Circuits Lab/JUST

December 5, 2007

Exp. 6: Sinusoidal AC Circuit Measurements

EE 316 – Section #4

Dr. Omar Qasaimeh

Report Prepared By:

 Dana Mohammed Tubishat – 20052171048

 Mahmoud Hassan Al-Qudsi – 20062171017

Lab Objectives

1. To become familiar with the design and analysis of AC electric circuits; in

particular to observe and measure the phase angles present by means of an

oscilloscope.

2. Applying the Sinusoidal Average Power Formula.

3. Analyzing and testing the Thevenin equivalent circuit with AC open-circuit

voltage and short-circuit current values.

4. Determining the AC circuit parameters for maximum power transfer.

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Experiment Theory & Procedure

Measuring the Phase Angle θ

In any given AC RLC circuit, there is an unavoidable shift phase shift in the voltage

and current outputs due to the inherent non-real impedance present in these circuit

elements.

Given any particular RLC circuit, like the one shown above, it is possible to plot the

voltage across any two nodes on an oscilloscope display; setting the first channel to

display the input (source) voltage from the function generator, along with a second

channel showing the voltage across any element in the remainder of the circuit.

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Δt is the time difference (the “lag”) between the two signals, while T is the total period

for the sinusoidal wave.

From this generic circuit and the drawing of its voltage readings from an oscilloscope,

it is possible to determine the value of the Phase Angle (θ) in degrees by means of the

following equation:

∆𝑡
𝜃= × 360°
𝑇

It is also possible to determine the Phase Angle θ by other method. By setting the

oscilloscope to operate in X-Y mode instead of Voltage-Time display mode, it becomes

possible to plot the two signals against one-another, making it possible to directly

obtain the Phase Angle, θ, as follows:

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In the oscilloscope display above, there are four parameters that need to be taken into

consideration to correctly measure the phase angle: Xi (X-intercept), Xm (X-

maximum), Yi (Y-intercept), and finally Ym (Y-maximum). Θ can be obtained from

either the X or Y values, using one of the two formulas below:

𝑋𝑖
𝜃 = sin−1
𝑋𝑚

𝑌𝑖
𝜃 = sin−1
𝑌𝑚

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It is important to note that the value of the phase angle θ obtained in all three

equations should be the same.

Calculating Average Power Dissipation

It is possible to calculate the average power dissipation in both the RL and RC

branches by means of these two equations:

1
𝑃= 𝑉 𝐼 cos 𝜃
2 𝑠𝑚 𝑚

1 2
𝑃= 𝐼 𝑅
2 𝑚

Vsm and Im respectively represent the maximum source voltage (v-peak) and the

𝑉
current passing through the branch in question (generally,𝑅 ). Θ is the phase angle

(also known as the power-factor) for the branch for which the average power

dissipation is being calculated.

In an ideal circuit composed of reactive elements (capacitors and inductors), the

average power dissipation over any given period of time is zero; as a result of their

intrinsic behavior which simply converts power (and therefore energy) from one form

to another, without actually using any of it. For that reason, the average power

dissipation in a given RL or RC branch is equal to the power dissipated by the non-

reactive elements present, in this case, the resistors. In other words, the presence of

reactive elements in a branch is ignored in the measurement of average power

dissipation in an ideal circuit.

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Determining the Thevenin Equivalent Circuit

All basic current and voltage laws that apply to DC circuit analysis are also fully-

applicable to AC circuits as well. Chief of these is the Thevenin equivalent circuit,

which can be used to replace any linear circuit, no matter how complex, with a simple

circuit consisting of no more than a voltage source and a resistor. In an AC circuit, the

only difference is that instead of a voltage source and resistance, a voltage source and

impedance will be used.

For the circuit above, it is possible to determine the Thevenin equivalent circuit as

seen by the general impedance “Z” (or the circuit between points ‘a’ and ‘b’).

The same steps used to determine the parameters for the DC Thevenin equivalent
circuit are also used to find its AC counterpart:

1. Find Vth by removing “Z” from the circuit and attaching an oscilloscope or
DMM across points ‘a’ and ‘b’. The RMS value will be presented on the DMM’s
display, and the frequency will be the same as the original input frequency.
2. Find ISC by checking the current across points ‘a’ and ‘b’ with a DMM.
3. Calculate Zth as follows:
𝑉𝑡ℎ
𝑍𝑇𝐻 =
𝐼𝑆𝐶

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The final Thevenin circuit will be as follows:

Finding the Maximum Power Transfer

According to the Maximum Power Transfer Theorem, or Jacobi’s law, the power that

can be transferred in a circuit with a fixed internal resistance is when the external

(load) resistance was equal to the internal resistance.

This same law is applicable to all AC circuits in a similar manner. When the load in a

RLC circuit has the same impedance as the internal impedance, maximum power

transfer is achieved. As such, this process is known as impedance matching.

As discussed in the previous section, the internal (fixed) impedance in an AC RLC

circuit is Zth; as was calculated above. In this case, the maximum power transfer can be

achieved when the impedance Z (in the circuit above) or, more generically, Zload is

equal to Zth.

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Results

Following the procedures above, the following values were determined:

Part 1

For the following circuit:

The 5.7 volt power supply is a 16V peak-to-peak function generator set at 400Hz.

