AC Single Phase Energy

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Course № E-3001
AC Single Phase Energy
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AC Single Phase Energy
Fred L. Mullen, P.E. Ohio
Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen
Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 1

Table of Contents
1 Introduction................................................................................................................. 4
2 Definitions................................................................................................................... 4
2.1 Units.................................................................................................................... 4
2.1.1 Voltage........................................................................................................ 4
2.1.2 Current ........................................................................................................ 4
2.1.3 Load ............................................................................................................ 5
2.1.4 Power .......................................................................................................... 6
2.1.5 Energy ......................................................................................................... 6
2.2 Circuits................................................................................................................ 6
2.2.1 Basic Circuit................................................................................................ 6
2.2.2 Series and Parallel Circuits ......................................................................... 7
2.2.3 Ground ........................................................................................................ 8
2.3 Equations........................................................................................................... 10
2.3.1 Energy Cost............................................................................................... 10
2.3.2 Energy ....................................................................................................... 11
2.3.3 Power ........................................................................................................ 11
2.3.4 Current ...................................................................................................... 11
2.4 RMS .................................................................................................................. 12
2.5 Power Factor ..................................................................................................... 14
2.6 Power Calculations ........................................................................................... 16
3 Phasor Diagrams ....................................................................................................... 16
4 Resistive Loads ......................................................................................................... 17
5 Inductive Loads......................................................................................................... 18
6 Capacitive Loads....................................................................................................... 20
7 Combined Loads ....................................................................................................... 23
7.1 Simple Industrial Load...................................................................................... 23
7.2 Practical Industrial Load ................................................................................... 24
7.3 Correcting Power Factor ................................................................................... 26
8 Review ...................................................................................................................... 29

Table of Illustrations
Figure 2-1 Voltage and Current .......................................................................................... 4
Figure 2-2 Impedance Diagram .......................................................................................... 5
Figure 2-3 Electrical and Hydraulic Circuit Schematics .................................................... 7
Figure 2-4 Parallel and Series Circuits ............................................................................... 7
Figure 2-5 Ungrounded Appliance ..................................................................................... 8
Figure 2-6 Grounded Appliance ......................................................................................... 9
Figure 2-7 Parallel Circuits and Ground Notation.............................................................. 9
Figure 2-8 AC Sinusoidal Voltage Source........................................................................ 12
Figure 2-9 Power and Energy with a Sinusoidal Source .................................................. 12
Figure 2-10 Power and Energy with a Battery Source ..................................................... 13
Figure 2-11 Voltage and Current Waves with a 30º Phase Difference............................. 15
Figure 3-1 Relationship: Phasor and Sine Wave .............................................................. 16
Figure 4-1 Resistive Load................................................................................................. 17
Figure 4-2 Resistive Phasor Diagram ............................................................................... 18
Figure 5-1 Inductive Voltage and Current ........................................................................ 19
Figure 5-2 Inductive Power .............................................................................................. 19
Figure 5-3 Inductive Phasor Diagram............................................................................... 20
Figure 6-1 Capacitor ......................................................................................................... 20
Figure 6-2 Capacitive Voltage and Current ...................................................................... 21
Figure 6-3 Capacitive Power ............................................................................................ 22
Figure 6-4 Capacitive Phasor Diagram............................................................................. 22
Figure 7-1 Resistive Reactive Series Load ....................................................................... 23
Figure 7-2 RL Impedance Diagram .................................................................................. 24
Figure 7-3 Practical Load.................................................................................................. 25
Figure 7-4 Power Triangle ................................................................................................ 27
Figure 7-5 Corrected Power Factor................................................................................... 27

1 Introduction
This course presents an introduction to single phase, ac circuits from an intuitive and
illustrative standpoint rather than presenting a rigorous development of the definitions
and equations. The objectives are to understand and calculate power and energy in basic
single-phase ac circuits typically found in manufacturing and electrical power distribution
systems.
The presentation assumes that the reader has been introduced to trigonometric definitions,
can add vectors and can convert vectors between polar and Cartesian form.
2 Definitions
In working toward the objective of calculating the cost of energy consumed by various
loads, we will first introduce the units used for voltage, current, load, power and energy.
We will then present the equations necessary to compute current from voltage and load
and then the equations to compute power and energy.
2.1 Units
The following electrical attributes and their associated units will be necessary to develop
the circuit and energy calculation concepts used in later sections.
2.1.1 Voltage
Voltage is the electromotive force that causes electric current to flow. The meter-
kilogram-second system (SI) units are volts. Generators, alternators and batteries are
examples of electromotive devices that supply energy to circuits. Voltage is always
expressed as a difference of voltage between two points (or across an component) in a
circuit. It is very important to connect the idea that the voltage across a component
causes current to flow through the component.
Voltage Current
(accross) (through)
Figure 2-1 Voltage and Current
2.1.2 Current
Electric current flows in response to the voltage applied and is expressed in amperes
(abbreviated amp). The ampere is one coulomb per second. The coulomb, a term not in
common use, is the SI unit of electrical charge. In circuits of concern to us, current will

increase as voltage is increased and vice versa. Current is analogous to the rate of fluid
flow in a hydraulic circuit—the ampere is analogous to gallons/minute.
2.1.3 Load
The load is any device that resists, or impedes, the flow of electrical current and serves to
convert or store electrical energy. Examples of energy converting loads are:
Heater - Electrical to heat energy.

