EDEXCEL NATIONAL CERTIFICATE

UNIT 38 ELECTRICAL and ELECTRONIC PRINCIPLES

OUTCOME 4

Single phase ac waveforms, ac circuit theory

Main parameters: waveform, amplitude, period, frequency, instantaneous, r.m.s.,
average and peak values of alternating waveforms (sinusoidal and non-sinusoidal),
form-factor, phase angles

Single phase ac circuit theory: phasor and algebraic representation of alternating
quantities, graphical and phasor addition of two sinusoidal voltages; introduction of
reactance and impedance from circuits containing pure R, L and C and including
series combinations of these elements; power in an AC circuit, resonance in R, L and
C circuits, Q-factor, power factor and power triangle

Circuits: use of an oscilloscope and multimeter to verify the relationships between
peak, r.m.s. and average values in circuits such as half and full wave rectification;
observation of the effect of a smoothing capacitor; derive phasor diagrams from
voltage measurements taken for all combinations of series R, L and C circuits

CONTENTS
o REVISION OF BASIC A.C. THEORY
SINUSOIDAL WAVE FORMS
ROOT MEAN SQUARE VALUES (R.M.S.)
OTHER WAVE FORMS

O REACTANCE AND IMPEDANCE
CAPACITIVE REACTANCE X
c

INDUCTIVE REACTANCE X
L


o PHASOR DIAGRAMS

o CIRCUITS CONTAINING RESISTIVE AND REACTIVE COMPONENTS.
A.C. AND RESISTANCE
AC AND INDUCTANCE
AC WITH RESISTANCE AND INDUCTANCE
AC AND CAPACITANCE
AC WITH RESISTANCE AND CAPACITANCE
R L C IN SERIES
REACTANCE AND IMPEDANCE REVISITED
CAPACITIVE REACTANCE X
C


o RESONANT CIRCUITS.
SERIES
Q FACTOR

o POWER FACTOR CORRECTION

1. REVISION OF BASIC A.C. THEORY

1.1 SINUSOIDAL WAVE FORMS

A pure alternating current or voltage varies with time sinusoidally as shown. It is possible to obtain
a.c. with other graph shapes such as square or saw tooth.


FREQUENCY

The voltage or current changes from a maximum (plus) in one direction, through zero to a
maximum (minus) in the other direction. This occurs at f times a second. f is the frequency in Hertz.

1 Hz = 1 cycle/second
PERIODIC TIME

The time it takes to complete 1 cycle is T seconds (the periodic time). It follows that
T = 1/f
AMPLITUDE

The maximum value of volts or current is called the peak volts or current and this is the amplitude
of the wave form (V
m
and I
m
). The peak to peak value is double the amplitude as shown on the
diagram.

ANGULAR FREQUENCY

If we think of the voltage and current being generated by a machine that rotates one revolution per
cycle, the 1 cycle corresponds to 360
o
or 2 radian.

It follows that f cycles/second = 2f radian/s and this is the angular frequency.

= 2f = 2/T rad/s
INSTANTANEOUS VALUES

For a sinusoidal voltage and current the value at any moment in time is given by:-

v = V
m
sin (t) and i = I
m
sin (t)
or
v = V
m
sin (2f t) and i = I
m
sin (2f t)

Note that this assumes that t = 0 when v or i = 0


SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No.1

1. Mains electricity has a frequency of 50 Hz. What is the periodic time and angular frequency?
(0.02 s and 314 rad/s)

2. An alternating current has a periodic time of 0.0025 s. What is the frequency? (400 Hz)

3. A alternating voltage has a peak to peak amplitude of 300 V and frequency of 50 Hz. What is
the amplitude? (150 V)
What is the voltage at t = 0.02 s? (16.4 V)


1.2 ROOT MEAN SQUARE VALUES (R.M.S.)

The mean value of an alternating voltage and current is zero. Since electric power is normally
calculated with P = V I it would appear that the mean power should be zero. This clearly is not true
because most electric fires use alternating current and they give out power in the form of heat.
When you studied Ohms' Law, you learned that electric power may also be calculated with the
formulae E.P. = I
2
R or E.P. = V
2
/R

These formulae work with positive or negative values since a negative number is positive when
squared and power is always positive. In the case of a.c. we must use the average value of V
2
or I
2

and these are not zero. The diagram shows how a plot of V
2
or I
2
is always positive. The mean
value is indicated.


The mean height may be obtained by placing many vertical ordinates on it as shown. Taking a
graph of current with many ordinates i
1
2
, i
2
2
.....i
n
2
.

