s-20ph13 - AC Circuits

AC circuits
Alternating Current
SETUP
source supplying a sinusoidally varying voltage
amplitude and angular frequency
circuit elements: resistor R, inductor L, capacitor C
their response to AC? current in the circuit?

How to measure AC?
rectified current
rectified average current

(produces equivalent total charge flow)
Graetz bridge
(full-wave rectifier)
Root-Mean-Square (rms) Values
time-dependent physical (scalar) quantity
(average over time)
rms of a sinusoidonal AC
(again, over one full cycle)

AC Circuits
circuit elements:
AC source, resistor R, inductor L, capacitor C
~
useful tool
complex numbers
Review: Complex Numbers
imaginary unit j
complex plane
algebraic form
(x, y are real numbers)
real part imaginary part
polar form
absolute value
Euler's formula
Basic Operations:
conjugation and addition
conjugation
addition
Basic Operations: multiplication
multiplication by the
imaginary unit
rotation by
Note
Analysis of AC Circuits: Idea
At any instant of time represent the AC by a complex number
Use the complex current in Ohm's law, formulas for potential

difference across inductor/capacitor, Kirchhoff's rules etc.
All physical (measurable) time-dependent quantities will be

associated with the real parts of their complex counterparts, e.g.
We will show that this time dependence of the current in the circuit
corresponds with sinusoidally varying voltage supplied by source
Why can we use this representation?

Resistor in an AC circuit
Ohm's law (macroscopic)
Im
real parts
Re
current and voltage in phase

Inductor in an AC circuit
potential difference across

inductor (watch the sign!)
derivative
real parts
Im
Re
voltage leads current by

(multiplication by j)
Capacitor in an AC circuit
complex quantity representing charge
corresponding (complex) voltage

Im
Re
voltage lags current by

(multiplication by -j)
Summary
(of what we know so far)
element voltage phase w.r.t. the current
resistor
inductor
capacitor
RLC series circuit
Im
Re
Kirchhoff's loop rule
complex where
impedance
Summary
Complex voltage and its real (measurable) part
Our initial guess for the form of the current was correct.
Relation between current and voltage
(and between their amplitudes)
where
(real) impedance
inductive capacitive
reactance reactance
(XL) (XC)
Why does the representation with
complex numbers work here?
All relationships that we use here are linear functions of
the current (including voltages across elements of the circuit),
or involve the time-derivative/integral of the current
(which are linear operations as well).
The real part (physical, measurable)

and the imaginary part do not mix.
Inductive Reactance
and Capacitive Reactance
Notice that, the higher the
frequency is, the smaller the
capacitive reactance, and the
larger the inductive reactance
Z is minimum when compare

DC current
AC current
(holds also for rms values)
Discussion and Application
In the low-frequency limit, the main contribution
to reactance is due to the capacitor; whereas
in the high- frequency limit, it is mostly the
inductor that contributes to reactance.
Loudspeaker system
In order to route signals of

different frequency to
the appropriate speaker,
the woofer and tweeter
are connected in parallel
across the amplifier.
The capacitor in the tweeter branch blocks the

low-frequency components of sound, but passes
the higher frequencies; the inductor in the woofer
branch does the opposite.
Power in AC Circuits:
single element
Instantaneous power delivered to a single circuit element
Resistive element only:

current and voltage in phase
The average power delivered to the resistor
For pure resistance is always positive

Power in AC Circuits:
single element
One element (either inductor

or capacitor) only:
The current and the voltage

out of phase by
The average power delivered to inductor/capacitor is zero

Power in AC Circuits: RLC
Im
If all elements are present, then the
current and the voltage out of phase by
Re
The average power delivered

into the RLC circuit
power factor
Resonance
in AC series LRC circuits
Impedance
and phase lag

resonance peak
Z is minimum when
What happens at
resonance frequency?
For
Im
we have
Re At the resonance frequency: voltage

amplitudes across inductor and capacitor
equal, but the phases differ by
Conclusion: The circuit behaves as if the capacitor

and inductor were not present. There is no
phase lag between the current and the voltage.
Conclusions
Driving a series LRC circuit with a sinusoidally-varying voltage
source, produces a sinusoidal current with the same,
frequency, but (in general) a non-zero phase shift.
The non-zero phase shift between the driving voltage and

the current is introduced by the capacitor and the inductor.
However, if the circuit is in resonance, the amplitudes of the
voltage across these elements are equal with a half-cycle
phase shift. Therefore, their contributions to the circuit's
impedance cancel out, and the current is in phase with
the driving voltage.
There is a strong current response to a sinusoidally varying

voltage at the resonance frequency: an AC LRC circuit can
be precisely tuned to respond to signals of specific frequency.

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AC circuits

amplitude and angular frequency

circuit elements: resistor R, inductor L, capacitor C

their response to AC? current in the circuit?

rectified average current

time-dependent physical (scalar) quantity

(average over time)

(again, over one full cycle)

real part imaginary part

Use the complex current in Ohm's law, formulas for potential

All physical (measurable) time-dependent quantities will be

Why can we use this representation?

Ohm's law (macroscopic)

current and voltage in phase

potential difference across

voltage leads current by

complex quantity representing charge

corresponding (complex) voltage

voltage lags current by

element voltage phase w.r.t. the current

Kirchhoff's loop rule

The real part (physical, measurable)

Z is minimum when compare

In order to route signals of

The capacitor in the tweeter branch blocks the

Resistive element only:

For pure resistance is always positive

One element (either inductor

The current and the voltage

The average power delivered to inductor/capacitor is zero

The average power delivered

and phase lag

Re At the resonance frequency: voltage

Conclusion: The circuit behaves as if the capacitor

The non-zero phase shift between the driving voltage and

There is a strong current response to a sinusoidally varying

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