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    AC, DC and Electrical Signals

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    ramkrsingh1384
    AC means alternating current and voltage that changes between positive and negative values in a sine wave pattern. DC means direct current and voltage that flows in one constant direction. An electrical signal conveys information through voltage or current. Key properties of signals include amplitude, frequency, period, and RMS (root mean square) value, which is a standard measure of AC voltage equivalent to a steady DC value.

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    AC, DC and Electrical Signals

    Uploaded by

    ramkrsingh1384
    549 views5 pages
    AC means alternating current and voltage that changes between positive and negative values in a sine wave pattern. DC means direct current and voltage that flows in one constant direction. An electrical signal conveys information through voltage or current. Key properties of signals include amplitude, frequency, period, and RMS (root mean square) value, which is a standard measure of AC voltage equivalent to a steady DC value.

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    AC means alternating current and voltage that changes between positive and negative values in a sine wave pattern. DC means direct current and voltage that flows in one constant direction. An electrical signal conveys information through voltage or current. Key properties of signals include amplitude, frequency, period, and RMS (root mean square) value, which is a standard measure of AC voltage equivalent to a steady DC value.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    549 views5 pages

    AC, DC and Electrical Signals

    Uploaded by

    ramkrsingh1384
    AC means alternating current and voltage that changes between positive and negative values in a sine wave pattern. DC means direct current and voltage that flows in one constant direction. An electrical signal conveys information through voltage or current. Key properties of signals include amplitude, frequency, period, and RMS (root mean square) value, which is a standard measure of AC voltage equivalent to a steady DC value.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 5
    At a glance
    Powered by AI
    The key takeaways are the differences between AC and DC currents and voltages, properties of electrical signals like amplitude, frequency and period, and what RMS value represents.

    AC current and voltage reverses direction periodically while DC always flows in one direction, though it can vary in magnitude. AC is suitable for devices like lamps while most electronics require DC.

    Properties of electrical signals include amplitude, frequency, period, peak and peak-to-peak voltage. Frequency is cycles per second and period is the inverse of frequency.

    AC, DC and Electrical Signals

    AC means Alternating Current and DC means Direct Current. AC and DC are also used when
    referring to voltages and electrical signals which are not currents! For example: a 12V AC
    power supply has an alternating voltage (which will make an alternating current flow). An
    electrical signal is a voltage or current which conveys information, usually it means a voltage.
    The term can be used for any voltage or current in a circuit.

    Alternating Current (AC)

    Alternating Current (AC) flows one way,


    then the other way, continually reversing
    direction.

    An AC voltage is continually changing


    between positive (+) and negative (-). AC from a power supply
    This shape is called a sine wave.

    The rate of changing direction is called


    the frequency of the AC and it is
    measured in hertz (Hz) which is the
    number of forwards-backwards cycles
    per second.

    Mains electricity in the UK has a


    frequency of 50Hz.
    This triangular signal is AC because it changes
    See below for more details of signal between positive (+) and negative (-).
    properties.

    http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/acdc.htm
    An AC supply is suitable for powering some devices such as lamps and heaters but almost all
    electronic circuits require a steady DC supply (see below).

    Direct Current (DC)

    Direct Current (DC) always flows in the


    same direction, but it may increase and
    decrease.

    A DC voltage is always positive (or


    always negative), but it may increase
    and decrease.

    Electronic circuits normally require a Steady DC


    steady DC supply which is constant at from a battery or regulated power supply,
    this is ideal for electronic circuits.
    one value or a smooth DC supply which
    has a small variation called ripple.

    Cells, batteries and regulated power


    supplies provide steady DC which is
    ideal for electronic circuits.

    Power supplies contain a transformer


    which converts the mains AC supply to a
    safe low voltage AC. Then the AC is Smooth DC
    converted to DC by a bridge rectifier but from a smoothed power supply,
    the output is varying DC which is this is suitable for some electronics.
    unsuitable for electronic circuits.

    Some power supplies include a capacitor


    to provide smooth DC which is suitable
    for less-sensitive electronic circuits,
    including most of the projects on this
    website.

