Page 1 of 9

CHAPTER 7  v- instantaneous value of voltage ,

vm- peak value of voltage, ω - Angular
ALTERNATING CURRENT frequency.

AC Voltage and AC Current RMS Value (effective current)

 A voltage that varies like a sine function  r.m.s. value of a.c. is the d.c. equivalent
with time is called alternating voltage (ac which produces the same amount of heat
voltage). energy in same time as that of an a.c.
 It is denoted by Irms or I.
 The electric current whose magnitude  Relation between r.m.s. value and peak
changes with time and direction reverses value is
periodically is called the alternating iN
current (ac current). IrNc =
√2
Advantages of AC:  The r.m.s voltage is given by

 Easily stepped up or stepped down using vN

transformer
VrNc =
√2
 Can be regulated using choke coil without Phasors
loss of energy
 A phasor is a vector which rotates about
 Easily converted in to dc using rectifier (Pn the origin with angular speed ω.
- diode)
 The vertical components of phasors V and
 Can be transmitted over distant places I represent the sinusoidally varying
quantities v and i.
 Production of ac is more economical
 The magnitudes of phasors V and I
Disadvantages of ac
represent the peak values vm and im
 Cannot used for electroplating - Polarity
of ac changes

 ac is more dangerous

 It can't store for longer time

Representation of ac
 The diagram representing alternating
voltage and current (phasors) as the
rotating vectors along with the phase
angle between them is called phasor
diagram.

AC Voltage applied to a Resistor

 An ac voltage can be represented as

 Page 2 of 9

 The ac voltage applied to the resistor is

 Using the trigonometric identity,

 Applying Kirchhoff’s loop rule
sin2 ωt = 1/2 (1– cos 2ωt )

< sin2 ωt > = (1/2) (1– < cos 2ωt >)

 Since < cos2ωt > = 0

 Since R is a constant, we can write this
equation as

 Where peak value of current is  Thus

 Thus when ac is passed through a resistor  In terms of r.m.s value

the voltage and current are in phase with
each other.

 Or

AC VOLTAGE APPLIED TO AN INDUCTOR

Phasor diagram

 Let the voltage across the source be

 Using the Kirchhoff’s loop rule

Instantaneous power

 The instantaneous power dissipated in

the resistor is
 Where L is the self-inductance
 Thus
Average power

 The average value of p over a cycle is  Integrating

or
 Page 3 of 9

 Since the current is oscillating , the

 Thus a comparison of equations for the
constant of integration is zero.
source voltage and the current in an
 Using
inductor shows that the current lags the
voltage by π/2 or one-quarter (1/4) cycle.

 Where

Instantaneous power
 Or
 The instantaneous power supplied to the
inductor is

 Where XL- inductive reactance

Inductive reactance (XL)

 The resistance offered by the inductor to

an ac through it is called inductive
reactance.
 It is given by
Average power

 The average power over a complete cycle

 The dimension of inductive reactance is in an inductor is
the same as that of resistance and its SI
unit is ohm (Ω).

 The inductive reactance is directly

proportional to the inductance and to the
frequency of the current.
 since the average of sin (2ωt) over a
Phasor Diagram
complete cycle is zero.
 We have the source voltage
 Thus, the average power supplied to an
inductor over one complete cycle is zero.

 The current
 Page 4 of 9

AC VOLTAGE APPLIED TO A CAPACITOR

 Where XC – capacitive reactance

Capacitive Reactance

 It is the resistance offered by the

capacitor to an ac current through it.
 The dimension of capacitive reactance is
 A capacitor in a dc circuit will limit or
the same as that of resistance and its SI
oppose the current as it charges.
unit is ohm (Ω).
 When the capacitor is connected to an ac
source, it limits or regulates the current, Phasor Diagram
but does not completely prevent the flow
of charge.  The applied voltage is
 Let the applied voltage be
 The current is
 The instantaneous voltage v across the
capacitor is

 Thus the current leads voltage by π/2.

 Where q is the charge on the capacitor.
 Using the Kirchhoff’s loop rule

 Therefore

 Using the relation

Instantaneous power

 The instantaneous power supplied to the

capacitor is

 Where

Average power

 The average power is given by

 Or
 Page 5 of 9

 Thus the average power over a cycle

when an ac passed through a capacitor is
zero.

