Title: Analysis of Series Resonance of an RLC Circuit

Abstract: This experiment investigates the series resonance behavior of an RLC circuit, which
consists of a resistor (R), inductor (L), and capacitor (C) connected in series. The primary
objective is to observe the effects of resonance on the circuit's impedance and current. When the
circuit reaches resonance, the inductive reactance and capacitive reactance cancel each other,
leading to a minimum impedance and maximum current at the resonant frequency. The
experiment involves varying the frequency of the AC supply, measuring the circuit's voltage,
current, and phase angle, and identifying the resonant frequency. The results demonstrate the
fundamental properties of resonance, including the sharp rise in current and the circuit’s response
to different frequencies.

Introduction:

Resonance in AC circuits imply a special frequency determined by the values of the resistance,
capacitance, and inductance. For series resonance, the condition of resonance is minimum
impedance and zero phase angle. The resonance of a series RLC circuit occurs when the
inductive and capacitive reactance are equal in magnitude but cancel each other because they are
180 degrees apart in phase.

Objectives:
1. To determine the resonant frequency for an RLC series circuit.
2. To find the value of the quality factor, Q.
3. To plot the change of I, VC, VL, VR, XL, and XC with the frequency
4. To get familiarized with the circle diagram.

Background: A series resonance RLC circuit involves a resistor (R), inductor (L), and capacitor
(C) connected in series. Resonance occurs when the inductive reactance (XL) and capacitive
reactance (XC) are equal in magnitude but opposite in phase, causing them to cancel each other
out. At this point, the circuit behaves as if it only contains the resistor, minimizing impedance and
allowing maximum current to flow.The main objective is typically to study how the circuit
responds to varying frequencies of an AC supply. The experiment aims to identify the resonant
frequency (fr), where the current is at its peak, and measure the relationship between current,
impedance, and frequency. This analysis also provides insights into phase angles, bandwidth, and
the quality factor (Q) of the circuit, which are important for understanding resonance behavior in
practical applications like radio tuning and signal filtering.

Literature review:

Series resonance is particularly significant in applications such as filters, oscillators, and tuning
circuits, where achieving maximum current flow or voltage across a component is critical. The
condition of resonance occurs at a specific frequency, known as the resonant frequency.In such
circuits, research has shown that the quality factor (Q-factor) is a measure of the sharpness of the
resonance peak, representing the ratio of stored energy to energy dissipated per cycle. A high Q-
factor indicates low energy loss and a sharp resonance peak, which is beneficial in radio
frequency applications

Methodology:

The circuit in Fig.1 acts as an RLC series resonator. Since the voltage drop across the inductor
leads the current by 900 whereas the voltage drop across the capacitor lags the current by 90 0, the
two voltage drops are opposite to each other. If they are made equal, then the reactive voltage
drops neutralize each other and the impressed voltage is equal only to the voltage drop across the
resistor. This condition is called series resonance. In the series resonance condition- 1.
Impedance is minimum and net reactance is zero.
2. Current is maximum.
3. The applied voltage is in phase with the current.
4. The power factor is unity.

Figure 1: An RLC series resonance circuit

Thus, at the series resonance condition, the resonance frequency (𝑓𝑟) can be found as follows:
𝑉𝐿 = 𝑉𝐶
or, 𝐼𝑋𝐿 =
𝐼𝑋𝐶
or, 𝑋𝐿 = 𝑋𝐶

or, 2𝜋𝑓𝑟𝐿 =

2𝜋1𝑓𝑟𝐶 or, 𝑓𝑟2 =

4𝜋12𝐿𝐶
 1
∴ �𝑟 =
2�√𝐿
�𝐶
�

Figure 2: Vector diagram of a series resonance RLC circuit

Here:
• When XL > XC, the circuit is inductive

• The net circuit reactance, 𝑋 = 𝑋𝐿 − 𝑋𝐶

• When XC > XL, the circuit is capacitive

• Total circuit impedance, 𝑍

From the above equations 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 inductive reactance would also increase towards infinity with
the circuit element acting like an open circuit. However, as the frequency approaches zero or DC,
the inductive reactance would decrease to zero, causing the opposite effect acting like a short
circuit. This means that inductive reactance is proportional to the frequency and is small at low
frequencies and high at higher frequencies and this is demonstrated in the curve in Fig. 3.