The mean value of i
2
=( i
1
2
+ i
2
2
+ i
3
2.....
i
n
)/n

If we take the square root of this, we have a value of current that can be used in the power formula.
This is the ROOT MEAN SQUARE or r.m.s. value.

I(r.m.s.) = ( i
1
2
+ i
2
2
+ i
3
2.....
i
n
)/n

It can be shown by the use of calculus that the r.m.s. value of a sinusoidal wave form is V
m
/2. We
use r.m.s. values with a.c. so that we may treat some calculations the same as for d.c. When you use
a voltmeter or ammeter with a.c., the values indicated are r.m.s. values.

V
rms
= V
m
/2 = 0.707V
m


SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No. 2

1. The periodic time of an ac voltage is 0.002 s. Calculate the frequency.
(500 Hz)

2. The r.m.s. value of mains electricity is 240 V. Determine the peak voltage (amplitude).
(339.5V)

3. An a.c. current varies between plus and minus 5 amps. Calculate the r.m.s. value. (3.535 A)

4. An electric fire produces 2 kW of heat from a 240 V r.m.s. supply. Determine the r.m.s. current
and the peak current.
(8.33 A and 11.79 A)

5. An electric motor is supplied with 110 V r.m.s. at 60 Hz and produces 200W of power.
Determine the periodic time, the r.m.s. current and the peak current.
(16.7 ms, 1.82 A and 2.571 A)



1.3 OTHER WAVE FORMS

Cyclic variations may take many forms such as SQUARE, SAW TOOTH and TRIANGULAR as
shown below.


Square waveforms are really d.c. levels that suddenly change from plus to minus. The r.m.s. value is
the same as the peak value. They are typically used for digital signal transmission.

Saw tooth waves are used for scanning a cathode ray tube. The electron beam moves across the
screen at a constant rate and then flies back to the beginning. Triangular waves change at a constant
rate first in one direction and then the other.

2. REACTANCE AND IMPEDANCE

Capacitors and Inductors have a property called Reactance denoted with an X. On their own they
may be used with a form of Ohms Law such that
V/I = X
Both V and I are r.m.s. values. The value of X depends on the frequency of the a.c. and this is why
they are called REACTIVE. It should be noted that a pure capacitor and inductor does not lose any
energy. A resistor on the other hand, produces resistance by dissipating energy but the value of R
does not change with frequency so a resistor is a PASSIVE component.

When a circuit consists of Resistance, Capacitance and Inductance, the overall impedance is
denoted with a Z. The units of R, X and Z are Ohms.

2.1 CAPACITIVE REACTANCE X
C

When an alternating voltage is applied to a capacitor, the capacitor charges
and discharges with each cycle. This means that alternating current flows in
the circuit but not across the dielectric. If the frequency of the voltage is
increased the capacitor must charge and discharge more quickly so the
current must increase with the frequency. The r.m.s. current is directly
proportional to the r.m.s. voltage V, the capacitance C and the frequency f.

It follows that I
rms
= Constant x V
rms
x f x C

V
rms
/I
rms
= 1/(constant x f C) The constant is 2 so V
rms
/I
rms
= X
C
= 1/(2 f C)

Note that when f = 0, X
C
is infinite and when f is very large X
C
tends to zero. This means that a
pure capacitor presents a total barrier to d.c. but the impedance to a.c. gets less and less as the
frequency goes up. This makes it an ideal component for separating d.c. from a.c. If we put in a
combined a.c. + d.c. signal as shown, we get out pure a.c. but with a reduced amplitude depending
on the reactance.



WORKED EXAMPLE No. 1

15 V r.m.s. applied across a capacitance of 4.7 F. Calculate the r.m.s. current when the
frequency is :

20 Hz
200 Hz and
2000 Hz


SOLUTION

20 Hz
A 0.00886
1693
15
X
V
Irms 1693
10 x 4.7 x 20 x 2
1
C f 2
1
X
C
6 - C
= = = = = =
200 Hz
A 0.0886
1693
15
X
V
Irms 169.3
10 x 4.7 x 200 x 2
1
C f 2
1
X
C
6 -
C
= = = = = =
2000 Hz
A 0.886
1693
15
X
V
Irms 16.93
10 x 4.7 x 2000 x 2
1
C f 2
1
X
C
6 - C
= = = = = =




SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No. 3

1. Calculate the reactance of a capacitor with capacitance 60 F at a frequency of 50 Hz. (53 )

2. The Voltage applied to the capacitor is 110 V r.m.s. Calculate the r.m.s. current. (2.073 A)

3. A capacitor is put in a circuit to limit the r.m.s. current to 2 mA when 10 V r.m.s. at 60 Hz is
placed across it. What should the value of the capacitance be? (530 nF)


2.2 INDUCTIVE REACTANCE X
L

The back e.m.f. produced by a varying current is e = - L di/dt.

