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AC Circuit Laboratory Format

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Robin Ace Madrid
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11 views3 pages

AC Circuit Laboratory Format

Uploaded by

Robin Ace Madrid
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Activity No.

1
Inductors

Objectives
1.
2.
3.

Theoretical Background

Resistors oppose electric currents. Inductors oppose changes to electric currents, but the mechanism is
different.

An electric current flowing in the inductor, sets up a magnetic field. Increasing the current means
increasing the magnetic field, and that takes energy from the current, opposing the increase. Reducing the
current means reducing the magnetic field, and that releases energy which tries to maintain the current.

Inductors behave rather like flywheels on a rotating shaft. Their angular momentum tries to keep the
shaft rotating at the same speed. When the shaft starts to slow down, the stored energy in the flywheel
tries to keep it going. When the shaft tries to speed up, the flywheel requires energy to speed it up, and so
the flywheel seems to resist the change.

Figure 1.1: A 47mH inductor

Procedure

1. Connect a 47mH inductor in series with the AC power supply, as shown in the circuit
diagram.
2. Use enough connecting links so that the current can be measured at point A. The photograph
shows one way to build the circuit.
3. Set the AC power supply to output a frequency of 50Hz.
4. Remove the connecting link at A, and connect a multimeter, set to read up to 20mA AC,
in its place. Record the current flowing at point A in the table.
5. Remove the multimeter and replace link A.
6. Set up the multimeter to read AC voltages of up to 20V and connect it in parallel with the
inductor. Record the voltage in the table.
7. Now change the power supply frequency to 100Hz and repeat the measurements. Record
them in the table.
8. Do the same for frequencies of 500Hz and 1kHz (1,000Hz). Again, record these
measurements in the table. The table allows you to take two sets of measurements at each
frequency to improve the accuracy of your results
Circuit Diagram

Data

Frequency Current I Voltage V


50Hz

100Hz

500Hz

1kHz

 Resistors behave in a straightforward way, spelled out by Ohm’s Law. If you double the current
through the resistor, you double the voltage dropped across it, and so on. The ratio of voltage to
current is called resistance.
 Inductors are more complicated. If you double the rate of change of current through the inductor,
you double the voltage dropped across it, and so on. The ratio of voltage to rate of change of
current is called inductance L.
 The higher the frequency of the AC, the faster the current changes, and so the greater the voltage
drop across the inductor. In other words, the voltage dropped depends on the frequency of the AC
supply. This is not the case with pure resistors, where the frequency has no effect.
 We describe this behaviour in terms of the (inductive) reactance, X L, defined, in the same way
V
as resistance, as X L = . As a result, the units of reactance are ohms.
I
 The inductive reactance measures the opposition of the inductor to changing current. The higher
the frequency , f , the greater the change in current. In fact, the formula for inductive reactance is:
 X L =2 πfL
 Using your measurements, calculate the X L, from the formula:
V
 X L= and compare that with the value calculated using X L =2 πfL where L=47 mH
I
 Carry out those calculations and fill in the following table with your results:

V
Inductive reactance X L=
Frequency I Inductive reactance X L =2 πfL

50Hz
100Hz
500Hz
1KHz

For your records:


The opposition of an inductor to changing currents is called inductive reactance, X L given
by the formula: X L =2 πfL where f is the frequency of the AC signal, and L is the
inductance of the inductor.
V
It can also be obtained from the formula X L = where V and I are rms voltage
I
and current respectively.
Inductance is measured in a unit called the henry, (H) and reactance in ohms.

Complete the following:

When the AC frequency is doubled, the inductive reactance is ___________________.

Conclusion
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________.

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