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EXPERIMENT NO. 4: PARALLEL RC AND RL CIRCUITS

I. OBJECTIVE
To describe the characteristics of parallel RC and RL circuits.
II. DISCUSSION

The characteristics of a parallel circuit by which it is defined is that the same voltage
appears across all parallel branches. Therefore, in preparing a phasor diagram for any
parallel circuit, we always use this common voltage as the reference phasor.

Each branch may then be considered separately and the total current is equal to the
sum of the individual currents.

III. COMPONENTS NEEDED

ITEM NO. DESCRIPTION QUANTITY

AC voltmeter 1
AC ammeter 1
Lamp, 220V, 100 W 1
1H inductor 1
4 uF capacitor 1

IV. PROCEDURE

1. Connect the circuit shown in Fig. 4.1.

2. Measure and record the voltage and the individual currents.
3. Measure and record the total current.
4. Using Ohm’s law, compute the magnitude of the impedance of the network.
5. Compute XL and get the equivalent impedance.
6. Compute the percent difference between these two values of impedance.
7. Measure and record the resistance of the inductor. Compute XL.
8. Connect the circuit shown in Fig. 4.2 and repeat steps 2 to 6 except step 5. Use Z L = RL
+ jXL instead of XC.

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V. CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

Fig. 4.1. Parallel RC circuit

Fig. 4.2. Parallel RL circuit

VI. DATA AND RESULTS

Connecting the voltmeter and the ammeter:

Z Z % Ɵ
Circuit ET IR IL IC IT (meas) (comp) diff (comp)

Fig 4.1

Fig 4.2

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VII. QUESTIONS

1. What is the advantage of thinking in terms of admittance, conductance and susceptance

in dealing with parallel AC circuits?

2. What is meant by the equivalent impedance of a parallel AC circuit?

VIII. CONCLUSION