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Parallel RL Circuit

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
80 views12 pages

Parallel RL Circuit

Uploaded by

Iroha Isshiki
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Parallel RL Circuit

The combination of a resistor and inductor


connected in parallel to an AC source is
called a parallel RL circuit. In a parallel
DC circuit, the voltage across each of the
parallel branches is equal. This is also true
of the AC parallel circuit.

Therefore, for a RL parallel circuit The parallel RL circuit is not used as


filter for voltages because in this circuit,
the output voltage is equal to input
voltage and for this reason it is not
commonly used as compared to series
RL circuit.
In parallel DC circuits, the simple arithmetic sum of the individual branch
currents equals the total current. The same is true in an AC parallel
circuit if only pure resistors or only pure inductors are connected in
parallel.
However, when a resistor and inductor are connected in parallel, the two
currents will be out of phase with each other. In this case, the total
current is equal to the vector sum rather than the arithmetic sum of the
currents.
Recall that the voltage and current through a resistor are in phase, but
through a pure inductor the current lags the voltage by exactly 90
degrees. This is still the case when the two are connected in parallel. e
Parallel RL Circuit Phasor Diagram
The relationship between the voltage and currents in a
parallel RL circuit is illustrated in the vector (phasor) diagram
in the Figure and summarized as follows:
• The reference vector is labeled E and represents the
voltage in the circuit, which is common to all elements.
• Since the current through the resistor is in phase with the
voltage across it, IR (2 A) is shown superimposed on the
voltage vector.
• The inductor current IL (4 A) lags the voltage by 90
degrees and is positioned in a downward direction
lagging the voltage vector by 90 degrees.
• The vector addition of IR and IL gives a resultant that
represents the total (IT), or line current (4.5 A).
• The angle theta (θ) represents the phase between the
applied line voltage and current.
IT = the total current flowing from voltage source in

amperes.
IR = the current flowing in the resistor branch in
amperes.
IL = the current flowing in the inductor branch in
amperes.
θ = angle between IR and IT.

So the total current IT,


In complex form the currents are written as,
As is the case in all parallel circuits, the current in each branch of a
parallel RL circuit acts independent of the currents in the other
branches. The current flow in each branch is determined by the
voltage across that branch and the opposition to current flow, in the
form of either resistance or inductive reactance, contained in the
branch.
Ohm’s law can then be used to find the individual branch currents as
follows:
The resistive branch current has the same phase as the
applied voltage, but the inductive branch current lags the
applied voltage by 90 degrees. As a result, the total line
current (IT) consists of IR and IL 90 degrees out of phase with
each other.
The current flow through the resistor and the inductor form the
legs of a right triangle, and the total current is the hypotenuse.
Therefore, the Pythagorean theorem can be applied to add
these currents together by using the equation:
In all parallel RL circuits, the phase angle theta (θ) by which the total
current lags the voltage is somewhere between 0 and 90 degrees.
The size of the angle is determined by whether there is more
inductive current or resistive current.

If there is more inductive current, the phase angle will be closer to 90


degrees. It will be closer to 0 degrees if there is more resistive
current. From the circuit vector diagram you can see that the value of
the phase angle can be calculated from the equation:
Impedance of Parallel RL Circuit

Since resistance and inductor are connected in parallel,


the total impedance of the circuit is given by,

Let, Z = total impedance of the circuit in ohms.


R = resistance of circuit in ohms.
L = inductor of circuit in Henry.
XL = inductive reactance in ohms.
In order to remove “j” from the denominator multiply and
divide numerator and denominator by (R – j XL),

by using Ohm’s law; we can also easily calculate the total impedance:
Now calculate the total phase angle for the circuit which is given by,

The total phase angle of a parallel RL circuit always lies between 0o to -90o. It is 0o for pure resistive
circuit and -90o for pure inductive circuit.
The impedance of a parallel RL circuit is always less than the resistance or
inductive reactance of any one branch. This is because each branch creates a
separate path for current flow, thus reducing the overall or total circuit opposition to
the current flow.

The branch that has the greater amount of current flow (or lesser amount of
opposition) has the most effect on the phase angle. This is the opposite of a
series RL circuit. In a parallel RL circuit, if XL is larger than R, the resistive branch
current is greater than the inductive branch current so the phase angle between the
applied voltage and total current is closer to 0 degrees (more resistive in nature).

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