SINGLE-PHASE

SERIES AC CIRCUITS
Prepared by Engr. Arlene C. Patricio, MST
Alternating Current Circuits
•Electrical appliances in the house use alternating
current (AC) circuits.
•If an AC source applies an alternating voltage to a
series circuit containing resistor, inductor, and
capacitor, what are the amplitude and time
characteristics of the alternating current.
•An AC circuit consists of a combination of circuit
elements and a power source.
•The power source provides an alternating voltage, Dv.
•Notation note:
– Lower case symbols will indicate instantaneous
values.
– Capital letters will indicate fixed values.
•The output of an AC power source is sinusoidal and
varies with time according to the following equation:
– Δv = ΔVmax sin ωt
• Δv is the instantaneous voltage.
• ΔVmax is the maximum output voltage of the source.
– Also called the voltage amplitude
• ω is the angular frequency of the AC voltage.
 AC Voltage
•The angular frequency is
2π
ω  2π ƒ 
T

– ƒ is the frequency of the

source.
– T is the period of the source.
•The voltage is positive during
one half of the cycle and negative
during the other half.
•The current in any circuit driven by an AC source is an
alternating current that varies sinusoidally with time.
•Commercial electric power plants in the US use a
frequency of 60 Hz.
– This corresponds with an angular frequency of 377
rad/s.
 Resistors in an AC Circuit
•Consider a circuit consisting of an
AC source and a resistor.
•The AC source is symbolized by
•ΔvR = DVmax= Vmax sin wt
•ΔvR is the instantaneous voltage
across the resistor.
•The instantaneous current in the resistor is
DvR DVmax
iR   sin ωt  I max sin ωt
R R

•The instantaneous voltage across the resistor is also

given as
ΔvR = Imax R sin ωt
•The graph shows the current through and
the voltage across the resistor.
•The current and the voltage reach their
maximum values at the same time.
•The current and the voltage are said to be in
phase.
•For a sinusoidal applied voltage, the current
in a resistor is always in phase with the
voltage across the resistor.
•The direction of the current has no effect on
the behavior of the resistor.
•Resistors behave essentially the same way in
both DC and AC circuits.
 Phasor Diagram
•To simplify the analysis of AC circuits, a graphical
constructor called a phasor diagram can be used.
•A phasor is a vector whose length is proportional
to the maximum value of the variable it represents.
•The vector rotates counterclockwise at an angular
speed equal to the angular frequency associated
with the variable.
•The projection of the phasor onto the vertical axis
represents the instantaneous value of the quantity
it represents.
rms Current and Voltage
•The average current in one cycle is zero.
•Resistors experience a temperature increase which depends on the
magnitude of the current, but not the direction of the current.
•The power is related to the square of the current.
•The rms current is the average of importance in an AC circuit.
• rms stands for root mean square

Imax
Irms   0.707 Imax
2

•Alternating voltages can also be discussed in terms of rms values.

DVmax
DVrms   0707
. DVmax
2
Power
•The rate at which electrical energy is delivered to a resistor in
the circuit is given by
– P=i2R
• i is the instantaneous current.
• The heating effect produced by an AC current with a maximum
value of Imax is not the same as that of a DC current of the same
value. Pav  Irms
2
R
• The maximum current occurs for a small amount of time.
– The average power delivered to a resistor that carries an
alternating current is
Inductors in an AC Circuit
•Kirchhoff’s loop rule
can be applied and
gives: Dv  Dv  0 , or
L

di
Dv  L 0
dt
di
Dv  L  DVmax sin ωt
dt
Current in an Inductor
•The equation obtained from Kirchhoff's
loop rule can be solved for the current
DVmax DV
iL 
L  sin ωt dt   max cos ωt
ωL
DVmax  π DVmax
iL  sin  ωt   I max 
ωL  2 ωL

•This shows that the instantaneous current iL

in the inductor and the instantaneous
voltage ΔvL across the inductor are out of
phase by (p/2) rad = 90o.
Phase Relationship of Inductors in an AC Circuit