AC VOLTAGE APPLIED TO A SERIES LCR CIRCUIT

 The length of these phasors VR, VC

and VL are:

 Let the voltage of the source to be

v = vm sin ωt
 Also
 From Kirchhoff’s loop rule:

 Since VC and VL are always along

 Where , q - the charge on the capacitor the same line and in opposite
i – current directions, they can be combined
 Using, i=dq/dt into a single phasor (VC + VL) which
has a magnitude |vCm – vLm|
 Since V is represented as the
hypotenuse of a right-traingle whose
Phasor-diagram solution sides are VR and (VC + VL), the
pythagorean theorem gives:
 Since the current through resistor,
inductor and capacitor is the same as
they are in series.
 If φ is the phase difference between the
 Thus
voltage across the source and the current
in the circuit,

 Let I be the phasor representing the

current in the circuit and VL, VR, VC, and
V represent the voltage across the  Therefore
inductor, resistor, capacitor and the
source, respectively.
 The phasor diagramis
 Page 6 of 9

 Or  If XC > XL , φ is positive and the circuit is

predominantly capacitive.

 If XC < XL , φ is negative and the circuit is

predominantly inductive.

 Z is called impedance .

Impedance

 It is the effective resistance offered by the

inductor, capacitor and resistor in an LCR
circuit.
 Impedance is given by
L C R RESONANCE

 For an LCR circuit the impedance

Impedance Triangle

 If XC= XL , then Z = R, the impedance is

minimum and the current in the circuit is
maximum – LCR Resonance
 A series LCR circuit, which admits
 Since phasor I is always parallel to phasor maximum current corresponding to a
VR, the phase angle φ is the angle particular angular frequency of the ac
between V R and V. source is called a series resonant circuit.
 Resonance phenomenon is exhibited by a
 Thus circuit only if both L and C are present in
the circuit.

Resonant frequency

 Or  The angular frequency at which the

current is maximum in an LCR circuit is
called resonant frequency (ω0).
 That is

 Thus
 Page 7 of 9

 At resonant frequency, the maximum  We choose a value of ω for which the

current is given by current amplitude is 1/ √2 times its
maximum value.

Graph showing variation of im with ω

Applications of resonance

 In the tuning mechanism of a radio or a TV  At this value, the power dissipated by

set the circuit becomes half.
 In metal detectors.  Thus

Tuning of radio or TV

 In tuning, the capacitance of a capacitor in

the tuning circuit is varied such that the  The difference ω1 – ω2 = 2Δω is
resonant frequency of the circuit becomes
called the bandwidth of the circuit.
nearly equal to the frequency of the radio
 The quantity (ω0 / 2Δω) is regarded
signal received.
as a measure of the sharpness of
 At this frequency , the amplitude of the
resonance.
current with the frequency of the signal of
 The smaller the Δω, the sharper or
the particular radio station in the circuit is
narrower is the resonance.
maximum.

Sharpness of resonance

 The amplitude of the current in the

series LCR circuit is given by

 The maximum value is

 Page 8 of 9

 So, larger the value of Q, the smaller is the

value of 2Δω or the bandwidth and
sharper is the resonance.
 Also

 If the resonance is less sharp, not only is

the maximum current less, the circuit is
close to resonance for a larger range Δω
of frequencies and the tuning of the
circuit will not be good.
 So, less sharp the resonance, less is the
selectivity of the circuit or vice versa.

POWER IN AC CIRCUIT: THE POWER FACTOR

 Using
 We have

 Where

 Therefore, the instantaneous power p

supplied by the source is

 Therefore

 The quantity cosφ is called the power

factor.

Special cases
 Thus
Resistive circuit:

 If the circuit contains only pure R, it is

called
 Page 9 of 9

resistive. In that case φ= 0, cosφ = 1.  This equation has the formfor a simple
There is maximum power dissipation. harmonic oscillator

Purely inductive or capacitive circuit:

 If the circuit contains only an inductor or

capacitor, the phase difference between
 The charge, therefore, oscillates with a
voltage and current is π/2.
 Therefore, cos φ= 0, and no power is natural frequency
dissipated even though a current is
flowing in the circuit. This current is
sometimes referred to as wattless
 The charge varies sinusoidally with time
current.
LCR series circuit: as
 In an LCR series circuit the power is
dissipated only in the resistor.
Power dissipated at resonance in LCR circuit:  Where qm is the maximum value of q and
 At resonance Xc – XL= 0, and φ = 0. φ is a phase constant.
Therefore, cos φ = 1 and P = I 2Z = I 2 R.  When φ = 0
 That is, maximum power is dissipated in a
circuit (through R) at resonance.
LC OSCILLATIONS
 The current is
 When a capacitor (initially charged) is
connected to an inductor, the charge on
the capacitor and the current in the circuit
exhibit the phenomenon of electrical  The LC oscillation is similar to the
oscillations similar to oscillations in mechanical oscillation of a block attached
mechanical systems. to a spring.

Comparison between an electrical system and a

mechanical system

 According to Kirchhoff’s loop rule,

 But
 Therefore
*******