AC CIRCUITS
Alternating current (A.C) is the current that changes in magnitude direction
continuously with respect to time.
Alternating quantity that varies according to sin of angle θ.
The instantaneous value of a sine-wave voltage for any angle of rotation is expressed
in the formula:
V= Vm sin θ where θ is the angle
Vm = the maximum voltage value
V = the instantaneous value of voltage at angle θ
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The currents and voltages in a.c circuits can be expressed by the following terms:-
TERMS: T (period) and f (frequency), Vp , Vpp , ω = angular frequency
Angular Frequency (ω):
It is the frequency expressed in electrical radians per second. As one cycle of an
alternating quantity corresponds to 2Π radians, the angular frequency can be
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expressed as (2Π x cycles/sec.) It is denoted by ‘ω’ and its unit is radians/second.
Now, cycles/ sec. mean frequency. Hence the relation between frequency 'f' and
angular frequency ‘ω’ is,
(i) Instantaneous (I or V): - It is the current or voltage that is in the circuit at any
instant.
(ii) Peak (Im or Vm):- It is the maximum available voltage or current in the circuit.
(iii) Average (Iav or Vav):- It is the arithmetic mean of the instantaneous values of
voltages or currents in the circuit.
(iv) Room Mean Square (R.M.S) or Effective value:- It is the square root of the
average of the squares of the instantaneous values of the voltages or currents in the
circuit.
R.M.S value is the d.c equivalent of a.c
Relation between Peak and R.M.S values
The rms current I is related to the peak current
Similarly
PHASE difference of sinusoidal waveforms, lead or lag -- explanations
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Phasor Diagram of a Sinusoidal Waveform
The phasor diagram is drawn corresponding to time zero (t = 0) on the horizontal axis.
The lengths of the phasors are proportional to the values of the voltage, (V) and the
current, (I) at the instant in time that the phasor diagram is drawn. The current phasor
lags the voltage phasor by the angle, Φ, as the two phasors rotate in an anticlockwise
direction, therefore the angle, Φ is also measured in the same anticlockwise direction.
Reactance and impedance == X and Z meanings, explantions
Reactance is the opposition offered to flow of alternating current. This opposition
may either be due to inductor (L) and or capacitor (C). The value of reactance due to
inductor having inductance L is ωL whereas its value is (1/ωC) for capacitor having
capacitance C.
That is, Reactance is defined as an electrical quantity due to which alternating
current is opposed by inductor or capacitor or combination of both of them in a
circuit. Impedance is the net opposing factor to alternating current. Reactance may
also be called impedance offered either by inductor or capacitor. Reactance is
denoted by X and impedance by Z.
Simple AC circuits
Before examining the driven RLC circuit, let’s first consider the simple cases where
only one circuit element (a resistor, an inductor or a capacitor) is connected to a
sinusoidal voltage source.
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Purely Resistive load
When a pure resistor is connected to a sinusoidal voltage supply, the current
flowing through the resistor will vary in proportion to the supply voltage, that is the
voltage and current waveforms are “in-phase” with each other. Since the phase
difference between the voltage waveform and the current waveform is 0o, the
phase angle resulting in cos 0o will be equal to 1.
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Inductance and Resistance in Series
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Resistance and Capacitance in Series
The above figure shows a pure capacitor and resistor connected in series,
across an a.c. supply. Again, being a series circuit, the circuit current is
common to both components. Each will have a p.d. developed. In this
case however, the p.d. across the capacitor will lag the current by 90°.
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Resistance, Inductance and Capacitance in Series
These three elements, connected in series, are shown in Fig. below. Of
the three p.d.s, VR will be in phase with the current I, VL will lead I by 90°, and
VC will lag I by 90°.
The associated phasor diagram is shown below
The applied voltage V is the phasor sum of the circuit p.d.s. These
p.d.s form horizontal and vertical components. It may be seen that the
only horizontal voltage component is VR . The vertical components, VL
and VC, are in direct opposition to each other. The resulting vertical
component is therefore (VL - VC ). Applying Pythagoras ’ theorem, we
can say that:
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Sinusoidal voltage source
The sine function is periodic in time. This means that the value of the voltage at time
t will be exactly the same at a later time t’ = t + T where T is the period. The
frequency, f, defined as f = 1/T, has the unit of inverse seconds (s−1), or hertz (Hz).
The angular frequency is defined to be ω = 2πf.
When a voltage source is connected to an RLC circuit, energy is provided to
compensate the energy dissipation in the resistor, and the oscillation will no longer
damp out. The oscillations of charge, current and potential difference are called
driven or forced oscillations.
Resonance
An interesting characteristic of the series RLC circuit is the phenomenon
of resonance. The phenomenon of resonance is common among systems
that have a tendency to oscillate at a particular frequency. This frequency
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is called the system’s natural frequency.
Inductance in an AC circuit
As the voltage from the power source increases from zero, the voltage on the inductor
matches it. With the capacitor, the voltage came from the charge stored on the capacitor
plates (or, equivalently, from the electric field between the plates). With the inductor,
the voltage comes from changing the flux through the coil, or, equivalently, changing
the current through the coil, which changes the magnetic field in the coil.
To produce a large positive voltage, a large increase in current is required. When the
voltage passes through zero, the current should stop changing just for an instant. When
the voltage is large and negative, the current should be decreasing quickly. These
conditions can all be satisfied by having the current vary like a negative cosine wave,
when the voltage follows a sine wave.
How does the current through the inductor depend on the frequency and the
inductance? If the frequency is raised, there is less time to change the voltage. If the
time interval is reduced, the change in current is also reduced, so the current is lower.
The current is also reduced if the inductance is increased.
As with the capacitor, this is usually put in terms of the effective resistance of the
inductor. This effective resistance is known as the inductive reactance. This is given
by
XL = ωL = 2πfL,
where L is the inductance of the coil (this depends on the geometry of the coil and
whether it’s got a ferromagnetic core). The unit of inductance is the henry.
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As with capacitive reactance, the voltage across the inductor is given by: V = IXL
Where does the energy go?
One of the main differences between resistors, capacitors, and inductors in AC circuits
is in what happens with the electrical energy. With resistors, power is simply dissipated
as heat. In a capacitor, no energy is lost because the capacitor alternately stores charge
and then gives it back again. In this case, energy is stored in the electric field between
the capacitor plates. The amount of energy stored in a capacitor is given by energy in
a capacitor: Energy = ½ CV2
In other words, there is energy associated with an electric field. In general, the energy
density (energy per unit volume) in an electric field with no dielectric is: Energy
density in an electric field = ½ e0 E2
With a dielectric, the energy density is multiplied by the dielectric constant.
There is also no energy lost in an inductor, because energy is alternately stored in the
magnetic field and then given back to the circuit. The energy stored in an inductor is:
Energy in an inductor: Energy = ½ LI2
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