Parallel Resonance

Resonance
The circuit is said to be in resonance if

 The current is in phase with the applied voltage.

 The impedance (or admittance) is completely real

when this condition exists.

 Power factor of the circuit at resonance is unity. 

 The circuit behaves like a resistive circuit.

A parallel resonance circuit is exactly the same as the series resonance circuit. Both are 3-
element networks that contain two reactive components, both are influenced by variations in the
supply frequency and both have a frequency point where their two reactive components cancel
each other out influencing the characteristics of the circuit. Both circuits have a resonant
frequency point.

The difference this time however, is that a parallel resonance circuit is influenced by the currents
flowing through each parallel branch. Consider the parallel RLC circuit below.

The total Admittance of the circuit

Where

A parallel circuit containing a resistance, R, an inductance, L and a capacitance, C will produce a

parallel resonance circuit when the resultant current through the parallel combination is in
phase with the supply voltage. At resonance there will be a large circulating current between the
inductor and the capacitor due to the energy of the oscillations, then parallel circuits produce
current resonance.

Susceptance at Resonance

 
From above, the inductive susceptance, BL is inversely proportional to the

frequency as represented by the hyperbolic curve. The capacitive

susceptance, BC is directly proportional to the frequency and is therefore

represented by a straight line. The final curve shows the plot of total susceptance

of the parallel resonance circuit versus the frequency and is the difference between

the two susceptance’s.

At the resonant frequency point where it crosses the horizontal axis the total circuit

susceptance is zero. Below the resonant frequency point, the inductive

susceptance dominates the circuit producing a “lagging” power factor, whereas

above the resonant frequency point the capacitive susceptance dominates

producing a “leading” power factor.

Series resonance takes place when VL = VC and this situation occurs when the two

reactances are equal, XL = XC. Parallel Resonance occurs when the imaginary

parts of Y become zero. Then

Also at resonance the parallel LC circuit acts like an open circuit with the

circuit current being determined by the resistor, R only.

At resonance, the impedance of the parallel circuit is at its maximum value and

equal to the resistance of the circuit. Also at resonance, as the impedance of the

circuit is now that of resistance only, the total circuit current, I will be “in-phase”

with the supply voltage, V.

The circuit’s response can be changed by changing the value of this resistance.

Changing the value of R affects the amount of current that flows through the

circuit at resonance, if both L and C remain constant. Then the impedance of the

circuit at resonance Z = RMAX is called the “dynamic impedance” of the

circuit.

Impedance in a Parallel Resonance Circuit

The parallel circuit’s impedance is at its maximum at resonance then consequently, the

circuits admittance must be at its minimum and one of the characteristics of a parallel

resonance circuit is that admittance is very low limiting the circuits current. At the resonant

frequency, ƒr the admittance of the circuit is equal to the conductance, G given by 1/R because in

a parallel resonance circuit the imaginary part of admittance, i.e. the susceptance, B is zero

because BL = BC. 

Current in a Parallel Resonance Circuit

As the total susceptance is zero at the resonant frequency, the admittance is at its

minimum and is equal to the conductance, G. Therefore at resonance the current

flowing through the circuit must also be at its minimum as the inductive and

capacitive branch currents are equal ( IL = IC ) and are 180o out of phase.

The total current flowing in a parallel RLC circuit is equal to the vector sum of the

individual branch currents and for a given frequency is calculated as:

At resonance, currents IL and IC are equal and cancelling giving a net reactive

current equal to zero. Then at resonance the above equation becomes.

 

Since the current flowing through a parallel resonance circuit is the voltage divided

by impedance, at resonance the impedance, Z is at its maximum value, ( =R ).

Therefore, the circuit current at this frequency will be at its minimum value

of V/R and the graph of current against frequency for a parallel resonance circuit is

given as.

A parallel resonant circuit stores the circuit energy in the magnetic field of the

inductor and the electric field of the capacitor. This energy is constantly being

transferred back and forth between the inductor and the capacitor which results in

zero current and energy being drawn from the supply. This is because the

corresponding instantaneous values of IL and IC will always be equal and opposite

and therefore the current drawn from the supply is the vector addition of these two

currents and the current flowing in IR.

The frequency response curve of a parallel resonance circuit shows that the

magnitude of the current is a function of frequency and plotting this onto a graph

shows us that the response starts at its maximum value, reaches its minimum value

at the resonance frequency when IMIN = IR and then increases again to maximum

as ƒ becomes infinite.

The result of this is that the magnitude of the current flowing through the

inductor, L and the capacitor, C  circuit can become many times larger than the

supply current, even at resonance but as they are equal and at opposition

( 180o out-of-phase ) they effectively cancel each other out.

As a parallel resonance circuit only functions on resonant frequency, this type of

circuit is also known as a Rejecter Circuit because at resonance, the impedance of

the circuit is at its maximum thereby suppressing or rejecting the current whose

frequency is equal to its resonant frequency. The effect of resonance in a parallel

circuit is also called “current resonance”.

Magnification at Resonance

The voltage applied to the parallel RLC circuit is V, and the current at resonance is

I R.

The current flowing through the inductor is IL and is given by

IL = V / XL. At resonant frequency ωr , IL = V / ωrL

Since, at resonance, V = I/G

IL = I / G ωrL = QI, where Q is the current magnification

where B is the inductive or capacitive susceptance and X is the inductive or

capacitive reactance.

By substituting By substituting ωr = 1/√(LC) into equation

Again by Q is defined as the ratio of the reactive power, of either the capacitor

or the inductor to the power dissipated in the resistor at resonance:

Q has the same inherent definition for both parallel and series circuits. It may

appear, at first glance, that the expressions for Q for a series and a parallel resonant

circuit are quite different. It will be shown that they are the same. Meanwhile, it

should be remembered that R and X in equation are parallel circuit components –

unlike R and X in the series circuit.

Parameters in Parallel Resonant Circuit

Salient Features of Series RLC Circuit and Parallel RLC Circuit at

Resonance

SL RLC SERIES CIRCUIT RLC PARALLEL CIRCUIT

No.
1. Resistor, inductor and capacitor Resistor, inductor and capacitor
are connected in series are connected in parallel.
2. Current is same in each Current is different in all elements
element and the total current is equal to
vector sum of each branch of
current.
3. Voltage across all the elements Voltage across each element
is different and the total voltage remains the same.
is equal to the vector sum of
voltages across each
component.
4. For drawing phasor diagram, For drawing phasor diagram,
current is taken as reference voltage is taken as reference
vector. vector.
5. Voltage across each element is Current in each element is given
given by : VR= IR, VL = I XL, VC by: IR = V / R , IC = V / XC , IL = V /
= I XC XL
6. Its more convenient to use Its more convenient to use
impedance for calculations. admittance for calculations.
7. At resonance , when XL = XC,
At resonance, when XL = XC, the
the circuit has minimum
impedance. circuit has maximum impedance.
8. An acceptor circuit A rejector circuit.

Series and Parallel circuits – Difference and similarities