Module VII: Phasor Analysis
Three-Phase AC Circuits: Comparison between single-phase and three-phase
systems, Three-phase EMF Generation, Line and Phase quantities in star and delta
networks, Power and its measurement in three-phase balanced circuits.
By
Dr. Aurobinda Bag
• If the Electricity producing generator is arranged to have two or more
separate windings displaced from each other by equal electrical angles,
then it is called a polyphase generator and will produce as many
independent voltages as the number of windings or phases.
• The electrical displacement between the windings depends upon the
number of windings or phases.
• For example, a 2-phase generator has two separate but identical
windings that are 90° electrical apart and rotate in a common uniform
magnetic field.
• Obviously, such a generator will produce two alternating voltages of
the same magnitude and frequency having a phase difference of 90°.
• Similarly, a 3-phase generator has three separate but identical
windings that are 120° electrical apart and rotate in a common uniform
magnetic field.
• A 3-phase generator will, therefore, produce three voltages of same
magnitude and frequency but displaced 120° electrical from one
another.
• Several polyphase systems are possible, but the 3-phase system is the
most popular because it is the most efficient of all the supply systems.
Comparison between single phase and three phase system:
[Link] single phase power supply, the power flows through one conductor
whereas in three phase supply consists three conductors for power
supply.
[Link] phase power supply requires two wires (one phase and one
neutral) for completing the circuit. Three phase power supply requires
three phase wires and one neutral wire for completing the circuit.
[Link] single phase power supply the voltage is up to 230V whereas in
three phase power supply carries the voltage is up to 415V.
[Link] phase power system has only one phase wire, and if the fault
occurs on the network, then the power supply completely fails. But in
three phase system the network has three phases, and if the fault
occurs on any one of the phases, the other two will continuously
supply the power.
[Link] phase power supply is mostly used for domestic purpose and
for running the small loads. Three phase power supply is used in large
industries and for running the heavy loads.
N
Generation of Three Phase AC S
• In Fig. shown a two-pole, stationary-armature, rotating-field type
three-phase alternator.
• It has three armature coils aa' bb' cc', and displaced 120° apart from
one another.
• With the position and clockwise rotation of the poles as indicated in
Fig. , it is found that the e.m.f. induced in conductor ‘a’ for coil aa'
and its direction can be found from Fleming’s left hand rule.
• The e.m.f. in conductor ‘b’ of coil bb' would be induced when the N-
pole has turned through 120° i.e. when N-S axis lies along bb’.
• Also the induced e.m.f. in conductor ‘b’ reaches its maximum value
120° later than the maximum value in conductor ‘a’.
• In the like manner, the maximum e.m.f. induced (in the direction away
from the reader) in conductor ‘c’ would occur 120° later than that in
‘b’ or 240° later than that in ‘a’.
• So, the three coils have three [Link]. induced in them which are similar
in all respects except that they are 120° out of time phase with one
another as shown in fig..
• Each voltage wave is assumed to be sinusoidal and having maximum
value of Em.
• Actually, the space on the armature is completely covered and there
are many slots per phase per pole.
• The instantaneous values of the three [Link]. and
• The three voltages can be represented by phasor diagram as shown
below.
Phase sequence:
• The order in which the voltages in the three phases (or coils) of an
alternator reach their maximum positive values is called phase
sequence or phase order.
Interconnection of Three Phases:
• In a 3-phase alternator, there are three windings or phases.
• Each phase has two terminals viz. start and finish.
• In practice, the three windings are interconnected to give rise to two
methods of connections viz.
(i) Star or Wye (Y) connection
(ii) Mesh or Delta (D) connection
(i) In Y-connection, similar ends (start or finish) of the three phases are
joined together within the alternator and three lines are run from the
other free ends as shown in Fig. below.
• The common point N is called neutral point.
• In Y-connection, neutral conductor (shown dotted) may or may not be
brought out.
• If a neutral conductor exists, the system is called 3-phase, 4-wire
system.
• If there is no neutral conductor, it is called 3-phase, 3-wire system.
• (ii) In Delta-connection, dissimilar ends (start to finish) of the phases
are joined to form a closed mesh and the three lines are run from the
junction points as shown in Fig. below.
• In a Delta-connection, no neutral point exists and only 3-phase, 3-wire
system can be formed.
• Star or Delta connection results in the saving of conductor material
and hence leads to economy instead of three separate single phase
windings.
(i) Star Connected System:
• In this method, similar ends (start or finish) of the three phases of the
alternator are joined together to form a common junction N as shown
in Fig. below.
