Chapter Three

AC Circuit Analysis

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 Concept of AC circuit
 AC circuits as the name implies (Alternating Current) are simply circuits powered
by an Alternating Source, either voltage or current.

 Alternating Current (AC) is a type of electrical current, in which the direction of

the flow of electrons switches back and forth at regular intervals or cycles.

 An alternating current or voltage, is one in which their value varies about a

particular mean value and reverses direction periodically.

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 Cont.
• Alternating Current (AC) Generators are electric generators responsible for converting
mechanical energy into electrical energy or;

• The machine which are used for generating electrical ac voltage is called generator.

• The generator which generate purely AC sinusoidal voltage is called ‘Alternator’.

• Current flowing in power lines and normal household electricity that comes from a wall
outlet is alternating current.

• The standard current used in the U.S. is 60 cycles per sec (i.e. a frequency of 60 Hz); in
Europe and most other parts of the world is 50 cycles per sec (i.e. a frequency of 50 Hz.).

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 AC voltage generation
 It works on the basis of Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction, which says that
whenever there is a relative motion between the conductor and the magnetic field, an
‘emf’ gets induced in the conductor.

 Without the development of generation of electrical power, such advances would have
been impossible.

 Emf is produced when there is either relative time variation or relative space between
the conductor and magnetic field.

 The EMF generated depends on the magnetic field strength, the number of armature
coil turns and the speed of the rotating field.
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Cont.

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 Waveforms and Equation
 If values of quantities which vary with time t are plotted to a base of time, the
resulting graph is called a waveform.

 The most common is the sinusoidal ac waveform for voltage.

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 Sinusoidal AC Voltage
 Sinusoidal ac voltages are available from a variety of sources.
 The most common source is the typical home outlet, which provides an ac voltage
that originates at a power plant; such a power plant is most commonly fueled by
water power, solar, wind, oil, gas, or nuclear fusion.
 In each case an ac generator (also called an alternator), is the primary component
in the energy-conversion process.

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 Common Terminology
Consider the following figure as shown below

 Cycle: The portion of a waveform contained in one period of time.

 The time taken for an alternating quantity to complete one cycle is called the

period or the periodic time T, of the waveform.

 Frequency(f): The number of cycles completed in one second.

 The unit of frequency is the hertz, where 1Hz=1cycle/second.

 The two can be related by the following equation: T=1/f or f=1/T

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 Example-1
Problem 1. Determine the periodic time for frequencies of (a) 50Hz and (b) 20kHz

(a) Periodic time T = 1/f = 1/50=0.02 s or 20 ms

(b) Periodic time T = 1/f = 1/20000=0.00005 s or 50μs

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 AC values
 Instantaneous are the values of the alternating quantities at any instant of time.
 The largest value reached in a half-cycle is called the peak value or the maximum value or the
amplitude of the waveform.
 A peak-to-peak is the difference between the maximum and minimum values of e.m.f. in a cycle.
 The average or mean value is the average value measured over a half-cycle (since over a
complete cycle the average value is zero).

 Effective(RMS) value is used to determine the amplitude of a sinusoidal ac current required to

deliver the same power as a particular dc current.

 The RMS value is the effective value of a varying voltage or current

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 Cont.
 For a sine wave:
 R.M.S value = 0.707×maximum value = (i.e. 1/×maximum value)
 Average (mean) value = 0.637×maximum value = (i.e. 2/π ×maximum value)
 Form factor = r.m.s value/average value
 For a sine wave, form factor =1.11
 Peak factor = maximum value/r.m.s value
 For a sine wave, peak factor =1.41

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 Example-2

Problem 2. Determine the peak and mean values for a 240V mains supply.
Solution

For a sine wave, r.m.s. value of voltage V =0.707×Vm.

A 240 V mains supply means that 240 V is the r.m.s. value, hence

Vm = V/0.707= 240/0.707= 339.5 V= peak value

Mean value

Vavg = 0.637Vm = 0.637×339.5= 216.3 V

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 The equation of a sinusoidal waveform
 The sinusoidal waveform is the only alternating waveform whose shape is
unaffected by the response characteristics of R, L, and C elements.

