UNBALANCED FOUR-WIRE STAR CONNECTED LOAD

With such a system the neutral conductor will carry current; also the voltage across each of the load
impedances remains fixed with the same magnitude as the line to neutral voltage. The line currents are
unequal and do not have a 120° phase difference.

UNBALANCED DELTA CONNECTED LOAD

If the three (line) voltages across the terminals of an unbalanced delta connected load are fixed, the
voltage drop across each phase impedance is known. The currents in each phase can, therefore, be
determined directly. The line currents can then be found from the phasor sum of the two component
currents coming towards or flowing away from the line terminal. It will be noted that in this case (unlike
with the balanced loads) the line currents will not be equal nor will they have a 120° phase difference.

UNBALANCED THREE-WIRE STAR CONNECTED LOAD NEUTRAL SHIFT IN UNBALNCE LOAD

With such a system the common point O in Figure 1 of the three load impedances will not be at the
potential of the neutral and the voltages across the three impedances can vary considerably from line to
neutral magnitude. (The displacement of O from N is known as the displacement neutral voltage).

Figure 1: Unbalanced three wire star connected Load

There can be two approaches to the problem. The first is to determine with reference to Figure 1 the
three line currents 𝐼𝐴 , 𝐼𝐵 and 𝐼𝐶 by writing the mesh currents (based on KVL) and then determining the
voltages across the three impedances 𝑉𝐴𝑂 , 𝑉𝐵𝑂 and 𝑉𝐶𝑂 as the product of line current and the
corresponding impedances (i.e. 𝑉𝐴𝑂 = 𝐼𝐴 𝑍𝐴 etc.). The displacement neutral voltage 𝑉𝑂𝑁 , O being the
common point of the impedances and N the neutral in Figure 2, is then 𝑉𝑂𝑁 = 𝑉𝑂𝐴 + 𝑉𝐴𝑁 = 𝑉𝑂𝐵 + 𝑉𝐵𝑁 =
𝑉𝑂𝐶 + 𝑉𝐶𝑁 where 𝑉𝑂𝐴 , 𝑉𝑂𝐵 and 𝑉𝑂𝐶 have all been determined already and 𝑉𝐴𝑁 , 𝑉𝐵𝑁 , 𝑉𝐶𝑁 are known system
phase voltages.

The second is to obtain the displacement neutral voltage in the very beginning. For this we write line
currents in terms of the load voltages and load admittances. Referring to Figure 2 again,

𝐼𝐴 = 𝑉𝐴𝑂 𝑌𝐴 , 𝐼𝐵 = 𝑉𝐵𝑂 𝑌𝐵 and 𝐼𝐶 = 𝑉𝐶𝑂 𝑌𝐶

Applying Kirchhoff's current law at point O in Figure 1 we may write

 𝐼𝐴 + 𝐼𝐵 + 𝐼𝐶 = 0
𝑉𝐴𝑂 𝑌𝐴 + 𝑉𝐵𝑂 𝑌𝐵 + 𝑉𝐶𝑂 𝑌𝐶 = 0

Figure 2: Unbalanced three wire star connected load

Referring to Figure 2 the voltages 𝑉𝑂𝐴 , 𝑉𝑂𝐵 and 𝑉𝑂𝐶 can be expressed in terms of their two component
voltages, i.e.

𝑉𝐴𝑂 = 𝑉𝐴𝑁 + 𝑉𝑁𝑂

𝑉𝐵𝑂 = 𝑉𝐵𝑁 + 𝑉𝑁𝑂
𝑉𝐶𝑂 = 𝑉𝐶𝑁 + 𝑉𝑁𝑂
Above all phasor additions and substituting above the three expression in 𝑉𝐴𝑂 𝑌𝐴 + 𝑉𝐵𝑂 𝑌𝐵 + 𝑉𝐶𝑂 𝑌𝐶 =0
we obtain

(𝑉𝐴𝑁 + 𝑉𝑁𝑂 )𝑌𝐴 + (𝑉𝐵𝑁 + 𝑉𝑁𝑂 )𝑌𝐵 + (𝑉𝐶𝑁 + 𝑉𝑁𝑂 )𝑌𝐶 = 0

From which,
𝑉𝐴𝑁 𝑌𝐴 + 𝑉𝐵𝑁 𝑌𝐵 + 𝑉𝐶𝑁 𝑌𝐶
𝑉𝑂𝑁 =
𝑌𝐴 + 𝑌𝐵 + 𝑌𝐶
The voltages 𝑉𝐴𝑁 , 𝑉𝐵𝑁 and 𝑉𝐶𝑁 in above equation are known voltages in a given problem and 𝑌𝐴 , 𝑌𝐵 and
𝑌𝐶 are also known as they are reciprocals of 𝑍𝐴 , 𝑍𝐵 and 𝑍𝐶 . Hence displacement neutral voltage may be
computed.

The voltage across the impedances may then be easily obtained (e.g. 𝑉𝐴𝑂 = 𝑉𝐴𝑁 + 𝑉𝑁𝑂 , etc.). Finally the
line currents may be obtained as product of voltage across admittance and the corresponding admittance
(e.g. 𝐼𝐴 = 𝑉𝐴𝑂 𝑌𝐴 , etc.).