Series Resonance Circuit

Resonance occurs in a series circuit when the supply frequency causes the voltages across L
and C to be equal and opposite in phase.

In a series RLC circuit there becomes a frequency point were the inductive reactance of the
inductor becomes equal in value to the capacitive reactance of the capacitor. In other words,
XL = XC. The point at which this occurs is called the Resonant Frequency point, ( ƒr ) of the
circuit, and as we are analysing a series RLC circuit this resonance frequency produces a
Series Resonance.

Series Resonance circuits are one of the most important circuits used electrical and electronic
circuits. They can be found in various forms such as in AC mains filters, noise filters and also
in radio and television tuning circuits producing a very selective tuning circuit for the
receiving of the different frequency channels. Consider the simple series RLC circuit below.

Series RLC Circuit

Firstly, let us define what we already know about series RLC circuits.

From the above equation for inductive reactance, if either the Frequency or the Inductance
is increased the overall inductive reactance value of the inductor would also increase. As the
frequency approaches infinity the inductors reactance would also increase towards infinity
with the circuit element acting like an open circuit.

Series Resonance Frequency

where: ƒr is in Hertz, L is in Henries and C is in Farads.

Electrical resonance occurs in an AC circuit when the effects of the two reactances, which are
opposite and equal, cancel each other out as XL = XC. The point on the above graph at which
this happens is were the two reactance curves cross each other. In a series resonant circuit, the
resonant frequency, ƒr point can be calculated as follows.

We can see then that at resonance, mathematically the two reactances cancel each other out as
XL – XC = 0. This makes the series LC combination act as a short circuit with the only
opposition to current flow in a series resonance circuit being the resistance, R.

In complex form, the resonant frequency is the frequency at which the total impedance of a
series RLC circuit becomes purely “real”, that is no imaginary impedance’s exist. This is
because at resonance they are cancelled out. So the total impedance of the series circuit
becomes just the value of the resistance and therefore: Z = R.

Then at resonance the impedance of the series circuit is at its minimum value and equal only
to the resistance, R of the circuit. The circuit impedance at resonance is called the “dynamic
impedance” of the circuit and depending upon the frequency, XC (typically at high
frequencies) or XL (typically at low frequencies) will dominate either side of resonance as
shown below.

Impedance in a Series Resonance Circuit

Note that when the capacitive reactance dominates the circuit the impedance curve has a
hyperbolic shape to itself, but when the inductive reactance dominates the circuit the curve is
non-symmetrical due to the linear response of XL.

You may also note that if the circuits impedance is at its minimum at resonance then
consequently, the circuits admittance must be at its maximum and one of the characteristics
of a series resonance circuit is that admittance is very high. But this can be a bad thing
because a very low value of resistance at resonance means that the resulting current flowing
through the circuit may be dangerously high.

We recall from the previous tutorial about series RLC circuits that the voltage across a series
combination is the phasor sum of VR, VL and VC. Then if at resonance the two reactances are
equal and cancelling, the two voltages representing VL and VC must also be opposite and
equal in value thereby cancelling each other out because with pure components the phasor
voltages are drawn at +90o and -90o respectively.

Then in a series resonance circuit as VL = -VC the resulting reactive voltages are zero and all
the supply voltage is dropped across the resistor. Therefore, VR = Vsupply and it is for this
reason that series resonance circuits are known as voltage resonance circuits, (as opposed to
parallel resonance circuits which are current resonance circuits).

Series RLC Circuit at Resonance

Since the current flowing through a series resonance circuit is the product of voltage divided
by impedance, at resonance the impedance, Z is at its minimum value, ( =R ). Therefore, the
circuit current at this frequency will be at its maximum value of V/R as shown below.

Series Circuit Current at Resonance

The frequency response curve of a series 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 near to zero, reaches maximum value at the resonance frequency when IMAX = IR and
then drops again to nearly zero as ƒ becomes infinite. The result of this is that the magnitudes
of the voltages across the inductor, L and the capacitor, C can become many times larger than
the supply voltage, even at resonance but as they are equal and at opposition they cancel each
other out.

