ILOILO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

Activity 7
La Paz, Iloilo City
EE 18 – Circuits 2 Lab

Name: KRIZA MAE C. TORMON Yr & Sec.: BSECE 2-A

MARIE FRANZINE BEDIA
KRISTIAN C. LABAYNO

Activity No. 7
Series R-L Circuit

Introduction:
A series ac circuit connection is a group of components connected so that there is
no branch point between any of them. The components can be a resistor, capacitor,
inductor, or any combination of these components.

Objectives:
The student will be able to:
1. Determine the voltage of an R-L network
2. Determine the phase angle
3. Determine the impedance.

Calculation DATA:
2 2 2
𝐼𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒: 𝑉𝑖(𝑝) = 𝑉𝑅1 + 𝑉𝐿1

2 2 2
𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑔𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑅1: 𝑉𝑅1 = 𝑉𝑅1 + 𝑉𝐿1

𝑉𝐿1(𝑝)
𝑃ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒: 𝜙 = arctan ( )
𝑉𝑅1(𝑝)

𝑉𝑖(𝑝) 2
𝐼𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒: 𝑍 = = √𝑅12 + 𝑋𝐿1
𝐼𝑃

Diagram:

Engr.pllegada
 FIGURE 1

Procedure:

1. Connect the circuit as shown in figure 1

2. Set the voltage source to 10V, 1 kHz.
3. Set 𝑅1 to 50 ohms and 𝐿1 to 10 𝑚𝐻
4. Run the simulation
5. At the “Grapher” Tab adjust the axes of the graph to show at least 1 cycle of the signal
6. Copy the signals displayed on the Grapher tab, and paste in the Obtained Results and
discuss the result signal.

Engr.pllegada
 Obtained results:

The graph on shown figure starts with voltage at a maximum. Imagine an a,b,c, and d
point on the graph. The current starts at zero and rises to its peak after the voltage that
drives it. When the voltage becomes negative at point a, the current begins to decrease;
it becomes zero at point b, where voltage is its most negative. The current then becomes
negative, again following the voltage. The voltage becomes positive at point c and begins
to make the current less negative. At point d, the current goes through zero just as the
voltage reaches its positive peak to start another cycle. Based on phasor diagram of
series RL circuit, at frequency value equal to 1kHz, R1 was given with 50Ω and calculating
the inductive reactance (XL) was resulted to 62.83Ω. Thus, impedance (Z) is 80.30Ω. Based
on simulation done above, the peak input voltage value is 9.9779V or approximately equal
to 10V while the peak current (Ip) is 136.49 mA. The relationship between voltage and
current in case of resistor, the voltage and the current are in same phases.

Questions:
1. How to determine the Impedance of a series RL circuit?

The impedance is defined as the total opposition to the current flow. In a

series RL circuit, this total opposition is due to a combination of both resistance (R)
and inductive reactance (XL). The symbol for impedance is Z, and like resistance and
reactance, it too is measured in ohms the same on the equation below depending on
what resistor was applied, 𝑍 = √𝑅 2 + 𝑋𝐿2

Engr.pllegada
2. Run the simulation as shown in the circuit below, show and discuss the graph. What is the
phase difference between the current and the voltage? Which is leading? How does the graph
differ from the obtained result? And why?

Upon changing the reference across the resistor, the phase difference between the
current and the voltage is 0°. Based on phasor diagram of series RL circuit, at frequency
value equal to 1kHz, R1 was given with 50Ω and calculating the inductive reactance
(XL) was resulted to 62.83Ω. Thus, impedance (Z) is 80.30Ω. Based on simulation done
above, the peak input voltage value is 6.8893 while the peak current (Ip) is 137.92mA.

Engr.pllegada
Looking at the graph, it can be concluded that the voltage (green signal wave) leads the
current (blue signal wave). Furthermore, the graph differs to the graph on obtained
result because the voltage decreased.

3. Run the simulation as shown in the circuit below, show and discuss the graph. What is the
phase difference between the current and the voltage? Which is leading? How does the graph
differ from the obtained result? And why?

Upon changing the reference across the inductor, the phase difference between the
current and the voltage is 90°. The voltage leads current voltage and thus they are not
in phase with each other. Base on the simulation done, the voltage signal is at the
positive side while the current signal is at the negative side. Moreover, the peak
Engr.pllegada
voltage is 5.5924V and the peak current is 137.84mA. The result differs to the
obtained result because the voltage decreased.

4. Change the frequency to 500 Hz, 10 Khz and 50 Khz, Show and discuss the graph of each
frequency.

At f= 500Hz

At frequency equals to 500Hz, the inductive reactance is 31.42Ω thus making

the impedance value (Z) equal to 59.05 Ω. Based on the simulation, the peak
input voltage (Vi(p)) is 9.9655V or approximately equal to 10, while the peak
current (Ip) is 171.69mA. Since the given resistance is greater than the
inductive reactance, the current must be leading. It is also shown in the graph
that the current (blue signal) is leading the voltage (green signal) at a certain
phase difference which when solved results to 32.14° current leading angle.

Engr.pllegada
At f = 10kHz

At frequency equals to 10kHz, the inductive reactance is 628.32Ω thus making the
impedance value (Z) equal to 630.31Ω. Based on the simulation, the peak input voltage
(Vi(p)) is 9.9651V while the peak current (Ip) is 28.130mA. Since the inductive
reactance is greater than the given resistance, the voltage must be leading. It is also
shown in the graph that the voltage (green signal) is leading the current (blue signal)
at a certain phase difference which when solved results to 85.45° voltage leading angle.