In order to overcome the back e.m.f., a forward voltage equal and opposite is required. Hence in
order to produce alternating current, an alternating voltage is needed.

It can be shown that the r.m.s. voltage needed to produce an r.m.s. current is directly proportional to
the current, the inductance and the frequency so that V
rms
= I
rms
(2fL)

Hence V
rms
/I
rms
= X
L
= 2 f L Ohms

Note that the reactance is zero when f = 0 and approaches infinity when f is very large. This means
that a pure inductor has no impedance to d.c. but the impedance to a.c. increases directly
proportional to frequency. This is the opposite affect to that of a capacitor and an inductor may be
used to reduce the a.c. component of a combined a.c. and d.c. signal as illustrated.





WORKED EXAMPLE No. 2

15 V r.m.s. applied across an inductance of 4 H. Calculate the r.m.s. current when the
frequency is :
200 Hz, 200 kHz and 200 MHz

SOLUTION

20 Hz kA 29.84
10 x 0.5027
15
X
V
Irms m 5027 . 0 4x10 x 20 x 2 fL 2 X
3
C
6
C
= = = = = =

200 kHz A 2.984
5.03
15
X
V
Irms 03 . 5 4x10 x 200 x 2 fL 2 X
C
6
C
= = = = = =



200 MHz mA 2.98
5027
15
X
V
Irms 5027 4x10 x 2000 x 2 fL 2 X
C
6
C
= = = = = =




SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No. 4

1. Calculate the r.m.s. current in an inductor of 60 mH when 110 V r.m.s. is applied at 60 Hz.
(4.863 A)

2. An inductor passes 20 mA rms at 12 V r.m.s. and 1000 Hz. Calculate the inductance.
(95 mH)

3. Calculate the inductance of a coil 25 mm diameter, 100 mm long with 30 turns. The core has a
relative permeability of 2000. (0.0111 H)

Calculate the energy stored when 10 A d.c. flow. (0.555 J)

Calculate the reactance for ac with a frequency of 100 Hz. (6.97 )

Calculate the r.m.s. voltage needed to make 10 A r.m.s. flow. (69.7V rms)


3. PHASOR DIAGRAMS

The way a sinusoidal voltage or current varies with time may be represented by the following
equations.

v = V
m
sin (t) or v = V
m
sin (2f t) i = I
m
sin (t) or i = I
m
sin (2f t)

V
m
and I
m
is the amplitude. f is the frequency in Hz. is the angular frequency in radian/s = 2f

t is an angle in radian and the meaning becomes clear when we look at phasors. We will examine
the phasors for voltage but the theory is the same for current.

The diagram shows a phasor of length V rotating anticlockwise at rad/s. Starting from the
horizontal position after a time t it will have rotated an angle = t.

The vertical component of the phasor is v = V sin () (the m for max has been dropped)
This corresponds to the value of the sinusoidal graph at that angle.

When = /2 radian (90
o
) the peak value is V so V is the amplitude or peak value (not the
r.m.s.value).



4. CIRCUITS CONTAINING RESISTIVE AND REACTIVE COMPONENTS.

4.1. A.C. AND RESISTANCE

When a.c. is applied to a pure resistance R, Ohms Law applies and since it is passive it is the same
at all frequencies at all moments in time. The phasors for voltage and current must rotate together.
They are said to be IN PHASE.

4.2. AC AND INDUCTANCE

The voltage required to drive a current through an inductor is v = L di/dt.
L is the inductance in Henries and di/dt is the rate of change of current.

Suppose i = I sin t Differentiating di/dt = I cos(t)
It follows that v = I L cos(t) and the maximum value is V = I L

If V and I are plotted together we see that that V is cycle displaced and it is said that the voltage
leads the current by 90
o
. The voltage phasor is 90
o
anticlockwise of the current phasor.



4.3 AC WITH RESISTANCE AND INDUCTANCE

Now consider a.c. applied to a resistor and inductor in series as shown.
The current I flows through both so this is used as the reference.

The voltage over the resistance is V
R
= I R and on the phasor diagram
this must be in the same direction as the current.
The voltage over the inductor is V
L
= I X
L
and this must lead the
current by 90
o
and also V
R
by 90
o
.



It is not true to say that V = V
L
+ V
R
because they must be treated as phasors or vectors.
The resultant voltage is V
S
and this is the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle so
2
L
2
R
V V V + =

The angle is called the phase angle and is always measured from V
R
.

