ASSIGNMENT 1

AC CIRCUIT ANLYSIS
SUBMITTED TO : LEC RIDA LAIQ
SUBMITTED BY : AFNAN RIAZ
COURSE : TE 47 A
02-May-11

IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS RLC CIRCUITS

An RLC circuit is an electrical circuit consisting of a resistor, an inductor, and a capacitor, connected in series or in parallel. The RLC part of the name is due to those letters being the usual electrical symbols for resistance, inductance and capacitance respectively. The circuit forms a harmonic oscillator for current and will resonate in just the same way as an LC circuit will. The difference that the presence of the resistor makes is that any oscillation induced in the circuit will die away over time if it not kept going by a source.

RESONANCE
Resonance in AC circuits implies a special frequency determined by the values of the resistance , capacitance , and inductance . For series resonance the condition of resonance is straightforward and it is characterized by minimum impedance and zero phase. Parallel resonance , which is more common in electronic practice, requires a more careful definition.

SERIES RESONANCE
The resonance of a series RLC circuit occurs when the inductive and capacitive reactances are equal in magnitude but cancel each other because they are 180 degrees apart in phase.

PARALLEL RESONANCE
Resonance occurs in a parallel R-L-C circuit when inductive and capacitive reactances are equal. Resistance does not affect the resonant frequency.

POWER FACTOR
The power factor of an AC electric power system is defined as the ratio of the real power flowing to the load to the apparent power in the circuit, and is a dimensionless number between 0 and 1 (frequently expressed as a percentage, e.g. 0.5 pf = 50% pf). Real power is the capacity of the circuit for performing

work in a particular time. Apparent power is the product of the current and voltage of the circuit.

POWER FACTOR IN SERIES RLC CIRCUIT

In a series RLC circuit there becomes a frequency point were the inductive reactance of the inductor becomes equal in value to the capacitive reactance of the capacitor. The point at which this occurs is called the Resonant Frequency, ( r ) and as we are analysing a series RLC circuit this resonance frequency produces a Series Resonance circuit. Series resonance circuits are one of the most important circuits used electronics. They can be found in various forms in mains AC filters, and also in radio and television sets producing a very selective tuning circuit for the receiving the different channels. Consider the simple series RLC circuit below.

Firstly, let us define some important terms for series RLC circuits.

From the above equation for inductive reactance, if either the Frequency or the Inductance is increased the overall inductive reactance value of the inductor would also increase. As the frequency approaches infinity the inductors reactance would also increase towards infinity with the circuit element acting like an open circuit. However, as the frequency approaches zero or DC, the inductors reactance would decrease to zero, causing the opposite effect acting like a short circuit. This means then that inductive reactance is "Proportional" to frequency and is small at low frequencies and high at higher frequencies and this demonstrated in the following curve:

Inductive Reactance against Frequency

The graph of inductive reactance against frequency is a straight line linear curve. The inductive reactance value of an inductor increases linearly as the frequency across it increases. Therefore, inductive reactance is positive and is directly proportional to frequency ( XL )

The same is also true for the capacitive reactance formula above but in reverse. If either the Frequency or the Capacitance is increased the overall capacitive reactance would decrease. As the frequency approaches infinity the capacitors reactance would reduce to zero causing the circuit element to act like a perfect conductor of 0 's. However, as the frequency approaches zero or DC level, the capacitors reactance would rapidly increase up to infinity causing it to act like a very large resistance acting like an open circuit condition. This means then that capacitive reactance is "Inversely proportional" to frequency for any given value of capacitance and this shown below:

Capacitive Reactance against Frequency

The graph of capacitive reactance against frequency is a hyperbolic curve. The Reactance value of a capacitor has a very high value at low frequencies but quickly decreases as the frequency across it increases. Therefore, capacitive reactance is negative and is inversely proportional to -1 frequency ( XC ) We can see that the values of these resistances depends upon the frequency of the supply. At a higher frequency XL is high and at a low frequency XC is high. Then there must be a frequency point were the value of XL is the same as the value of XC and there is. If we now place the curve for inductive reactance on top of the curve for capacitive reactance so that both curves are on the same axes, the point of intersection will give us the series resonance frequency point, ( r or r ) as shown below.

