AEP611S ADVANCED

ELECTRICAL PRINCIPLES 215

SYMMETRICAL
COMPONENTS
THE CONCEPT

LECTURE 1
SYNTHESIS OF UNSYMMETRICAL
PHASORS FROM THEIR
SYMMETRICAL COMPONENTS
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 1. REFERENCES

1. Power System Analysis (1994) by John J. Grainger and William

D. Stevenson, Jr.
McGraw-Hill Series in Electrical and Computer Engineering,
McGraw-Hill, Inc. (available on the WWW).
Chapter 11: Symmetrical Components and Sequence Networks.

2. Elements of Power System Analysis (4th Edition, 1982) by

Willian D. Stevenson, Jr.
McGraw-Hill Series in Electrical and Computer Engineering,
McGraw-Hill, Inc. (available on the WWW).
Chapter 10: Symmetrical Components.

3. Higher Electrical Engineering (2nd Edition, 1977; Last Reprint:

1998) by J. Shepherd, A. H. Morton and L. F. Spence. Longman.
Chapter 4, Section 4.13: Symmetrical Components.

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 2. SYMMETRICAL COMPONENTS

• Since an unsymmetrical fault causes unbalanced currents

to flow in the system, the method of symmetrical
components is used in the analysis to determine the
currents and voltages in all parts of the system after the
occurrence of a fault.
• The method consists of finding the symmetrical
components of the current at the fault.
• Then the values of current and voltage at various points in
the system can be found.

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 SYMMETRICAL COMPONENTS (CONT.)

2.1. Synthesis of Unsymmetrical Phasors from their

Symmetrical Components
• In 1918 a Canadian Electrical Engineer by the name of
Charles LeGeyt Fortescue came up with a very powerful
theorem of symmetrical components.
• According to Fortescue’s theorem,
An unbalanced system of ‘n’ related phasors can be
resolved into ‘n’ systems of balanced ‘n’ phasors
called symmetrical components of the original
phasors.
• The ‘n’ phasors of each set of components are equal in
length and the angles between adjacent phasors of the set
are equal.

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 Synthesis of Unsymmetrical Phasors
from their Symmetrical Components (cont.)

• Three unbalanced phasors of a three-phase system

can be resolved into 3 balanced systems of 3 phasors
(each).
• The balanced sets of components are:
(i) Positive-sequence components consisting of 3
phasors equal in magnitude, displaced from each other by
120° in phase and having the same phase sequence as
the original phasors.
(ii) Negative-sequence components consisting of 3
phasors equal in magnitude, displaced from each other by
120° in phase and having the phase sequence opposite to
that of the original phasors.
(iii) Zero-sequence components consisting of 3 phasors
equal in magnitude and with zero phase displacement
from each other.
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 Synthesis of Unsymmetrical Phasors
from their Symmetrical Components (cont.)

Figure 2.1. Three sets of balanced phasors which are

the symmetrical components of three unbalanced phasors.

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 Synthesis of Unsymmetrical Phasors
from their Symmetrical Components (cont.)

• Consider a set of unbalanced three-phase voltages Va, Vb

and Vc, shown below.

Figure 2.2. A set of unbalanced three-phase voltages.

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 Synthesis of Unsymmetrical Phasors
from their Symmetrical Components (cont.)

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 Synthesis of Unsymmetrical Phasors
from their Symmetrical Components (cont.)

Figure 2.3. The graphical/phasor addition of symmetrical

components to obtain the unbalanced phasors.
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 SYMMETRICAL COMPONENTS (CONT.)

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 The ‘a’ operator (cont.)

Figure 2.4(a). Phasor diagram of the various powers of the ‘a’ operator.

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 The ‘a’ operator (cont.)

Figure 2.4(b). Phasor diagram of the

various powers and functions of the ‘a’ operator.
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 The ‘a’ operator (cont.)

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 SYMMETRICAL COMPONENTS (CONT.)

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 The Symmetrical Components of
Unsymmetrical Phasors (cont.)

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 The Symmetrical Components of
Unsymmetrical Phasors (cont.)

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 The Symmetrical Components of
Unsymmetrical Phasors (cont.)

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 The Symmetrical Components of
Unsymmetrical Phasors (cont.)

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 The Symmetrical Components of
Unsymmetrical Phasors (cont.)

• If they are required, the components Vb0, Vb1, Vb2, Vc0,

Vc1 and Vc2 can be found by using eqns. 2.4.

• The first equation of equation set 2.7 (eqns. 2.7) shows

that no zero-sequence components exist if the sum of
the unbalanced phasors is zero.

• Since the sum of the line-to-line voltage phasors in a

three-phase system is always zero, zero-sequence
components are never present in the line voltages,
regardless of the amount of unbalance.

• The sum of the three line-to-neutral voltage phasors is

not necessarily zero and voltages to neutral may
contain zero-sequence components.
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 The Symmetrical Components of
Unsymmetrical Phasors (cont.)

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 The Symmetrical Components of
Unsymmetrical Phasors (cont.)

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 The Symmetrical Components of
Unsymmetrical Phasors (cont.)

• In a three-phase system the sum of the line currents is

equal to the neutral current, In, in the return path
through the neutral wire.
• Thus
Ia + Ib + Ic = In … eqn. 2.10.
• Comparing the Ia0 equation in eqns. 2.9 and eqn. 2.10,
it can be seen that
In = 3Ia0 … eqn. 2.11.
• Therefore, in the absence of a path through the neutral
of a three-phase system, In is zero and the line
currents contain no zero-sequence components.

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 SYMMETRICAL COMPONENTS (CONT.)

2.4. Power in terms of Symmetrical Components

• The total complex power flowing into a three-phase circuit

through the three lines a, b and c is

S = P + jQ = VaIa* + VbIb* + VcIc* … eqn. 2.12

where Va, Vb and Vc are the voltages to neutral at the

terminals and Ia, Ib and Ic are the currents flowing into the
circuit in the three lines.

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 Power in terms of
Symmetrical Components (cont.)

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 Power in terms of
Symmetrical Components (cont.)

• The “Reversal Rule of Matrix Algebra” states that

“The transpose of the product of two matrices is equal
to the product of the transposes of the two matrices in
reverse order”
• According to this rule:

[AV]T = VTAT … eqn. 2.15.

• Therefore, eqn. 2.13 can be re-written as

S = V012TAT[AI012]* = V012TATA*I012*
… eqn. 2.16.

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 Power in terms of
Symmetrical Components (cont.)

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 APPENDIX 1: FINDING THE INVERSE OF A

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 FINDING THE INVERSE OF A (CONT.)

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 FINDING THE INVERSE OF A (CONT.)

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 FINDING THE INVERSE OF A (CONT.)

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 APPENDIX 2: MATRIX MULTIPLICATION

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 Determining the symmetrical components
of a set of unbalanced voltages (cont.)

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 Determining the symmetrical components
of a set of unbalanced voltages (cont.)

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