• The common junction N is called the star point or neutral point.
• The three-line conductors are run from the three ends (finish ends F in
this case) and are designated as R, Y and B.
• This constitutes a 3-phase, 3-wire star-connected system.
• The voltage between any line and the neutral point (i.e., voltage across
each winding) is called the phase voltage while the voltage between
any two lines is called the line voltage.
• The currents flowing in the phases are called the phase currents while
those flowing in the lines are called the line currents.
• The phase sequence is RYB.
• Sometimes, a 4th wire, called neutral wire, is run from the neutral
point as shown in Fig. below.
• This gives 3-phase, 4-wire star-connected system.
• The 3-wire star-connected system is used for balanced loads (i.e. load
in each phase of the alternator has the same impedance and power
factor) because then current in the neutral conductor is zero and no
neutral conductor is required.
• However, 4-wire star-connected system is used for unbalanced loads
because in that case, neutral current exists and the neutral conductor
provides the return path as shown in Fig. above.
The following points are concluded :
(i) The three phase voltages (i.e. ERN, EYN, and EBN) are equal in
magnitude but displaced 120° from each other.
• The same is true for line voltages (i.e. VRY, VYB and VBR).
• Such a supply system is called balanced supply system.
(ii) In case of balanced star-connected supply system, the magnitude of
line voltage is 3 times the magnitude of phase voltage i.e.
• Line voltage = 3 × Phase voltage
• Thus Y-connected balanced supply system enables us to use two
voltages viz. phase voltage and line voltage.
(iii) In star connection, the lines are in series with their respective
phases.
• Therefore, magnitude of line current is equal to the magnitude of
phase current i.e. Line current = Phase current
(iv) For balanced loads, all line currents (or phase currents) are equal in
magnitude but displaced 120° from each other.
(v) For 3-phase, 4-wire star-connected system, the current IN in the
neutral wire is the phasor sum of the three line currents.
• For a balanced load, IN = 0.
• If the load is not balanced, the neutral wire will carry current equal to
the phasor sum of the three line currents.
Delta Connected System:
• In this method of interconnection, the dissimilar ends of the three
phase windings of the alternator are joined together i.e., finishing end
of one phase is connected to the starting end of the other phase and so
on to obtain mesh or delta as shown in Fig..
• The three-line conductors are taken from the three junctions of the
mesh or delta and are designated as R, Y and B.
• This is called 3-phase, 3-wire, delta connected system.
• The arrangement is referred to as mesh connection because it forms a
closed circuit.
• It is also known as delta connection because the diagram has the
appearance of Greek letter delta (D).
• In delta connection, no neutral exists and, therefore, only 3-phase, 3-
wire system can be formed.
Problem:
The load to a 3-phase supply consists of three similar coils connected in
star. The line currents are 25 A and the kVA and kW inputs are 20 and
11 respectively. Find (i) the phase and line voltages (ii) the kVAR input
(iii) resistance and reactance of each coil.
Problem:
Three similar coils each having a resistance of 5W and an inductance of
0.02H are connected in delta to a 440V, 3-phase, 50Hz supply. Calculate
the line current and total power absorbed.
Power and its measurement in three phase balanced Circuits:
• Measurement of the power drawn by a 3-phase load can be performed
by placing only one wattmeter in each of the three phases and add the
three readings algebraically to obtain the total power.
• This procedure for the measurement of power in a 3-phase circuit is
certainly impracticable if not impossible.
• It is because the neutral of a Y-connected load is usually not accessible
and the phases of D-connected load are not available for insertion of
wattmeter in each phase.
• In most of the practical 3-phase circuits, only three-line terminals are
available.
• It is obvious that we need a method for measuring the total power
drawn by a 3-phase load having only three accessible terminals (i.e.
the three lines).
• Two such methods available are :
(i) Three-wattmeter method
(ii) Two-wattmeter method
Three-Wattmeter Method: Three-wattmeter method
• In this method, three wattmeters are connected in such a way that each
has its current coil in one line and its potential coil between that line
and some common point as shown in Fig.
• The algebraic sum of the readings of the three wattmeters gives the
total power whether the load is balanced or not.
• Total power = W1 + W2 + W3
Two-Wattmeter Method:
• This method is used for balanced as well as unbalanced loads.
• The current coils of the two wattmeters are inserted in any two lines
and the voltage coil of each wattmeter is joined to a third line.
• The load may be star or delta connected as shown in Fig. below.
• The sum of the two wattmeter readings gives three-phase power.
Two-wattmeter method