Note the following distinction: X is a real number, but Z is a complex number. For an ideal capacitor or inductor, the resistance is zero (R = 0). Therefore the impedances of a capacitor and an inductor, respectively, are given by One way to keep the vollage and caren relationships straight sto emember the phrase “"BLI the ICE man.” Hece BLK signs thatthe voltage leads the Curent, in an inductor, 2, and vice-versa for he capacitor part—ICE. This phrase was pased on 0 ne of the authors by Matibew Brinkman,50 Chapter 3 Alternating Current Circuits 1 elated a "30" ot G7 2, = Jol. @-18) In the rectangular coordinate system (real numbers on the abscissa and imaginary ones on the ordinate), this notation accounts for the 90° phase differences between current and voltage. Figure 3.7 depicts the respective impedances of an inductor, capacitor and resistor on such a coordinate sys- tem. This type of representation is called a phasor diagram, A phasor is a vector on this complex plane rotating counter-clockwise, Note that such rep- resentation deals with only amplitude and phase, but is nonetheless vital in AC circuit analysis, as we shall see. ‘The polar representation of a phasor V (here we introduce the bold face to signify the vector nature of the phasor) with magnitude V (not bold faced), and phase angle ¢, can be written in rectangular coordinates as Vi = Veeui + Vimoginasy G-19) V = Veos + jV sind (3-20) or in polar coordinates as v=Web @-21) The roagiitude and phase angle are given by V= VW + Vimginen) (3-22) and jlmaginary Ae Ce wet Ze of impedances of resistor, capacitor and FIGURE 3.7 Phasor diogra inductor. ¢ C driven by a voltage vA) = eb (0) = o/C. Taking the derivative {NIC oF joe » i) which implies jw v4 ~ 1) 0r or «capi vith respect to time gives die = Z= vol) = Wor.Chapter’3 Alternating Current Circuits 1 51 6 = tan ( ) 3-23) Ve It is worth reviewing multiplication and division using the polar coord- nate notation Equation 3-21. Quite simply if A and B are phasors A= bq (3-24) , B= Won then AXBaAX Wout by 6-25) and A_A 7 plan oe, 6-26) As slated before, Ohm's law is applicable to impedances, but now we write it as ‘ vei i G2 ‘The equations for adding impedances in series and parallel are identical to those of resistors, with the exception that R is replaced with Z. Keep in mind, however, the vector nature as presented above, when adding and subtracting. Examples of such addition comprise the remainder of the chapter. EXAMPLE 3.2 Using the above notation, calculate the impedance Z for a capacitor and an inductor, Solution: First we define our voltage to be V = ¥/@ for both components. In the capacitor, the current feads the voltage by 90° and in the inductor the ‘current lags the voltage by 90° so ie= Zoro i/-90°. ‘Then by Ohms law Le 3-28) vo By = Win = Fe mapp = Xi L0" 62) ‘The following sections illustrate the use of phasors in the analysis of several AC circuits.52. Chapter3 Alternating Current Circuits 1 FIGURE 3.8 A series resistance- capacitance circult (low pass), 3-4 AC ANALYSIS OF RC CIRCUIT Low-Pass Filter ‘We may illustrate the frequency dependence of the capacitor by considering the RC eircuit shown in Figure 3.8, The circuit impedance for the series, circuit is : La Ig t lo =R+ Ko B-30) This expression in polar coordinate notation becomes = VR XE fan! (XR) 31) and the magnitude of the impedance is therefore Z=VRBFX2 3-32) If we allow the input voltage to assume a phase angle of O° (since the phase angle is relative, we can assign it any angle we wish, and zero is a convenient reference point), then Vin = VnZ0" G33) and the current out of the voltage source is Yale? © Zan" KER) oe or 18 Fax" IR oa ‘The voltage across the capacitor is then Ve = Vout = iZe. 6-36) Using Equation 3-28 for the impedance of the capacitor yields Vin Ye" TH Gigi * %L G37 or Vin , . Ve= (4%) /=tan“\(Kcl) — 90" G38) ‘Therefore the phase angle is b = — tan) XR) ~ 90° : G39) = ~tan"(— 1/aRC) —90° and the magnitude of the output voltage across the capacitor is Vine Vo = Vou G-40)Chapter 3. Alternating Current Cicults 1 53 ‘We can conveniently cast this expression as a ratio of output voltage to input voltage, This unit-less ratio is defined as the gain, A, of the circuit, If wwe bring the equation back to the original parameters, w, R and C, then the expression for the gain becomes A= Vou! Vig = XclZ (lo) VRP + (ilar) a >= (3-41 PRE +1 oe ‘Thus Equations 3-40 and 3-41 can be used to evaluate the frequency per- formance of the circuit, An example of the gain and phase angle as a function of frequency is shown in Figure 3.9 using values of R = 1 kQ and C = 1 wR This circuit is called a low-pass filter because it passes low-frequency signals with less attenuation than high-frequency signals, Notice that these are log graph. A passive RC circuit such as this one does not have a sharp cutoff above a certain frequency; rather, the attenuation changes gradually. The