Ch 11 Alternating current

PC1432
Peter Ho
Department of Physics, NUS

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11.1 Alternating voltages and currents, and phasors
To represent an ac voltage, in which the instantaneous voltage varies periodically, we need a
wave equation. For example, this can be represented by a cosine equation,
angular frequency ω = 2π f
[N.B. Lower-case letter v used here to denote
Instantaneous voltage, v = Vo cos(ωt + θ) a time-varying quantity, whereas upper-case
letter Vo to denote a constant.]
voltage amplitude phase at t = 0
t = 2π/ω
• A plot of a family of these cosine
waves with different θ is shown here: θ = -45°=-π/4
time
You can see that as θ increases, the θ=0
wave peaks earlier.
voltage

• So if a second wave has a θ larger

than a first wave, we say the second
θ = +45°=+π/4
wave leads the first wave by θ. I
• Conversley, if a second wave has a θ
smaller than the first wave, we say the
second wave lags the first wave by θ. θ = +90°=+π/2

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• Three-phase ac power supply in Singapore: v = Vo cos(ωt − 0)
400 v = Vo cos(ωt − 2π3 )
300 v = Vo cos(ωt − 4π3 )
200 Vo = 340 V
Voltage (V)

100 ω = 2 π f = 314.16 rad s–1

0
-100
-200
-300
-400
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
Time (s)

What about the current in the ac circuit? The current must also be alternating with the same
frequency ω as the voltage, but it may have a different phase q’ from the voltage. We can
represent its wave equation as below.
Instantaneous current, i = Io cos(ωt + θ' )
Current phase: θ' in general
current amplitude is not equal to θ:
if θ' > θ, i leads v;
if θ' < θ, i lags v.
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Root-mean-square average (Rrms)
• The instantaneous value of v or i varies sinusoidally from zero, to the positive amplitude value
(Vo or Io), then back to zero and then to the negative amplitude value (–Vo or –Io), then back to
zero, and repeats.
• The arithmetic average of these quantities over any one cycle is therefore zero.
• A more useful average is the root-mean-square average. This is the "square root of the mean
of the square" of the instantaneous values of that quantity.
• For a sinusoidal function, e.g., v, the square of the instantaneous value is
2 1 2 1 2
v 2 = Vo cos 2 (ωt + θ) = Vo + Vo cos[2(ωt + θ)]
2 2
1 2
The mean of the square, averaged over one cycle, is Vo
2
1
The root-mean-square V is thus given by Vrms = Vo = 0.707 ⋅ Vo
2
1
The rms quantity of any sinusoidal varying quantity is of the amplitude.
2
• This is the average almost universally used to specify performances of electrical equipment.

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Phasor diagram
The voltage and current waveforms can be graphically phasor representation:
Phasor A
represented by phasors. ω
• Imagine an arrow (phasor) A rotating anticlockwise at
an angular frequency ω.
• Assign a length to this phasor to be the amplitude of ωt + θ
the waveform Ao. Vo cos(ωt + θ)
•. At any instant in time t, the rotating phasor makes an
instantaneous angle with respect to the horizontal axis.
Call this the phase angle. It represents ωt + θ.
• The instantaneous projection on the horizontal axis is
a = Ao cos(ωt + θ) projection on the horizontal axis:

• Hence any sinusoidal quantity can be represented by

phasors.
• A key advantage is the behaviour of sum, difference
and ratios of sinusoidal quantities can be visualised
and obtained easily from phasors. The sum wave is

time
simply the horizontal projection of the phasor sum.
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• If a blue waveform has the same ω, but
leads the black waveform, then its phasor
is ahead of the black phasor. ω
• Conversely, if a red waveform lags the
black waveform, its phasor is behind the
black phasor.

Blue wave leads black wave.

Red wave lags black wave.

