MEASUREMENT OF THREE PHASE POWER

Power in an AC circuit is measured with the help of a Wattmeter. A Wattmeter is an instrument which
consists of two coils called Current coil and Potential coil. The current coil having low resistance is
connected in series with the load so that it carries the load current. The potential coil having the resistance
is connected across the load and carries the current proportional to the potential difference. A wattmeter
gives a reading proportional to the product of the current through its current coil, the voltage across its
potential coil, and the cosine of the angle between this voltage and current.

For measuring the power in a 3 phase or Poly Phase system, more than one wattmeter is required, or more
than one readings are made by one wattmeter. If more than one wattmeter is connected for the
measurement, the process becomes convenient and easy to work with instead of taking various readings
with one wattmeter. The number of wattmeters required to measure power in a given polyphase system is
determined by Blondel’s Theorem.

According to Blondel’s theorem – When power is supplied by the K wire AC system, the number of
wattmeters required to measure power is one less than the number of wire i.e. (K-1), regardless the load is
balanced or unbalanced. Hence, Three wattmeters are required to measure power in three phase, four wire
system, whereas, only two wattmeters are required to measure the power in 3 phase, 3 wire system.

Three-Wattmeter Method of Three Phase Power Measurement

Three Wattmeter method is employed to measure power in a 3 phase, 4 wire system.

However, this method can also be employed in a 3 phase, 3 wire delta connected load, where power
consumed by each load is required to be determined separately. This total power could be measured by
placing a wattmeter in each phase, as shown in fig. 1. It is not generally feasible to break into the phases
of a delta connected load. Therefore the method shown in part (a) of fig. 1 is not applicable. For the wye
load shown in part (b), it is necessary to connect to the neutral point. This point is not always accessible.
Hence another method making use of only two wattmeter is generally employed in making three phase
power measurements.

Fig.1 A wattmeter in each phase may be used to measure three-phase power

The connections for star connected loads with neutral wire for measuring power by Three wattmeter
method is shown below.

The pressure coil of all the Three wattmeters namely W1, W2 and W3 are connected to a common terminal
known as the neutral point. The product of the phase current and line voltage represents as phase power
and is recorded by individual wattmeter.

The total power in a Three wattmeter method of power measurement is given by the algebraic sum of the
readings of Three wattmeters. i.e.

Where,

W1=V1I1; W2=V2I2; W3=V3I3;

Except for 3 phase, 4 wire unbalanced load, 3 phase power can be measured by using only Two
Wattmeter Method.

Balanced or unbalanced load, star- or delta-connected. The two-

wattmeter method

Suppose the three loads L1, L2 and L3 are connected in star, as in Fig. 3. The current coils of the two
wattmeters are connected in any two lines, say the ‘red’ and ‘blue’ lines, and the voltage circuits are
connected between these lines and the third line.
 Fig.3 Measurement of power by two wattmeters
Suppose vRN, vYN and vBN are the instantaneous values of the p.d.s across the loads, these p.d.s being
assumed positive when the respective line conductors are positive in relation to the neutral point. Also,
suppose iR, iY and iB are the corresponding instantaneous values of the line (and phase) currents.
Therefore instantaneous power in load L1 = iRvRN, instantaneous power in load L2 = iYvYN and
instantaneous power in load L3 = iBvBN.

Total instantaneous power = iRvRN + iYvYN + iBvBN

From Fig. 33.24 it is seen that instantaneous current through current coil of W1 = iR and instantaneous p.d.
across voltage circuit of W1 = vRN − vYN.

Therefore

Instantaneous power measured by W1 = iR(vRN − vYN)

Similarly, instantaneous current through current coil of W2 = iB and instantaneous p.d. across voltage
circuit of W2 = vBN − vYN.

It is important to note that this p.d. is not vYN − vBN. This is due to the fact that a wattmeter reads
positively when the currents in the current and voltage coils are both flowing from the junction of these
coils or both towards that junction; and since the positive direction of the current in the current coil of W2
has already been taken as that of the arrowhead alongside iB in Fig. 33.24 it follows that the current in the
voltage circuit of W2 is positive when flowing from the ‘blue’ to the ‘yellow’ line.
∴ Instantaneous power measured by W2 = iB(vBN − vYN)

Hence the sum of the instantaneous powers of W1 and W2 is

iR(vRN - vYN)+iB(vBN - vYN)

= iRvRN + iBvBN - (iR + iB)vYN
From Kirchhoff’s first law the algebraic sum of the instantaneous currents at N is zero, i.e.
 iR + iY + iB = 0
∴ iR + iB = −iY
so that sum of instantaneous powers measured by W1 and W2 is
iRvRN + iBvBN + iYvYN = total instantaneous power

Actually, the power measured by each wattmeter varies from instant to instant, but the inertia of the
moving system causes the pointer to read the average value of the power. Hence the sum of the wattmeter
readings gives the average value of the total power absorbed by the three phases, i.e. the active power.

Since the above proof does not assume a balanced load or sinusoidal waveforms, it follows that the sum
of the two wattmeter readings gives the total power under all conditions. The above proof was derived for
a star connected load, and it is a useful exercise to prove that the same conclusion holds for a delta-
connected load.
Power factor measurement by means of two wattmeters
Suppose L in Fig. 4 to represent three similar loads connected in star, and suppose VRN, VYN and VBN to be
the r.m.s. values of the phase voltages and IR, IY and IB to be the r.m.s. values of the currents. Since these
voltages and currents are assumed sinusoidal, they can be represented by phasors, as in Fig. 5, the
currents being assumed to lag the corresponding phase voltages by an angle φ. Current through current
coil of W1 is IR. Potential difference across voltage circuit of W1 is

Phasor difference of VRN and VYN = VRNY

Phase difference between IR and VRNY = 30° + φ. Therefore reading on W1 is
P1 = IRVRNY cos(30° + φ)

Fig. 4 Measurement of active power and power factor by two wattmeters

 Fig. 5 Phasor diagram for Fig. 33.25

Current through current coil of W2 = IB. Potential difference across voltage circuit of W2 is Phasor
difference of VBN and VYN = VBNY
Phase difference between IB and VBNY = 30° − φ. Therefore reading on W2 is
P2 = IBVBNY cos(30° − φ)
Since the load is balanced,
IR = IY = IB = (say) I, numerically and VRNY = VBNY = (say) V, numerically

Hence
P1 = VI cos(30° + φ) (2)
and
P2 = VI cos(30° − φ) (3)

P1 + P2 = VI{cos(30° + φ) + cos(30° − φ)}

P1 + P2 = VI(cos 30° · cos φ − sin 30° · sin φ + cos 30° · cos φ + sin 30° · sin φ)
P1 + P2 = VI cos φ (4)

This is an alternative method of proving that the sum of the two wattmeter readings gives the total active
power, but it should be noted that this proof assumed a balanced load and sinusoidal voltages and currents.

From equations [2], [3] and [4] P2 − P1 = VI sin φ (5)

 and (6)

Hence, φ and cos φ can be determined with the aid of trigonometrical tables.

Special cases

a) When

Total Power = √3 VI cos 600 =

P1 = VI cos(600+300) =0 P2 = VI cos(600-300) =

Hence one wattmeter will read zero and other will read the total power.

b) When
In this case both the wattmeter indicates positive readings.

c) When
In this case wattmeter W2 gives positive reading while wattmeter W1 gives a negative reading.
The pointer of this wattmeter tries to go on the left side of zero point. To take this reading on
the wattmeter, it is necessary to reverse the connections of either current coil or voltage coil.
It is to be noted that this reading is to be subtracted from the other wattmeter reading to get
the total power.