Motor - Electrical to rotational kinetic energy.
Light - Electrical to light energy.
Battery - Electrical to chemical energy.
The SI unit of electrical resistance or impedance, load, is the ohm. The simplest loads
convert energy, e.g. heaters. In the cases of these simplest loads the current is, at all
times, proportional to the voltage.
There are two basic types of loads—resistive and reactive. These terms will be more
fully described later. But for now, purely resistive loads permanently remove energy
from a circuit, analogous to friction in a piping system. Purely reactive loads move
energy out of and into a circuit with no net loss, analogous to a spring. With this in mind,
loads can be purely resistive, purely reactive or a combination of the two. A combination
load is shown below:
Imaginary j Z (Impedance)
X component
or
Reactive
α
Real
R component or
-j Resistive
Figure 2-2 Impedance Diagram
The Resistive component of any load always points along the positive Real axis or East.
The Reactive component is always directed along the Imaginary axis either North or
South. The direction depends upon the type of reactor. The North and South direction is
indicated with the lower case “j” and is a notation for − 1 * . Impedance vectors of
concern to us will be in either the first or fourth quadrants. Its components depend upon
the magnitude of the resistance in the load and the magnitude and type of reactance.
*
Typically denoted by “i” other areas but would conflict with the notation for current in the electrical areas.

The notation in common use is:
Z = R ± jX = R 2 + X 2 ∠α
2.1.4 Power
The rate at which energy is delivered or used is called power and is expressed as units of
watts (Real Power), VARS (Reactive Power), VA (Apparent Power) in electrical power
distribution.
2.1.5 Energy
Energy is the capacity to do work or the amount of work accomplished and is frequently
expressed in units of watt-hours (Wh) in electrical power distribution systems. We will
be especially interested in calculating the energy used by various loads in order to
determine the electrical operating cost. The procedure will generally be to compute the
power delivered to a load at an instant of time and then add all of these values to find the
energy used over some period of time.
2.2 Circuits
A circuit is a connection of electrical elements that allows energy to flow from the source
to the load(s). To be complete, a circuit must be connected to allow the electrical current
leaving the source to pass through the load(s) and return to the source. This section
defines and illustrates the concept of an electric circuit along with the associated
components and attributes:
• Circuit connections.
• Voltage and current.
• Load.
• Energy and power.
2.2.1 Basic Circuit

The following illustrates a simple electrical circuit consisting of a voltage source, a load
and wires to connect the voltage source and the load. This is analogous to assembling a
hydraulic circuit consisting of a pump, hydraulic motor and connecting pipes. In both
cases the energy flows from the energy generator (the source) to the load. The current
(electric charge in one case and hydraulic fluid in the other) flows from the source,
through the load and then back to the source, thus making a complete circuit.

Flow Flui d Hydraulic
Voltage Pump
of Load Flow Motor
Source
Current
Electrical Circuit Hydraulic Circui t
Figure 2-3 Electrical and Hydraulic Circuit Schematics
The voltage source, like the pump, is the source of the energy that is to be delivered to the
load. Voltage is a measure of the electrical pressure causing the current to flow and is
always specified as the voltage across, or between, two points. The larger the magnitude
of the voltage, the greater the flow of current.
2.2.2 Series and Parallel Circuits

Most of the circuits in this course will consist largely of parallel connections. A figure
illustrating both parallel and serial connections follows:
ITotal
V1
V VSource V2
I1 I2 I3
V3
ITotal
Parallel Series
Figure 2-4 Parallel and Series Circuits
The purely parallel (no serial elements) has only two connections between which the
voltage is measured. In the case of this figure, those connections are the wires connected
to the two terminals of the voltage source, thus there is only one voltage—that measured
across the source. The current leaving the source divides between the three loads and
then recombines to return to the source. The returning current would be of the same
magnitude as the current leaving the source.
Now consider the series circuit. Here there is only one path for the current to follow.
The magnitude of the current leaving the source is equal to the magnitude of the current
measured through any of the three loads. In the series circuit illustration there is one
current and four voltages measured where in the parallel illustration there is one voltage
and four currents to measure.

The circuits of interest in this course will be mainly parallel circuits.
2.2.3 Ground
Note that in the parallel circuit one of the two conductors connected to the source is
usually called ground and is used as the reference. This is a safety issue. Consider the
following illustration:
Figure 2-5 Ungrounded Appliance
This illustrates a simplification of a residential 120vac power connection to an appliance.