Figure 3: The graph of inductive reactance against frequency is a straight-line linear curve. The inductive reactance

and is directly proportional to frequency (XL ∝ ƒ)

value of an inductor increases linearly as the frequency across it increases. Therefore, inductive reactance is positive

The same is also true for the capacitive reactance formula above but in reverse. If either the
frequency or the capacitance is increased the overall capacitive reactance would decrease. As the
frequency approaches infinity, the reactance of the capacitor would reduce to zero causing the
circuit element to act like a perfect conductor of 0 Ω. However, as the frequency approaches zero
or DC level, the reactance of the capacitor would rapidly increase up to infinity causing it to act
like a very large resistance acting like an open circuit condition. This means that the capacitive
reactance is inversely proportional to the frequency for any given value of capacitance and is
shown in Fig. 4.
Figure 4: The graph of capacitive reactance against frequency is a hyperbolic curve. The reactance value of a

Therefore, the capacitive reactance is negative and inversely proportional to the input frequency (XC ∝ ƒ-1)
capacitor has a very high value at low frequencies but quickly decreases as the frequency across it increases.

We can see that the values of these reactance depend upon the frequency of the supply. At a
higher frequency, XL is higher and at a low frequency, XC is higher. Then there must be a
frequency point where the value of XL is the same as that of XC. If we now place the curve for

same axes, the point of intersection will give us the series resonance frequency point, ( 𝑓𝑟 or ωr)
inductive reactance on top of the curve for capacitive reactance so that both curves are on the

as shown in Fig. 5.

Figure 5: ƒr is in Hertz, L is in Henries and C is in Farads.

Electrical resonance occurs in an AC circuit when the two opposite reactance are equal and
thereby cancel each other out, i.e., XL = XC. The point on the horizontal axis of the graph at which
this happens is where the two reactance curves cross each other.

Impedance in a Series Resonance Circuit

 Figure 6: Impedance curve of an RLC series circuit during resonance.

From Fig. 6, note that when the capacitive reactance dominates the circuit, the impedance curve
has a hyperbolic shape 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 circuit
impedance is at its minimum at resonance, then consequently, the circuit’s 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 current of the circuit may be dangerously high. We recall from the previous tutorial about
RLC series circuits that the voltage across a series combination is the phasor sum of V R, VL, and
VC. Then if at resonance the two reactance are equal and canceling each other, two voltages
representing VL and VC must also be equal in value and opposite in phase and as such, cancel
each other out because, with pure inductive and reactive components, the phasor voltages at +90 o
and -90o, respectively with the circuit current. So, in an RLC series circuit at resonance
condition, VL = -VC and, therefore, V = VR.

RLC Series Circuit Current at Resonance

Figure 7: Current resonance curve of an RLC series circuit.

In Fig. 7, the frequency response curve of a series resonance circuit is shown. Here, the
magnitude of the current is shown as a function of the frequency, and plotting this onto a graph
shows us that the response starts at near zero, then reaches a maximum value at the resonance
frequency when IMAX = IR, and finally 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 in
opposition, they cancel each other out.
As a series resonance circuit only functions on the 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 the circuit can easily accept the current whose frequency is equal to its resonant
frequency. The effect of resonance in a series circuit is also called voltage resonance.

Figure 8: Phase angle of a series resonance circuit

In Fig. 8, you can see that the 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 in Fig. 8. Consequently, if the

positive for frequencies above resonance frequency (𝑓𝑟) and negative for frequencies below 𝑓𝑟.
phase angle is zero then the power factor must be unity. Notice also, that the phase angle is

The bandwidth of a Series Resonance Circuit

If the RLC series circuit is driven by a variable frequency at a constant voltage then the

power absorbed by the circuit must be at its maximum value because the absorbed power, 𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥
magnitude of the current, I is proportional to the impedance, Z, therefore, at resonance, the

= 𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑥2 𝑍. Now, if we increase or decrease the frequency until the average power absorbed by
the resistor in the series resonance circuit is half of that of its maximum value at resonance, we
get two frequency points called the half-power points that are -3 dB down from the maximum,
value that is 70.7% of its maximum resonant current value because (0.5(𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑥2 𝑅) =
taking 0 dB as the maximum power reference as in Fig. 9. These -3 dB points give us a current

(0.707𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑥)2𝑅. Then the point corresponding to the lower frequency at half the power is
called the lower cut-off frequency, labeled as 𝑓𝐿, and the point corresponding to the upper
frequency at half power is called the upper cut-off frequency, labeled as 𝑓𝐻. The distance
between these two points, i.e. (𝑓𝐻 − 𝑓𝐿) is called the Bandwidth (BW) and is defined as the
range of frequencies over which at least half of the maximum power and current is provided as
shown in Fig. 9.