    Lamps, heaters and motors will work


    Varying DC
    with any DC supply.
    from a power supply without smoothing,
    this is not suitable for electronics.

    http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/acdc.htm
    Properties of electrical signals

    An electrical signal is a voltage or


    current which conveys information,
    usually it means a voltage. The term
    can be used for any voltage or
    current in a circuit.

    The voltage-time graph on the right shows various properties of an electrical signal. In addition
    to the properties labelled on the graph, there is frequency which is the number of cycles per
    second.

    The diagram shows a sine wave but these properties apply to any signal with a constant
    shape.

    ● Amplitude is the maximum voltage reached by the signal.


    It is measured in volts, V.
    ● Peak voltage is another name for amplitude.
    ● Peak-peak voltage is twice the peak voltage (amplitude). When reading an
    oscilloscope trace it is usual to measure peak-peak voltage.
    ● Time period is the time taken for the signal to complete one cycle.
    It is measured in seconds (s), but time periods tend to be short so milliseconds (ms)
    and microseconds (µs) are often used. 1ms = 0.001s and 1µs = 0.000001s.
    ● Frequency is the number of cycles per second.
    It is measured in hertz (Hz), but frequencies tend to be high so kilohertz (kHz) and
    megahertz (MHz) are often used. 1kHz = 1000Hz and 1MHz = 1000000Hz.
    1 1
    frequency = and time period =
    time period frequency

    Mains electricity in the UK has a frequency of 50Hz,

    http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/acdc.htm
    AC, DC and Electrical Signals

    so it has a time period of 1/50 = 0.02s = 20ms.

    Root Mean Square (RMS) Values

    The value of an AC voltage is continually changing


    from zero up to the positive peak, through zero to the
    negative peak and back to zero again. Clearly for most
    of the time it is less than the peak voltage, so this is
    not a good measure of its real effect.

    Instead we use the root mean square voltage (VRMS) which is 0.7 of the peak voltage
    (Vpeak):

    VRMS = 0.7 × Vpeak and Vpeak = 1.4 × VRMS

    These equations also apply to current.


    They are only true for sine waves (the most common type of AC) because the 0.7 and 1.4 are
    different values for other shapes.

    The RMS value is the effective value of a varying voltage or current. It is the equivalent
    steady DC (constant) value which gives the same effect.

    For example a lamp connected to a 6V RMS AC supply will light with the same brightness
    when connected to a steady 6V DC supply. However, the lamp will be dimmer if connected to
    a 6V peak AC supply because the RMS value of this is only 4.2V (it is equivalent to a steady
    4.2V DC).

    You may find it helps to think of the RMS value as a sort of average, but please remember that
    it is NOT really the average! In fact the average voltage (or current) of an AC signal is zero
    because the positive and negative parts exactly cancel out!

    What do AC meters show, is it the RMS or peak voltage?

    http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/acdc.htm (4 of 5)8/18/2004 1:06:21 PM


    AC, DC and Electrical Signals

    AC voltmeters and ammeters show the RMS value of the voltage or current. DC meters also
    show the RMS value when connected to varying DC providing the DC is varying quickly, if the
    frequency is less than about 10Hz you will see the meter reading fluctuating instead.

    What does '6V AC' really mean, is it the RMS or peak voltage?

    If the peak value is meant it should be clearly stated, otherwise assume it is the RMS value. In
    everyday use AC voltages (and currents) are always given as RMS values because this
    allows a sensible comparison to be made with steady DC voltages (and currents), such as
    from a battery.

    For example a '6V AC supply' means 6V RMS, the peak voltage is 8.6V. The UK mains supply
    is 230V AC, this means 230V RMS so the peak voltage of the mains is about 320V!

    So what does root mean square (RMS) really mean?

    First square all the values, then find the average (mean) of these square values over a
    complete cycle, and find the square root of this average. That is the RMS value. Confused?
    Ignore the maths (it looks more complicated than it really is), just accept that RMS values for
    voltage and current are a much more useful quantity than peak values.

    http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/acdc.htm

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