Simplification because we are using two wires rather than three in order to focus on the
safety issue. One of the two distribution wires is connected periodically, by the electric
company, to an earth ground. This is accomplished by connecting the wire to conductive
stake driven into the ground, a buried water pipe or some other conductive building
element. This is done at the central breaker box and at strategic locations around the
residence. This is done to keep the physical environment—floors, walls, etc.—close to
the voltage of one of the two wires. The wire connected to ground is called the ground or
cold conductor and the other is called the hot wire.
In the figure, assume that the hot wire is accidentally connected to the case or chassis of
the appliance. This is a fault, it shouldn’t occur but can happen through mistakes,
damage or wear. Anyone touching the appliance would become a load between the hot
wire and the ground, current would flow and person would experience electrical shock.
Now look at the following:

Figure 2-6 Grounded Appliance
The ground wire is connected to the appliance chassis and is a safety requirement. With
situation, we can make two notes:
• The difference in voltage between the ground and the surrounding surfaces
should be zero or close to zero resulting in a minimal shock hazard. The reason
for hedging this claim is that various extreme situations, not discussed here, can
still produce an unacceptable voltage.
• A large current will flow if the hot wire inadvertently comes in contact with the
chassis because the chassis is connected to the ground wire. This should cause
either the breaker in that circuit to open or activate some Ground Fault
Interruption device in the circuit. Either case would eliminate the power
connection to the appliance.
In following this convention, we will frequently show that the conductor connected one
side of the source as ground. The following figure illustrates this notation:
Figure 2-7 Parallel Circuits and Ground Notation

The symbol shown at the bottom of voltage source indicates a connection to earth
ground. This may actually be a connection to the “local earth” like the chassis or case.
The two drawings represent the same circuit and represent typical drawing convention.
All of the “ground” connections in the right side of the drawing indicate that the bottoms
of all of the components are connected together or a “common” connection.
As a final note, it is convention that when the voltage of a single connection is

announced, that that voltage is with respect to ground—that one lead of the voltmeter is
connected to the ground (or common) connection and the other lead is connected to the
point to be measured.
In summary:
• A circuit minimally consists of a source of energy, a load and connections to carry the
energy from the source to the load.
• Circuits can be connected in serial, in parallel or a combination of serial and parallel.
• Voltage is a measure of the electrical pressure that causes the current to flow. It is
always measured between, or across, two points in a circuit.
• Current is a measure of the rate of flow of electrical charge and always passes
through a circuit element.
• A load resists the flow of current and acts as an energy conversion or energy storage
device.
• One side of the voltage generator is typically called the ground or common
connection.
2.3 Equations
Several equations will be useful when determining energy. As a starting point, assume
the equations apply only to DC circuits. This is due to the simplicity of the source
voltage (e.g. a battery) not varying with time.
2.3.1 Energy Cost

As mentioned earlier, one of the component energy bill costs is the price of the energy
delivered. This component cost is simply the price per unit of energy multiplied by the
total energy delivered over some time period:
Cost = E × UC Energy
where:
C Cost of energy delivered.
E Energy delivered over some period of time.
UCEnergy Unit cost of the energy.
For example, 25,000KWHr would cost $2,500 if the unit cost is 10¢ per KWHr.

2.3.2 Energy
Next, since electrical power (watts) is a measure of the rate at which energy is delivered
energy can be calculated as follows:
E = P ×T
where:
E Energy delivered over the time period T.
P The average power over the time period T.
T The time period over which the energy is delivered.
For example, 1,000 KWHr would be delivered for an average power level of 500KWatts
over a period of two hours.
2.3.3 Power
Using a simple circuit consisting of a battery and a load, the power can be calculated by
multiplying the voltage and current:
P =V ×I
where:
P Power (rate of energy) delivered.
V Battery voltage.
I Current flowing through the battery.
For example, in the case of a 120 volt battery delivering 12 amps of current, the power
would be 1,440 watts.
2.3.4 Current
In either the series or parallel circuit, there is a relationship between the voltage, the
current and the load. The current is proportional to the voltage and inversely proportional
to the load. Ohm’s Law quantifies these relationships with the following equation:
V
I=
Z
where:
I Electrical current in amperes
V Electrical voltage in volts
Z Impedance in ohms, VARS or VA
For example, 10 amps would flow from a 100 volt battery connected to a 10 ohm load.