Engr.pllegada
At frequency equals to 50kHz, the inductive reactance is 3141.60Ω thus making the
impedance value (Z) equal to 3314.998 Ω. Based on the simulation, the peak input
voltage (Vi(p)) is 9.9651V which is approximately equal to 10V while the peak current
(Ip) is 6.1765mA. Since the inductive reactance is greater than the given resistance,
the voltage must be leading. It is also shown in the graph that the voltage (green
signal) is leading the current (blue signal) at a certain phase difference which when
solved results to 89.14° voltage leading angle and is approximately 90°.

5. How the frequency affects the result?

In series RL circuit if frequency increases, inductive reactance also increases as it is
directly proportional to frequency, total impedance Z also increases, and phase angle θ
increases too while resistance remains constant. In other words, resistance is
independent of frequency; so, if frequency increases or decreases, resistance remains
constant. Meanwhile, the current tends to decrease.

6. What is the phase difference between the voltage and the current for an RL circuit? Which is
leading?

The phase difference between the current and voltage will depend upon the impedance.
If the impedance is more inductive, the current will lag and if the impedance is more
capacitive, then the current will be leading. Pure Inductor opposes the change in current
results current lagging 90 degree and in case of RL circuit, current lags by some angle
which is in between 0 and 90 degrees.

7. Change the inductance of the inductor to 50 𝑚𝐻, 100 𝑚𝐻 and 250 𝑚𝐻 and observe the
resulting graph. Show and discuss the graph of each inductance.
At L=50mH

Engr.pllegada
At inductance equals to 50mH, the inductive reactance is 314.16Ω thus making the
impedance value (Z) equal to 318.36 Ω. Based on the simulation, the peak input voltage
(Vi(p)) is 9.9610V while the peak current (Ip) is 50.695mA. Since the inductive
reactance is greater than the given resistance, the voltage must be leading. It is also
shown in the graph that the voltage (green signal) is leading the current (blue signal)
at a certain phase difference which when solved results to 80.96° voltage leading angle.

At L = 100mH

At inductance equals to 100mH, the inductive reactance is 628.32Ω thus making the
impedance value (Z) equal to 630.31Ω. Based on the simulation, the peak input voltage
(Vi(p)) is 9.2341V while the peak current (Ip) is 28.026mA. Since the inductive
reactance is greater than the given resistance, the voltage must be leading. It is also
shown in the graph that the voltage (green signal) is leading the current (blue signal)
at a certain phase difference which when solved results to 85.45° voltage leading angle.

At L=250mH

Engr.pllegada
At inductance equals to 250mH, the inductive reactance is 1570.80Ω thus making the
impedance value (Z) equal to 1571.60Ω. Based on the simulation, the peak input voltage
(Vi(p)) is 9.9857V which is approximately equal to 10V while the peak current (Ip) is
12.083mA. Since the inductive reactance is greater than the given resistance, the voltage
must be leading. It is also shown in the graph that the voltage (green signal) is leading
the current (blue signal) at a certain phase difference which when solved results to
88.18° voltage leading angle and is approximately equal to 90°.

8. Does increasing/decreasing the inductance affect the phase angle of the circuit? If yes, How
does it affect the phase angle?
YES. The phase angle increases together with the inductance. At 50mH, the phase angle
is at 80.96°, while the phase angle at 100mH is at 84.45°, and for inductance value of
250mH, the phase angle is at 88.178° and it will continue to increase until it reaches 90°.
Increasing or decreasing the value of inductor causes the leading signal to change. By
looking at the three graphs above, voltage leads the current circuit. The inductor reacts
very differently at the three different frequencies. At the higher frequency, the reactance
is large, and the current is small, consistent with how an inductor impedes rapid change.
Thus, high frequencies are impeded the most.

Engr.pllegada
Observations:
Based on simulations done above, we were able to behold the following ideas considering
an R-L circuit.

1) In series RL circuit, as the frequency increases, the inductive reactance (XL)

also increases, which causes the phase angle, or shift between the applied
voltage and current, to increase while the current decrease.

2) When the given resistance is greater than the inductive reactance, the
current must be leading. But if the inductive reactance is greater than the
given resistance, the voltage must be leading.

3) Due to the phase shift created by the inductor, the impedance of a

series RL circuit cannot be found by simply adding the resistance and
inductive reactance values. The total impedance of a series RL circuit,
similar to its total voltage, is the vector sum of the resistance and inductive
reactance, 𝑍 = √𝑅12 + 𝑋𝐿1 2

Conclusions:
In conclusion, the behavior of an R-L series circuit is most easily understood by
plotting the graphs of instantaneous current versus time and instantaneous
inductor voltage versus time. In inductor, the voltage leads that of current by
90° or in other words, voltage attains its maximum and zero value 90° before the
current attains it but in case of resistor, the voltage and the current are in same
phase.

The impedance is defined as the total opposition to the current flow. In a

series RL circuit, this total opposition is due to a combination of both
resistance (R) and inductive reactance (XL). In such a way, the total impedance
of it, similar to its total voltage, is the vector sum of the resistance and
inductive reactance.

Prior to the computation of inductive reactance, impedance and the given

resistor, phase angle can be determined. The impedance Z in ohms is given by,
𝑋
Z = √(R2 + XL2) and from right angle triangle, phase angle is θ = tan– 1( 𝐿 )
𝑅
𝑅
or θ = cos– 1( ).
𝑍

Engr.pllegada