Series Resonance Frequency

where:

is in Hertz, L is in Henries and C is in Farads.

Electrical resonance occurs in an AC circuit when the two reactances which are opposite and equal cancel each other out as XL = XC and the point on the graph at which this happens is where the two reactance curves cross each other. In a series resonant circuit, the resonant frequency, r point can be calculated as follows.

We can see then that at resonance, the two reactances cancel each other out thereby making a series LC combination act as a short circuit with the only opposition to current flow in a series resonance circuit being the resistance, R. In complex form, the resonant frequency is the frequency at which the total impedance of a series RLC circuit is purely "real" as no imaginary impedances exist, they are cancelled out, so the total impedance of the series circuit becomes just the value of the resistance and: Z = R. Therefore, at resonance the impedance of the circuit is at its minimum value and equal to the resistance of the circuit. The impedance at resonance is called the "dynamic impedance" of the circuit and depending upon the frequency, XC (typically at high frequencies) or XL (typically at low frequencies) will dominate either side of resonance as shown below.

Impedance in a Series Resonance Circuit

Note that when the capacitive reactance dominates the circuit the impedance curve has a hyperbolic shape to itself, but when the inductive reactance dominates the

circuit the curve is non-symmetrical due to the linear response of XL. You may also note that if the circuits impedance is at its minimum at resonance then consequently, the circuits admittance must be at its maximum and one of the characteristics of a series resonance circuit is that admittance is very high. But this can be a bad thing because a very low value of resistance at resonance means that the circuits current may be dangerously high. We recall from the previous tutorial about series RLC circuits that the voltage across a series combination is the phasor sum of VR, VL and VC. Then if at resonance the two reactances are equal and cancelling, the two voltages representing VL and VC must also be opposite and equal in value thereby cancelling each other out because with pure components the phasor voltages are drawn at +90o and -90o respectively. Then in a series resonance circuit VL = -VC therefore, V = VR.

Series RLC Circuit at Resonance

Since the current flowing through a series resonance circuit is the product of voltage divided by impedance, at resonance the impedance, Z is at its minimum value, ( =R ). Therefore, the circuit current at this frequency will be at its maximum value of V/R as shown below.

Series Circuit Current at Resonance

The frequency response curve of a series resonance circuit shows that the magnitude of the current is a function of frequency and plotting this onto a graph shows us that the response starts at near to zero, reaches maximum value at the resonance frequency when IMAX = IR and then drops again to nearly zero as becomes infinite. The result of this is that the magnitudes of the voltages across the inductor, L and the capacitor, C can become many times larger than the supply voltage, even at resonance but as they are equal and at opposition they cancel each other out. As a series resonance circuit only functions on resonant frequency, this type of circuit is also known as an Acceptor Circuit because at resonance, the impedance of the circuit is at its minimum so easily accepts the current whose frequency is equal to its resonant frequency. The effect of resonance in a series circuit is also called "voltage resonance".

POWER FACTOR AT RESONANCE

As the maximum current through the circuit at resonance is limited only by the value of the resistance (a pure and real value), the source voltage and circuit current must therefore be in phase with each other at this frequency. Then the phase angle between the voltage and current of a series resonance circuit is also a function of frequency for a fixed supply voltage and which is zero at the resonant frequency point when: V, I and VR are all in phase with each other . Consequently, if the phase angle is zero then the power factor must therefore be unity.

POWER FACTOR IN PARALLEL RLC CIRCUIT

In many ways a parallel resonance circuit is exactly the same as the series resonance circuit we looked at in the previous tutorial. Both are 3-element networks that contain two reactive components making them a second-order circuit, both are influenced by variations in the supply frequency and both have a frequency point where their two reactive components cancel each other out influencing the characteristics of the circuit. Both circuits have a resonant frequency point. The difference this time however, is that a parallel resonance circuit is influenced by the currents flowing through each parallel branch within the parallel LC tank circuit. A tank circuit is a parallel combination of L and C that is used in filter networks to either select or reject AC frequencies. Consider the parallel RLC circuit below.

