Electrical Power in Circuits
Electrical Power, ( P ) in a circuit is the rate at which energy is absorbed or produced within
a circuit. A source of energy such as a voltage will produce or deliver power while the
connected load absorbs it. Light bulbs and heaters for example, absorb electrical power and
convert it into either heat, or light, or both. The higher their value or rating in watts the
more electrical power they are likely to consume.
The quantity symbol for power is P and is the product of voltage multiplied by the current
with the unit of measurement being the Watt ( W ). Prefixes are used to denote the various
multiples or sub-multiples of a watt, such as: milliwatts (mW = 10-3W) or kilowatts (kW =
103W).
Then by using Ohm’s law and substituting for the values of V, I and R the formula
for electrical power can be found as:
To find the Power (P)
[P=VxI] P (watts) = V (volts) x I (amps)
Also,
[ P = V2 ÷ R ] P (watts) = V2 (volts) ÷ R (Ω)
Also,
[P=I xR]2 P (watts) = I2 (amps) x R (Ω)
Again, the three quantities have been superimposed into a triangle this time called a
Power Triangle with power at the top and current and voltage at the bottom. Again, this
arrangement represents the actual position of each quantity within the Ohms law power
formulas.
The Power Triangle
and again, transposing the basic Ohms Law equation above for power gives us the
following combinations of the same equation to find the various individual quantities:
So we can see that there are three possible formulas for calculating electrical power in
a circuit. If the calculated power is positive, (+P) in value for any formula the
component
absorbs the power, that is it is consuming or using power. But if the calculated power
is
Electrical Power Rating
Electrical components are given a “power rating” in watts that indicates the maximum
rate at which the component converts the electrical power into other forms of energy
such as heat, light or motion. For example, a 1/4W resistor, a 100W light bulb etc.
Electrical devices convert one form of power into another. So for example, an electrical
motor will covert electrical energy into a mechanical force, while an electrical generator
converts mechanical force into electrical energy. A light bulb converts electrical energy into
both light and heat.
Also, we now know that the unit of power is the WATT, but some electrical devices such as
electric motors have a power rating in the old measurement of “Horsepower” or hp. The
relationship between horsepower and watts is given as: 1hp = 746W. So for example, a two-
horsepower motor has a rating of 1492W, (2 x 746) or 1.5kW.
Ohms Law Pie Chart
To help us understand the the relationship between the various values a little further, we can
take all of the Ohm’s Law equations from above for finding Voltage, Current, Resistance
and of course Power and condense them into a simple Ohms Law pie chart for use in AC
and DC circuits and calculations as shown.
Ohms Law Pie Chart
As well as using the Ohm’s Law Pie Chart shown above, we can also put the individual
Ohm’s Law equations into a simple matrix table as shown for easy reference when
calculating an unknown value.
Ohms Law Matrix Table
Ohms Law Example No1
For the circuit shown below find the Voltage (V), the Current (I), the Resistance (R) and the
Power (P).
Voltage [ V = I x R ] = 2 x 12Ω = 24V
[ I = V ÷ R ] = 24 ÷ 12Ω =
Resistance
Current 2A[ R = V ÷ I ] = 24 ÷ 2 = 12 Ω
Power [ P = V x I ] = 24 x 2 = 48W
Power within an electrical circuit is only present when BOTH voltage and current are
present. For example, in an open-circuit condition, voltage is present but there is no current
flow I = 0 (zero), therefore V x 0 is 0 so the power dissipated within the circuit must also
be
0. Likewise, if we have a short-circuit condition, current flow is present but there is
no voltage V = 0, therefore 0 x I = 0 so again the power dissipated within the circuit
is 0.
As electrical power is the product of V x I, the power dissipated in a circuit is the same
whether the circuit contains high voltage and low current or low voltage and high
current flow. Generally, electrical power is dissipated in the form of Heat (heaters),
Mechanical Work such as motors, Energy in the form of radiated (Lamps) or as stored
energy (Batteries).
Electrical Energy in Circuits
Electrical Energy is the capacity to do work, and the unit of work or energy is the
joule ( J ). Electrical energy is the product of power multiplied by the length of time it
was consumed. So if we know how much power, in Watts is being consumed and the
time, in seconds for which it is used, we can find the total energy used in watt-seconds.
In other
words, Energy = power x time and Power = voltage x current. Therefore electrical power is
related to energy and the unit given for electrical energy is the watt-seconds or joules.
Electrical power can also be defined as the rate of by which energy is transferred. If one
joule of work is either absorbed or delivered at a constant rate of one second, then the
corresponding power will be equivalent to one watt so power can be defined as
“1Joule/sec
= 1Watt”. Then we can say that one watt is equal to one joule per second and
electrical power can be defined as the rate of doing work or the transferring of
energy.
Electrical Power and Energy Triangle
or to find the various individual quantities:
We said previously that electrical energy is define as being watts per second or joules.
Although electrical energy is measured in Joules it can become a very large value when
used to calculate the energy consumed by a component.
For example, if a 100 watt light bulb is left-“ON” for 24 hours, the energy consumed will be
8,640,000 Joules (100W x 86,400 seconds), so prefixes such as kilojoules (kJ = 103J) or
megajoules (MJ = 106J) are used instead and in this simple example, the energy consumed
will be 8.64MJ (mega-joules).
But dealing with joules, kilojoules or megajoules to express electrical energy, the maths
involved can end up with some big numbers and lots of zero’s, so it is much more easier
to express electrical energy consumed in Kilowatt-hours.
If the electrical power consumed (or generated) is measured in watts or kilowatts
(thousands of watts) and the time is measure in hours not seconds, then the unit of
electrical energy will be the kilowatt-hours,(kWhr). Then our 100 watt light bulb above
will consume 2,400 watt hours or 2.4kWhr, which is much easier to understand the
8,640,000 joules.
1 kWhr is the amount of electricity used by a device rated at 1000 watts in one hour and is
commonly called a “Unit of Electricity”. This is what is measured by the utility meter and is
what we as consumers purchase from our electricity suppliers when we receive our bills.
Kilowatt-hours are the standard units of energy used by the electricity meter in our homes
So if you switch ON an electric fire with a heating element rated at 1000 watts and left it
on for 1 hour you will have consumed 1 kWhr of electricity. If you switched on two
electric fires each with 1000 watt elements for half an hour the total consumption would
be exactly the same amount of electricity – 1kWhr.
So, consuming 1000 watts for one hour uses the same amount of power as 2000 watts
(twice as much) for half an hour (half the time). Then for a 100 watt light bulb to use 1
kWhr or one unit of electrical energy it would need to be switched on for a total of 10 hours
(10 x 100 = 1000 = 1kWhr).
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