AC Fundamentals

By Dr S. Naiman
▪ A rectangle coil measuring 10 cm by 20 cm, having 250
turns, is rotated at 1800 revolutions per minute about an
axis coinciding with one of its longer sides in a uniform
magnetic field of flux density 0.1 T. Calculate:
▪ (a) the frequency,
▪ (b) the period,
▪ (c) the r.m.s. value of the induced e.m.f.,
▪ (d) the instantaneous value of the induced e.m.f. when the
coil is at a position 600 after passing its maximum induced
voltage.
▪ If the waveform of voltage having a peak
value of 282.8 V has a form factor of 1.25 and
a peak factor of 1.45, calculate the average
and r.m.s. value of the voltage.
 Unit III: AC Fundamentals
▪ AC voltage generation,
▪ Characteristic of Sinusoidal Waveform,
▪ RMS,
▪ Peak value,
▪ Form factor,
▪ frequency and period.
▪ - Introduction to phasors, Time and
phasor domain computation of
sinusoidal waveform.
 Nonsinusoidal AC Waveforms

▪ In many electronic applications, other waveforms

besides sine and cosine are important. Some of those
forms are shown below.
Common in digital
Square wave electronic circuitry

Used in timing
Sawtooth wave and control
circuitry

Used in digital
Pulse wave and control
circuitry

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
 15-12: Nonsinusoidal AC
Waveforms
▪ Key Similarities and Differences between
Sinusoidal and Nonsinusoidal Waveforms
▪ For all waveforms, the cycle is measured between
two points having the same amplitude and
varying in the same direction.
▪ Peak amplitude is measured from the zero axis to
the maximum positive or negative value.
▪ Peak-to-peak amplitude is better for measuring
nonsinusoidal waveshapes because they can
have unsymmetrical peaks.
 Nonsinusoidal AC Waveforms

▪ Key Similarities and Differences between

Sinusoidal and Nonsinusoidal Waveforms
▪ The rms value 0.707 applies only to sine
waves.
▪ Phase angles apply only to sine waves.

▪ All the waveforms represent ac voltages.

Positive values are shown above the zero axis,
and negative values are shown below the axis.
 Phase Angle

▪ Introduction to phasors,
▪ Time and phasor domain computation of
sinusoidal waveform.
 Phasors – Why?
• Tool for understanding the power system during
load and fault conditions.
• Assists a person in understanding principles of relay
operation for testing and analysis of relay
operations.
• Allows technicians to simulate faults that can be
used to test relays.
• Common language of power protection engineers
and technicians.
• Provides both mathematical and graphical view of
System conditions in Electrical Circuits .
 Phasor Definitions
 A line used to represent a complex electrical quantity as a
vector. (Google)

 A rotating vector representing a quantity, such as an

alternating current or voltage, that varies sinusoidally.
(Collins Dictionary)

 A vector that represents a sinusoidally varying quantity, as

a current or voltage, by means of a line rotating about a
point in a plane, the magnitude of the quantity being
proportional to the length of the line and the phase of the
quantity being equal to the angle between the line and a
reference line. (Dictionary.com)
Phasor Representation
 Phasor Rotation

 Here we can see a plot of an electrical quantity and its phasor

representation.
 Note the phasor has a constant (usually RMS) magnitude that rotates
while the actual electrical quantity varies sinusoidally over time.
 Multiple Phasors

 Here we can see two phasors of the same frequency rotating.

 Note that their phase relationship to each other is constant – in
this case, the blue phasor leads the red phasor by some
constant angle that does not change.
PLOTTING PHASORS

*
V

P
I

CARTESIAN COORDINATE SYSTEM

 Phasor Representation
 Consider an example phasor ‘c’ having a magnitude
of 120VRMS and a phase angle of 30 degrees:
 Rectangular Form: c = x + jy
 c = 104 + j60 V
 Polar Form: c = |c|θ
 c = 12030° V
 Complex Form: c = |c|(cosθ + jsinθ)
 c = 120(cos(30) + jsin(30)) V
 Exponential Form: c = |c|ejθ
 c = 120ej30 V
 Phasor Conversion
 Rectangular <> Polar Conversion:
 Rectangular Form: c = x + jy
 c = 104 + j60

 Polar Form: c = cθ

 c = 12030°

 Trig Functions (right triangles only):

 Sin(θ) = opposite / hypotenuse
 Cos(θ) = adjacent / hypotenuse
 Tan(θ) = opposite / adjacent
 Pythagorean Theorem
 c2 = a2 + b2
 Phasor Conversion
 Rectangular to Polar
Conversion:
 Rectangular Form: c
= x + jy
 c = 104 + j60
 c 2 = a2 + b2
 c2 = 1042 + 602 >> c =
120
 Tan (θ) = opposite /
adjacent
 Tan (θ) = 60 / 104
>> θ = 30°
 Converted: c =
12030°
 Phasor Conversion
 Polar to Rectangular
Conversion:
 Polar Form: c = |c|θ
 c = 12030°

