Phasors and AC Circuit Problems

Phasors reduce AC Circuit problems to simple, if often tedious, vector addition and subtraction problems and provide a nice graphical way of thinking of the solution. In these problems, a power supply is connected to a circuit containing some combination of resistors, capacitors, and inductors. It is common for the characteristics of the power supply, V max and frequency , to be given. The unknown quantity would be the characteristics of the current leaving the power supply, I max and the phase angle relative to the power supply. To solve one needs only to follow the rules: 1. Circuit elements in parallel share the same voltage. 2. Circuit elements in series share the same current. 3. Do one branch of the circuit at a time. 4. Maintain the phase relationships given in Figure 5. 5. Use Ohm's Law V = IZ where Z is the equivalent impedance of any combination of circuit elements being considered. Consider the following example. The emf for the circuit in Figure 6 is = 10sin(1000t). Find the current delivered to the circuit. Find the equivalent impedance of the circuit. Find the equation of the current and voltage drop for each element of the circuit.

Figure 6

Step 1. Determine the reactance and assign a current to each branch of the circuit. First we determine the reactance: XC = 1/C = 1/[1000 rad/s 10 F] = 100 , And XL = L = 1000 rad/s 40 mH = 40 .Next we assign a current to each branch of the circuit.

Figure 7

Step 2. Use the phase relationships to determine the impedance of the circuit one piece at a time. The branch with current I2 is easy. Since current and voltage drop are in phase for resistors, we have

V2 = (20 )I2 .
The branch carrying I1 needs more work. Since the current is common we draw a diagram that indicates the appropriate phase relationships. We need to find the equivalent impedance Z1 and the phase angle 1 that we can use to replace the capacitor/resistor combination.

Figure 8

Using the Pythagorean Theorem and trigonometry, we find the impedance of the branch

and the phase angle

As we see from Figure 8, the current I1 leads V1 by 63.4. Now these two branches containing the 20 resistor and Z1 are in parallel, that is V1 = V2 = V. Since the voltage is common we draw a diagram like the following to find the equivalent impedance Z12 and phase angle 12.

Figure 9

To do the vector addition, we will treat the voltage vector as the x-axis. Then

and

Thus

Hence the equivalent impedance of the two arms together is Z12 = 18.319 . The phase angle is

As we see from Figure 9, the current leads the voltage.

Next the current I12 equals I and this current passes through the 100 resistor, the impedance Z12, and XL. Figure 10 shows the appropriate diagram for determining the total circuit's equivalent impedance Zeq and phase angle f.

Figure 10

To do the vector addition, we will treat the current vector as the x-axis. Then

and

Thus

Hence the equivalent impedance of the circuit together is Zeq = 123.9 . The phase angle is

As can be seen from Figure 10, the voltage leads the current. Since max = 10 Volts, we have Imax = max/Z = 10/123.875 A = 80.73 mA. The requested equation for the current is

I = (80.73 mA)sin(t 17.53) .

Step 3. Find the current or voltage for each piece using the phase relationship and Ohm's Law. The battery current passes through the 100 resistor and the inductor. Using Ohm's Law, the voltage drop across the 100 resistor is

V100 = IR = (8.073 V) sin(t 17.53) .

For the inductor

VLmax = ImaxXL = 80.73 mA 40 = 3.229 Volts .

The phase relation between VL and I yields

VL = VLmaxsin(t 17.53 + 90) = (3.229 V) sin(t + 72.47) .

The maximum voltage drop across Z12 is

Vmax = ImaxZ12 = 80.73 mA 18.319 = 1.479 Volts.

Since the voltage lags I by 12, we find

V = Vmaxsin(t 17.53 - 12) = (1.479 V) sin(t 25.96) .

From here on we reverse the steps we took to find Z12 in the first place. By definition, the voltage drop across Z12 is also the voltage across the 20 resistor. The maximum current through the resistor will be

I2max = Vmax/R = 1.479 V / 20 = 73.95 mA .

The equation for this current is

I2 = (73.95 mA) sin(t 25.96) .

The voltage V is also the potential drop across Z1. The maximum current in this branch is

I1max = Vmax/Z1 = 1.479 V / 111.803 = 13.23 mA .

Recalling the phase information we derived for Z1, the current formula will be

I1 = I1max sin(t 25.96 + f1 = (13.23 mA) sin(t + 37.48) .

This in turn is the current through the capacitor and 50 resistor. The maximum voltage drop over the capacitor is

VCmax = I2maxXC = 13.23 mA 100 &Ohms; = 1.323 Volts .

We know that VC must lag I1 by 90. Hence the equation for the voltage will be

VC = VCmaxsin(t + 37.48 - 90) = (1.323 V) sin(t 52.52) .

Finally the maximum voltage drop over the 50 resistor will be

V50max = I2maxR50 = 13.23 mA 50 &Ohms; = 0.661 Volts.

Current and voltage are in phase for a resistor, so the equation will be

V50 = (0.661 V) sin(t + 37.48) .

Summarizing

Element Power Supply 100 Resistor 40 mH Inductor Z12 20 Resistor Z1 10 F Capacitor 50 Resistor

Voltage (10 V)sin(t) (8.073 V) sin(t 17.53) (3.229 V) sin(t + 72.47) (1.479 V) sin(t 25.96) (1.479 V) sin(t 25.96) (1.479 V) sin(t 25.96) (1.323 V) sin(t 52.52) (0.661 V) sin(t + 37.48)

Current (80.73 mA)sin(t 17.53) (80.73 mA)sin(t 17.53) (80.73 mA)sin(t 17.53) (80.73 mA)sin(t 17.53) (73.94 mA) sin(t 25.96) (13.23 mA) sin(t + 37.48) (13.23 mA) sin(t + 37.48) (13.23 mA) sin(t + 37.48)

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