2.4 RMS
Now, let’s extend the equations to a special case of AC circuits. An AC circuit can be
any circuit driven by a voltage source whose polarity reverses with increasing time. We
are specifically interested, however, in single phase power distribution systems. In the
United States, the standard AC power source is a sinusoidal (sine wave of any magnitude
or phase), 60 hertz (cycles per second) voltage source.
Consider the following:
Voltage
Source Load
Figure 2-8 AC Sinusoidal Voltage Source
Half of the time the voltage polarity is positive at the top of the alternator with the
magnitude increasing and then decreasing. The other half of the time this situation is
reversed. At any particular time, then, the power (rate of energy) delivered to the load
might be zero, a maximum or somewhere in between. Regardless of the polarity (and
direction of current flow), the energy always flows from the source to the load. The load,
regardless of the direction of the current, converts the electrical energy to some other
type of energy and does not return it to the circuit. This is illustrated as follows:
AC Power and Energy
KW KWHr
15,000 4
3
10,000
2
5,000
1
0 0
100
105
110
115
119
124
129
134
10
14
19
24
29
33
38
43
48
53
57
62
67
72
76
81
86
91
96
0
5
Angle (Radians)
KW KWHr
Figure 2-9 Power and Energy with a Sinusoidal Source
Look at this again. At the beginning of the voltage sine wave, the power level is zero
because the voltage is zero, no current is flowing and, therefore, the load has no way of
even knowing it is connected to a power source. As the voltage increases toward the
peak of the sine wave, the power also increases. The process then reverses and returns to

zero to start again. But since energy is always flowing from the source to the load, the
energy delivered continues to accumulate.
A DC version of this same illustration would be:
DC Power and Energy

KW KWHr
200 15
150
10
100
5
50
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Hours
KWHr KW
Figure 2-10 Power and Energy with a Battery Source
The similarity with the DC case is that the delivery of energy monotonically increases. It
never decreases. The difference is that energy is always being delivered at the same rate
in the DC case but the rate of delivery varies in the AC case. In both cases, the energy
delivered accumulates.
Since the energy delivered accumulates in both cases, there must be some effective
equivalency between the DC voltage and the peak voltage, or magnitude of, the AC sine
wave source.
The equivalency can be found either experimentally or mathematically. One

experimental method would consist of submersing an electric heater in an insulated
container of liquid. The experiment might proceed as follows:
• With the liquid at a specific temperature, connect a 60 hertz, 100 volt amplitude
sine wave source to the heater.
• Measure the temperature of the water ten minutes after connecting the source.
• Repeat the same experiment except connect a battery to the heater in place of the
sine wave source.
• Repeat the experiment using the battery until the temperature at ten minutes is the
same as the case of that using the sine wave source.
This experiment would determine the battery voltage that would deliver the same energy
to the water as did the 60 hertz, 100 volt amplitude sine wave source in a ten minute
period. The result would be:

V Peak
VBattery =
2
The mathematical derivation of Battery follows a procedure that yields a name for this value
that is in much more common use:
• Each of the instantaneous sine wave voltages over a period of the sine wave are
squared.
• These values are then averaged.
• The square root of the resulting average is then extracted.
These three steps are abbreviated and form the name “Root-Mean-Square” or RMS.
Thus, the equation above is usually stated as:
VPeak
VRMS =
2
The RMS value is the battery voltage that would produce the same energy as would a
sine wave whose amplitude is V RMS × 2 . The RMS value will be used in all remaining
calculations rather than dealing directly with sinusoidal functions.
2.5 Power Factor

Power factor is the cosine of the angle between the voltage and current waveforms.
Loads known as reactive loads force the current through the load to be out of phase with
the voltage across the load. Power factor plays the following role in calculating power:
Power = VRMS * IRMS * Power Factor

The following figure illustrates voltage and current waveforms that have a 30º phase
difference.
Voltage and Current Waves
200
150
Volts and Amps
100
50
Voltage
0
Current
120
150
180
210
240
270
300
330
360
30
60
90
0
-50
-100
-150
-200
Angle
Figure 2-11 Voltage and Current Waves with a 30º Phase Difference
The power factor in this case is 0.866, also expressed as 86.7%:
PF = cos(30 o ) = 0.866
Power factors that are not 100% can increase the electric bill. This is because an
industrial load requiring a particular energy will require more transmission current to
deliver that energy if the power factor is less than 100%. For example, assume an
industrial load requires energy at the rate of 57.6KW at a delivery voltage of 480 VRMS.
Further, let’s consider two situations, one with a 100% power factor and one with a 75%
power factor.
Since P=V*I*PF, we can solve for I in the following calculations:
Voltage Watts Factor Formula Current

480 57,600 100% 120
I=Power/(V*PF)
480 57,600 75% 160
The amount of energy would be the same: 57KWHr for every hour of connected load.
But the power company would need to deliver the energy at 160ARMS for a power factor
of 75% compared to 120ARMS at a power factor of 100%. The power company will
suffer various energy losses between the power plant and the industrial load that
increases with increasing current. So it would cost the power company more energy to
deliver the same energy with a smaller power factor. Because of this, power companies
may include a power factor penalty when the power factor falls below 100%.