•The current is a maximum when the

voltage across the inductor is zero.
– The current is momentarily not
changing
•For a sinusoidal applied voltage, the
current in an inductor always lags
behind the voltage across the
inductor by 90° (π/2).
Phasor Diagram for an Inductor
•The phasors are at 90o with
respect to each other.
•This represents the phase
difference between the current
and voltage.
•Specifically, the current lags
behind the voltage by 90o.
Inductive Reactance
•The factor ωL has the same units as resistance and is
related to current and voltage in the same way as
resistance.
•Because ωL depends on the frequency, it reacts differently,
in terms of offering resistance to current, for different
frequencies.
•The factor is the inductive reactance and is given by:
– XL = ωL
•Current can be expressed in terms of the inductive
reactance: I  DV or I  DV
max rms
max rms
XL XL

•As the frequency increases, the inductive reactance

increases
– This is consistent with Faraday’s Law:
• The larger the rate of change of the current in the inductor,
the larger the back emf, giving an increase in the reactance
and a decrease in the current.
Voltage Across the Inductor
•The instantaneous voltage across the inductor is
di
Dv L  L
dt
 DVmax sin ωt
  Imax X L sin ωt
Capacitors in an AC Circuit
•The circuit contains a
capacitor and an AC source.
•Kirchhoff’s loop rule gives:
Δv + Δvc = 0 and so
Δv = ΔvC = ΔVmax sin ωt
– Δvc is the instantaneous
voltage across the
capacitor.
•The charge is q = CΔVmax sin ωt
•The instantaneous current is given by
dq
iC   ωC DVmax cos ωt
dt
 π
or iC  ωC DVmax sin  ωt  
 2

•The current is p/2 rad = 90o out of phase with the voltage
•The current reaches its maximum value one
quarter of a cycle sooner than the voltage
reaches its maximum value.
•The current leads the voltage by 90o.
Phasor Diagram for Capacitor

•The phasor diagram shows

that for a sinusoidally applied
voltage, the current always
leads the voltage across a
capacitor by 90o.
Capacitive Reactance
•The maximum current in the circuit occurs at cos ωt =
1 which gives I  ωCDV  DV
max max
max
(1 / ωC )
1 DVmax
XC  which gives Imax 
ωC XC

•The impeding effect of a capacitor on the current in an

AC circuit is called the capacitive reactance and is given
by
Voltage Across a Capacitor
•The instantaneous voltage across the capacitor can be
written as ΔvC = ΔVmax sin ωt = Imax XC sin ωt.
•As the frequency of the voltage source increases, the
capacitive reactance decreases and the maximum current
increases.
•As the frequency approaches zero, XC approaches infinity
and the current approaches zero.
– This would act like a DC voltage and the capacitor
would act as an open circuit.
 The RLC Series Circuit
•The resistor, inductor, and
capacitor can be combined in
a circuit.
•The current and the voltage
in the circuit vary sinusoidally
with time.
•The instantaneous voltage would be given by Δv = ΔVmax sin ωt.
•The instantaneous current would be given by i = Imax sin (ωt - φ).
– φ is the phase angle between the current and the applied
voltage.
•Since the elements are in series, the current at all points in the
circuit has the same amplitude and phase.
i and v Phase Relationships – Graphical View
•The instantaneous voltage across the
resistor is in phase with the current.
•The instantaneous voltage across the
inductor leads the current by 90°.
•The instantaneous voltage across the
capacitor lags the current by 90°.
i and v Phase Relationships – Equations
•The instantaneous voltage across each of the three
circuit elements can be expressed as
Dv R  Imax R sin ωt  DVR sin ωt
 π
Dv L  Imax X L sin  ωt    DVL cos ωt
 2
 π
Dv C  Imax X C sin  ωt    DVC cos ωt
 2
•ΔVR is the maximum voltage across the resistor and ΔVR = ImaxR.
•ΔVL is the maximum voltage across the inductor and ΔVL = ImaxXL.
•ΔVC is the maximum voltage across the capacitor and ΔVC = ImaxXC.
•The sum of these voltages must equal the voltage from the AC
source.
•Because of the different phase relationships with the current, they
cannot be added directly.
Phasor Diagrams

•To account for the different phases of the voltage drops,

vector techniques are used.
•Remember the phasors are rotating vectors
•The phasors for the individual elements are shown.
Resulting Phasor Diagram
•The individual phasor diagrams
can be combined.
•Here a single phasor Imax is used
to represent the current in each
element.
– In series, the current is the
same in each element.
Vector Addition of the Phasor Diagram
•Vector addition is used to combine the
voltage phasors.
•ΔVL and ΔVC are in opposite directions, so
they can be combined.
•Their resultant is perpendicular to ΔVR.
•The resultant of all the individual voltages
across the individual elements is Δvmax.
– This resultant makes an angle of φ
with the current phasor Imax.
Total Voltage in RLC Circuits

