[Link]
html
Characteristics of a Sine Wave
A wave form is a graph showing the variation, usually of voltage or
current, against time. The horizontal axis shows the passing of
time, progressing from left to right. The vertical axis shows the
quantity measured
The PEAK TO PEAK value is the vertical distance between the top and bottom of
the wave. It will be measured in volts on a voltage waveform, and may be
labelled VPP or VPK−PK. In a current waveform it would be labelled IPP or IPK−PK as I
(not C) is used to represent current.
This is the value (voltage or current) of a wave at any particular instant. often
chosen to coincide with some other event. E.g. The instantaneous value of a sine
wave one quarter of the way through the cycle will be equal to the peak value.
The AMPLITUDE of a sine wave is the maximum vertical distance reached, in
either direction from the centre line of the wave. As a sine wave is symmetrical
about its centre line, the amplitude of the wave is half the peak to peak value
However this is not always the case, if a dc component other than zero volts is
also present, the sine wave will be symmetrical about this level rather than
zero. The bottom waveform in in the last figure shows that the peak value can
now be even larger than the peak to peak value, (the amplitude of the wave
however, remains the same, and is the difference between the peak value and
the "centre line" of the waveform).
The PERIODIC TIME (given the symbol T) is the time, in seconds milliseconds etc.
taken for one complete cycle of the wave. It can be used to find the FREQUENCY
of the wave ƒ using the formula T =1/ƒ
Thus if the periodic time of a wave is 20ms (or 1/50th of a second) then there
must be 50 complete cycles of the wave in one second. A frequency of 50 Hz.
Note that when you use this formula, if the periodic time is in seconds then the
frequency will be in Hz.
The AVERAGE value. This is normally taken to mean the average value of only
half a cycle of the wave. If the average of the full cycle was taken it would of
course be zero, as in a sine wave symmetrical about zero, there are equal
excursions above and below the zero line.
Using only half a cycle, as illustrated in figure below the average value (voltage
or current) is always 0.637 of the peak value of the wave.
As the name implies, Vavg is calculated by taking the average of the voltage in an
appropriately chosen interval. In the case of symmetrical waveforms like the sine
wave, a quarter cycle faithfully represents all four quarter cycles of the
waveform. Therefore, it is acceptable to choose the first quarter cycle, which
goes from 0 radians (0°) through p/2 radians (90°).
The average value is the value that usually determines the voltage or current
indicated on a test meter. There are however some meters that will read the
RMS value, these are called "True RMS meters".
The RMS or ROOT MEAN SQUARED value is the value of the equivalent direct
(non varying) voltage or current which would provide the same energy to a
circuit as the sine wave measured. That is, if an AC sine wave has a RMS value of
240 volts, it will provide the same energy to a circuit as a DC supply of 240 volts.
It can be shown that the RMS value of a sine wave is 0.707 of the peak value.
VRMS = VPK x 0.707 and IRMS = IPK x 0.707
Also, the peak value of a sine wave is equal to 1.414 x the RMS value.
As the name implies, Vrms is calculated by taking the square root of the
mean average of the square of the voltage in an appropriately chosen
interval. In the case of symmetrical waveforms like the sinewave, a
quarter cycle faithfully represents all four quarter cycles of the
waveform. Therefore, it is acceptable to choose the first quarter cycle,
which goes from 0 radians (0°) through p/2 radians (90°).
Vrms is the value indicated by the vast majority of AC voltmeters. It is the
value that, when applied across a resistance, produces that same amount
of heat that a direct current (DC) voltage of the same magnitude would
produce. For example, 1 V applied across a 1 Ω resistor produces 1 W of
heat. A 1 Vrms sinewave applied across a 1 Ω resistor also produces 1 W of
heat. That 1 Vrms sinewave has a peak voltage of √2 V (≈1.414 V), and a
peak-to-peak voltage of 2√2 V (≈2.828 V).
If VAV (0.637) is multiplied by 1.11 the answer is 0.707, which is the
RMS value. This difference is called the Form Factor of the wave,
and the relationship of 1.11 is only true for a perfect sine wave. If
the wave is some other shape, either the RMS or the average
value (or both) will change, and so will the relationship between
them. This is important when measuring AC voltages with a meter
as it is the average value that most meters actually measure.
However they display the RMS value simply by multiplying the
voltage by 1.11. Therefore if the AC wave being measured is not a
perfect sine wave the reading will be slightly wrong. If you pay
enough money however, you can buy a true RMS meter that
actually calculates the RMS value of non-sine waves.
To demonstrate some of these characteristics in use, consider a very common
sine wave, the mains supply or line waveform, which in many parts of the world
is a nominal 230V.
Electrical equipment that connects to the mains supply always carries a label
giving information about what supply the equipment can be connected to.
These labels are quite variable in appearance, but often there is a picture of a
sine wave showing that an a.c. supply must be used. The voltage quoted will be
230V (or 120V in the USA)or range of voltages including these values. These
voltages actually refer to the RMS value of the mains sine wave. The label also
states that the frequency of the supply, which is 50Hz in Europe or 60Hz in the
USA.
We all know that electric utilities in the United States generate electricity at various 60-Hz
voltage levels that result in a sine wave waveform. The height, or amplitude, of this sine
wave is called its “peak value.” Instead of using the peak value, however, we describe the
amplitude of a sine wave as its effective, or root-mean-square (rms), value.
When taking field measurements with a digital multimeter, it’s
important you understand the difference between peak and rms
readings.
DC voltages have a crest factor of 1.0, because the rms and peak amplitudes are
equal. It's the same for a square wave (50% duty cycle). For a triangle wave, it's
1.73. Crest factors for other waveforms are shown in the Table below . As you can
see, crest factor is a dimensionless quantity.