Industrial loads typically look inductive—a resistor in series with an inductor—to the
power company. In order to avoid power factor penalties, industrial customers may
correct power factors by adding capacitors or capacitor-type (e.g. synchronous motors)
loads to inductive loads to bring the power factor to 100%. More on this in the section on
Combined Loads.
2.6 Power Calculations

With the other definitions in place, power will be calculated as:
P = V RMS × I RMS × PF
3 Phasor Diagrams
A phasor diagram is useful in representing sine waves functions in circuit analysis. It
uses vectors to represent the sine wave without drawing the sine wave. An example of
the relationship between a phasor and a sine wave follows:
Figure 3-1 Relationship: Phasor and Sine Wave
We start with a vector whose length is the magnitude of the sine wave and pointing east.
East because it points to the sine wave value at time zero. The vector will spin counter
clock wise and complete a 360˚ cycle during the time the sine wave completes a full
period. Projecting from the arrowhead to the proper elapsed time draws the sine wave as
the vector spins through one cycle.
With this graphical relationship established, we dispense with the rotation and simply
show a vector pointing to the value of the sinusoidal wave at zero time. Since a sine
wave has a value of zero at time zero, the vector would point east. Thus we have a
phasor representation of the sine wave. Since we will be using the phasor diagram to

represent sinusoidal wave, we will use the RMS values for vectors rather than the Peak
value of the sinusoids.
Phasor diagrams are typically used to represent the voltage and current sine waves in
circuits. The phasors point to the value of each of the waves at zero time and each has a
length equal to the RMS value of the voltage and current sine waves.
4 Resistive Loads
Now that the basic attributes and units have been presented, some practical load examples
can be studied. Consider the following circuit:
Figure 4-1 Resistive Load
A resistive load converts all of the delivered electrical energy to some other form.
Further, the converted energy is no longer available to the circuit. The resistive nature is
to allow instantaneous changes in current in response to instantaneous changes in the
voltage across the resistor. Therefore, the current through the resistor is always in phase
with the applied voltage—zero phase difference. In turn, the power factor is one and the
calculation of power (time rate of energy) is simply:
P = VRMS × I RMS
If 120VRMS is applied across a 2Ω resistive load, the responding current will be 60 amps
rms:
Z R = R + j 0 = 2Ω
120 RMS
I RMS = = 60 ARMS
2Ω
Because of this, the rate at which energy will be consumed by the load will be a
calculated power of 7,200 watts or 7.2kW:

P = 120 × 60 = 7,200 watts
Now consider the phasor diagram. The voltage across and the current through the
resistor are in phase. The two sine waves may be of different amplitudes but they go
through zero and their positive and negative maxima simultaneously. Because of this, a
resistor’s phasor diagram is as follows:
Voltage Phasor
Current Phasor
Figure 4-2 Resistive Phasor Diagram
5 Inductive Loads
The inductive load will be the first of the reactive loads to be presented. An inductor is
made by winding a wire into a coil. The coil can be of various shapes and may be wound
around a metallic core. Electric current causes a magnetic field and the magnetic field
induces a force on the charges in adjacent coils that opposes changes in the current.
Opposing changes in current is the signature characteristic of the inductor.
Remember, from earlier, changes in voltage applied across a resistor causes instantaneous
changes in the current through the resistor. Unlike the resistor, changes in current
through an inductor lags behind the changes in voltage applied across an inductor. This
is not a foreign concept. Consider the case of trying to move a mass. When force is
applied to a mass, the motion lags behind the application of the force because of the
inertia of the mass. The inertia of the mass tends to resist changes in the mass’s motion.
Likewise, the inductor exhibits an electrical inertia that opposes changes in current.
If the coil is made of ideal wire—exhibits no resistance, e.g. a superconductor—the

current will lag behind the voltage by 90˚ as illustrated:

Figure 5-1 Inductive Voltage and Current
The following illustrates the voltage across and the current through an inductor wound
with ideal wire. The voltage is a 60 hertz sine wave. Notice that the current lags behind
the voltage by 90˚. Now consider the power. Multiplying the current times the voltage at
every instance of time results in the following graph:
Figure 5-2 Inductive Power
Note that every quarter cycle, the power curve shows energy flowing into the inductor
and at alternate quarter cycles, it is flowing back to the circuit. The inductor actually
stores energy in its magnetic field and then returns it to the circuit. This is like a
pendulum that keeps transferring energy between kinetic and potential energy. Since the
net energy transferred over a complete cycle of the sine wave is zero, it might be
expected that the inductor plays no role in energy cost calculation. Not so, as noted
earlier the power company must use more current to deliver a specific power level for

power factors less than 100%. Because of this, they can include a cost penalty for power
factors below 100%.
Since the voltage and current are out of phase by 90˚, the power factor of the purely
inductive circuit is zero:
P = VRMS × I RMS × cos(90°) = 0
The ideal inductor’s phasor diagram would consist of two phasors out of phase with the
current lagging behind the voltage phasor:
Voltage
Current
Figure 5-3 Inductive Phasor Diagram