 Sin(θ) = o/h

 o = h* Sin(θ)

 o = 120 * Sin(30) = 60

 Cos(θ) = a/h

 a = h * Cos(θ)

 a = 120 * Cos(30) = 104

 Converted: c = 104 + j60

 Operators
 Two ‘Operators’ related to phasors are commonly used in
the Power world: ‘j’ and ‘a’
 Mathematically ‘j’ is an imaginary number representing
the imaginary (reactive) portion of a phasor: j = -1
 Graphically, it is a ‘rotator’ constant with an angle of 90°
 It can also be viewed as a ‘unit phasor’ always having a
value of 190°
 The ‘a’ Operator, commonly used when working with
Symmetrical Components.
 Graphically it is a ‘rotator’ constant with an angle of
120°
 It is also a ‘unit phasor’ with a value of 1120°
 Combining Phasors
 Two common operations are performed with
phasors:
 Adding / Subtracting
 Multiplying / Dividing
 It’s generally easier to add/subtract in rectangular form
and easier to multiply/divide in polar form.
 When adding/subtracting in rectangular form,
add/subtract the real and reactive components
(respectively):
 Example: (2+j3) + (3+j4) = (5+j7)
 When multiplying/dividing in polar form, multiply/divide
the magnitude, and add/subtract the angle:
 Example: (1030°) * (545°) = 5075°)
 Adding Phasors Graphically
 You can also add vectors
graphically by connecting them
head to tail.
 The resultant is the phasor
originating at the origin of the
first arrow and ending at the
head of the last arrow.
 Here, if we have the following:
 Va = 1200°V
 Vb = 120-120°V
 Vc = 120120°V
 Va + Vb + Vc = 0
 Phase Angle
▪ Phase angle (Θ) is the angular difference
between the same points on two different
waveforms of the same frequency.
▪ Two waveforms that have peaks and zeros at
the same time are in phase and have a phase
angle of 0°.
▪ When one sine wave is at its peak while another
is at zero, the two are 90° out of phase.
▪ When one sine wave has just the opposite
phase of another, they are 180° out of phase.
 Phase Angle

Two sine-wave voltages 90° out of phase. (a) Wave B leads wave A by 90°.
(b) Corresponding phasors VB and VA for the two sine-wave voltages with
phase angle Θ = 90°. The right angle shows quadrature phase.
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
 Phase Angle
▪ Phase-Angle Diagrams
▪ Similar to vectors, phasors indicate the amplitude
and phase angle of ac voltage or current.
▪ A vector quantity has direction in space, but a
phasor angle represents a difference in time.

▪ The length of the phasor represents the

amplitude of the waveform.

▪ The angle represents the phase angle of the

waveform.
 Phase Angle
▪ Phase-Angle Diagrams
▪ The phasor corresponds to the entire cycle of
voltage.
▪ The phase angle of one wave can be specified
only with respect to another as a reference.
Usually the reference phasor is horizontal.
Fig. Leading and lagging phase angles for 90°.
(a) When phasor VA is the horizontal reference, phasor VB
leads by 90°.
(b) When phasor VB is the horizontal reference, phasor VA
lags by −90°.
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

 The beauty is that any sinusoidal wave can be
represented by a phasor

 Phasor is a rotating vector, is a scaled line whose

length represents an AC quantity that has both
magnitude (“peak amplitude”) and direction
(“phase”) which is “frozen” at some point in time

 The sinusoidal voltage wave can be equivalently

represented by a phasor rotating anticlockwise,
centered at origin
 In the figure red and green phasors correspond to red
and green sinusoidal waves respectively

 The magnitude of green phasor about half that of red

phasor and the green phasor is 60 degrees behind the
red phasor

 In the sinusoidal waves diagram you may feel it

confusing.
 Just think that red wave started its positive cycle at '0'
degree (origin), but the green wave still have to go 60
degrees to start its positive journey
 Also imagine that green wave will attain its maximum
after rotating 60 degrees after red wave has attained
its maximum

 Carefully compare both the sinusoidal and phasor

representation. In simple AC circuits the phase
difference between voltage and current waves arises
due to reactive circuit elements like inductors and
capacitors

 The two phasors will never cross each other.

 The angle between the phasors the phase difference

will never change as the phasors rotate.
 i

R
E V

voltage
I V

Vm

I m current

time
 i

L
e

V(2fLI)

90

I
 i

e C

90

V

 Rotating vector representation of an alternating
voltage is shown in figure below





e = Em sin 
i = I m sin ( −  )
 Let us consider the sinusoidal function f(t)

f ( t ) = Fm cos (t +  )
 By using Euler’s identity which state that:
j
e = cos  + j sin 
j (t + )
 Then f(t) can be re-written as: 
= Re  Fme 

j jt

= Re  Fme e 
 Fm j jt 
= 2 Re  e e 
 2 
 Fm j
 Let F= e
2
 Then: f ( t ) = 2 Re Fe jt 
 
 The quantity F is defined as the phasor representation
of f(t)
Fm
 We define further: F=
2
 Then: j
F = Fe
 OR F = F 
Imaginary
axis

F sin  F= F 


F cos  Real axis

Figure 7-8: Graphical representation of the phasor quantity

 Express in phasor from

(
f ( t ) = 282.8cos 314t + 45 )
282.8
F= 45
2
F = 20045
Transform the following
sinusoids to phasors:
i = 6cos(50t – 40o) A
v = –4sin(30t + 50o) V

cos (wt +90o )= - sin wt,

cos (wt -90o )= sin wt
Alternating Current in a Circuit with Resistance,
Inductance and Capacitance in Parallel

R L C

E R L C

▪SINGLE PHASE CIRCUITS

▪
 Phasor diagram

IC

IR

IL - IC

IL
▪
▪
8-6-1 Resonance in parallel

E C

L C
▪
▪
 Phasor Diagram

I c

I
O
 V

A IL
▪
▪
▪
 Example 8.5

A coil having inductance 100 μH and a

resistance 10 Ω is connected parallel to a
variable capacitor, these elements are also
connected in series with a resistance with a
value 10 kΩ and across a 100 V supply having
frequency 1 MHz. Calculate:
a) the value of C to give resonance,
b) the dynamic impedance,
c) the Q factor,
d) the current in each branch.
 L = 100 µH R L= 10

R 1= 10k
L

C C
100V
1 MHz