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PhasorDiagramsandPhasorAlgebra
ThePhasorDiagram
In the last tutorial, we saw that sinusoidal waveforms of the same frequency can have a Phase Difference
(http://www.electronicstutorials.ws/accircuits/phasedifference.html) between themselves which represents the
angular difference of the two sinusoidal waveforms.Also the terms lead and lag as well as inphase and
outofphase were used to indicate the relationship of one waveform to the other with the generalized
sinusoidalexpressiongivenas:A(t)=Amsin(t)representingthesinusoidinthetimedomainform.
But when presented mathematically in this way it is sometimes difficult to visualise this angular or phasor difference
betweentwoormoresinusoidalwaveforms.Onewaytoovercomethisproblemistorepresentthesinusoidsgraphically
withinthespacialorphasordomainformbyusingPhasorDiagrams,andthisisachievedbytherotatingvectormethod.
Basically a rotating vector, simply called a Phasor is a scaled line whose length represents anAC quantity that has
bothmagnitude(peakamplitude)anddirection(phase)whichisfrozenatsomepointintime.
Aphasorisavectorthathasanarrowheadatoneendwhichsignifiespartlythemaximumvalueofthevectorquantity
(VorI)andpartlytheendofthevectorthatrotates.
Generally, vectors are assumed to pivot at one end around a fixed zero point known as the point of origin while the
arrowedendrepresentingthequantity,freelyrotatesinananticlockwisedirectionatanangularvelocity,( )ofonefull
revolution for every cycle.This anticlockwise rotation of the vector is considered to be a positive rotation. Likewise, a
clockwiserotationisconsideredtobeanegativerotation.
Althoughtheboththetermsvectorsandphasorsareusedtodescribearotatinglinethatitselfhasbothmagnitudeand
direction, the main difference between the two is that a vectors magnitude is the peak value of the sinusoid while a
phasorsmagnitudeisthermsvalueofthesinusoid.Inbothcasesthephaseangleanddirectionremainsthesame.
Thephaseofanalternatingquantityatanyinstantintimecanberepresentedbyaphasordiagram,sophasordiagrams
can be thought of as functions of time. A complete sine wave can be constructed by a single vector rotating at an
angular velocity of = 2, where is the frequency of the waveform. Then a Phasor is a quantity that has both
Magnitude and Direction. Generally, when constructing a phasor diagram, angular velocity of a sine wave is always
assumedtobe:inrad/s.Considerthephasordiagrambelow.

PhasorDiagramofaSinusoidalWaveform

PhasorDiagramofaSinusoidalWaveform

Asthesinglevectorrotatesinananticlockwisedirection,itstipatpointAwillrotateonecompleterevolutionof360o or
2representingonecompletecycle.Ifthelengthofitsmovingtipistransferredatdifferentangularintervalsintimetoa
graphasshownabove,asinusoidalwaveformwouldbedrawnstartingattheleftwithzerotime.Eachpositionalongthe
horizontal axis indicates the time that has elapsed since zero time, t = 0. When the vector is horizontal the tip of the
vectorrepresentstheanglesat0o,180oandat360o.
Likewise, when the tip of the vector is vertical it represents the positive peak value, ( +Am ) at 90o or /2 and the
negativepeakvalue,(Am)at270oor3/2.Thenthetimeaxisofthewaveformrepresentstheangleeitherindegrees
orradiansthroughwhichthephasorhasmoved.Sowecansaythataphasorrepresentascaledvoltageorcurrentvalue
ofarotatingvectorwhichisfrozenatsomepointintime,(t)andinourexampleabove,thisisatanangleof30o.
Sometimeswhenweareanalysingalternatingwaveformswemayneedtoknowthepositionofthephasor,representing
theAlternatingQuantityatsomeparticularinstantintimeespeciallywhenwewanttocomparetwodifferentwaveforms
onthesameaxis.Forexample,voltageandcurrent.Wehaveassumedinthewaveformabovethatthewaveformstarts
attimet=0withacorrespondingphaseangleineitherdegreesorradians.
Butifasecondwaveformstartstotheleftortotherightofthiszeropointorwewanttorepresentinphasornotationthe
relationshipbetweenthetwowaveformsthenwewillneedtotakeintoaccountthisphasedifference,ofthewaveform.
Consider
the
diagram
below
from
the
previous
Phase
Difference
(http://www.electronics
tutorials.ws/accircuits/phasedifference.html)tutorial.

PhaseDifferenceofaSinusoidalWaveform


Thegeneralisedmathematicalexpressiontodefinethesetwosinusoidalquantitieswillbewrittenas:

Thecurrent,iislaggingthevoltage,vbyangle and in our example above this is 30o. So the difference between the
twophasorsrepresentingthetwosinusoidalquantitiesisangleandtheresultingphasordiagramwillbe.