•From the vector diagram, ΔVmax can be calculated

 
2
DVmax  DVR2  DVL  DVC

 ( Imax R )2   Imax X L  Imax X C 

2

DVmax  Imax R 2   X L  X C 
2
Impedance
•The current in an RLC circuit is
DVmax DVmax
Imax  
R 2   X L  XC  Z
2

•Z is called the impedance of the circuit and it plays the role

of resistance in the circuit, where
Z  R 2   X L  XC 
2

– Impedance has units of ohms

Phase Angle

•The right triangle in the phasor diagram can be used to

find the phase angle, φ (phi).
 X  XC 
φ  tan1  L 
 R 
•The phase angle can be positive or negative and
determines the nature of the circuit.
Determining the Nature of the Circuit
•If f is positive
– XL> XC (which occurs at high frequencies)
– The current lags the applied voltage.
– The circuit is more inductive than capacitive.
•If f is negative
– XL< XC (which occurs at low frequencies)
– The current leads the applied voltage.
– The circuit is more capacitive than inductive.
•If f is zero
– XL= XC
– The circuit is purely resistive.
Power in an AC Circuit
•The average power delivered by the AC source is converted
to internal energy in the resistor.
– Pavg = ½ Imax ΔVmax cos f = IrmsΔVrms cos f
– cos f is called the power factor of the circuit
•We can also find the average power in terms of R.
– Pavg = I2rmsR
•When the load is purely resistive, f  0 and cos f = 1
– Pavg = Irms ΔVrms
•The average power delivered by the source is converted to internal energy in the resistor.
•No power losses are associated with pure capacitors and pure inductors in an AC circuit.
– In a capacitor, during one-half of a cycle, energy is stored and during the other half
the energy is returned to the circuit and no power losses occur in the capacitor.
– In an inductor, the source does work against the back emf of the inductor and
energy is stored in the inductor, but when the current begins to decrease in the
circuit, the energy is returned to the circuit.
•The power delivered by an AC circuit depends on the phase.
•Some applications include using capacitors to shift the phase to heavy motors or other
inductive loads so that excessively high voltages are not needed.
Resonance in an AC Circuit
•Resonance occurs at the frequency ωo where the current has its maximum value.
– To achieve maximum current, the impedance must have a minimum value.
– This occurs when XL = XC
– Solving for the frequency gives
ωo  1
LC
•The resonance frequency also corresponds to the natural frequency of oscillation of
an LC circuit.
•The rms current has a maximum value when the frequency of the applied voltage
matches the natural oscillator frequency.
•At the resonance frequency, the current is in phase with the applied voltage.
•Resonance occurs at the
same frequency regardless of
the value of R.
•As R decreases, the curve
becomes narrower and taller.
•Theoretically, if R = 0 the
current would be infinite at
resonance.
– Real circuits always have
some resistance.
Power as a Function of Frequency

•Power can be expressed as a function of

frequency in an RLC circuit.
 DVrms 
2
Rω 2
Pav 
 
2
R 2ω 2  L2 ω 2  ωo2

•This shows that at resonance, the average

power is a maximum.
Sample Problems:
• A solenoid has an emf of 43.8V induced when the
current is changed by 12.5A in 0.100s. What is
the inductive reactance of this solenoid in 60hz
circuit. XL=132Ω
• What would be the voltage source if the
solenoid is connected in series with 2.5ohm
resistor at 0.24A? Vs=31.16V
• A coil has an inductance of 478µH.
What is its reactance in 1000Hz ac circuit?
3.00ohms if connected in series with a resistor
of 4.00ohms, what current would there be in
110V line with the same given frequency? I=22A
• What is the reactance of a 2.00µF capacitor on
a 110V, 60Hz line? Xc=1326Ω
• What is the current? I=0.08A
Exercise
*Upload your solution set in the space provided in schoology.

1. What is the reactance of a 3.00microfarad

capacitor? What is the impedance of the
capacitor in series of 300ohms?
2. What would be the current if the capacitor
and resistor are connected in series with
1200V line?