It follows that = tan
-1
(V
L
/V
R
)

4.4. AC AND CAPACITANCE

When a.c. is applied across a capacitor, the voltage is given by the
equation
v
C
= q/C where q is the charge stored and C is the capacitance in
Farads. Since then

= idt q
C
idt
v
C

=
i varies sinusoidally so that i = I sin (t) ( ) t cos I idt =

Substitute and ( ) t cos
C
I
v
C
=
The maximum value of v
C
is I/c so this will be the length of the phasor representing V
C
. If we plot
V
C
and I we find that V
C
lags the current by cycle or 90
o
. This is opposite to an inductor which
leads by 90
o
.


4.5. AC WITH RESISTANCE AND CAPACITANCE

Now consider a resistor and capacitor in series as shown.
The voltage over the resistance is I R and on the phasor diagram this
must be in the same direction as the current. It follows that V
C
lags V
R

by 90
o
. It is not true to say that V
s
= V
C
+ V
R
because they must be
treated as vectors.

The resultant voltage is the hypotenuse of a right-angled
triangle so
2
C
2
R s
V V V + =
The angle is called the phase angle and is always
measured from V
R
. It follows that = -tan
-1
(V
c
/V
R
)

The only difference between this and the R L circuit is that
V
C
lags V
R
and V
L
leads V
R
. This means that V
L
and V
C

are 180
o
out of phase in a series circuit.

4.6. R L C IN SERIES


The 3 voltages V
R
V
L
and V
C
are drawn as 3 phasors
and the vector sum is found. It is convenient to draw V
R

horizontally but the vector diagram stays the same for
all angles of rotation.


Examining the small triangle, we see the vertical height is V
L
- V
R
and the horizontal length is V
R
.
It follows that the resultant voltage is given by
( )
2
R
2
c L s
V V V V + = and

=

R
C L 1
V
V V
tan
4.7. REACTANCE AND IMPEDANCE REVISITED

We know from previous studies that the relationship between current and voltage for any
component is related as a ratio X = V/I. For a resistor this ratio is resistance R but for an inductor it
is called inductive reactance X
L
and for a capacitor capacitive reactance X
C
.

Inductive reactance increases with frequency and is given by X
L
= 2fL

Capacitive reactance decreases with frequency and is given by X
C
= 1/ 2fC

When current flows in a RLC circuit, the relationship between it and the resulting voltage is called
the IMPEDANCE Z. Z = V/I where V and I are the resulting r.m.s. volts and current.

Since reactance is V/I it follows that it is also a phasor. The phasor diagram for a series R L C
circuit may be drawn as shown with R drawn horizontally to make it easier.

( )
2 2
C L
R X X Z + = and

=

R
X X
tan
C L 1



WORKED EXAMPLE No. 3

A resistor of value 470 is connected in series with a capacitor of 22 F and an inductor of
50 mH and a voltage is applied across it. A current of 100 mA (rms) is produced.

Determine the impedance, the phase angle between the voltage and current and the applied
voltage when the frequency is 50 Hz

SOLUTION

X
L
= 2fL = 2 x 50 x 50 x 10
-3
=15.71
X
C
= 1/2fC = 1/(2 x 50 x 22 x 10
-6
) =144.6
( ) ( ) 487.4 470 6 . 144 15.71 R X X Z
2 2 2 2
C L
= + = + =

o 1 C L 1
15.3
470
6 . 144 15.71
tan
R
X X
tan =

=

V
S
= I Z = 0.1 x 487.4 = 48.7 V rms



SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No. 5

1. A resistor of value 4 is connected in series with a capacitor of 47 F and an inductor of 20
H and a voltage is applied across it. A current of 50 mA (r.m.s.) is produced.
Determine the impedance, the phase angle between the voltage and current and the applied
voltage when the frequency is 100 Hz. (34 , -83.3
o
and 1.7 V)

2. A resistor of value 0.2 is connected in series with a capacitor of 4.7 F and an inductor of 5
mH and 0.5 V r.m.s. is applied across the ends.
Determine the impedance, the phase angle between the voltage and current and the rms current
when the frequency is 1000 Hz. (2.455 , -85.3
o
and 204 mA)


5. RESONANT CIRCUITS.
5.1 SERIES
A series circuit is resonant when the inductive reactance is equal and opposite of the capacitive
reactance. It follows that the phase angle is zero. At this condition the reactance is equal to R and
this is the minimum value. For a given circuit, there will be a frequency f
o
where this occurs.

