5/8/2017 SinewaveVoltagesVpk,Vpkpk,Vavg,VrmsRFCafe

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SinewaveVoltagesVpk,Vpkpk,Vavg,Vrms

Asinewaveisdefinedbythetrigonometricsinefunction.Whenplottedasvoltage(V)asafunctionofphase(),itlooks
similartothefiguretotheright.Thewaveformrepeatsevery2radians(360),andissymmetricalaboutthevoltage
axis(whennoDCoffsetispresent).Voltageandcurrentexhibitingcyclicbehaviorisreferredtoasalternatingi.e.,
alternatingcurrent(AC).Onefullcycleisshownhere.Thebasicequationforasinewaveisasfollows:

Thereareanumberofwaysinwhichtheamplitudeofasinewaveisreferenced,usuallyaspeakvoltage(VpkorVp),
peaktopeakvoltage(VpporVpporVpkpkorVpkpk),averagevoltage(VavorVavg),androotmeansquarevoltage
(Vrms).Peakvoltageandpeaktopeakvoltageareapparentbylookingattheaboveplot.Rootmeansquareandaverage
voltagearenotsoapparent.
AlsoseeTriangleWaveVoltagesandSquareWaveVoltagespages.

RootMeanSquareVoltage(Vrms )

Asthenameimplies,Vrmsiscalculatedbytakingthesquarerootofthe
meanaverageofthesquareofthevoltageinanappropriatelychosen
interval.Inthecaseofsymmetricalwaveformslikethesinewave,aquarter
cyclefaithfullyrepresentsallfourquartercyclesofthewaveform.Therefore,
itisacceptabletochoosethefirstquartercycle,whichgoesfrom0radians
(0)through/2radians(90).
VrmsisthevalueindicatedbythevastmajorityofACvoltmeters.Itisthe
valuethat,whenappliedacrossaresistance,producesthatsameamountof
heatthatadirectcurrent(DC)voltageofthesamemagnitudewould
produce.Forexample,1Vappliedacrossa1resistorproduces1Wof
heat.A1Vrmssinewaveappliedacrossa1resistoralsoproduces1Wof
heat.That1Vrmssinewavehasapeakvoltageof2V(1.414V),andapeaktopeakvoltageof22V(2.828V).

Sincefindingafullderivationoftheformulasforrootmeansquare(Vrms)voltageisdifficult,itisdonehereforyou.

So, 0.707Vpk,where =0.70710678118654752440084436210485

AverageVoltage(Vavg)

Asthenameimplies,Vavgiscalculatedbytakingtheaverageofthevoltageinanappropriatelychoseninterval.Inthe
caseofsymmetricalwaveformslikethesinewave,aquartercyclefaithfullyrepresentsallfourquartercyclesofthe
waveform.Therefore,itisacceptabletochoosethefirstquartercycle,whichgoesfrom0radians(0)through/2
radians(90).
AswiththeVrmsformula,afullderivationfortheVavgformulaisgivenhereaswell.

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5/8/2017 SinewaveVoltagesVpk,Vpkpk,Vavg,VrmsRFCafe
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So, 0.636Vpk,where =0.63661977236758134307553505349006 SmithChartforExcel
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