Let us define some important terms for parallel RLC circuits.

A parallel circuit containing a resistance, R, an inductance, L and a capacitance, C will produce a parallel resonance (also called anti-resonance) circuit when the

resultant current through the parallel combination is in phase with the supply voltage. At resonance there will be a large circulating current between the inductor and the capacitor due to the energy of the oscillations. A parallel resonant circuit stores the circuit energy in the magnetic field of the inductor and the electric field of the capacitor. This energy is constantly being transferred back and forth between the inductor and the capacitor which results in zero current and energy being drawn from the supply. This is because the corresponding instantaneous values of IL and IC will always be equal and opposite and therefore the current drawn from the supply is the vector addition of these two currents and the current flowing in IR. In the solution of AC parallel resonance circuits we know that the supply voltage is common for all branches, so this can be taken as our reference vector. Each parallel branch must be treated separately as with series circuits so that the total supply current taken by the parallel circuit is the vector addition of the individual branch currents. Then there are two methods available to us in the analysis of parallel resonance circuits. We can calculate the current in each branch and then add together or calculate the admittance of each branch to find the total current. We know from the previous series resonance tutorial that resonance takes place when VL = -VC and this situation occurs when the two reactances are equal, XL = XC. The admittance of a parallel circuit is given as:

Resonance occurs when XL = XC and the imaginary parts of Y become zero. Then:

Notice that at resonance the parallel circuit produces the same equation as for the series resonance circuit. Therefore, it makes no difference if the inductor or capacitor are connected in parallel or series. Also at resonance the parallel LC tank circuit acts like an open circuit with the circuit current being limited by the resistor, R only. So the total impedance of a parallel resonance circuit at resonance becomes just the value of the resistance in the circuit and Z = R as shown.

At resonance, the impedance of the parallel circuit is at its maximum value and equal to the resistance of the circuit and we can change the circuit's frequency response by changing the value of this resistance. Changing the value of R affects the amount of current that flows through the circuit at resonance, if both L and C remain constant. Then the impedance of the circuit at resonance Z = RMAX is called the "dynamic impedance" of the circuit.

Impedance in a Parallel Resonance Circuit

Note that if the parallel circuits impedance is at its maximum at resonance then consequently, the circuits admittance must be at its minimum and one of the characteristics of a parallel resonance circuit is that admittance is very low limiting the circuits current. Unlike the series resonance circuit, the resistor in a parallel resonance circuit has a damping effect on the circuits bandwidth making the circuit less selective. Also, since the circuit current is constant for any value of impedance, Z, the voltage across a parallel resonance circuit will have the same shape as the total impedance and for a parallel circuit the voltage waveform is generally taken from across the capacitor. We now know that at the resonant frequency, r the admittance of the circuit is at its minimum and is equal to the conductance, G given by 1/R because in a parallel resonance circuit the imaginary part of admittance, i.e. the susceptance, B is zero because BL = BC as shown.

Susceptance at Resonance

From above, the inductive susceptance, BL is inversely proportional to the frequency as represented by the hyperbolic curve. The capacitive susceptance, BC is directly proportional to the frequency and is therefore represented by a straight line. The final curve shows the plot of total susceptance of the parallel resonance circuit versus the frequency and is the difference between the two susceptance's. We can see that the total susceptance is zero at the resonant frequency point were it crosses the horizontal axis.

POWER FACTOR AT RESONANCE

Below the resonant frequency point, the inductive susceptance dominates the circuit producing a "lagging" power factor, whereas above the resonant frequency point the capacitive susceptance dominates producing a "leading" power factor. Evidently, at the resonant frequency the circuits current is in phase with the applied voltage as there effectively there is only the resistance in the circuit so the power factor becomes one or unity, ( = 0o ).