Introduction To Electronics

AC Circuits

Dr. M. Hebaishy

Digital Logic Design Ch1-1

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 Resistive AC Circuits
 A basic AC circuit consists of an AC source, conductors, and a resistive load.
 The AC source can be an AC generator or a circuit that generates an AC voltage.
 The resistive load can be a resistor, a heater, a lamp, or any similar device.

 When the applied voltage changes polarity, the current also changes. They are
said to be in phase.

Digital Logic Design Ch1-48

 EXAMPLE: If a circuit has an AC voltage source of 120 volts and a resistance of
1000 ohms, what is the effective current in the circuit?

 EXAMPLE: If an effective current of 1.7 amperes flows through a 68-ohm

resistor, what is the effective value of the applied voltage?

Digital Logic Design Ch1-49

 Quiz
 1. What is the phase relationship between current and voltage in a pure

resistive circuit?

 2. What AC value is used for most measurements?

 3. What is the effective current in a circuit of 10,000 with 12 V applied?

 4. What is the voltage (rms) of a circuit with 250 mA flowing through 100 ?

 5. What is the resistance of a circuit when 350 A are produced with an AC

voltage of 12 V?

Digital Logic Design Ch1-50

 SERIES AC CIRCUITS
 The current in a resistive circuit depends on the applied voltage.
 The current is always in phase with the voltage regardless of the number of
resistors in the circuit.
 At any point in the circuit, the current has the same value.
 In Fig. Using Ohm’s law, the voltage drop across each resistor can be
determined. The voltage drops added together equal the applied voltage.

Digital Logic Design Ch1-51

 EXAMPLE: If an AC circuit has an effective value of 120 volts applied across
two resistors (R1 =470 ohms and R2 = 1000 ohms), what is the voltage drop
across each resistor?

 The voltage drop across each resistor is

The effective voltage drop. Digital Logic Design Ch1-52
 PARALLEL AC CIRCUITS

 The voltage in a parallel circuit remains constant across each individual branch.
 The total current divides among the individual branches. In a parallel AC circuit,
the total current is in phase with the applied voltage
 The individual currents are also in phase with the applied voltage.

Digital Logic Design Ch1-53

 EXAMPLE: If an AC circuit has an effective voltage of 120 volts applied across
two parallel resistors of 470 ohms and 1000 ohms, respectively, what is the
current flowing through each of the resistors?

Digital Logic Design Ch1-54

 POWER IN AC CIRCUITS

 Power is dissipated in AC resistive circuits the same way as in DC resistive

circuits.
 Power is measured in watts and is equal to the current times the voltage in the
circuit.
 The power consumed by the resistor in an AC circuit varies with the amount of
current flowing through it and the voltage applied across it.
 The power curve does not fall below the reference line because the power is
dissipated in the form of heat.
 This can be determined by multiplying
the effective voltage value by the effective
current value. This is expressed as:
P = IE

Digital Logic Design Ch1-55

 EXAMPLE: What is the power consumption in an AC circuit with 120 volts
applied across 150 ohms of resistance?

 The resistance in this circuit consumes 96 watts of power.

Digital Logic Design Ch1-56

 Quiz
 Find the power consumption of each individual component in the following
circuit.

Digital Logic Design Ch1-57

 SELF-TEST
 1. Explain the phase relationship between current and voltage in a pure
resistive circuit.
 2. What is the effective voltage of an AC circuit with 25 mA flowing through
4.7 kΩ?
 3. What is the voltage drop across two resistors of 4.7 k Ω and 3.9 k Ω in
series with an AC voltage of 12 V applied?
 4. If two parallel resistors of 2.2 k and 5.6 k have an AC effective voltage of
120 V applied across their input, what is the current developed through each of
the resistors?
 5. What determines the power consumption in an AC circuit?
 6. What is the power consumption in an AC circuit with 120 V applied across
a load of 1200 Ω ?