PhasorDiagramofaSinusoidalWaveform

Thephasordiagramisdrawncorrespondingtotimezero(t=0)onthehorizontalaxis.Thelengthsofthephasorsare
proportionaltothevaluesofthevoltage,(V)andthecurrent,(I)attheinstantintimethatthephasordiagramisdrawn.
The current phasor lags the voltage phasor by the angle, , as the two phasors rotate in an anticlockwise direction as
statedearlier,thereforetheangle,isalsomeasuredinthesameanticlockwisedirection.
If however, the waveforms are frozen at time t = 30o, the corresponding
phasordiagramwouldlookliketheoneshownontheright.Onceagainthe
currentphasorlagsbehindthevoltagephasorasthetwowaveformsareof
thesamefrequency.
However,asthecurrentwaveformisnowcrossingthehorizontalzeroaxis
line at this instant in time we can use the current phasor as our new
reference and correctly say that the voltage phasor is leading the current
phasorbyangle,.Eitherway,onephasorisdesignatedasthereference
phasor and all the other phasors will be either leading or lagging with
respecttothisreference.

PhasorAddition
Sometimes it is necessary when studying sinusoids to add together two alternating waveforms, for example in anAC
seriescircuit,thatarenotinphasewitheachother.Iftheyareinphasethatis,thereisnophaseshiftthentheycanbe
addedtogetherinthesamewayasDCvaluestofindthealgebraicsumofthetwovectors.Forexample,iftwovoltages
ofsay50voltsand25voltsrespectivelyaretogetherinphase,theywilladdorsumtogethertoformonevoltageof75
volts.
If however, they are not inphase that is, they do not have identical directions or starting point then the phase angle
between them needs to be taken into account so they are added together using phasor diagrams to determine their
ResultantPhasororVectorSumbyusingtheparallelogramlaw.

ConsidertwoACvoltages,V1havingapeakvoltageof20volts,andV2havingapeakvoltageof30voltswhereV1leads
V2 by 60o.The total voltage, VT of the two voltages can be found by firstly drawing a phasor diagram representing the
twovectorsandthenconstructingaparallelograminwhichtwoofthesidesarethevoltages,V1andV2asshownbelow.

PhasorAdditionoftwoPhasors

Bydrawingoutthetwophasorstoscaleontographpaper,theirphasorsumV1+V2canbeeasilyfoundbymeasuring
thelengthofthediagonalline,knownastheresultantrvector,fromthezeropointtotheintersectionoftheconstruction
lines0A.Thedownsideofthisgraphicalmethodisthatitistimeconsumingwhendrawingthephasorstoscale.Also,
whilethisgraphicalmethodgivesananswerwhichisaccurateenoughformostpurposes,itmayproduceanerrorifnot
drawn accurately or correctly to scale. Then one way to ensure that the correct answer is always obtained is by an
analyticalmethod.
Mathematicallywecanaddthetwovoltagestogetherbyfirstlyfindingtheirverticalandhorizontaldirections,andfrom
thiswecanthencalculateboththeverticalandhorizontalcomponentsfortheresultantrvector,VT.This analytical
methodwhichusesthecosineandsineruletofindthisresultantvalueiscommonlycalledtheRectangularForm.
In the rectangular form, the phasor is divided up into a real part, x and an imaginary part, y forming the generalised
expression Z = x jy. ( we will discuss this in more detail in the next tutorial ). This then gives us a mathematical
expressionthatrepresentsboththemagnitudeandthephaseofthesinusoidalvoltageas:

DefinitionofaComplexSinusoid

Sotheadditionoftwovectors,AandBusingthepreviousgeneralisedexpressionisasfollows:

PhasorAdditionusingRectangularForm

Voltage,V2of30voltspointsinthereferencedirectionalongthehorizontalzeroaxis,thenithasahorizontalcomponent
butnoverticalcomponentasfollows.
HorizontalComponent=30cos0o=30volts
VerticalComponent=30sin0o=0volts
ThisthengivesustherectangularexpressionforvoltageV2of:30+j0
Voltage,V1of20voltsleadsvoltage,V2by60o,thenithasbothhorizontalandverticalcomponentsasfollows.
HorizontalComponent=20cos60o=20x0.5=10volts
VerticalComponent=20sin60o=20x0.866=17.32volts
ThisthengivesustherectangularexpressionforvoltageV1of:10+j17.32
Theresultantvoltage,VTisfoundbyaddingtogetherthehorizontalandverticalcomponentsasfollows.

VHorizontal=sumofrealpartsofV1andV2=30+10=40volts
VVertical=sumofimaginarypartsofV1andV2=0+17.32=17.32volts
Nowthatboththerealandimaginaryvalueshavebeenfoundthemagnitudeofvoltage,VTisdeterminedbysimplyusing
PythagorassTheoremfora90otriangleasfollows.

Thentheresultingphasordiagramwillbe:

ResultantValueofVT

PhasorSubtraction
Phasorsubtractionisverysimilartotheaboverectangularmethodofaddition,exceptthistimethevectordifferenceis
theotherdiagonaloftheparallelogrambetweenthetwovoltagesofV1andV2asshown.