The impedance of the inductor is:
Z L = 0 + j377 L
“L” is inductance in henrys and 377 is the radian frequency of a 60 sinusoidal wave
(2π60).
6 Capacitive Loads
The capacitor is the other reactive load found in ac power circuits. A capacitor consists
of two conductive sheets separated by an insulator. These sheets can be rolled up or
folded to make a smaller package.
Figure 6-1 Capacitor
To see how the capacitor works, consider the figure. It would appear that no current
could flow because the two conductive sheets are separated by an insulator and there is
not a complete circuit between the two terminals of the source. But the current has no

way of knowing there is not a complete circuit until it starts to flow. In the first instant
after the source is connected think of pumping one charge (being consistent with
conventional current flow, the charge will be positive) from one of the plates to the other.
There was current flow because one charge moved. The next charge will be more
difficult to move because:
• The bottom plate has lost one positive charge and is now one charge negative.
This negative state will tend to pull back the next positive charge that the source
tries to remove. This is because like charges repel one another and unlike charges
attract one another.
• Say the source applies enough pressure to move the next positive charge off the
bottom plate. It will be harder to move that charge onto the top plate because
there is already one there to oppose it.
As each charge is moved, it becomes more difficult to move even more. We can make
the following comments:
• At the first instant after connection, there is no voltage across the capacitor
because the charge on the two plates is the same.
• The voltage across the capacitor increases as more charges are moved.
• In the case of a dc source, the current will flow at first. It will diminish as more
charges are moved and will eventually stop altogether when the source can’t
supply sufficient pressure to move more charges against the pressure of the
voltage built up by the capacitor.
Notice, this is somewhat like the inductor in that the voltage and current are not in phase.
In this case, however, the current flows and the voltage buildup follows—the current
leads the voltage. Again, this is similar to mechanical inertia and opposes changes in
voltage. The current will lead the voltage by 90˚ as illustrated:
Figure 6-2 Capacitive Voltage and Current

The figure illustrates the voltage across and the current through a capacitor. The voltage
is a 60 hertz sine wave. Notice that the current leads the voltage by 90˚. Now consider
the power. Multiplying the current times the voltage at every instance of time results in
the following graph:
Figure 6-3 Capacitive Power
Note that every quarter cycle, the power curve shows energy flowing into the capacitor
and at alternate quarter cycles, it is flowing back to the circuit. The capacitor actually
stores energy in the electric field between its plates and then returns it to the circuit.
Since the voltage and current are out of phase by 90˚, the power factor of the purely
capacitive circuit is zero:
P = V RMS × I RMS × cos(−90°) = 0
The ideal capacitor’s phasor diagram would consist of two phasors out of phase with the
current leading behind the voltage phasor:
Current
Voltage
Figure 6-4 Capacitive Phasor Diagram

The impedance of the capacitor is:
1
ZC = 0 − j
377C
“C” is capacitance in farads and 377 is the radian frequency of a 60 sinusoidal wave
(2π60).
7 Combined Loads
The typical industrial load includes lights, controllers and motors and usually looks like a
resistor in series with an inductor. The resistor represents all of the permanent energy
conversion (e.g. the motors transferring electrical energy to the mechanical loads) and
any losses (e.g. wires suffering heat loss). The inductor would represent motor windings,
solenoids and the like. We will look at that type of load and how to correct power factor.
7.1 Simple Industrial Load

The following series circuit in our first example might represent a load of one motor:
Figure 7-1 Resistive Reactive Series Load
Series impedances add vectorially:
Z = 10Ω + j8.7Ω
8.7
Z = 10 2 + 8.7 2 ∠ arctan( )
10
Z = 13.3Ω∠41o

This impedance diagram is shown below.
13.3
8.7
ohms
ohms
41 deg
10 ohms
Figure 7-2 RL Impedance Diagram
The current and power would be:
V 220∠0
I= = = 16.5 ARMS ∠ − 41o
Z 13.3∠41o
P = VRMS × I RMS × PF = 220 × 16.5 × cos(−41o ) = 2.74 KW
Now assume that this load has been connected for 160 hours and the cost of energy is 13¢
per KWH:
Energy ⋅ Cost = 2.74 × 160 × 0.13 = $56.99
If the energy supplier penalizes for a low power factor, the 75.5% (cos(41°)) would be
used to determine the penalty.
7.2 Practical Industrial Load

A practical industrial load would be more of the same type of circuits connected in
parallel. An example follows:

Figure 7-3 Practical Load
This problem is similar to the previous example except we have four separate loads
connected together. Let’s start by calculating the four separate load currents (all in units
of rms amps):
220 220 220

I1 = = = = 18.9∠ − 32.7 o
9.8 + j 6.3 6.3 11.7∠32.7 o
9.8 2 + 6.3 2 ∠ arctan( )
9.8
220 220 220
I2 = = = = 13.4∠ − 47 o
11.2 + j12 12 16.4∠47 o
11.2 2 + 12 2 ∠ arctan( )
11.2
220 220 220
I3 = = = = 29.7∠0 o
7.4 + j 0 0 7.4∠0 o
7.4 2 + 0 2 ∠ arctan( )
7.4
220 220 220
I4 = = = = 14.1∠ − 33.8o
13 + j8.7 8 . 7 15.6∠33.8 o
132 + 8.7 2 ∠ arctan( )
13
The total current equals the sum of the load currents in a parallel circuit. Since each of
the currents are vectors, let’s first convert them from polar to Cartesian form:
I T = I1 + I 2 + I 3 + I 4
I1 = 18.9 × cos(−32.7 o ) + j18.9 × sin( −32.7 o ) = 15.9 − j10.2
I 2 = 13.4 × cos(−47 o ) + j13.4 × sin(−47 o ) = 9.14 − j 9.8
I 3 = 29.7 × cos(0 o ) + j 29.7 × sin(0 o ) = 29.7 − j 0
I 4 = 14.1× cos(−33.8o ) + j14.1× sin( −33.8o ) = 11.7 − j 7.82

