SERGE LEVESQUE

FALL 2020
Active, Reactive & Apparent Power

This document will serve as a template for submitting your assignment for course credit.

The student will use this template and ensure to insert their name in the top right hand corner of the
header. The student will show their work by providing the steps involved in finding the solution to each
question. There will be a 50% deduction for failing to show the steps involved for each of the following
questions. Students will use the equations function found in the Microsoft Word program to show their
mathematical equations. Hand written formulas or calculations, and keyboard short forms will not be
accepted. No exceptions.

Remember that grading is based on how thorough an answer was provided and its relevance to
the question. Grading is pro-rated on how well you explain your answer. Your response will be in
the form of complete sentences.

Review questions are based on information obtained from the following sources:

 Chapter 7 of the Electrical Machines, Drives and Power Systems textbook

 Units 24 & 25 of the Delmar’s standard textbook of Electricity
 Power Factor Correction power point

This assignment is due in hard copy by Wednesday, Oct.21st at noon, it can be submitted in
person to the course instructor or slipped under the office door in room 1813.

Total out of points /

1. When too much load is imposed on an AC induction motor, the speed of the motor
output shaft slows down and the display on the ammeter, we can observe the
current that the motor is drawing is progressively climbing in value.

The average person would claim “the motor is working harder” but an electrical
student must be able to explain this concept in more technical terms.

AC motors are considered inductive devices. When too much load is imposed on an AC
induction motor the output shaft will begin to slow down and the current displayed on the
ammeter increases. As the speed of the shaft in the motor slows down the conductors inside
the motor cuts through less lines of magnetic flux which reduces the amount of inductive
reactance. Since the inductive reactance acts as resistance against the applied current,
having less inductive reactance mean there will be more current flowing into the motor, and
less inductive reactance restricting the applied current.

6 points/

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Active, Reactive & Apparent Power
2. Define a passive device that can generate reactive power. Substantiate your
answer.
Capacitors act as a source of reactive power whenever they are part of a sine wave
based, steady-state circuit. The capacitor acts as a temporary energy-storing device
repeatedly accepting energy for brief periods and releasing it. Instead of storing energy
in a magnetic field like an inductor, the capacitor stores energy in an electrostatic field.
This energy is released as reactive power and swing back and forth like a pendulum
between the capacitor and the generator without ever doing any useful work.

4 points/

3. Define a passive device that can absorb reactive power. Substantiate your answer.
Reactive power consists of a series of positive and negative power pulses, opposed to
unidirectional active power (true power). The energy is delivered in a continuous series
of pulses of very short duration, every positive pulse being followed by a negative pulse.
The energy flows back and forth between the generator and the inductor without ever
being used up. The energy flows back and forth because magnetic energy is alternately
being stored up and released by the reactor. When power is positive the magnetic field
is building up inside the inductor. During the negative half-cycle the energy in the
magnetic field is decreasing and flowing back to the source.

4 points/

4. Explain in your own words, how an electrical device or circuit can display a
leading or lagging power factor?
The ratio of resistance, inductance, and capacitance determines how much the applied
voltage will lead or lag the circuit current. In a purely inductive circuit, the induced
voltage is 90° out of phase with the applied voltage, therefore, the voltage drop across
the inductor will lead the current by 90°. Likewise, in a purely capacitive circuit the
capacitive reactance is 90° out of phase with the applied voltage and is said to lag the
circuit current by °. When a circuit contains both inductive and capacitive components,
they must be subtracted from each other because they are 180° out of phase with each
other. If a circuit contains more inductive VARs than capacitive VARs then the current
will lag the applied voltage and the power factor is a lagging power factor. If there is
more capacitive VARs than inductive VARs, then the current will lead the voltage and
the power factor is a leading power factor. This leading or lagging power factor can be
measured on an oscilloscope by looking at the phase angles of current and voltage.

3 points/

5. An electric motor operating on alternating current, consumes both True power

and Reactive power. Why does the motor use Reactive power?
Motors that run on AC consume both true power and reactive power due to the
components that make up the motor. The true power comes from the resistance of the
wire that makes the coil in the motor, induced eddy currents, and hysteresis losses. The
current flows through the coil and creates friction, which dissipates as thermal energy.

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When a motor is loaded is must produce true power to overcome the load connected to
it. Motors also contain coil of wire, usually wrapped around some type of core material
(iron core or air core). When current flows through the coil in the motor, it induces a
magnetic field into the coil. Because the magnetic field is constantly changing magnitude
and direction, a voltage is continually being induced into the coil. Inductors store energy
in the form of a magnetic field, and do not consume true power (except the small amount
from the wire resistance making the coil). For this reason, it is said that motors consume
true power and reactive power.

3 points/

6. Describe in detail what kind of instrument would be capable of measuring reactive

power?
Special instruments called varmeters are available to measure the reactive power in a
circuit. A varmeter displays the product of the effective line voltage times the effective
line current times the phase angle difference between the current and voltage. A reading
is produced only if the voltage and current are out of phase. If the voltage and current
are exactly in phase (or 180° out of phase), the varmeter will read 0.

2 points/

7. In relation to the previous question, how would such a device / machine function,
what principle would it operate on?
The varmeter operates by multiplying the effective line voltage by the effective line
current, by sin Φ (Φ is the phase angle difference between the line voltage and line
current). If the voltage and current are exactly in phase (or 180° out of phase) then the
varmeter will lead 0.