VectorSubtractionoftwoPhasors

Thistimeinsteadofaddingtogetherboththehorizontalandverticalcomponentswetakethemaway,subtraction.

The3PhasePhasorDiagram
Previously we have only looked at singlephaseAC waveforms where a single multiturn coil rotates within a magnetic
field.Butifthreeidenticalcoilseachwiththesamenumberofcoilturnsareplacedatanelectricalangleof120otoeach
otheronthesamerotorshaft,athreephasevoltagesupplywouldbegenerated.Abalancedthreephasevoltagesupply
consists of three individual sinusoidal voltages that are all equal in magnitude and frequency but are outofphase with
eachotherbyexactly120oelectricaldegrees.
StandardpracticeistocolourcodethethreephasesasRed,YellowandBlue to identify each individual phase with the
redphaseasthereferencephase.Thenormalsequenceofrotationforathreephasesupplyis Red followed by Yellow
followedbyBlue,(R,Y,B).

Aswiththesinglephasephasorsabove,thephasorsrepresentingathreephasesystemalsorotateinananticlockwise
directionaroundacentralpointasindicatedbythearrowmarked inrad/s.Thephasorsforathreephasebalancedstar
ordeltaconnectedsystemareshownbelow.

ThreephasePhasorDiagram

The phase voltages are all equal in magnitude but only differ in their phase angle. The three windings of the coils are
connectedtogetheratpoints,a1,b1andc 1toproduceacommonneutralconnectionforthethreeindividualphases.Then
if the red phase is taken as the reference phase each individual phase voltage can be defined with respect to the
commonneutralas.

ThreephaseVoltageEquations

Iftheredphasevoltage,VRNistakenasthereferencevoltageasstatedearlierthenthephasesequencewillbeRY
BsothevoltageintheyellowphaselagsVRNby120o,andthevoltageinthebluephaselagsVYNalsoby120o.Butwe
canalsosaythebluephasevoltage,VBNleadstheredphasevoltage,VRNby120o.
Onefinalpointaboutathreephasesystem.Asthethreeindividualsinusoidalvoltageshaveafixedrelationshipbetween
eachotherof120otheyaresaidtobebalancedtherefore,inasetofbalancedthreephasevoltagestheirphasorsum
willalwaysbezeroas:Va+Vb+Vc=0

PhasorDiagramSummary

PhasorDiagramSummary
ThentosummarizethistutorialaboutPhasorDiagrams.
Intheirsimplestterms,phasordiagramsareaprojectionofarotatingvectorontoahorizontalaxiswhichrepresentsthe
instantaneous value.As a phasor diagram can be drawn to represent any instant of time and therefore any angle, the
referencephasorofanalternatingquantityisalwaysdrawnalongthepositivexaxisdirection.
Vectors,PhasorsandPhasorDiagramsONLYapplytosinusoidalACwaveforms.
APhasorDiagramcanbeusedtorepresenttwoormorestationarysinusoidalquantitiesatanyinstantintime.
Generallythereferencephasorisdrawnalongthehorizontalaxisandatthatinstantintimetheotherphasorsare
drawn.Allphasorsaredrawnreferencedtothehorizontalzeroaxis.
Phasordiagramscanbedrawntorepresentmorethantwosinusoids.Theycanbeeithervoltage,currentorsome
otheralternatingquantitybutthefrequencyofallofthemmustbethesame.
Allphasorsaredrawnrotatinginananticlockwisedirection.Allthephasorsaheadofthereferencephasoraresaid
tobeleadingwhileallthephasorsbehindthereferencephasoraresaidtobelagging.
Generally,thelengthofaphasorrepresentstheR.M.S.valueofthesinusoidalquantityratherthanitsmaximum
value.
Sinusoidsofdifferentfrequenciescannotberepresentedonthesamephasordiagramduetothedifferentspeed
ofthevectors.Atanyinstantintimethephaseanglebetweenthemwillbedifferent.
Twoormorevectorscanbeaddedorsubtractedtogetherandbecomeasinglevector,calledaResultantVector.
The horizontal side of a vector is equal to the real or x vector. The vertical side of a vector is equal to the
imaginaryoryvector.Thehypotenuseoftheresultantrightangledtriangleisequivalenttothervector.
Inathreephasebalancedsystemeachindividualphasorisdisplacedby120o.
In the next tutorial about AC Theory we will look at representing sinusoidal waveforms as Complex Numbers
(http://www.electronicstutorials.ws/accircuits/complexnumbers.html) in Rectangular form, Polar form and
Exponentialform.
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NumbersandPhasors(http://www.electronicstutorials.ws/accircuits/complexnumbers.html)

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11ResponsestoPhasorDiagramsandPhasorAlgebra
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TrondToftevaag
Hello,
Whichtoolisusedformakingthephasordiagramsinthisarticle?
Reply(http://www.electronicstutorials.ws/accircuits/phasors.html?replytocom=11436#respond)

March26th,2016(http://www.electronicstutorials.ws/accircuits/phasors.html/commentpage2#comment11436)

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