Alternating Current and

Voltage
Sine wave

• Alternating current
• Polarity
Period and frequency of sine wave

• Period: T
• Frequency: f
• f=1/T, T=1/f
Sinusoidal voltage sources

• Brushes and slip rings

Sinusoidal voltage source

• One revolution of a wire loop

Sinusoidal voltage source

• Number of poles
– f= (number of pole pairs) (rps)
Voltage and current value of sine wave

• Instantaneous value
• Peak value
• Peak-to-peak value
Voltage and current value of sine wave

• RMS value
– Root mean square Vrms  V 2
avg
– Effective value
– Equal to the DC Vrms  0.707V p
voltage that produces
the same amount of I rms  0.707 I p
heat in a resistance as V p  1.414Vrms
does the sinusoidal
voltage V pp  2.828Vrms
Voltage and current value of sine wave

• Average value
– One cycle average is always zero
– Average over a half cycle

2
Vavg  ( )V p  0.637V p

Sine wave formula

• Amplitude and angle

y  A sin(   )
Ohm’s law and Kirchhoff’s law

• Apply Ohm’s law to resistive circuits with ac sour

ces
• Apply Kirchhoff’s voltage law and current law to
resistive circuits with ac sources
Superimposed DC and AC voltages

• Both DC and AC voltages

are combined
• The most common
application of
Superposition theorem.
Nonsinusoidal waveforms

• Pulse waveforms
– Rise time
– Fall time
– Pulse width
Nonsinusoidal waveforms

• Repetitive pulses  tw 
% duty   100%
• Duty cycle T 
– The ratio of the pulse width (tw) to the period T
Nonsinusoidal waveforms

• Square wave
– A pulse waveform with a duty cycle of 50%

• Average value of a pulse waveform

– Vavg = baseline + (duty cycle)(amplitude)
Nonsinusoidal waveforms

• Examples
Nonsinusoidal waveforms

• Ramp
– Slew rate
Nonsinusoidal waveforms

• Triangular waveform

• Sawtooth waveform
– Sweep voltage
Nonsinusoidal waveforms

• Fundamental frequency and harmonics

– Odd harmonics
– Even harmonics
– Composite waveform