I T = (15.9 + 9.14 + 29.7 + 11.7) − j (10.2 + 9.8 + 0 + 7.82)
27.8
I T = 66.5 − j 27.8 = 66.5 2 + 27.8 2 ∠ arctan( ) = 72∠ − 22.7 o
66.5
The total current is 72ARMS with a power factor of cos(22.7º) or 92%. We can now
calculate the power:
P = 220 × 72 × 0.92 = 14.6 KW
Assuming this load to be connected 320 hours and the cost of energy to be 14¢ per
KWHr, the energy cost would be:
Energy ⋅ Cost = 14.6 × 320 × 0.14 = $654.08
Again, there is the possibility of a penalty charge for the 92% power factor (100% would
be penalty free).
7.3 Correcting Power Factor

Before addressing power factor correction directly, let’s look again at the last problem of
the combined load. We found the total current to be I T = 72∠ − 22.7 o ARMS. This is in
response to an applied voltage of V = 220∠0 . If we simply multiply the current and
voltage without regard to the power factor, the result would be 15.9KVA. Notice the
units, VA (volt-amperes) instead of watts. Watts are the units of “real power” or the
power actually lost permanently from the circuit through doing some kind of work like
lifting an elevator. The units of VA are used instead of watts because this number
includes (vectorially) the real power but also includes energy that alternates between
being stored in reactors and being returned to the circuit. The relationship between these
two quantities can be shown graphically:
14.6KW
(Real Power)
15
(A .9KV 22.7
pp
are A
nt
Po
we
r)
This is just another version of the equation relating the power and the power factor:
P(real ) = V × I × PF = P(apparent ) × PF = P(apparent ) × cos(α )

A triangle can be formed by finding the other rectangular component of the apparent
power (the one component being the real power). Being consistent with stating that the
apparent power represents both the real power and the reactive power, this other
component is called the “reactive power” and is given the units of VAR (volt-amps-
reactive). The complete “Power Triangle” can be illustrated as:
14.6KW
6.14KVAR
22.7
15.
9K
VA
Figure 7-4 Power Triangle
The 6.14KVAR is calculated from 15.9 × sin( 22.7 o ) . Now if we could add a vector of
6.14KVAR pointing North, the two reactive vectors would cancel one another leaving
only the 14.6KW component and, therefore, a power factor of 100%.
The following diagram illustrates this correction. A 6.14KVAR capacitive load is

connected in parallel with the previous combined load. The total new load would impose
a power level of 14.6KW at a power factor of 100%.
Figure 7-5 Corrected Power Factor

The corrected total current would be:
I T − New = I C + I T − Pr evious = 27.8∠90 o + 72∠ − 22.7

I T − New = (0 + j 27.8) + (66.5 − j 27.8)
I T − New = 66.5 ARMS ∠0 o

The power would be:
P = 220 × 66.5 × cos(0) = 14.6 KW
This is the same rate of energy consumption but at a power factor of 100%. Therefore,
no power factor penalty.
The device that has been added is shown as a capacitor but can be any device or
combination of devices that are characterized by the current leading the voltage.
Synchronous motors, for example, can look like a capacitive load. So it might be
possible to correct the power factor using synchronous motors, capacitors or a
combination of the two.
A final note here concerning the units of the power factor correcting device. It is
sufficient to specify the device by requiring 6.14KVAR of current-leading load. The
units could be specified in two other ways. First, the equivalent reactance ∗ of this device
could be determined:
V V2
P =V × I =V ×( ) =
X X
2 2
V 220
X= = = 7.88Ω
P 6.14 K
This could be further converted to the units of capacitance required. The farad is the unit
of capacitance and is related to impedance as follows:
1
X=
ωC
The ω is the radian frequency of the voltage source which, in the case of 60 hertz, is:
ω = 2 × π × 60
1 1
X= =
2π 60C 377 × C
1 1
C= = = 336 μFarads
377 × X 377 × 7.88
The information on reactance and farads is included here for additional information. It is
sufficient to specify the corrective load in VARs.
1
∗
Reactance is the magnitude of the impedance vector. Z C =
jX C