 The basic mathematical format for the sinusoidal waveform is 𝑆𝑖𝑛α, where is the
peak value of the waveform and α is the unit of measure for the horizontal axis.

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 Cont…

 The angle α through which the rotating vector will pass is determined by the
angular velocity of the rotating vector and the length of time the vector rotates.

i.e. α = ωt

 The general format of a sine wave can also be written as 𝐴𝑚𝑆𝑖𝑛ωt with ωt as the
horizontal unit of measure, for electrical quantities such as current and voltage,
the general format is
i=
v=

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 Cont…
 Where andrepresent the peak values, but i and v represent the instantaneous values of
current and voltage at any time, respectively.
 If the waveform is shifted to the right or left of 𝜃°, the expression becomes:
𝐴𝑚𝑆𝑖𝑛(𝜔𝑡 ± 𝜃), Where 𝜃 is the angle in degrees or radians that the waveform has
been shifted.
 Given the general sinusoidal voltage, v =Vm sin(ωt ± 𝜃), then

 amplitude or maximum value = Vm  periodic time, T = 2π/ω seconds

 peak-to-peak value = 2Vm  frequency, f = ω/2π Hz (since ω =2πf )

 angular velocity = ω rad/s  𝜃 = angle of lag or lead (compared with

v =Vm sin ωt).
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 Example-3
Problem 3. An alternating voltage is given by v=75sin(200πt−0.25) volts. Find (a) the
amplitude, (b) the peak-to-peak value, (c) the r.m.s. value, (d) the periodic time, (e)
the frequency and (f) the phase angle (in degrees and minutes) relative to 75sin 200πt.
Ans. a) 75V b) 150V c) 53V d) 0.01s e) 100Hz f) lagging
Assignment-1a

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 Phasors

 a phasor is a complex number representing a sinusoidal function whose amplitude

(Am), angular frequency (ω), and initial phase (θ) are time-invariant.
 a voltage v(t) can be written in exponential form as
V(t)=Re
 As a complex number v(t) = Re
 Now we can remove Re part of and take , called phasor.
 V is the effective (rms) value of the voltage.
 Therefore both current and voltage can be represented by their corresponding phasors.
 Usually Phasors are expressed using effective values and phase angles.

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 Phasor relationships for circuit elements
Resistor
 If the current through a resistor R is i= the voltage across it is given by ohms law
as
 𝑣 (𝑡) = 𝑅𝑖 (𝑡) = R

 The phasor form of this voltage is V=R.

 But the phasor representation of the current is I=Hence,V=RI
 The current and voltage are in phase.

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 Inductor

 The voltage-current relationship for an inductor

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 Capacitor

 The phasor form of capacitor is 1/𝑗𝜔𝐶.

i.e. 𝐼 = 𝑗𝜔𝐶𝑉
 The current leads the voltage by 90 degree.

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Summary of voltage-current relationships

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 Impedance and Admittance
 Impedance is the measure of the opposition that a circuit presents to a AC current
when AC voltage is applied.

 Impedance is defined as the ratio of the phasor voltage V to the phasor current I.

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 Cont…
 In rectangular form, Z=R+jX where R= Zcosθ, X=Zsinθ

Such that Z = , 𝜃 =

Impedance of Passive Elements

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 Admittance
 The admittance Y is the reciprocal of impedance, measured in siemens(S) or mhos.

 Represented by Y=1/Z=G+jB, where G is called conductance and B is susceptance.

 The admittance of the individual passive elements are

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Example-4

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 Example-5
 Find v(t) and i(t) in the circuit shown in figure below.

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 Three phase circuits
• An ac generator designed to develop a single sinusoidal voltage for each rotation of the shaft (rotor) is
referred to as a single-phase ac generator.
• If the number of coils on the rotor is increased in a specified manner, the result is a poly phase ac
generator, which develops more than one ac phase voltage per rotation of the rotor.
• The prefix “poly” means “more than one”. So Poly phase means ac that have two or more phases.
• The domestic supply line comprise mostly of single phase electricity.
• Example: the home appliances like T.V., refrigerator, washing machines are designed to be operated by
single phase alternating current.
• But for heavy duty machines single phase current is not sufficient.
• Therefore, polyphase ac system is needed to run in plant and machinery.
• More specifically, it is a three-phase circuit, predominantly used in large power systems now a days.
Generation of three-phase voltages and currents
• A three-phase generator consists of three single phase generators with voltages of equal amplitudes
and phase differences of 12.

• Or
Cont.
• Each of the three-phase generators can be connected to one of three identical loads.
• The current flowing to each load can be found as;

• Therefore, the currents flowing in each phase are;

 Cont’d…
 𝑉𝑎𝑛 = 230 < , 𝑉𝑏𝑛 = 230 < −, 𝑉𝑐𝑛 = 230 < −

𝑉𝑎n+𝑉𝑏𝑛 + 𝑉𝑐n=0

I𝑎+I𝑏 + 𝐼𝑐=0

Three phase circuits can be classified as balanced and unbalanced systems.

If the three sinusoidal voltages have the same magnitude and frequency and each voltage is 120° out of phase
with the other two, the voltages are said to be balanced.

 If the system behaves on the other way, like

 The voltages do not have the same magnitude

 The load currents are not the same in magnitude

 If the voltages/currents are out of phase with an angle different from 120° the entire circuit is said to
unbalanced.
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 Three phase connections
 Consider a balanced circuit on the right.

 The phase voltages, the voltage from each

line, a,b,c to neutral are given by:-

𝑉𝑎𝑛 = 𝑉𝑝 <

𝑉𝑏𝑛 = 𝑉𝑝 < −

𝑉𝑐𝑛 = 𝑉𝑝 < − = 𝑉𝑝 <

 The phasor diagram of these voltages

is shown to the right side.

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 Cont.
 The phase sequence of this set is said
to be abc (called positive phase sequence),
meaning that lags by 120°.
 An important property of the balanced
voltage set is that 𝑉𝑎𝑛 + 𝑉𝑏𝑛 + 𝑉𝑐𝑛 = 0
 There are two possible equivalent
configurations for the load.
 The equivalent load can be considered
as being connected in either
a wye (Y) or delta (Δ) configuration.
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 Source/load Connections
 Since the source and the load
can each be connected in either Y or Δ,
three-phase balanced circuits can be
connected Y - Y, Y - Δ, Δ-Y, or Δ-Δ

Balanced Wye-Wye Connection

𝑉𝑎𝑛 = 𝑉𝑝 < 0
𝑉𝑏𝑛 = 𝑉𝑝 < −120
𝑉𝑐𝑛 = 𝑉𝑝 < −240 = 𝑉𝑝 < 120
 The line- to line or, simply line voltages can be calculated using KVL
𝑉𝑎𝑏 = 𝑉𝑎𝑛 − 𝑉𝑏𝑛 = 𝑉𝑝 <
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 Cont’d…
 The magnitude of line to line voltage is times that of phase to neutral voltage.
 But the line current and phase current are the same

and Ia+Ib+Ic = 0

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 Example 9
 Calculate the line currents in the three wire Y-Y system of figure below.
Solution
 We obtain Ia from the single phase analysis as

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 Balanced Wye-Delta Connection
 A balanced Y- system consists of a balanced Y connected source feeding a
balanced  connected load.

 Assuming the positive sequence, the

phase voltages are again

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 Cont’d…
 The line voltages are

 Showing that the line voltages are equal

to the voltages across the load impedances for this configuration.

 From these voltages, we can obtain the phase currents as

 These currents have the same magnitude but are out of phase with each other by .

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 Cont’d…
Delta Connected Source
 The sources are connected line to line

 The line to line voltage and the phase voltages are the same

𝑉𝑎𝑏 = 𝑉𝐿 <

𝑉𝑏𝑐 = 𝑉𝐿 < −

𝑉𝑐𝑎 = 𝑉𝐿 < −

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 Cont’d..

Delta Connected Load

 The line-to-line voltage is the voltage across each load impedance (phase voltage
of the load).

 The phase currents can be written as:

=< , =<,=< -

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 Cont’d…
 The line currents are calculated from the phase currents,

= -

=<−

 The magnitude of the line currents are times the magnitude of phase current.

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Example:10

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Cont’d…

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Thank you!!!

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