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Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering GEN E ME 123: Electrical Engineering for Mechanical Engineers AC CIRCUITS
Dr. Claudio Ca~ nizares December 1998

University of Waterloo

1 Sinusoidal Waveforms
A sinusoidal or alternate current ac circuit is made up of resistances R, inductors L, capacitors C , and sinusoidal voltage and or current sources. In steady-state, any voltage or current in the circuit is a sinusoid of the form
v(t) V

-V

vt = V sin!t +  = V cos!t +  , 90o  = A sin!t + B cos!t

where

A = V cos

AC Circuits

B = V  p sin V = A2 + B2   = tan,1 B A The frequency f and period T = 1=f of this signal are de ned as:  ! = 2 f = 2T As in any periodic signal, the average av and root-mean-square rms values may be computed as:
1 Z T vt dt Vav = T 0 = 0

Vrms =

V = p 2

1 Z T v2t dt T 0

2 Complex Numbers
AC circuits can be studied with the help of complex numbers. A complex number C in the complex plane can be represented in polar or rectangular coordinates as: Imaginary
b C Real a C

AC Circuits

C = a + jb ! rectangular = C 6  = Cej ! polar

 a = C cos b = C  p sin 2 2
where

C = a +b ! b  = tan,1 a

j = ,1  j 2 = ,1 The operations that can be carried out with two complex numbers A = a + jb = A6 A B = c + jd = B 6 B are: 1. A  B = a  c + j b  d 2. A  B = AB 6 A + B 3. A=B = A=B 6 A , B 4. A = a , jb = A 6 , A 5. A2 = A2 6 2A p p 6. A =  A 6 A =2

3 Phasor Analysis
Any sinusoidal ac voltage and current in a circuit can be represented by a phasor." Thus, a voltage or current p vt = V sin!t +  = 2Vrms sin!t + 

AC Circuits
can be replaced by the following complex number or phasor:
Imaginary b V or Vrms

Real a

or Vrms = Vrms 6  Hence, an ac circuit can be studied in the phasor domain where the di erential equations have been replaced by a set of complex algebraic equations. Variable Equation Phasors RMS Phasors vt V V sin!t + V  V 6 V Vrms 6 V 6 it A I sin !t + I  I I o Irms6 I n R 1 T v titdt Re 1 V I P W T RefVrms I 0 rms g 2 R vt = R it V = R I Vrms = R Irms it V = j!L I V L H vt = L dd rms = j!L Irms t d v  t  1 I Vrms = 1 Irms C F it = C dt V = j!C j!C The circuit equations become then a complex version of Ohm's law: V=ZI where the impedance Z = R + jX plays the role of the resistance in dc circuits. Therefore, any of the circuit analysis techniques used to solve dc circuits applies now to ac circuits but with complex numbers, i.e., KVL and KCL, current and voltage division, Thevenin and Norton equivalents, or nodal and mesh analysis can be used to solve the ac circuit in the phasor complex number domain.

V =V6 

AC Circuits

4 Complex Power

The de nition of complex power S VA=Volt-Amperes is:  = V I V I S = 1 rms rms 2 2Z = I 2 Z = 1 I rms 2 = P + jQ = S6 where the average power or acitve power in W is 1 Z T vt it dt P = T 0 = S cos  cos  is the power factor p.f., and the reactive power in VAr=Volt-AmperesReactive Q = S sin  represents a ctitious power, since the energy consumption in the circuit is calculated based on the active power only, i.e., W t = P t J Notice that for each element in the circuit, one has the following: Element P Q cos  1 2 R 0 1 2 RI 1 2 L 0 !L I 0 lagging 2 
1 1 C 0 , 2 !C I 2 0 leading

5 Three-phase AC Circuits
These balanced circuits can be seen as the addition of 3 single-phase circuits, with 120o angle phase shifts in the voltages and currents. Thus, for the positive sequence circuit

AC Circuits
a Vab G Va c Ic In neutral
a Ia + Va n V + b Ib ZY Vc + b I Ic c c Ic
ba

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Ia L b Ib O A D

Ia a Iab + V ab ZY I
b

ZY

Z V ca + + V Z

Ica

ba

1. Line-to-neutral voltages: 2. Line voltages:

b = 16 , 120o Va Va = V 6 V = ZY Ia  V Vc = 16 120o Va

Vab =

36 30o

bc = 16 , 120o Vab Va = Z
Iab  V Vca = 16 120o Vab



3. Line currents:

b = 16 , 120o Ia Ia = I 6 I  I Ic = 16 120o Ia 4. Delta currents Z
= 3ZY :  1 Ibc = 16 , 120o Iab o Iab = p 6 30 Ia  I ca = 16 120o Iab

AC Circuits
Notice that

Va + Vb + Vc = 0 ,In = Ia + Ib + Ic = 0
and similarly for the other variables. The powers in this case are:

pt = P p3 = 3 P1 = 3 Vll Il cos = constant value

S3 =

3 Vll Il 6 = P3 + jQ3

where Vll is the line-to-line line voltage, and Il is the line current.