UNIT : 07 ALTERNATING CURRENT
NCERT
Higher Secondary – Second Year
Alternating Current Circuits
Alternating Current Circuits
Electrical appliances in the house use alternating current (AC) circuits.
If an AC source applies an alternating voltage to a series circuit containing resistor, inductor, and capacitor,
what are the amplitude and time characteristics of the alternating current.
Other devices will be discussed
Transformers
Power transmission
Electrical filters
Introduction
AC Circuits
An AC circuit consists of a combination of circuit elements and a power source.
The power source provides an alternating voltage, Dv.
Notation note:
Lower case symbols will indicate instantaneous values.
Capital letters will indicate fixed values.
Section 33.1
AC Voltage
The output of an AC power source is sinusoidal and varies with time according to the following equation:
Δv = ΔVmax sin ωt
Δv is the instantaneous voltage.
ΔVmax is the maximum output voltage of the source.
Also called the voltage amplitude
ω is the angular frequency of the AC voltage.
Section 33.1
AC Voltage, cont.
The angular frequency is
2π
ω 2π ƒ
T
ƒ is the frequency of the source.
T is the period of the source.
The voltage is positive during one half of the cycle
and negative during the other half.
Section 33.1
AC Voltage, final
The current in any circuit driven by an AC source is an alternating current that varies sinusoidally with time.
Commercial electric power plants in the US use a frequency of 60 Hz.
This corresponds with an angular frequency of 377 rad/s.
Section 33.1
Resistors in an AC Circuit
Consider a circuit consisting of an AC source and a
resistor.
The AC source is symbolized by
ΔvR = DVmax= Vmax sin wt
ΔvR is the instantaneous voltage across the resistor.
Section 33.2
Resistors in an AC Circuit, cont.
The instantaneous current in the resistor is
DvR DVmax
iR sin ωt I max sin ωt
R R
The instantaneous voltage across the resistor is also given as
ΔvR = Imax R sin ωt
Section 33.2
Resistors in an AC Circuit, final
The graph shows the current through and the voltage
across the resistor.
The current and the voltage reach their maximum
values at the same time.
The current and the voltage are said to be in phase.
For a sinusoidal applied voltage, the current in a
resistor is always in phase with the voltage across
the resistor.
The direction of the current has no effect on the
behavior of the resistor.
Resistors behave essentially the same way in both
DC and AC circuits.
Section 33.2
Phasor Diagram
To simplify the analysis of AC circuits, a graphical
constructor called a phasor diagram can be used.
A phasor is a vector whose length is proportional to
the maximum value of the variable it represents.
The vector rotates counterclockwise at an angular
speed equal to the angular frequency associated
with the variable.
The projection of the phasor onto the vertical axis
represents the instantaneous value of the quantity it
represents.
Section 33.2
A Phasor is Like a Graph
An alternating voltage can be presented in different representations.
One graphical representation is using rectangular coordinates.
The voltage is on the vertical axis.
Time is on the horizontal axis.
The phase space in which the phasor is drawn is similar to polar coordinate graph paper.
The radial coordinate represents the amplitude of the voltage.
The angular coordinate is the phase angle.
The vertical axis coordinate of the tip of the phasor represents the instantaneous value of the voltage.
The horizontal coordinate does not represent anything.
Alternating currents can also be represented by phasors.
Section 33.2
rms Current and Voltage:
The average current in one cycle is zero.
Resistors experience a temperature increase which depends on the magnitude of the current, but not the
direction of the current.
The power is related to the square of the current.
The rms current is the average of importance in an AC circuit.
rms stands for root mean square
Imax
Irms 0.707 Imax
2
Alternating voltages can also be discussed in terms of rms values.
DVmax
DVrms 0.707 DVmax
2
Section 33.2
RMS ???:
Rms ???:
Rms ???:
Rms ???:
Power:
The rate at which electrical energy is delivered to a resistor in the circuit is given by (Jolues Law)
P=i2R
i is the instantaneous current.
The heating effect produced by an AC current with a maximum value of Imax is not the same as that of a DC
current of the same value.
The maximum current occurs for a small amount of time.
The average power delivered to a resistor that carries an alternating current is
P = VI
wkt, V = IR
Pav Irms
2
R
∴ P=I2R
(Or)
Section 33.2
Power:
Power:
Power:
Inductors in an AC Circuit
Kirchhoff’s loop rule can be applied and gives:
Dv Dv L 0 , or
di
Dv L 0
dt
di
Dv L DVmax sin ωt
dt
Section 33.3
where the second term is the self-induced Faraday emf in the inductor; and L
is the self-inductance of the inductor. The negative sign follows from Lenz’s
law
To obtain the current, we integrate di/dt with respect to time:
---------
The dimension of inductive reactance is the same as that of resistance
and its SI unit is ohm ( ).
A comparison of Eqs. (7.1) and (7.12) for the source voltage and the current in an inductor
shows that the current lags the voltage by /2
The dimension of capacitive reactance is the same as that of resistance and
its SI unit is ohm ( ).
A comparison of Eq. (7.16) with the equation of source voltage, Eq. (7.1) shows that the
current is /2 ahead of voltage.
AC circuit containing a Resistor, an Inductor and a Capacitor in series – Series RLC circuit
AC circuit containing a Resistor, an Inductor and a Capacitor in series – Series RLC circuit
AC circuit containing a Resistor, an Inductor and a Capacitor in series – Series RLC circuit
AC circuit containing a Resistor, an Inductor and a Capacitor in series – Series RLC circuit
AC circuit containing a Resistor, an Inductor and a Capacitor in series – Series RLC circuit
AC circuit containing a Resistor, an Inductor and a Capacitor in series – Series RLC circuit
Resonance in Series RLC Circuit
Note: Natural Frequency of the LCR Circuit
This formula assumes that the resistance R is
relatively small, so it does not significantly
affect the resonance frequency.
Resonance in Series RLC Circuit
Resonance in Series RLC Circuit
Resonance in Series RLC Circuit
Wattless Current
Wattless Current
Why?? the Power consumed by the Reactive Component is Zero
Why?? the Power consumed by the Reactive Component is Zero
Power Factor
TRANSFORMER
TRANSFORMER
TRANSFORMER
TRANSFORMER
TRANSFORMER
Energy Losses in TRANSFORMER
Energy Losses in TRANSFORMER
Thank you !