8 Review
The equations and procedures of this course are summarized below:
Impedance is a vector quantity that is made up of resistive and reactive scalar

components. The reactance of various components is:
RR = R R is in ohms (Ω)
X L = 377 L L is in henrys (h)
1
XC = C is in farads (f)
377C
Impedance is generally expressed as Z = R ± jX The impedances for the various load

types are:
Z R = RR + j 0
Z L = 0 + jX L
Z C = 0 − jX C
Current, a vector quantity, flows through a load in response to voltage across the load:
V
I=
Z
The current flowing from a voltage source to a series of parallel connected loads is the
vector sum of the currents through the loads:
I T = I1 + I 2 + I 3 + L
Power is the time rate of energy delivery. The power level associated with a source
connected to a load is:
Re al ⋅ Power = VRMS I RMS cos(α ) Units: watts

Re active ⋅ Power = VRMS I RMS sin(α ) Units: VAR
Apparent ⋅ Power = VRMS I RMS Units: VA
where:
1. The RMS value is found by multiplying the magnitude of the sinusoidal wave by
2.
2. α is the angle between the voltage and current vectors.
3. Real power is the rate at which energy is being permanently lost from the circuit
by conversion to some form of work exterior to the circuit.
4. Reactive power is the rate at which energy is transferred to and from the circuit by
the reactors.

5. Apparent power is the vector sum of real and reactive power and defines the
current that must be delivered by the source to produce the real power.
The power factor is defined as the cos(α), the angle between the voltage and current
vectors and is another notation to relate the real power to the apparent power:
P = VRMS I RMS × ( Power ⋅ Factor )
The amount of energy delivered is:
Energy = (Apparent Power) • Time
where:
1. The apparent power is the average apparent power over the time during which
the energy is delivered.
2. Time is the interval over which the energy is delivered.
The cost of energy is:
Cost of Energy = Energy • unit cost of energy
A procedure to find the power level associated with a source connected to a series of
parallel loads is:
1. Determine the impedance of each connected load:

a. Z=R for a purely resistive connection.
b. Z=R+jXL for a lossy inductive load.
2. Determine the current through each of these connected loads:
V
a. I =
Z
3. Convert all of these currents to their scalar form:
a. I = I cos(θ ) + j I sin(θ )
4. Add all of the currents to determine the source current and then convert to polar
form:
I Im aginary
a. I T = ( I Re al ) 2 + ( I Im aginary ) 2 ∠ arctan( ) = I Mag ∠θ
I Re al
5. Determine the real power by multiplying the source voltage by the magnitude of
the total current and the power factor:
a. P=VRMS • IMag • cos(θ)
6. Determine the energy by multiplying the real power by the time over which the
real power was active:
a. E = P • Time
7. Determine cost of the energy delivered by multiplying by the unit cost of energy:
a. Cost of Energy = E • Unit cost of energy ($ per KWH)

8. If desired, compute the capacitive load required to correct the power factor:
a. Find the reactive power: PReactive = VRMS • IMag • sin(θ)). This would be
the specification for the capacitor to be connected in parallel with the
existing load to correct the power factor.

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Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 1

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 2

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 3

Figure 2-1 Voltage and Current

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 4

Heater - Electrical to heat energy.

Figure 2-2 Impedance Diagram

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 5

2.2.1 Basic Circuit

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 6

Electrical Circuit Hydraulic Circui t

Figure 2-3 Electrical and Hydraulic Circuit Schematics

2.2.2 Series and Parallel Circuits

Figure 2-4 Parallel and Series Circuits

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 7

Figure 2-5 Ungrounded Appliance

This illustrates a simplification of a residential 120vac power connection to an appliance.

Now look at the following:

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 8

Figure 2-7 Parallel Circuits and Ground Notation

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 9

As a final note, it is convention that when the voltage of a single connection is

2.3.1 Energy Cost

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 10

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 11

Consider the following:

Figure 2-8 AC Sinusoidal Voltage Source

AC Power and Energy

Figure 2-9 Power and Energy with a Sinusoidal Source

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 12

A DC version of this same illustration would be:

DC Power and Energy

Figure 2-10 Power and Energy with a Battery Source

The equivalency can be found either experimentally or mathematically. One

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 13

2.5 Power Factor

Power = VRMS * IRMS * Power Factor

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 14

Voltage and Current Waves

The power factor in this case is 0.866, also expressed as 86.7%:

Since P=V*I*PF, we can solve for I in the following calculations:

Voltage Watts Factor Formula Current

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 15

2.6 Power Calculations

Figure 3-1 Relationship: Phasor and Sine Wave

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 16

Figure 4-1 Resistive Load

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 17

Figure 4-2 Resistive Phasor Diagram

If the coil is made of ideal wire—exhibits no resistance, e.g. a superconductor—the

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 18

Figure 5-2 Inductive Power

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 19

P = VRMS × I RMS × cos(90°) = 0

Figure 5-3 Inductive Phasor Diagram

Figure 6-1 Capacitor

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 20

Figure 6-2 Capacitive Voltage and Current

Copyright © 2006 Fred L. Mullen 21

Since P=VIPF, we can solve for I in the following calculations: