NIRMA UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
EE101: Elements of Electrical Engineering

AC Fundamentals

 Learning Objective:
1. Generation and equation of alternating voltage and current, definitions pertaining to
alternating quantities
2. Concept of average value and RMS value, determination of RMS and average value
for different types of waveforms
3. Vector representation of alternating quantities, addition and subtraction of vectors
4. Phasor algebra, representation of vectors in different forms
5. AC through resistance, inductance and capacitance

Applications

 In AC Induction Motor

Fig. 1:- Block representation of energy conversion

Fig. 2: - Three phase currents and rotating magnetic fields

 In Domestic Loads
 Fig 3:- Various Domestic Loads

1. WHAT IS ALTERNATING CURRENT (A.C.)?

Alternating current is the current which constantly changes in amplitude, and which reverses
direction at regular intervals. We know that direct current flows only in one direction, and
that the amplitude of current is determined by the number of electrons flowing past a point in
a circuit in one second

2. PROPERTIES OF ALTERNATING CURRENT

A D.C. power source, such as a battery, outputs a constant voltage over time. Of course, once
the chemicals in the battery have completed their reaction, the battery will be exhausted and
cannot develop any output voltage. But until that happens, the output voltage to the right will
remain essentially constant. The same is true for any other source of D.C. electricity: the
output voltage remains constant over time.

By contrast, an A.C. source of electrical power changes constantly in amplitude and regularly
here. Because the changes are so regular, alternating voltage and current have a number of
properties associated with any such waveform. These basic properties include the following
list:

Frequency: One of the most important properties of any regular waveform identifies the
number of complete cycles it goes through in a fixed period of time. For standard
measurements, the period of time is one second, so the frequency of the wave is commonly
measured in cycles per second (cycles/sec) and, in normal usage, is expressed in units of
Hertz (Hz). It is represented in mathematical equations by the letter ‘f ’.

Period: Sometimes we need to know the amount of time required to complete one cycle of
the waveform, rather than the number of cycles per second of time. This is logically the
reciprocal of frequency. Thus, period is the time duration of one cycle of the waveform, and
is measured in seconds/ cycle.

Wavelength: Because an A.C. wave moves physically as well as changing in time,

sometimes we need to know how far it moves in one cycle of the wave, rather than how long
that cycle takes to complete. This of course depends on how fast the wave is moving as well.
The Greek letter (lambda) is used to represent wavelength in mathematical expressions. And,
λ = c/f. As shown in the figure to the above, wavelength can be measured from any part of
one cycle to the equivalent point in the next cycle. Wavelength is very similar to period as
discussed above, except that wavelength is measured in distance per cycle while period is
measured in time per cycle.

Fig. 4: Sine wave with various parameters

Amplitude: Mathematically, the amplitude of a sine wave is the value of that sine wave at its
peak. This is the maximum value, positive or negative, that it can attain. However, when we
speak of an A.C. power system, it is more useful to refer to the effective voltage or current.

3. THE SINE WAVE

In discussing alternating current and voltage, you will often find it necessary to express the current and
voltage in terms of maximum or peak values, peak-to-peak values, effective values, average values, or
instantaneous values. Each of these values has a different meaning and is used to describe a different
amount of current or voltage.

Peak Value[Ip]
Refer to figure, it is the maximum value of voltage [Vp] or Current [Ip]. The peak value
applies to both positive and negative values of the cycle.

Fig. 5
Peak-Peak value [Ip-p]
During each complete cycle of ac there are always two maximum or peak values, one for the
positive half-cycle and the other for the negative half-cycle. The difference between the peak
positive value and the peak negative value is called the peak-to-peak value of the sine wave.
This value is twice the maximum or peak value of the sine wave and is sometimes used for
measurement of ac voltages. Note the difference between peak and peak-to-peak values in
figure below. Usually alternating voltage and current are expressed in effective values rather
than in peak-to-peak values.

Instantaneous Value
The instantaneous value of an alternating voltage or current is the value of voltage or current
at one particular instant. The value may be zero if the particular instant is the time in the
cycle at which the polarity of the voltage is changing. It may also be the same as the peak
value, if the selected instant is the time in the cycle at which the voltage or current stops
increasing and starts decreasing. There are actually an infinite number of instantaneous
values between zero and the peak value.