frequency at which the magnitude of the impedances of both components is equal is called the break-point frequency, f. We can rearrange [Xe] = oC = Rand insert f = w/2r to obtain : Sa = M2uRC. @-42) ‘We can write the gain at this frequeney from Equation 3-41 as * A= RIVIR = V3 = 0-101. @-43) loge Log Gain Phase Angle, (degrees) t ab Logo 3 f FIGURE 3.94 Gain versus frequency FIGURE 3.98 Phase angle versus for the circuit of Figure 3.8 (low pass). frequency for the circuit of Figure 3.8 (low pass).54 Chapter3 Alternating Cursent Circuits T ‘This is often referred to as the 3 dB point, since itis the frequency at which the gain has fallen 3 dB (4B = 20 logyo(A)). The 3 dB point is often referred © to when speaking about amplifiers, At this point the power out of the circuit Ya fz Vy 18 equal to half the power into the circuit. Notice as well that at this point the phase angle is —45°, midway in its range of —90° to 0°. High-Pass Filter FIGURE 3.10 A serles RC circuit ‘If the output of a series RC circuit is taken across K as shown in Figure 3.10, high pass). then a high-pass filter circuit results. By arialogy to the previous circuit Vou = #/— tan (XSR) ye p/P : Mat (Be Zz ‘The magnitude of the gain is Vout RC ee (3-¢ Va Vane a and the phase angle is 4 = ~tan“'(KAR) = tan“ "(oO G46) ‘The response for this high-pass filter is shown in Figure 3.11 for a citcuit with R = 10kQ and C = 1pR Logo o 1 23 4 5 _ T dy T T 7 : & $ 2 2 4 3 é glu 11) Log. FIGURE 3.11A Gain versus frequency FIGURE 3.118 Phase angle versus for the circuit of Figure 3,10 (high frequency for the circuit of Figure 3.10 pass), high pass).oo Chapter3 Alternating Current Circuits 1 Consider the possibility of inserting the low-pass filter in series with the high-pass filter, With the values used in’ the examples, the output would be only slightly attenuated between «@ = 100 rad/s and @ = 1000 rad/s; at all other frequencies, significant attenuation would occur. This combination is a primitive example of a band-pass filter, Similar analysis can be done to the RL circuit. As expected, if we replace the capacitor of a low-pass filter with an inductor, the circuit becomes a high- pass filter, and likewise for the high-pass filter. Such analysis will be left to the reader. 3-5 RLC RESONANT CIRCUIT ‘The REC cireuit shown in Figure 3.12 is commonly called a resonant circuit because energy is stored alternatively in the capacitor and the inductor. You may have already realized that the phase relationships of inductors and ‘capacitors are such that they might cancel each other. At a particular fre- quency this is true. This frequency, f, is called the resonant frequency of the circuit, It is the frequency at which the following condition holds: Ved = Pal 3-47) so that nfl (3-48) or 1 ~ 2VEC Since the capacitive reactance is 180° out of phase with the inductive react- ‘ance, the reactances cancel each other at fa. At other frequencies (f # f,) the phasor diagram of Figure 3.13 applies wlien |X,| > [Xcl; the Z vector lies below the R vector if [X;] < [Xcl. The impedance is G-49) fo Z= VR +X (3-50) and the phase angle is } = tan] — [Xe iRI. (3-51) © —rin fp Se op inte FIGURE 3.12 A series REC circult, 55 B FIGURE 3.13 Impedance representation of an REC circuit,56 Chapter Alternating Current Circuits 1 Atf = Jo, Z by Equation 3-50 is a minimum and the current in the circuit is therefore al a maximum, Similarly, a f the phase angle is O°, For frequencies other than this, the impedance is greater than K and the current is smaller than its maximum value. The quality factor, Q, of the circuit is defined as Q = XJR = wollR. G52) Figure 3.14 shows the general shape of the Vy or cutrent-vs.-frequency curve and illustrates how different values of Q affect this response. Note that the larger the value of Q, the sharper and narrower the peak; and the lower the value of Q, the more broad the peak. A higher value of Q indicates that the frequency response of the circuit is very select. = Vou Vin ‘Ourpu h Frequency. FIGURE 3.14 Va/Viq versus frequency for several series RLC cireuits with different @ values. Many other possible configurations exist that involve Z, C and R, The treatment of these circuits is somewhat less straightforward, owing 6 the various impedance relationships. Below we present an example of an RLC circuit with actual values. Examp.e 3.3 Consider the circuit shown in Figure 3.15. Using the values shown, calculate the impedance and'phase angle at f = 1000 Hz, : FIGURE 3.15 parallel resonant circuit,| | | Chapter3 Alternating Current Circuits 87 Solution: First, calculate the impedances of the individual components at f= 1000 Fiz. ne SE" Fa” FOV) = (8.0 x 10)0 ‘ and. %,, = jol = j2mfl = jn) (10\1) = (63 X 10°)2, ‘The impedance of the LR branch is the series combination of R and L or Zin = (1 X 10°) + (6.3 X 10°) 2. parallel with the LR branch Since the impedance of the C branch is (7) Pool GO Tass