For resonance, X
C
= X
L
2f
o
L = 1/2f
o
C where f
o
is the resonant frequency.
Rearranging we have:
( )
LC 2
1
f
LC ) (2
1
f 1 LC f 2 1 C) f L)(2 f (2
o
2
2
o
2
0 o o
= = = =
5.2 Q FACTOR

It is quite possible to obtain voltages across a capacitor or inductor larger the supply voltage. We
get a magnification. To define this we use the Q factor defined as follows.

Q = V
C
/V for a capacitor and V
L
/V for an inductor.

At resonance V = IR since the capacitive and inductive components are equal and opposite so
V
C
= I X
C
= I/2fC Q
C
= 1/2f
o
RC
V
L
= I X
L
= I 2fL Q
L
= 2f
o
L/R
At any other frequency the Q factor is lower and needs to be worked out the hard way.
Note that in both cases, the smaller the value of R the larger the Q factor.
Lets take some typical values V
S
= 10, C = 2mF and L = 2 mH R = 0.1
The resonant frequency is
Hz 79.6
10 x 2 x 2x10 2
1
LC 2
1
f
3 - 3 -
o
= = = Q
C
= 1/2f
o
RC = 10 Q
L
= 2f
o
L/R = 10

If we calculate V
L
and V
C
over a range of frequencies we get the following result.

We see that the voltages peak at resonance is 100 giving Q = 10 as predicted. If R is zero, then in
theory we get an infinite voltage at resonance. If we increase R, we reduce the peak.


WORKED EXAMPLE No. 4

A series circuit comprises of a resistance of 5 , a capacitor of 2 nF and an inductor of 5 H.
Calculate the resonant frequency and the current at resonance when 1 V r.m.s. is applied.
Calculate the Q factor at resonance.

SOLUTION
MHz 1.592
10 x 2 x 10 x 5 2
1
LC 2
1
f
9 - 6 -
o
= = =

I = V/Z = V/R = 1/5 = 0.2 A

Q
C
= 1/2f
o
RC == 1/(2 x 2.59 x 10
6
x 5 x 2 x 10
-
9) = 10

Q
L
= 2f
o
L/R = 10



SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No. 6

1. A series circuit has L = 60 mH, R = 15 and C = 15 nF. The supply is 2V ac. Calculate the
following.

i. The resonant frequency (5.3 kHz)
ii. The voltage over each component. (V
R
= 0.266 A, V
C
= 266 V, V
L
= 266 A)
iii. The Q factor for the capacitor and inductor at resonance. (133.3)



6. POWER FACTOR CORRECTION

Industrial users of electric power
often place inductive loads on the
supply in the form of large motors
and transformers. This may be
regarded as an inductor in series
with a resistor and produces a
current that lags the supply
voltage. The true power is that developed across the resistive load and is given by P = I
2
R and is
measured in Watts. Consider a resistor in series with an inductor. The inductive voltage phasor
leads the resistive voltage phasor by 90
o
. The resultant voltage is the supply voltage.

The apparent power is the product of V and I and is measured
in Volt Amps.
V/I is the impedance Z and is given by
2 2
X R Z + =

The POWER FACTOR is the ratio of the true power to the
apparent power and is defined as
cos
Z
R
V
IR
VI
R I
P.F.
2
= = = =
In order to reduce the power factor a series capacitor is needed to produce capacitive reactance
equal and opposite to the inductive reactance. Ideally X
C
= X
L

This is obtained from the relationship X
L
/R = tan


WORKED EXAMPLE No. 5

An ac load takes 2.5 kW of power from a supply 110V at 60 Hz. The current is 30 A. Determine
the power factor and the size of a capacitor needed in series to correct it.

SOLUTION

P.F. = True Power /Apparent Power = 2500/(110 x 30) = 0.758

= cos
-1
(P.F.) = cos
-1
0.758 = 40.71
o

True Power = I
2
R = 30
2
R = 2500 W

R = 2500/900 = 2.777

X
L
/R = tan = 0.86

X
L
= 0.86 R = 2.392

X
C
= 2.39 = 1/(2fC)

C = 1/(2 x 60 x 2.39) = 0.00111 F



SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No. 6

1. A consumer takes 20 kW of power from an ac supply at 240 V and 50 Hz. Due to an inductive
power factor, the current is 100 A. Determine the power factor and the size of a capacitor
required to correct it.
(0.0024 F)

2. An electrical load comprises of a resistance of 100 and an inductor of 0.6 H in series. The
supply is at 240 V and 50 Hz. Determine the Power factor.
(0.47)

3. An ac supply to a consumer is at 220V and 50 Hz with a current of 20 A. It is found that there is
a lagging phase angle of 20
o
. Determine the Power Factor, the true power and the size of a
capacitor that would make the power factor 1.
(0.364, 1.6 kW and 795 F)