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 Capacitive AC Circuits
 When an AC voltage is applied to a capacitor, As the applied AC voltage increases
and decreases in amplitude, the capacitor charges and discharges.
 Current and voltage in a capacitive AC circuit do not flow in phase.
 When the voltage starts to increase, current is at maximum .
 As soon as the capacitor charges to the peak AC voltage the charging current drops
to zero.
 As the voltage begins to drop, the capacitor
begins discharging. The current begins to
increase in a negative direction.
 When the current is at maximum, the voltage
is at zero. This relationship is described as
90 degrees out of phase.

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 The opposition that the capacitor offers to the applied AC voltage is called
capacitive reactance.
 Capacitive reactance is represented by XC and is measured in ohms.
 Capacitive reactance can be calculated by using the formula:

 Capacitive reactance is a function of the frequency of the applied AC voltage and

the capacitance.
 Increasing the frequency decreases the reactance, resulting in greater current flow.
 Decreasing the frequency increases the opposition and decreases current flow.

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 EXAMPLE: What is the capacitive reactance of a 1-microfarad capacitor at 60
hertz?

 EXAMPLE: What is the capacitive reactance of a 1-microfarad capacitor at 400

hertz?

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 EXAMPLE: What is the capacitive reactance of a 0.1-microfarad capacitor at 60
hertz?

 EXAMPLE: What is the capacitive reactance of a 10-microfarad capacitor at 60

hertz?

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 Capacitive reactance is the opposition to changes in the applied AC voltage by a

capacitor.

 In an AC circuit, a capacitor is thus an effective way of controlling current.

 Using Ohm’s law, the current is directly proportional to the applied voltage and

inversely proportional to the capacitive reactance. This is expressed as:

 Note: XC (capacitive reactance) has been substituted for R (resistance) in Ohm’s

law.

 It is important to keep in mind that capacitive reactance depends on the frequency

of the applied voltage and the capacitance in the circuit.

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 EXAMPLE: A 100-microfarad capacitor has 12 volts applied across it at 60
hertz. How much current is flowing through it?

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 EXAMPLE: A10-microfarad capacitor has 250 milliamperes of current flowing
through it. How much voltage at 60 hertz is applied across the capacitor?

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 When capacitors are connected in series, the capacitive reactance is equal to the
sum of the individual capacitive reactance values.

 When capacitors are connected in parallel, the reciprocal of the capacitive

reactance is equal to the sum of the reciprocals of the individual capacitive
reactance values.

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 Quiz
 What is the relationship between current and voltage in a capacitive
circuit?
 What is capacitive reactance?
 What is the capacitive reactance of a 10- microfarad capacitor at
400 hertz?

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 APPLICATIONS OF CAPACITIVE CIRCUITS

 Capacitors can be used alone or combined with resistors to form RC (resistor-

capacitor) networks.
 RC networks are used for filtering, decoupling, DC blocking, or coupling phase-
shift circuits.
 A filter is a circuit that discriminates among frequencies, attenuating some while
allowing others to pass.
 The two most common types of filters are low-pass filters and high-pass filters.
 A low-pass filter allows low frequencies to pass with little opposition while
attenuating the high frequencies.
 A high-pass filter permits frequencies above the cut-off point to pass while
attenuating frequencies below the cutoff point.

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 A low-pass filter consists of a
capacitor and a resistor in series.
 The input voltage is applied across
both capacitor and resistor .
 The output is taken from across the capacitor
 At low frequencies, the capacitive reactance
is higher than the resistance, so most of the
voltage is dropped across the capacitor.
 Frequencies above the cut-off point
pass with a gradual attenuation in the
output voltage.

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 A high-pass filter also consists of a resistor and capacitor in series However, the
output is taken across the resistor.
 At high frequencies, the capacitive reactance is low, and most of the voltage is
dropped across the resistor.
 As the frequency decreases, the capacitive reactance increases, and more voltage
is dropped across the capacitor.
 This results in a decrease in the output voltage across the resistor.

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 SELF-TEST
 1. What is the relationship between current and the applied voltage in a
capacitive circuit?
 2. What is the capacitive reactance of a 1000-F capacitor at 60 Hz?
 3. In question 2, what is the current flow through the capacitor with 12 V
applied?
 4. Why are capacitive coupling circuits important?

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