EEB 241 : Electrical Principles II

Phasor Representation of Sinusoidal Waveforms

Monageng Kgwadi

University of Botswana

Jan-May 2024

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 Introduction
In the preceeding course we were able to combine sources.
For DC sources it is straight forward

The resultant voltage is

V = V1 + V2 + V3

5V + 5V -2.5V = 7.5V

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 Adding Sinusoidal waveforms

The resultant voltage is

v (t) = v1 (t) + v2 (t) + v3 (t)

v(t) = ??

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 Addition of Sinusoids

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 Adding sinusoidal waveforms is not intuitive but can be made simpler
Adding sinusidal waves of the same frequency results in a sinusoidal
wave
A general sinusoidal wave can be represented as

f (t) = Am sin(ωt + ϕ)

where Am is the amplitude

ω = 2πf is the angular frequency and f is frequency as described
earlier
ϕ is the phase of the sinusoid. This is the angle before the zero
crossing of the wave.

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 Phasor Representation of Sinusoids

Simplifies the sinusoid by removing the time-dependency

(assumption is that all sinusoids have the same frequency)
Represent sinusoidal waveforms as vectors
Allows intuitive combination (addition/subtraction)
Graphical vector arithmetic methods and trigonometry can be
used

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 Phasor Representation of Sinusoids

The vector OA rotates at a constant angular frequency ω = 2πf

counter-clockwise
The vector OA sweeps an angle θ = ωt every t seconds as it rotates
The projection of the vector OA on the y-axis, AB gives the
instanteneous value of the sinusoid, note; AB = OAsin(ωt)
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 At time t=0, the angle from the x-axis of the vector OA gives the
phase ϕ of the sinusoid
If we observe the phasor at time t=0, we can see that it is vector of
lenth Am at an angle of ϕ.
A visual representation is available at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_zReGTxdlQ
Using this, we can represent the sinusoidal wave by:

f (t) = Am sin(ωt + ϕ) = Am ∠ϕ
Example: The angle at t=0s for a sine wave is 0, thus it has a phase
of zero, ϕ = 0 and can be written as Am sin(ωt + 0) = Am ∠0
The angle at t=0s for a cosine wave is 90 (π/2), thus ϕ = 90
and can be written as Am sin(ωt − π/2) = Am ∠π/2

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 Earlier Example using phasors

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 Lead/Lag

after t=0, the green wave crosses the x-axis after the red wave, thus
it is lagging
Phasors show the lead/lag phenomenon clearly. The vector that is
ahead in the direction of rotation is leading.

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 Converting Sines to Cosines

The functions cosine and sine basically the same fucnction with a
phase difference of π/2 or 90 degrees

The cosine function by the convention noted leads the sine function
i.e:

sin(ωt) = cos(ωt − 90◦ ) (1)

With that, convert all sinusoids to sine (or cosine) to determine
which is leading or which one is lagging.

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 Previuos example

v1 (t) = 5cos(ωt) = 5sin(ωt + 90)

v2 (t) = 5sin(ωt) = 5sin(ωt + 0)
v3 (t) = −2.5cos(ωt) = 2.5sin(ωt + 90 + 180)

Example:
Find the angle by which i1 lags v1 if v1 = 120cos(120πt − 40◦ ) if
1 i1 = 2.5cos(120πt + 20◦ )
2 i1 = 1.4sin(120πt − 70◦ )

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 Phasor Convensions

It has already been shown that for sine waves the r.m.s. or
effective value is 0.707 times the maximum value
Ammeters and voltmeters are almost always calibrated to read
the r.m.s. values.
It is much more convenient to make the length of the phasors
represent r.m.s. rather than maximum values. i.e. Electrical
Am
engineers often use √ 2
∠ϕ as the length of the vector
Phasor diagram remains unchanged except for the length of the
vectors, the phase diffrences remains the same
In electrical engineering phasor length are represented by the rms
value.

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Monageng Kgwadi (University of Botswana) EEB 241 : Electrical Principles II Phasor Representation of
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 Complex Notation
recall complex number operations from MAT101
if we have a complex number Z = a + ib we can represent it on a
real and imaginary axis.
if we have two complex numbers Z1 = a1 + ib1 and Z2 = a2 + ib2 we
can do arithmetic operations:
Z1 ± Z2 = (a1 ± a2 ) + i(b1 ± b2 )
Z1 × Z2 = (a1 + ib1 )(a2 + ib2 ) =a1 a2 + ia1 b2 + ia2 b1 + (−1)b1 b2
recall that i2 = −1

Z1 Z2∗
Z1 ÷ Z2 = ×
Z2 Z2∗
where Z ∗ denotes a complex conjugate of Z
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 Complex Notation
We use the complex operator in electrical
engineering to denote phasors.
This allows us to analyse circuits
using techniques we have already learnt.
We can use complex notation to represent
an arbitrary vector A :
A = a + jb
(in Cartesian coodinate system)
we use the letter j because i is already
used to represent current

A = |A|(cosθ + jsinθ) (in Trig. form)

A = |A|∠θ (in Polar Form)

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 We have already seen how we can
perform vector addition when we
treat sinusoids as phasors

We can also resolve each vector

into its components and add the
components individually
if: A1 = a1 + jb1 & A2 = a2 + jb2
then:
A = A1 + A2
A = a1 + a2 + jb1 + jb1
A = (a1 + a2 ) + j(b1 + b2 )

Ideal for vector addition

and subtraction

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 Using the cartesian representation of sinusoids works fine
for addition and subtraction. It gets a litte tideous for
multiplication and division. However, there is an easier way
Recall Eulers representation

A = |A|e jθ = |A|(cosθ + jsinθ)

If we have A1 = a1 + jb1 and A2 = a2 + jb2

we express them as A1 = |A1 |e jθ1 = |A1 |∠θ1 and
A2 = |A2 |e jθ2 = |A2 |∠θ2
Then A = A1 × A2 = |A1 |e jθ1 × |A2 |e jθ2 = |A1 ||A2 |e j(θ1 +θ2 ) or in
Phasor form

|A1 ||A2 |∠(θ1 + θ2 )

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 Similarly for division;
Then
|A1 |e jθ1 |A1 | j(θ1 −θ2 )
A = A1 ÷ A2 = = e
|A2 |e jθ2 |A2 |
or in Phasor form
|A1 |
∠(θ1 − θ2 )
|A2 |
This allows us to do quick calculations
Ex: Evaluate 5cos(100t + 90◦ ) × 2cos(100t − 45◦ )

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 Questions

Thank you for your attention... any Questions?

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 Additional Material

1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zMiIHVMfaw
2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1FMCDTAQok

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