Lecture 1

Alternating Current (A.C)

Dr. Zainal Abidin Ali
Bilik 44, Tingkat 3,
Bangunan PASUM
Revise: Direct Current (DC) Source
 DC Source

• Graph voltage and current

• Value of current and
voltage are constant
10 20 30 40 50 60
(s)
 DC Circuit

• What is current ?
• Draw direction of
current?

Benjamin Franklin
 Outline for AC Topic
• AC source
• Circuit diagram
• Direction of current – show,
• What does it mean by cycle wrt the flow of current?
• Sinusoidal wave – cycle, equation, period to represent the wave
• RMS & Average values
• Average Power
 AC Sources
• Almost all power plant generate
electricity based on rotating turbine
• In nuclear reactor, the immense heat
produced by the fission process will
turn the water into steam in which the
steam will cause the turbine to rotate
• AC current is produced when a
conductor is rotated in the presence
of magnetic field
 Clock-wise = Positive half cycle AC circuit
• AC source periodically
changes its polarity, therefore
change the direction of
current
• Direction of current – show
• What does it mean by cycle
w.r.t the flow of current?
Anti Clock-wise = Negative half cycle • Relate cycle to frequency
Definition of frequency by TNB:
The number of alternating current
cycles per second (expressed in hertz)
at which alternating current electricity
is operating.
 Relationship of Cycle and Angle
• 1 cycle = 360 degrees
• Positive half-cycle = 0 - 180 degrees
• Negative half-cycle = 181– 360 degrees

Unlike the DC, the flow of AC is represented by a

sinusoidal wave
 AC Signal
Positive
half cycle
• Sinusoidal wave for current
and voltage
• What is cycle?
Negative
half cycle • What is period?
• What is frequency?
• What is peak or amplitude
value?
• Subdivided into 360 degrees
Sinusoidal for AC Current and Voltage

Is there any equation to represent the wave?

 Equation to represent AC current and voltage

• For current :
𝐼 𝑡 = 𝐼𝑜 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜔𝑡
• For voltage :
𝑉 𝑡 = 𝑉𝑜 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜔𝑡
General Equation for AC Current

𝐼 𝑡 = 𝐼𝑜 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜔𝑡
where
𝐼 𝑡 = 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡
𝐼𝑜 = 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘/𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒
𝜔 = 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦(𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠)
𝑡 = 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 Frequency is the number
of cycle in one second
2𝜋
𝜔= = 2𝜋𝑓
𝑇
where T = Period (time taken to complete one cycle) and f = frequency in unit Hz
 General Equation for AC Voltage

V 𝑡 = 𝑉𝑜 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜔𝑡
where
V 𝑡 = 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒
𝑉𝑜 = 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘/𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒
𝜔 = 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦(𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠)
𝑡 = 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 Frequency is the number
of cycle in one second.
2𝜋
𝜔= = 2𝜋𝑓
𝑇
where T = Period (time taken in second to complete one cycle) and f = frequency in unit Hz
 Example 1: Writing the Equation for AC Current

Current at any instant

𝐼 𝑡 = 𝐼𝑜 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜔𝑡
CURRENT(A)

can be determined
using this equation 𝐼 𝑡 = 𝐼𝑜 𝑠𝑖𝑛2π𝑓𝑡
2𝜋
𝐼 𝑡 = 𝐼𝑜 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑡
𝑇
2𝜋
𝐼 𝑡 = 3𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑡
8
𝐼 𝑡 = 3𝑠𝑖𝑛0.785𝑡
Period, T
 Example 2: Writing the AC Equation for
voltage
Voltage (V)
2𝜋
Voltage at any instant 𝑉 𝑡 = 𝑉𝑜 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜔𝑡 = 𝑉𝑜 𝑠𝑖𝑛( 𝑡)
𝑇
20 can be determined
using this equation
2𝜋
𝑉 𝑡 = 20𝑠𝑖𝑛( 𝑡)=20sin(157t)
0.04
t (s)
0 0.02 0.04
Now, open any books or Google
and find out any sinusoidal
waveform for current and try to
write the equation on your own
 Effective Value
• Effective value – we cannot say that the
maximum value is the effective value
because it peaks only at a short moment !!
• Should we take the average value?
• There are 2 METHODS to consider to
determine the effective value
METHOD 1: CALCULATING AVERAGE/MEAN
VALUE(CHANGE WAVEFORM)

We add all the Y-axis value of the Graph and find the average.
σ𝐼
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 =
𝑛
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑓 𝑤𝑒 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 9 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠

0 + 0.707 + 1 + 0.707 + 0 + −0.707 + −1 + −0.707 + 0

=
9
=0

Will always get ZERO because value for

NEGATIVE CYCLE is negative
Since some electrical components are ‘blind’ towards direction of the
current, and the pattern of the waveform is just repeating itself, then
maybe we can simply OMIT the negative cycle in order to avoid the
zero average.