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11.2 Resistance, reactance and impedance
How to remember?
Resistor Resistance The voltage drop across the resistor is in-phase
ω VR with the current through it: v R = R ⋅ i R
IR =R
VR IR • Power dissipated per voltage cycle = Vrms •Irms

Inductor Inductive reactance The voltage drop across the inductor is 90º ahead
VL of the current through it. Recall that the voltage
VL = XL = ω⋅ L
IL drop across the inductor is proportional to the time
ω derivative of its current: v = L ⋅ di L
Reactances of both L
dt
IL inductor and capacitor are • Power dissipated per voltage cycle = zero
frequency dependent! • The inductor has low impedance at dc.

Capacitor Capacitive reactance The voltage drop across the capacitor is 90º behind
ω VC 1 the current through it. Recall that the current
= XC = across the capacitor is proportional to the time
IC ω⋅C
IC derivative of its voltage drop: i = C ⋅ dv C
C
dt
• Power dissipated per voltage cycle = zero
VC
mnemonic: CIVIL • The capacitor has low impedance at high frequencies.
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Impedance

V
Z= Note: V and I are generally not in phase, and so Z is a complex number.
I

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11.3 The LRC series circuit
Compute the impedance of the following circuit: vac

R L C
• Step 1. Assign a sense to the current as above. The elements are connected in series, so by
Kirchhoff's node law, the current through each element has exactly the same time dependence,
i.e., iR = iL = iC. If this were not so, charges will be accumulating somewhere in the circuit, which
is not the case for ac.
• Step 2. Draw current phasor I = IR = IL = IC to represent this situation. This current is the same
as the current coming from the power supply.
• Step 3. Add the voltage phasors for R, L and C, with the correct phase relationship.
VL

VR The length of each of these voltage phasors

I should correspond to the respective impedances.

VC
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• Step 4. Do the vector sum of the voltage phasors to get the resultant V, which will
correspond to the voltage output from the power supply.

VL 2
V | V |= VR + (VL − VC ) 2 = I ⋅ (R 2 + ( X L − X C ) 2
φ 1 2
I = I ⋅ (R 2 + (ωL − )
VR ωC
VC |V |
• Therefore, magnitude of circuit impedance | Z |= = (R 2 + ( X L − X C ) 2
|I |
1 2
= (R 2 + (ωL − )
ωC

• Voltage phase angle φ is the angle of V with respect to I, given by

1
( ωL − )
(VL − VC ) ( X L − X C ) ω C
tan φ = = =
VR R R

If you know how to work with complex numbers, you can get the final results simply by dividing
the complex value of V by the complex value of I.

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Some properties of this LRC circuit
The instantaneous power dissipated in this circuit is given by p = v ⋅ i ⋅ cosφ . In other words,
it is the component of the current that is in-phase with the voltage that causes power
dissipation. The out-of-phase component leads to power storage over half of the cycle which is
then recovered in the other half of the cycle. The cosφ factor is thus also called the power
factor.
The average power dissipated in this circuit averaged over 1 cycle is thus
given by < p >=< v ⋅ i > ⋅ cosφ

which is the same as P = Vrms I rms cosφ

power factor

Resonance behavior. This circuit has an interesting property:

• At very large ω, Z becomes large and cosφ becomes small, and the circuit behaviour is
dominated by the inductor.
• At very small ω, Z also becomes large and cosφ becomes small, but the circuit behaviour is now
dominated by the capacitor .
• At some intermediate ω, Z dips to a minimum value and cosφ =1, and the circuit behaviour is
dominated by the resistor. This occurs precisely when XL = XC, at ω = 1 / LC .
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 Resonance
The resonance frequency ωo of a circuit is the frequency at which its impedance dips to a local
minimum. Therefore the current reaches the largest value for a given drive V.
• This occurs for the series LRC circuit when XL = Xc. At this frequency, Z = R, φ = 0.
102 90
dominated by
60 inductor

Phase angle (deg)

Impedance (Ohm)

101 30
resonance
resonance 0
100 -30
-60 dominated by
capacitor
10-1 -90
103 104 105 106 103 104 105 106
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

Calculated for R = 0.10 Ω, L = 10 µH, C = 2.0 µF

1
ωo = = 224,000rads −1 = 35.6kHz
LC
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Summary

What you need to know:

(a) Properties of sinusoidal voltages and currents: amplitude and rms values, and phase relationships
(b) How to analyse ac circuits using phasors

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