Figure 9: The bandwidth of a series resonance circuit

The frequency response of the RLC series circuit current magnitude above relates to the
sharpness of the resonance in a series resonance circuit. The sharpness of the peak is measured
quantitatively and is called the quality factor, Q of the circuit. The quality factor is defined as the
maximum or peak energy stored in the circuit (i.e. in the reactance) to the energy dissipated in

frequency to the bandwidth of the circuit, i.e., 𝑄 = 𝑓𝑟/𝐵𝑊. Therefore, the higher the Q, the
the circuit (i.e. the resistance) during each cycle of oscillation, or it is a ratio of the resonant

smaller the bandwidth. As the bandwidth is taken between the two -3 dB points, the selectivity of
the circuit is a measure of its ability to reject any frequencies on either side of these two points.
A more selective circuit will have a narrower bandwidth whereas a less selective circuit will have

value of the resistance only, keeping all the other components the same, since 𝑄 = 𝑋/𝑅 as
wider bandwidth. The selectivity of a series resonance circuit can be controlled by adjusting the

shown in Fig. 10.

 Figure 10: Resistive control of an RLC series resonance circuit

Apparatus:

1. Oscilloscope
2. Function generator
3. Multimeter
4. Resistor (100 , 200 )
5. Inductor (2.4 mH)
6. Capacitor (1 F) 7. Connecting wire.
8. Breadboard

Procedure:

1. We constructed the circuit as shown in Fig.1 by connecting channel 1 of the oscilloscope

the across function generator and channel 2 of the oscilloscope across the resistance, R =
100 .
2. We set the amplitude of the input signal at 10 V peak to peak and the frequency at 1 kHz
and selected sinusoidal wave shape.
3. We watched the voltage wave and current wave in chop mode and by gradually
increasing the frequency we located the point where the current is maximum and the
phase difference between the two waves becomes zero. This is the series resonance point
(𝑓𝑟).
4. We determined the maximum current, Imax at the resonant frequency, 𝑓𝑟.
5. We determined the cutoff frequencies ( 𝑓𝐿 and 𝑓𝐻) where the current is 0.707 times its
maximum value, i.e., 𝐼 𝐼.
2

6. We calculated the quality factor, Q using the formula, 𝑄 = 𝜔𝑟

=
𝑓𝑟
. 𝜔2−𝜔1 𝑓2−𝑓1
 7. We recorded the variation of current, I with the input frequency, f.
8. We repeated the steps 3 to 7 for R = 200 .

Data Table:

Table 1: Data table of the experiment on RLC series resonance for R = 100 
f (kHz) VR (volt) I(mA) XL (ohm) XC (ohm)
0.5 1.4 4.28 7.54 318.31
1 2.2 12.8 15.08 159.155
3.248 4.1 41 51.83 49.00
7 3.4 26.2 105.56 22.736
10 2.6 15 150.79 15.9155
100 0.4 0.265 1507.96 1.5915

Table 2: Data table of the experiment on RLC series resonance for R = 200 
f (kHz) VR (volt) I(mA) XL (ohm) XC (ohm)
0.5 2.5 6.765 7.54 318.31
1 3.5 14.2 15.08 159.155
3.248 4.4 22 51.83 49.00
7 4 18.5 105.56 22.736
10 3.6 14.12 150.79 15.9155
100 0.7 0.46 1507.96 1.5915

Simulation and Experimental picture:

The following data were taken by changing the frequencies as per the data tables. The circuits
were the same.

As per Table- 1:
As per Table- 2:
Graph:

Table- 1:

Calculation:

𝜔𝑟 𝑓𝑟 3.248
For table 1

𝑄= = = = 0.7733
𝜔2 − 𝜔1 𝑓2 − 𝑓1 6.1 − 1.9
Table - 2:

𝜔𝑟 𝑓𝑟 3.248
Here,
𝑄= = = = 0.5075
𝜔2 − 𝜔1 𝑓2 − 𝑓1 7.9 − 1.5

For table 2

Discussion :

The experiment has been successfully completed. It was observed that the value of Q changes
with the change in resistance.
Though the graph we acquired after plotting the data obtained from each table was the desired
one, it was seen that the values differ from the simulated.

Conclusion;
This may have occurred due to several reasons, namely:-
 ➢ The devices might not have provided accurate results due to environmental
conditions.
➢ As data was taken with naked eye, the value might not have been perfect. ➢ Devices
may have been faulty.

Reference(s):

Russel M. Kerchner and George F. Corcoran, “Alternating Current Circuits,” John Wiley & Sons, 4 th
Edition, New York, USA, 1960, ISBN 0 85226408 9.