Chapter 33
Alternating Current Circuits
AC Circuits
An AC circuit consists of a combination of
circuit elements and a power source
The power source provides an alternative
voltage, v
Notation Note
Lower case symbols will indicate instantaneous
values
Capital letters will indicate fixed values
AC Voltage
The output of an AC power source is
sinusoidal and varies with time according to
the following equation:
Δv = ΔVmax sin ωt
Δv is the instantaneous voltage
ΔVmax is the maximum output voltage of the source
Also called the voltage amplitude
ω is the angular frequency of the AC voltage
AC Voltage, cont.
The angular frequency is
2π
ω 2π ƒ
T
ƒ is the frequency of the
source
T is the period of the source
The voltage is positive
during one half of the cycle
and negative during the
other half
AC Voltage, final
The current in any circuit driven by an AC
source is an alternating current that varies
sinusoidally with time
Commercial electric power plants in the US
use a frequency of 60 Hz
This corresponds with an angular frequency of
377 rad/s
Resistors in an AC Circuit
Consider a circuit
consisting of an AC source
and a resistor
The AC source is
symbolized by
ΔvR = Vmax= Vmax sin t
ΔvR is the instantaneous
voltage across the resistor
Resistors in an AC Circuit, 2
The instantaneous current in the resistor is
v R Vmax
iR sin ωt I max sin ωt
R R
The instantaneous voltage across the resistor
is also given as
ΔvR = Imax R sin ωt
Resistors in an AC Circuit, 3
The graph shows the
current through and the
voltage across the resistor
The current and the
voltage reach their
maximum values at the
same time
The current and the
voltage are said to be in
phase
Resistors in an AC Circuit, 4
For a sinusoidal applied voltage, the current
in a resistor is always in phase with the
voltage across the resistor
The direction of the current has no effect on
the behavior of the resistor
Resistors behave essentially the same way in
both DC and AC circuits
rms Current and Voltage
The average current in one cycle is zero
The rms current is the average of importance
in an AC circuit
rms stands for root mean square
Imax
Irms 0.707 Imax
2
Alternatingvoltages can also be discussed in
terms of rms values
Vmax
Vrms 0.707 Vmax
2
Power
The rate at which electrical energy is
dissipated in the circuit is given by
P=i2R
i is the instantaneous current
The heating effect produced by an AC current with a
maximum value of Imax is not the same as that of a DC
current of the same value
The maximum current occurs for a small amount of
time
Power, cont.
The average power delivered to a resistor
that carries an alternating current is
2
Pav Irms R
Notes About rms Values
rms values are used when discussing
alternating currents and voltages because
AC ammeters and voltmeters are designed to
read rms values
Many of the equations that will be used have the
same form as their DC counterparts
Capacitors in an AC Circuit
The circuit contains a
capacitor and an AC
source
Kirchhoff’s loop rule
gives:
Δv + Δvc = 0 and so
Δv = ΔvC = ΔVmax sin
ωt
Δvc is the instantaneous
voltage across the
capacitor
Capacitors in an AC Circuit,
cont.
The charge is q = CΔVmax sin ωt
The instantaneous current is given by
dq
iC ωC Vmax cos ωt
dt
π
or iC ωC Vmax sin ωt
2
The current is /2 rad = 90o out of phase with
the voltage
More About Capacitors in an
AC Circuit
The current reaches its
maximum value one
quarter of a cycle
sooner than the voltage
reaches its maximum
value
The current leads the
voltage by 90o
Capacitive Reactance
Themaximum current in the circuit occurs at
cos ωt = 1 which gives
Vmax
Imax ωC Vmax
(1 / ωC )
The impeding effect of a capacitor on the
current in an AC circuit is called the
capacitive reactance and is given by
1 Vmax
XC which gives I max
ωC XC
Voltage Across a Capacitor
The instantaneous voltage across the capacitor can
be written as ΔvC = ΔVmax sin ωt = Imax XC sin ωt
As the frequency of the voltage source increases,
the capacitive reactance decreases and the
maximum current increases
As the frequency approaches zero, X C approaches
infinity and the current approaches zero
This would act like a DC voltage and the capacitor would
act as an open circuit
Power in an AC Circuit
The average power delivered by the AC
source is converted to internal energy in the
resistor
av = ½ Imax ΔVmax cos = IrmsΔVrms cos
cos is called the power factor of the circuit
We can also find the average power in terms
of R
av = I2rmsR
Power in an AC Circuit, cont.