Measured values:

 R1: 1.24 kΩ

 R2: 1.23 kΩ

 Rdc: 152.8 Ω (inductor resistance)

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RL (Inductance) Branch Readings

The oscilloscope reading for this circuit (ideal simulation with Multisim, not the actual

reading!):

Actual measured values (from the lab) for the RL (inductance) branch:

𝑉
 𝐼𝐿 = 𝑅1 = 2.66 mA
1

 ∆t: 0.44 ms

 T: 2.5 ms

∆𝑡
 𝜃= × 360° = 63.36°
𝑇

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And in X-Y Mode:

𝑋𝑖
 𝜃 = sin−1 = 60.27°
𝑋𝑚

𝑌𝑖
 𝜃 = sin−1 = 61.0°
𝑌𝑚

RL (Capacitance) Branch Readings

And for the RC (capacitance) branch:

𝑉
 𝐼𝐶 = 𝑅2 = 3.33 mA
2

 ∆t: 0.4 ms

 T: 2.5 ms

∆𝑡
 𝜃= × 360° = 57.6°
𝑇

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And when the oscilloscope is operating in X-Y mode:

𝑋𝑖
 𝜃 = sin−1 = 60.0°
𝑋𝑚

𝑌𝑖
 𝜃 = sin−1 = 63.82°
𝑌𝑚

Average Power Dissipation

For the RL branch:

1 1
𝑃𝐿 = 𝑉𝑠𝑚 𝐼𝑚 cos 𝜃 = (8)(2.66 × 10−3 ) cos 60 = 5𝑚𝑊
2 2

1 1
𝑃𝐿 = 𝐼𝑚 2 𝑅 = 2.66 × 10−3 2
1200 = 4.2𝑚𝑊
2 2

For the RC branch:

1 1
𝑃𝐶 = 𝑉𝑠𝑚 𝐼𝑚 cos 𝜃 = (8)(3.33 × 10−3 ) cos 60 = 6.66𝑚𝑊
2 2

1 2 1
𝑃𝐶 = 𝐼𝑚 𝑅 = 3.33 × 10−3 2
1200 = 6.6𝑚𝑊
2 2

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Part 2

For the following circuit:

Measured resistances for this circuit:

 R1: 1.24 kΩ

 R2: 470 Ω

 R3: 3.24 kΩ

 Rdc: 50 Ω

Using the same methods employed in the previous section (oscilloscope in X-Y and

Voltage-Time modes) for the measurement of the voltage across each element in the

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circuit combined with the phase angle for that measurement, the following values

were obtained:

Element Voltage (V) Phase Angle (°)

1 4.4 39.5

2 1.6 -55.7

3 4.4 -43

ab 4 25.1

L 3.4 61

C 2.15 51.8

According to Kirchhoff’s Voltage and Current laws (which, like all other core circuit

analysis techniques, are applicable in both AC and DC circuits) state the voltages

measured balance one-another out, particularly:

𝑉𝑎𝑏 = 𝑉𝐿 + 𝑉2 = 𝑉𝑐 + 𝑉3

𝑉1 + 𝑉2 + 𝑉𝐿 − 𝑉𝑠 = 0

The readings obtained in the lab:

Vab VL + V 2 VC + V 3 Vs V1 + V 2 + VL V1 + V 3 + V C

4 5 6.55 8 9.4 10.95

I1 = V1/R1 I2 = V2/R2 I3 = V3/R3 I1 – I2 – I3

3.6 mA 3.4 mA 1.3 mA -1.1 mA

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Part 3

For the following circuit:

Measured values in the process of determining the Thevenin equivalent circuit for the

original circuit shown above:

VOC θOC ISC θSC ZTH= VOC/ISC ZTH*

6 5.8° 1.6 mA 53.13° 3.75K 47.33 3.75K -47.33

Maximum power transfer is achieved when Z is equal to ZTH, or at approximately 3.75

kΩ.

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Discussion of Results

In this particular experiment, the measured results as taken in the laboratory were not

particularly close to the expected theoretical results that were obtained a simulation of

the circuits involved.

In dealing with reactive circuit components, such as inductors and capacitors, there is

a relatively-large discrepancy between the idealized theoretical results and the actual

outcome of the experiment due to the non-reactive resistance present in these real-life

components, which adds a fairly significant amount of excess power dissipation and

influences the actual impedance of the circuit.

All circuit drawings and depicted outputs/results in this report were obtained by

replicating the actual experiment in a simulator, and indicate the idealized, theoretical

output. The simulations performed (and the screen captures of the oscilloscope output

displays) were conducted using Multisim 10.1.

With regards to the expected outcome as determined by theoretical calculations and

idealized simulations in Multisim, there were several discrepancies. In particular, the

results obtained for the phase shifts in the first section show considerable deviation

from the expected output. In particular, the results obtained in the balancing of

current and voltage in the second section is not in-line with the expected outcome.

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Conclusion

This experiment served to verify the laws governing the analysis of AC circuits, and

successfully resulted in the analysis of the phase shift angles in multiple circuits (in

the first and second portions of the experiment procedure) and the determining of the

correct Thevenin equivalent circuit (and with it, the maximum power transfer

parameters) in the final part of the experiment.

In the first section, the presence of a systematic error that offset our results by a

consistent value was observed. In all six measurements of the phase angle,

approximately the same phase angle was determined (at or around 60 degrees);

though that value is not consistent with the theoretical measurements. This indicates

a constant factor that led to incorrect but consistent results, in keeping with the core

definition of a systemic error.

Through this experiment, it was possible to perform impedance matching leading to

the successful determination of the maximum power transfer values, which is an

important calculation to be able to obtain the highest quality of a large output signal

for any given AC linear circuit with a fixed internal impedance/resistance.

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