3 points/

8. Explain in your own words, why wiring a capacitor in parallel with an electric
motor, is an effective strategy at bringing the power factor of the entire circuit
close to unity, or in other words; lowering the current draw of the entire circuit
from the power supply.
Capacitors are wired in parallel with a motor to produce a tank circuit or resonant circuit.
A resonant circuit is achieved when the values of inductance reactance and capacitive
reactance share a common frequency, thereby reducing the line current close to 0 and
creating high amounts of current in the loop formed by the parallel connection of the
inductor (motor in this case) and capacitor. A transfer of energy occurs in a parallel
resonant circuit and in the ideal case no thermal energy loss. During one half-cycle the
capacitor absorbs energy at the same rate at which is it released by the inductor. During
the next half-cycle, the inductor absorbs energy at the same rate at which the capacitor
discharges. Since inductive reactance and capacitive reactance are 180° out of phase
with each other the impedance of the circuit becomes very low, and the circuit current
becomes very high. The total reactive power at resonance is therefore 0, the energy

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Active, Reactive & Apparent Power
oscillates between the inductor and capacitor with minimum impedance, and the total
power factor in theory will be 1.

5 points/

9. In reference to the previous question, what would happen if the circuit capacitor
were to become defective, what would be the result on the motor’s function?
In a resonant circuit the inductive reactance and capacitive reactance are 180° out of
phase and share the same frequency. This causes the total reactive power at resonance
frequency to become 0, and in theory reduces all thermal energy loss. If the capacitor
were to be defective then the amount of reactive power would increase, thereby
decreasing the efficiency of the motor.

3 points/

10. Describe what is a “Resonant circuit”?

When circuits contain resistive, inductive, and capacitive components there is a specific
frequency in which inductive reactance and inductive capacitance become equal. This is
possible because as the frequency increases the inductive reactance increases, while
the capacitive reactance decreases. The point at which the values of both inductive and
capacitive reactances are equal is called resonance. Resonance circuits are used to
provide large increases of voltage and current at the resonant frequency and produce
almost no circuit impedance.

2 points/

11. Provide a practical example of a parallel resonant circuit used in industry. Include
images and a schematic. Do your own independent work, do not plagiarize your
textbooks or the Instructor’s power points.
One use for a parallel resonance circuit is to establish a condition of stable frequency in
circuits designed to produce AC signals. In radio resonance is used to transmit
frequencies through the air, and to tune radios sets. Tuning consists of establishing a
circuit with a resonant frequency equal to the assigned frequency of the desired station.
The resonant circuit is connected between the antenna input and ground. When the
incoming radio signal is at the resonant frequency, the resonant circuit has high
impedance and the radio signal from the desired station is passed on to the following
stages of the receiver. At all other frequencies, the resonant circuit has low impedance,
so signals at these frequencies are conducted to ground. Below is a schematic diagram
for a radio taken from www.circuitstoday.com.

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Image sourced from www.google.com

12. Conduct a power factor correction calculation for the electric motor that is
highlighted in yellow in the image below. Assume that the applied voltage is 115
VAC.

6 points/

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Active, Reactive & Apparent Power
Do not use the procedure found in the Delmar’s Textbook Unit 25, Power Factor
Correction. It is not accurate, instead refer to the Instructor’s power point presentation
found on the course Moodle page.

Output power @ shaft: 0.5 h . p∗746 W =373 W

373W
Total Input power: =654.39W
.57
654.39W
Apparent power: =1038.71VA
.63
654.39W
Apparent power @ 95%: =688.83VA
.95
Reactive power L: √ 1038.712−654.392
=√ 1078918.46−428226.2721
=√ 650692.1879
= 806.65 VARS L

Reactive power L @ 95%:√ 688.832−654.392

=√ 474486.7689−428226.2721
=√ 46260.4968
= 215.08VARS L
Reactive power C: 806.65 VARS L −215.08 VARS L
= 591.57 VARSC
591.57 VARSC
I C:
√ 22.36 Ω
=5.14 A

115V 2
XC : =22.36 Ω
591.57VARSC
1
C:
2(3.14)(60 Hz)(22.36 Ω)
1
= =118 µ F
8425.248
Each field is worth ½ point each 5 points/

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Active, Reactive & Apparent Power

13. Solve for the power factor, state whether it is leading or lagging. In addition,
calculate Angle Theta for the following R-L-C circuit. Show your work and the
strategy used to solve the circuit. An example of this circuit is found in Chapter 7,
Paragraph 7.12 of the Wildi textbook.

Sourc e
2 08 V
AC

B
2.2 kW

D G
A 1.7 kVa r F
5.7 kW
4.3 kVa r 1.3 kVa r M 4.3 kVa r

E
C
12.3 kVa r 6.8 kW

H
0.8 kVa r

Resistive Inductive Capacitive

2.2kW 4.3kVar 12.3kVar
6.8kW 0.8kVar 1.7kVar
5.7kW 4.3kVar 1.3kVar
Total: 14.7kW Total: 9.4kVarL Total: 15.3kVarC

7 points/
2 2
VA =√ 14700 +(9400−15300)
= √ 216090000+34810000
= √ 250900000
= 15839.82VA = 15.84kVA

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14.7 kW
P.F. = =.93
15.84 kVA
P.F. = 93%
∠𝛉 = .93−cos
∠𝛉 = 21.57°

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