AVERAGE VALUE
The average value of an alternating current or voltage is the average of all the instantaneous
values during one alternation. Since the voltage increases from zero to peak value and
decreases back to zero during one alternation, the average value must be some value between
those two limits.

Derivation of Average Value of Current [Iav]

Average value derivation: The average value of A.C. is the average over one complete cycle
and is clearly zero, because there are alternately equal positive and negative half cycles.
Alternating current is represented as I = I0 sinwt

Root Mean Square Value

Circuit currents and voltage in A.C. circuits are generally stated as root-mean-square or rms
values rather than by quoting the maximum values. The root-mean-square for a current is
defined by
That is, you take the square of the current and average it, then take the square root. When this
process is carried out for a sinusoidal current

Since the A.C. voltage is also sinusoidal, the form of the rms voltage is the same. These rms
values are just the effective value needed in the expression for average power to put the A.C.
power in the same form as the expression for D.C. power in a resistor. In a resistor where the
power factor is equal to 1.

Determination of RMS value

Thus the root mean square value of an alternating current is

 Vector representation or Phasor representation:

 When magnitude and direction of a vector changes from instant to instant, it is

represented but a rotating vector known as a Phasor.
i. Types of Phasor:

(i) Reference Phasor: Vref = Vmref sin θ, here this waveform starts from origin
hence Phasor for it starts rotating in anticlockwise direction from +ve x-axis at
‘ω’ speed. Length of Phasor represents the amplitude of waveform and on
Phasor diagram the vertical component at any angular position shows
instantaneous value.
(ii) Lagging Phasor: Vlg = Vmlg sin (θ- θlg), this phasor indicates that it has a lag of
phase (angular position) of θlg w.r.t. reference Phasor (or starting point /
origin)
(iii) Leading Phasor: Vld = Vmld sin (θ + θld), this phasor shows that it has a lead of
phase of θld w.r.t. reference phasor or in other words this phasor was already
starting journey ahead of reference phasor by θld degree.

ii. Addition and subtraction of vector:

1. Addition: x-components of all vectors to be added i.e. cosine components of
phasors. & y-components of all vectors to be added i.e. sine components of
phasors.
2. Subtraction: x-components of all vectors to be deducted & y-components of all
vectors to be deducted.
3. Above to things can be done with the help of trigonometry method too.

iii. Phasor algebra:

1. Complex number representation of a sinusoidal Phasor i.e. z = x + jy
 2. Complex operator ‘j’: The complex operator ‘j’ shows significantly +900 phase
shift in anticlockwise direction of rotation if Phasor and this direction said to be
positive.
3. Various forms of phasor used to analyzed A.C. circuits.
(i) Rectangular form: For example, say, ‘v’ is instantaneous value of voltage
phasor. It is represented in “Rectangular form” as V = vx + jvy
(ii) Polar form: v = v 
Where v = v 2 x  v 2 y ,
 = tan –1 vy / vx
(iii) Trigonometric form: v = Vm cos  + jVm sin , v = Vm
OR
v = v (cos  + j sin )
(iv) Exponential form: v = v ej
v = v 2 x  v 2 y ,
 = tan –1 vy / vx

 Out of above four forms for any A.C. circuit analysis first two forms of phasors
are widely used and they are also incorporated in scientific calculation.

 AC Through purely resistor:

Fig 6:- Circuit diagram and waveform of V and I

 v = Vm sin t
 i = Im sin t
2
1
 p = Average power =
2  vid
0
= VI

 Power factor of the circuit = cos  = 1 as  = 00 angle between v and I

 AC Through pure inductor:

Fig 7:- Circuit diagram and waveform of V and I

 v = Vm sin t
 i = Im sin (t- / 2), Im = V / XL, XL = L = 2fL = inductive reactance
 p = v i = - Vm Im / 2 sin 2
 Power consumed = Pave = 0
 Power wave has twice the supply voltage frequency
 Power factor of circuit = cos  = 0 as  = 900

 AC Through pure capacitor:

Fig. 8:- Circuit diagram and waveform of V and I

 v = Vm sin θ
 i = Im sin (θ + π/2)
 p = Vm Im / 2 sin 2θ (twice the supply frequency)
 Pave = 0