As a series resonance circuit only functions on resonant frequency, this type of circuit is also
known as an Acceptor Circuit because at resonance, the impedance of the circuit is at its
minimum so easily accepts the current whose frequency is equal to its resonant frequency.

You may also notice that as the maximum current through the circuit at resonance is limited
only by the value of the resistance (a pure and real value), the source voltage and circuit
current must therefore be in phase with each other at this frequency. Then the phase angle
between the voltage and current of a series resonance circuit is also a function of frequency
for a fixed supply voltage and which is zero at the resonant frequency point when:
V, I and VR are all in phase with each other as shown below. Consequently, if the phase angle
is zero then the power factor must therefore be unity.

Series Resonance Example No1

A series resonance network consisting of a resistor of 30Ω, a capacitor of 2uF and an inductor
of 20mH is connected across a sinusoidal supply voltage which has a constant output of 9
volts at all frequencies. Calculate, the resonant frequency, the current at resonance, the
voltage across the inductor and capacitor at resonance, the quality factor and the bandwidth
of the circuit. Also sketch the corresponding current waveform for all frequencies.

1. Resonant Frequency, ƒr

2. Circuit Current at Resonance, Im

3. Inductive Reactance at Resonance, XL

4. Voltages across the inductor and the capacitor, VL, VC

Note: the supply voltage may be only 9 volts, but at resonance, the reactive voltages across
the capacitor, VC and the inductor, VL are 30 volts peak!

5. Quality factor, Q

6. Bandwidth, BW

7. The upper and lower -3dB frequency points, ƒH and ƒL

8. Current Waveform
Series Resonance Example No2

A series circuit consists of a resistance of 4Ω, an inductance of 500mH and a variable

capacitance connected across a 100V, 50Hz supply. Calculate the capacitance require to
produce a series resonance condition, and the voltages generated across both the inductor and
the capacitor at the point of resonance.

Resonant Frequency, ƒr

Voltages across the inductor and the capacitor, VL, VC

Series Resonance Summary

You may have noticed that during the analysis of series resonance circuits in this tutorial, we
looked at bandwidth, upper and lower frequencies, -3dB points and quality or Q-factor. All
these are terms used in designing and building of Band Pass Filters (BPF) and indeed,
resonance circuits are used in 3-element mains filter designs to pass all frequencies within the
“passband” range while rejecting all others.

However, the main aim of this tutorial is to analyse and understand the concept of how Series
Resonance occurs in passive RLC series circuits. Their use in RLC filter networks and
designs is outside the scope of this particular tutorial, and so will not be looked at here, sorry.

 For resonance to occur in any circuit it must have at least one inductor and one capacitor.
 Resonance is the result of oscillations in a circuit as stored energy is passed from the
inductor to the capacitor.
 Resonance occurs when XL = XC and the imaginary part of the transfer function is zero.
 At resonance the impedance of the circuit is equal to the resistance value as Z = R.
 At low frequencies the series circuit is capacitive as: XC > XL, this gives the circuit a leading
power factor.
 At high frequencies the series circuit is inductive as: XL > XC, this gives the circuit a lagging
power factor.
 The high value of current at resonance produces very high values of voltage across the
inductor and capacitor.
 Series resonance circuits are useful for constructing highly frequency selective filters.
However, its high current and very high component voltage values can cause damage to the
circuit.
 The most prominent feature of the frequency response of a resonant circuit is a sharp
resonant peak in its amplitude characteristics.
 Because impedance is minimum and current is maximum, series resonance circuits are also
called Acceptor Circuits.

In the next tutorial about Parallel Resonance we will look at how frequency affects the
characteristics of a parallel connected RLC circuit and how this time the Q-factor of a parallel
resonant circuit determines its current magnification.