Alternating Current

Alternating
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Contents

Alternating Voltage

Phase

Phasor Representation of AC

Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

Resistance, Reactance and Impedance

Power in AC Circuits

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 Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

Capacitor

Capacitors react different due to the voltage level applied to them under
alternating current.
If the voltage level applied is greater than the voltage on a capacitor, the
source charges the capacitor; in opposite case, capacitor behaves like a
source.
The current equation for a capacitor is:

dv(t)
i (t) C
dt

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 Capacitors

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Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

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 Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

The phase difference between voltage and current is 90 degrees

on a capacitor or in other words, current leads voltage 90
degrees. This case results with negative electrical power which
means that capacitor transfers power to the circuit (i.e.
Capacitor discharges its electrical charge).

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 The ‘resistance’ of the capacitors change due to the frequency
of the alternating voltage. The higher the frequency of the AC
signal, the more easily that signal will pass through the
capacitor. Thus, this is called as capacitive reactance, Xc.

1 1
Xc  XC 
wC 2fC

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Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

Let us examine the behavior of the

capacitor in the circuit mathematically.

The current can be found using the

capacitive reactance equation and the
implementation of Ohm’s Law to AC
easily.

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 Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

Inductive Reactance
XL = 2πfL
XL = inductive reactance
2 = a constant
π = 3.1416
F = frequency in hertz (Hz)
L = inductance in henrys (H)

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Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

The current of the AC source

leads the voltage of the source
90 degrees. The resistance effect
of the capacitor to AC source is
calculated considering this.

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 Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

Adding a 5 [Ohm] resistor to this circuit, let us calculate the total

effect of the resistor and the capacitor.

The total resistance in this circuit is found as:

X c 0  26.5258 j  R 5  0 j 
Z R  X c 5  26.5258 j  26.993  79.325

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 Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

Implementing the Ohm’s Law to the circuit,

the current is calculated.
In this analysis, the phase of the source is
always zero (0).

As it can be considered easily, the phase shift is 79.325 degrees in this circuit
whereas in the circuit that has only one capacitor it was 90 degrees.

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 Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC
Using phasor diagrams,

Let us examine the last table carefully.

The current and the voltage on the resistor is on the same phase as it is
mentioned. However, the current on a capacitor leads voltage by 90
degrees.
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Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

Parallel Resistor – Capacitor Circuit

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Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

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 Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC
Resistor, Reactance and Impedance

The resistance against the current can be in three types:

1. Resistor: It is the friction of electrons during motion. Its symbol is “R” and
unit is [] (i.e. [Ohm]). It does not form any phase shift.

2. Reactance: It is the inertia of electrons. It occurs if there is a change in

voltage or current values (if an electric or magnetic field occurs). The
capacitor and inductor are the main circuit components which this influence
is highly distinct. If there is a reactance effect in a circuit, there is also phase
shift. If the component is a capacitor, the current leads voltage by 90
degrees whereas if it is an inductance, the current lags voltage by 90
degrees.

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 Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

3. The impedance, is the strain against the current in an electrical circuit. In

aother words, it is the resistance against the motion of electrons. Impedance
is the total resistance and reactance effects of all components. The resistance
in DC circuits is the impedance in AC’s. The AC implemented Ohm’s Law can
be seen as below. Please consider that all the quantities are in complex
number form in the equation below :
V
Z 
I

Like Ohm’s Law, other laws (Kirrschoff’s, grid theorems, etc.) used in
circuit analysis can be also implemented in AC in condition of using
complex numbers.
It is the power calculations that the AC and DC calculations differes.
The next subject will be about this case.

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Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

Coil (L) Capacitor(C)

Resistor (R)
(Inductor) (Condenser)

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Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC
Serial R-L-C Circuits

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Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

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Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

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 Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

It should be considered that the amplitude of the voltage on the

capacitor is greater than the voltage supplied to the circuit. The
reason is that the influence of the reactance of the coil effects just the
opposite according to the influence of the reactance of the coil to the
circuit. The influence of the impedance in the whole circuit is smaller
than the influence of impedance of any single component. This case
causes higher voltages on single components. However, this does not
change the Kirchhoff’s Law about the the total voltages in a circuit
(0+0j).

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Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC
Parallel R-L-C Circuit

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Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

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Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

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Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

Serial and Parallel Circuits

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 Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

The calculation of impedance in this circuit should be completed step

by step. First, serial connection branch of C2 and L, afterwards the
parallel branch of resistor and last the serial capacitor effects should
be calculated.

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Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

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Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

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Behaviors of Basic Circuit Components under AC

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 Power in AC Circuits

Since it was mentioned, there is a phase shift between current and voltage
in AC circuits. The reason is the impedance as it was stated. There are three
definitions in AC circuits which are related with power.
These are:
True power (active power),
Reactive power,
Apparent power.

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 Power in AC Circuits

The reactive power that is referring to the influence of reactance is:

The apparent power is the power related with the impedance:

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 Power in AC Circuits

The power quantities are scalar

quantities.
It is a prependicular triangle that we
get if we draw the calculated values,
considering the 90 degrees of
direction angle between the resistor
and the reactance and phase shift in
the circuit. This triangle is called as
‘Power Triangle’.
As it is seen in this triangle, a part of the power is lost in an AC
circuit. The generated effective power is just as the true power.
Power factor is the cosine of the angle between the true and
apparent powers (cos). This value is equal to 1 in only circuits
those have just resistors. But if there is a reactance, then the value
is between 0 and 1.
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 Power in AC Circuits

To examine the effect of the

reactance, let us calculate the
P, Q and S powers in this
circuit.

The power factor of this circuit may

be found using the definition below.

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 Power in AC Circuits

The power factor value shows that the 70.5 % of the power used from
the grid is served for the purpose. This situation is not wanted. So, in
circuit design stage, it must be noted that the power factor is
approximately equal to 1. For this reason, the capacitive and
inductive ractance values should be equal to each other. If this is not
possible, a capacitor or an inductor should be externally added to the
circuit. This improvement is called as compensation.

Now, let us calculate the

reactance of the same circuit.

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 Power in AC Circuits

The ractance in this circuit is inductive. In othe words, the coil is the
reason of ractance.
To compensate this, let us add a capacitor to the circuit. Using the
calculations below, the capacitor value that can form a capacitive
ractance to generate the same inductive ractance value but in opposite
direction might be found.

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 Power in AC Circuits

The capacitor value found is

not a standart value for
capacitors, so the closest
standart value shold be
chosen (22 µF) and
connected in parallel with
the circuit. Now let us
examine this case:

The new impedance value is:

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 Power in AC Circuits

And the new power factor is:

As seen above, this improvement made the power factor closer to 1.

Besides, the current is decreased. These two results indicate that the circuit
is improved in means of efficiency and economic.

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