or [=J8.0 x 10°)] [(1.0 X 10°) + (6.3 x 10°) Pout =J(8.0 X 10°) + (1.0 X 10°) + (6.3 X 10°) 504 x 10° ~j8 x 10* 1X 10° = f1.7 x 10° ‘multiplying numerator and denominator by (1 X 10° + j 1.7 10°) and dividing through gives the result = (1.65 x 104) + j(2.0 x 10.2, Hence the magnitude of the impedance is Z= VTE X WY + 20 XY = 26 x 10° while the phase angle is = tan”! [(2.0 x 10*)K1.65 X 104] = 50. If the same components were used to make a series resonant circuit, the calculations would yield different results. Then the impedance and phase angle would be 7 Z=20x 102 . $= - 395% . Resonant circuits find use in oscillators, for which the oscillator fre- quency is controlled by the values of the components. Likewise, they are used in radio receiver circuits where tuned filters are employed to allow se- lection of signals of any required frequency.$8 Chapter 3. Alternating Current Circuits 1 3-6 QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 1, Complete the fotlovving summary table, Inductance Resistance Capacitance general relationship e elationship i=0 resistance or R reactance impedance a vector relationship 2. A.sine wave signal (20 V PP) is connected to a 10 k resistor, Calculate the current through the resistor in terms of average, rms, and peak currents, What wattage rating should the resistor have? 3. Determine the relationships among Vp, Vig and Vey for a square wave of amplitude + V,, 4. Determine the relationships among Vp, Von and Ver for a teiangular wave of amplitude :¥, fr which the de- pe 5. Compare'the rms currerits and power dissipations that would occur if the waveforms of problems 2, 3 and 4 were applied in turn to a 10 KO? resistor; in all eases, Vpp= 20 V. scription between 0 and a isv 6, Calculate the magnitude and phase angle of the imped- ance for the circuit of Figure A, soa A)iom FIGURE A Circuit for problems 6,7, 8, 9 and 10, 02 pR AS 7. At what frequency will the phase angle be 30° forthe circuit of Figure A? 8, Using the circuit values of Figure A, plot van in (where vag is taken across the capacitor) versus the log of froquency. Also plot the log of Voy/Ma versus the log of frequency. 9. Again usingthe ciuit values of Figure A, make the = same plots as in problem 8, but taking vy across the resistor 10, With reference to the plots of problems 8 and 9, is thore a frequency at Which Vg/ is the same in both cases? Explain, 11, Determine the resonance frequency for the series cit- cuit of Figure B. i Sakari aa app AR FIGURE B Circuit for problems 11 and 12, 12, Calculate the magnitude and phase angle of the impedance of the cieuit in Figure B when itis operated at 2500 Hz, 13, What value of L is nevessary for resonance at 10,000 Hi for the citcuit of Figure C when R = 570 Qand C= 0.01 ur? J. Given that L = 0.05 H in the circuit of Figure C, and the values of R and € as in problem 13, calculate the phase angle and magnitude of the impedance of the circuit at 100 Kitz, 15, Forthe R, Land € values in problem 14, what are the Q values ofthe circuit of Figure C at 100 k#lz, 1000 Hz, and 100 Hz? é FIGURE C Circuit for problems 13, 14 and 15. 16. For the high-pass filter of Figure D, at what frequency is Vagdy = 0.957 17. _ At what frequencies will the circuit of Figure D act as 1a differentiator? — oe 1040 FIGURED Cirouit for problems 16, 17, 18 and 19.18, Interchanging & and C of Figure D produces a low- pass filer. At what frequency Will Ygu/4, = 0.957 19. At what frequencies will the RC circuit of problem 18 act as an integrator? 20, Design a low-pass filer that has Yyu/Mj, = 0.5 at Ske, 21, Fot the cieuit that you designed in problem 20, at What frequencies wil Yna/M equal 0.01 and 0.992 2%. Consider an RLC seties circuit in which R = 1 KOZ. = 1 Hand C = 0.1 BF, Caloulate the resonance frequency, the impedance at resonance and the current at resonance when Vigg = 10 V. Also skotch Xj, Xe, @ and Z as functions of frequency. * 23, Consider an RLC parallel cicuit, as in Figure C, in which the component values are R = 1k0, C= 0.1 wR, and 1, = 1H. Sketch Z, Imy- and ¢) as functions of frequency. 24. Derive the following gain expression for the circuit of Figure E: Ry RY Rt oR) FIGURE E Circuit for problems 24 and 25. 25, Under what frequency conditions will the circuit of| Figure E behave as a simple voltage divider? Chapter’3 Alternating Curcent Ciceuits 1° 59 26, Derive the following gain expression for the circuit of Figure F: FIGURE F Circuit for problems 26, 27 and 28. 27, Under what conditions of R and C will the gain of the citcuit of Figure F be the same as that of a simple voltage divider? 28. Suggest a possible use for the circuit of Figure P. 29. Consider the circuit of Figure G, where Ry = 20.0, X; = 37.70, Ry = 100, and Xy = —53.1.0. Compute the current and the phase angle between the current and the applied voltage. 30, Determine the values of L and C used in problem 29. a) FIGURE G_ Cireuit for problems 29 and 30,