If we consider average for only the positive cycle, we will get the
value somewhere around: 0.637 of the peak value.

Meaning if the peak of the current or voltage is 10, then

𝑨𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 = 𝟎. 𝟔𝟑𝟕 × 𝟏𝟎 𝑽 = 𝟔. 𝟑𝟕 𝑽
*To get 0.637, you must average many points, not just few points!
*Some cheap ammeter and voltmeter use this value to measure the readings
 METHOD 2: ROOT-MEAN-SQUARE
σ 𝐼2
• 𝑛
σ 𝐼2 𝐼𝑜2 σ 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝜔𝑡
• 𝑛
=
𝑛
σ 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝜔𝑡 1
• Since 𝑛 = 2
• Therefore the mean square of the
• current is
𝐼𝑜2
• 𝐼2 =
2
Therefore, the root mean square(rms) of the current,
𝐼𝑜
𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 = 𝐼2 = = 0.707 × 𝐼𝑂
2
𝐼𝑜
𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 =
2

Similarly, if the AC voltage is given as 𝑉 𝑡 = 𝑉𝑜 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜔𝑡 and the rms

value is
𝑉𝑜
𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 = = 0.707 × 𝐼𝑂
2
 Which one to
use? Average
or RMS Value?
Let’s do comparison with DC
because DC current and
voltage are constant, all values
in the DC are the
‘EFFECTIVE values’

*Image Reference: https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/accircuits/power-in-ac-circuits.html

 RMS
• RMS value of an AC is an equivalent of DC which causes the same heating
effect through the same resistor

6.37 V 7.07 V
10 V
Effective values = RMS Values

𝐼𝑜 𝑉𝑜
𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 = 𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 =
2 2
Electrical appliances: Peak or RMS?
Average Power supplied by AC Source

𝑃 = 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑠∅

At this particular moment,

𝑃 = 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 accept that the angle is

ZERO. Will be explained in
lecture.
 Electrical Power
1) For DC, the electrical power or power dissipated by resistor is given by:
𝟐
𝑷=𝑰 𝑹
2) Since for AC the effective value is the rms value, therefore

𝑽𝟐𝒓𝒎𝒔
𝑷𝒂𝒗𝒆 = 𝑰𝟐𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝑹 OR 𝑷𝒂𝒗𝒆 = 𝑹

2) If we would like to use peak/maximum value in our calculation, then

𝑰𝟐
𝒐
𝑷𝒂𝒗𝒆 = 𝑰𝟐𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝑹 = 𝑹
𝟐
3) The unit for power is Watt.
 Example 1
An AC current is expressed by

𝐼 𝑡 = 20sin(50𝜋𝑡)

Where t is the time in seconds.

Calculate
a) the amplitude of the current
b) the RMS value of current
c) the period of each cycle
d) the frequency
e) the current at t=10 ms and t=45 ms
 Solution
d) From the equation, we can get
a) Amplitude= 20 A
𝐼𝑜 20 2𝜋𝑓 = 50π
b) 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 = 2
= 2
= 𝟏𝟒. 𝟏𝟒 𝑨 f = 𝟐𝟓 𝐇𝐳

e) Current at t= 10 ms and t=45 ms

c) From the equation, we can get
At t=10 ms
2π
T
= 50π 𝐼 = 20 sin 50𝜋𝑡 = 20 sin 50𝜋 10 × 10−3
= 𝟐𝟎 𝑨
T = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟒 𝒔
At t=45 ms
𝐼 = 20 sin 50𝜋𝑡 = 20 sin 50𝜋 45 × 10−3
= 𝟏𝟒. 𝟏𝟒 𝑨
 A 100 W lightbulb is designed to be connected to an
AC voltage of 120 V(rms)
a) What is the resistance of the lightbulb filament
at normal operating temperature?
b) Find the rms and peak currents through the
filament?
Example 2
Solution
2
𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠
a) 𝑃 =
𝑅
2
𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 (120 𝑉)2
𝑅= = = 144 Ω
𝑃𝑎𝑣𝑒 100 𝑊
b)
𝑃𝑎𝑣𝑒 100 𝑊
𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 = = = 0.833 𝐴
𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 120 𝑉

The amplitude of current =𝐼𝑂 = 2𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 = 1.179 A

 Comparison

DC AC
• Current flows in one direction • Flow of current periodically change
• Constant value direction due to periodically
reversed polarity
• Value of current and voltage varies
sinusoidally
 Things you have learned:
• Direction of current in AC
• Meaning of cycle(+ve and –ve half cycle)
• Sinusoidal waveform
• How to write the AC equation
• RMS values and how to relate to the peak value
• Formula for Power and how to use it