Power in AC Systems

AC Power

February 19, 2017

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Power in AC Systems
Learning Outcomes

I Understand the concept of power in AC systems: , and

I Instantaneous power
I Real power
I Reactive power
I Apparent power
I Appreciate the importance of power factor
I Principle of representation of various home appliances by
equivalent R-L-C elements
I Appreciate if the power-saver-box helps reduce the electricity
bill

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Power in AC Systems
Power in a resistive load connected to AC supply

Figure: AC supply for a resistive load

If an ac voltage Vm cosωt is connected to a resistor R, then the instantaneous power

dissipated in the resistor will be:

p(t) = v (t) × i(t) (1)

Vm cosωt
= Vm cosωt ×
R
Vm2 cos 2 ωt
= (2)
R
Vm2 V 2 cos2ωt
= + m (3)
2R 2R
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Power in AC Systems
Power in AC Circuits

(a) AC supply for a

resistive load

(b) AC power in a resistive load

Instantaneous power for resistive load is always positive, and oscillates at double the
frequency of the source.

Average power is calculated from total energy dissipated over one time period and then
dividing it by the time period. Average power is a constant and is also called real power
2
Vm
Average power = 2R 4/ 15
Power in AC Systems
Average AC Power and Root-mean-square value of AC
Signal

If a DC voltage V is connected to a resistor R, then power dissipated in the

2
resistor would be P = VR . For AC supply,

T T T
v 2 (t) 2
Z Z Z
1 1 1 1 VRMS
Pav = p(t)dt = dt = × v 2 (t)dt =
T 0 T 0 R R T 0 R
q RT
1
We have defined RMS value of voltage as VRMS = T 0
v 2 (t)dt.
2 2
Vm VRMS Vm
For sinusoidal AC supply, average power : 2R
= R
⇒ VRMS = √
2

Conventionally the AC signals are mentioned by their RMS values. For example,
the PUB supply in Singapore is 230V/50Hz means its RMS value is 230V. The
peak value (maximum value) of this voltage is 325V.

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Power in AC Systems
Power in inductive load connected to AC supply

Figure: AC supply for inductive load

If an ac voltage Vm cosωt is connected to a resistor R, then the instantaneous power

dissipated in the resistor will be:

p(t) = v (t) × i(t) (4)

Vm sinωt
= Vm cosωt ×
ωL
Vm2
= sin2ωt (5)
2ωL

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Power in AC Systems
AC Power in Inductive Load

(a) AC supply for

inductive load

(b) AC power in inductive load

Instantaneous power for inductive load is positive for half the cycle and negative for the
other half. Positive power means energy is transferred from source to the inductor and
negative power means energy is returned from inductor to source.

Average power or Real power for inductor is zero.

The peak of instantaneous power in inductor is known as reactive power :
2 2
Vm VRMS
2ωL
= ωL
Unit of reactive power is VAR.
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Power in AC Systems
AC power for a R-L load

A typical AC load like the household appliances will convert electrical

energy to some other form. Such loads can be represented by partly
resistive and partly inductive element. The current drawn by the
load will typically be lagging the source voltage. The instantaneous
power drawn by such load:

Figure: General AC load represented as R-L

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Power in AC Systems
AC power for a R-L load

Figure: AC Power in RL load

p(t) = v (t) × i(t) = Vm cosωt × Im cos(ωt − φ)

Vm × Im
= (cosφ + cos(2ωt − φ))
2

The instantaneous power has a positive constant part, a double-frequency sinusoidal

part. The net instantaneous power can be negative also.
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Power in AC Systems
Real Power in General AC Load

Average power or Real power is the average of instantaneous power

over one cycle of the supply. The sinusoidal part of the instantaneous
power will have equal positive and negative parts in one cycle and
thus
1 T Vm × Im
Z
P = p(t)dt = × cosφ (6)
T 0 2
Vm Im
= √ × √ × cosφ
2 2
= Vrms × Irms × cosφ

Real power has unit of WATT. The utility bill comes in terms of the
total electrical energy consumed in the billing period in kWh which
is (average power (Watt)) × (hours in the billing period) ÷ 1000.
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Power in AC Systems
Apparent Power

The product of AC voltage and AC current Vrms × Irms is the VA

rating (also known as apparent power). This is similar to DC
power: (P = VI ).

The ac loads and equipment come with this VA rating, which is

also an indication of the size of the equipment.

Real power depends on the phase difference between voltage and

current waveform. This phase difference depends on the energy
storage element (inductance or capacitance) in it.

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Power in AC Systems
Reactive Power

The energy storage elements (inductor and capacitor) in AC systems

have zero average power as they do not consume energy. The energy
gets stored in these elements (in magnetic filed or electric field) in
one half cycle and is returned to the circuit in the other half. Thus
net exchange of energy in one cycle is zero and hence average power
is zero.

The peak value of the power for these elements is known as reactive
power. It has a unit of VAR.

Although no fuel has to be burnt for this energy exchange between

these elements and the source, there will be power loss (resistive
loss in the cable) on the way between the source and such elements.
Hence, the size of the cable and other equipment has to be increased
for supplying the reactive power.
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Power in AC Systems
Power Factor

Real Power
Power factor = Apparent Power

Real Power
Current: Irms = Vrms ×Power Factor

I Power factor can have a value between 0 and 1.

I Power factor for purely reactive load (inductive or capacitive)
is 0.
I Power factor for a purely resistive load is 1.
I Typical household loads may have power factor between 0.9 to
1.0.
I Desirable to have power factor equal to 1 by doing power
factor correction.

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Power in AC Systems
Home Power Saver

There is such ’power saver box’ available in the market that claim to reduce
your electrical consumption. We shall try to learn if this box is saving the
electricity consumption.
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Power in AC Systems
Power Saver Box

The power saver boxes aim to improve the power factor. Most
power saver boxes simply put a capacitor across the supply which
will compensate for the inductive power demand by the household.
If capacitor is matched correctly with the inductive part of load
demand, this leads to reduction the current drawn from the utility.
This should make the utility supplier happy as it incurs less loss on
the way in supplying the energy to the household. The reduced loss
also means better for the environment. However, this does not lead
to any monetary benefit to the household user as such.

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Power in AC Systems