The average power delivered by the source is
converted to internal energy in the resistor
No power losses are associated with pure
capacitors and pure inductors in an AC circuit
In a capacitor, during one-half of a cycle, energy is stored
and during the other half the energy is returned to the
circuit and no power losses occur in the capacitor
In an inductor, the source does work against the back emf
of the inductor and energy is stored in the inductor, but
when the current begins to decrease in the circuit, the
energy is returned to the circuit
Power and Phase
The power delivered by an AC circuit
depends on the phase
Some applications include using capacitors
to shift the phase to heavy motors or other
inductive loads so that excessively high
voltages are not needed
Resonance in an AC Circuit
Resonance occurs at the frequency ωo where the
current has its maximum value
To achieve maximum current, the impedance must have a
minimum value
This occurs when XL = XC
Solving for the frequency gives
ωo 1
LC
The resonance frequency also corresponds to the
natural frequency of oscillation of an LC circuit
Resonance, cont.
Resonance occurs at the
same frequency
regardless of the value of
R
As R decreases, the curve
becomes narrower and
taller
Theoretically, if R = 0 the
current would be infinite at
resonance
Real circuits always have
some resistance
Power as a Function of
Frequency
Power can be expressed as
a function of frequency in
an RLC circuit
Vrms
2
Rω 2
av
2
2 2 2 2 2
R ω L ω ω o
This shows that at
resonance, the average
power is a maximum
Quality Factor
The sharpness of the resonance curve is
usually described by a dimensionless
parameter known as the quality factor, Q
Q = ω / Δω = (ω L) / R
o o
Δω is the width of the curve, measured between
the two values of ω for which avg has half its
maximum value
These points are called the half-power points
Quality Factor, cont.
A high-Q circuit responds
only to a narrow range of
frequencies
Narrow peak
A low-Q circuit can detect a
much broader range of
frequencies
Transformers
An AC transformer
consists of two coils of
wire wound around a
core of iron
The side connected to
the input AC voltage
source is called the
primary and has N1
turns
Transformers, 2
Theother side, called the secondary, is
connected to a resistor and has N2 turns
The core is used to increase the magnetic
flux and to provide a medium for the flux to
pass from one coil to the other
Eddy-current losses are minimized by using a
laminated core
Transformers, 3
Assume an ideal transformer
One in which the energy losses in the windings
and the core are zero
Typical transformers have power efficiencies of 90%
to 99%
d B
In the primary, v1 N1
dt
The rate of change of the flux is the same for
both coils
Transformers, 4
The voltage across the secondary is
d B
v 2 N2
dt
The voltages are related by
N2
v 2 v 1
N1
When N2 > N1, the transformer is referred to as a
step-up transformer
When N2 < N1, the transformer is referred to as a
step-down transformer
Transformers, 5
The
power input into the primary equals the
power output at the secondary
I1ΔV1 = I2ΔV2
The equivalent resistance of the load
resistance when viewed from the primary is
2
N1
Req RL
N2
Transformers, final
A transformer may be used to match
resistances between the primary circuit and
the load
This way, maximum power transfer can be
achieved between a given power source and
the load resistance
In stereo terminology, this technique is called
impedance matching
Nikola Tesla
1856 – 1943
American physicist
Key figure in
development of
Alternating-current
electricity
High-voltage
transformers
Transport of electric
power using AC
transmission lines
Rectifier
The process of converting alternating current
to direct current is called rectification
A rectifier is the converting device
The most important element in a rectifier
circuit is the diode
A diode is a circuit element that conducts current
in one direction but not the other
Rectifier Circuit
The arrow on the diode ( ) indicates the direction of
the current in the diode
The diode has low resistance to current flow in this direction
Because of the diode, the alternating current in the load
resistor is reduced to the positive portion of the cycle
Half-Wave Rectifier
The solid line in the
graph is the result
through the resistor
It is called a half-wave
rectifier because
current is present in the
circuit during only half
of each cycle
Half-Wave Rectifier,
Modification
A capacitor can be added to the circuit
The circuit is now a simple DC power supply
The time variation in the circuit is close to
zero
It is determined by the RC time constant of the
circuit
This is represented by the dotted lines in the
previous graph
Filter Circuit, Example
A filter circuit is one used to smooth out or
eliminate a time-varying signal
After rectification, a signal may still contain a
small AC component
This component is often called a ripple
By filtering, the ripple can be reduced
Filters can also be built to respond differently
to different frequencies
High-Pass Filter
The circuit shown is
one example of a high-
pass filter
A high-pass filter is
designed to
preferentially pass
signals of higher
frequency and block
lower frequency signals
High-Pass Filter, cont
At low frequencies, ΔVout is
much smaller than ΔVin
At low frequencies, the
capacitor has high
reactance and much of the
applied voltage appears
across the capacitor
At high frequencies, the two
voltages are equal
At high frequencies, the
capacitive reactance is
small and the voltage
appears across the resistor
Low-Pass Filter
At low frequencies, the reactance and voltage
across the capacitor are high
As the frequency increases, the reactance and
voltage decrease
This is an example of a low-pass filter
Active Figure 33.23
Use the active
figure to adjust
R and C
Determine the
output voltage
for a given
frequency
Sweep
through the
frequencies
and observe
the results PLAY
ACTIVE FIGURE
