EE-211

ELECTRICAL NETWORK
ANALYSIS (LEC-3)
INSTRUCTOR: DR AHMAD RAUF SUBHANI
DEPT. OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
COLLEGE OF ELECTRICAL AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
NUST
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AC POWER

• We will review:
• Instantaneous power
• Average power
• Reactive power
• Power factor
• Maximum power transfer
• Power factor correction

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AC POWER
• Connecting an AC source to a linear circuit results in power transfer

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INSTANTANEOUS AND AVERAGE POWER
• The instantaneous power p(t) absorbed by an element is the product of the
instantaneous voltage v(t) across the element and the instantaneous current i(t)
through it.
p(t) = v(t)i(t)

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INSTANTANEOUS POWER
•

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INSTANTANEOUS POWER
• T =2π/ω is the period of voltage or current.
• p(t) is periodic,
• p(t) = p(t + T0), and has a period of T0 = T/2, since its frequency is twice that of voltage
or current.
• p(t) is positive for some part of each cycle and negative for the rest of the cycle.
• When p(t) is positive, power is absorbed by the circuit.
• When p(t) is negative, power is absorbed by the source; that is, power is transferred
from the circuit to the source.
• This is possible because of the storage elements (capacitors and inductors) in the circuit.
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AVERAGE POWER
• The instantaneous power changes with time and is therefore difficult to measure.
• The average power is more convenient to measure.
• The wattmeter, the instrument for measuring power, responds to average power.

• The average power is given by

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AVERAGE POWER
•

• p(t) is time-varying while P does not depend on time.

• To find the instantaneous power, we must necessarily have v(t) and i(t) in the time
domain.
• We can find the average power when voltage and current are expressed in the time
domain or when they are expressed in the frequency domain.

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AVERAGE POWER
•

• When θv = θi , the voltage and current are in phase. This implies a purely resistive circuit
or resistive load R, a purely resistive circuit absorbs power at all times.

• When θv − θi = ±90◦, we have a purely reactive circuit, a purely reactive circuit absorbs
no average power.

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AVERAGE POWER
• The average power can also be expressed in terms of the rms value

• The average power absorbed by a resistor R can be written as

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PRACTICE

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MAXIMUM AVERAGE POWER TRANSFER
• An ac circuit is connected to a load can be represented by its Thevenin equivalent.
• The load can be represented by an impedance

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MAXIMUM AVERAGE POWER TRANSFER
• The current through the load is

• the average power delivered to the load is

• Our objective is to adjust the load parameters and so that P is maximum.

• To do this we set ∂P/∂RL and ∂P/∂XL equal to zero.

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MAXIMUM AVERAGE POWER TRANSFER

• Combining above equations leads to the conclusion that for maximum average power
transfer, must be selected so that and

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MAXIMUM AVERAGE POWER TRANSFER
•

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PRACTICE
•

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APPARENT POWER

• Apparent power is defined as

• The apparent power is so called because it seems apparent that the power should be
the voltage-current product, by analogy with dc resistive circuits.
• It is measured in volt-amperes or VA to distinguish it from the average or real power,
which is measured in watts. 17
POWER FACTOR
• The power factor is dimensionless, since it is the ratio of the average power to the
apparent power.

• The angle θv − θi is called the power factor angle

• It is the angle whose cosine is the power factor.
• The power factor angle is equal to the angle of the load impedance if V is the voltage
across the load and I is the current through it.

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POWER FACTOR

• For a purely resistive load, the voltage and current are in phase, so that θv − θi = 0 and
pf = 1. This implies that the apparent power is equal to the average power.
• For a purely reactive load, θv − θi = ±90◦ and pf = 0. In this case the average power is
zero.
• In between these two extreme cases, pf is said to be leading or lagging.
• Leading power factor means that current leads voltage, which implies a capacitive load.
• Lagging power factor means that current lags voltage, implying an inductive load. 19
PRACTICE
•

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COMPLEX POWER
• Complex power contains all the information pertaining to the power absorbed by a
given load.

• Complex power S absorbed by the ac load is the product of the voltage and the complex
conjugate of the current, assuming the passive sign convention

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COMPLEX POWER

• Magnitude of the complex power is the apparent power.

• The complex power is measured in volt-amperes (VA).
• The angle of the complex power is the power factor angle.

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COMPLEX POWER
• The complex power maybe expressed in terms of the load impedance Z.

• Since Z = R + jX

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COMPLEX POWER
• P and Q are the real and imaginary parts of the complex power

• P is the average or real power and it depends on the load’s resistance R.

• Q depends on the load’s reactance X and is called the reactive (or quadrature) power.

• The real power P is the average power in watts delivered to a load; it is the only useful
power. It is the actual power dissipated by the load.
• The reactive power Q is a measure of the energy exchange between the source and the
reactive part of the load. The unit of Q is the volt-ampere reactive (VAR) to distinguish
24 it
from the real power, whose unit is the watt.
COMPLEX POWER
• Energy storage elements neither dissipate nor supply power, but exchange power back
and forth with the rest of the network.
• In the same way, the reactive power is being transferred back and forth between the
load and the source. It represents a lossless interchange between the load and the
source.

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COMPLEX POWER
•

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POWER TRIANGLE

• It is a standard practice to represent S, P, and Q in the form of a triangle, known as the

power triangle
• This is similar to the impedance triangle showing the relationship between Z, R, and X
• The power triangle has four items—the apparent/complex power, real power, reactive
power, and the power factor angle.
• Given two of these items, the other two can easily be obtained from the triangle. 27
POWER TRIANGLE
• When S lies in the first quadrant, we have an inductive load and a lagging pf.
• When S lies in the fourth quadrant, the load is capacitive and the pf is leading.
• It is also possible for the complex power to lie in the second or third quadrant.
• This requires that the load impedance have a negative resistance, which is possible with
active circuits.

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PRACTICE
•

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PRACTICE
•

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PRACTICE
•

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POWER FACTOR CORRECTION
•

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POWER FACTOR CORRECTION
• Most domestic loads are inductive and operate at a low lagging power factor.
• The inductive nature of the load cannot be changed, we can increase its power factor.
• Load’s power factor is improved or corrected by deliberately installing a capacitor in
parallel with the load,

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POWER FACTOR CORRECTION
• If the original inductive load has apparent power , then

• If we desire to increase the power factor from cos θ1 to cos θ2 without altering the real
power P, then the new reactive power is

• The reduction in the reactive power is caused by the shunt capacitor is

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POWER FACTOR CORRECTION
• The real power P dissipated by the load is not affected by the power factor correction
because the average power due to the capacitance is zero.
• It is also possible that the load is capacitive, that is, the load is operating at a leading
power factor.
• In this case, an inductor should be connected across the load for power factor
correction.
• The required shunt inductance L can be calculated from

• the difference between the new and old reactive powers.

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PRACTICE
•

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CREDITS AND REFERENCES
The images and information used in the preparation of these slides have been taken from
1. Electric Circuits Fundamentals, 1st Edition, by Sergio Franco, Oxford English Press
1995.
2. Fundamentals of Electric Circuits, 3rd Edition, by Charles K. Alexander & Matthew N.
O. Sadiku, McGraw Hill 2003.

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