EE

314 Power Lab

Experiment 1 Power, Phasors, Impedance in AC Circuits

By: Sabrina Sandoval
Partners: Eduardo Antunez, Cruz Olivares
Date: Tuesday, January 20, 2015



Power in AC Circuits

Objective
To discover how to improve the power factor and find the active, reactive, and
apparent power in an inductive load through basic current and voltage
measurements.

Procedure Power in AC Circuits

1. In addition to the power supply we installed the following necessary
modules: resistive, inductive, and capacitive
2. We connected the power to a three-phase wall receptacle (i.e- the voltmeter
was connected across node 4 and neutral)
3. We then connected the following circuit. The resistive and inductive load
modules were connected in parallel















4. We then connected the main power supply to our computer station and ran
configuration ES15-1
5. The voltage was set to 120V. The resistance and inductance were both set to
100.
6. After the power supply was turned on, our metering window yielded the
following values:
E = 114.8 V, I= 1.695 A, P= 143.1 W

7. After turning off the power supply, our team then modified the circuit by adding
capacitive reactance in parallel with our load as shown in the figure below. All switches
were initially set to the open position.

7. We turned the power back on, and begin adding capacitance by closing each
switch on the module one at a time and recording the values upon each addition.
8. We then recorded our data for the RLC Circuit. See next section for
data/calculations.
9. Then, we adjusted our circuit so the capacitive load was 100, which yielded the
minimum line current.
10. See the next section for data/calculations concerning minimum line current.
Calculations/Data RL Circuit
The following equations and calculations were performed using our teams measured
values E = 114.8 V, I= 1.695 A, P= 143.1 W:
Apparent Power, S
S=ExI
S = 114.8V(1.695A) = 194.586 VA
Power Factor, PF
PF = cos = P/S
Reactive Power, Q

PF = 0.735 0.74

Q = S2 P2

Q = (194.586)2 (143.1)2 = 131.856 Vars

Do the values calculated above demonstrate a low power factor and a notable amount of
reactive power for the simulated motor load?
Yes.
Calculations/Data Capacitive reactance added (RLC Circuit)
E (Volts)
I ( Amps)
0
116.2
1.72
1
116.53
1.66
2
116.4
1.55
3
116.39
1.38
4
116.3
1.35
5
116.34
1.32
6
116.34
1.34
7
116.46
1.36
8
116.35
1.44
9
116.31
1.64

P (Watts)
146.51
147.65
147.38
147.57
147.9
147.49
147.05
147.49
147.51
147.53

As can be seen from the graph, the current begins decreasing, then ceases to decrease and
begins to increase as more capacitance is added to the circuit.
Calculations/Data Minimum Line Current (RLC)

E = 115.7 V, I = 1.303A, P = 145.1W

Xc= 1 / 2fC = 1/(2*60Hz*100) = 2.56x10-5

Apparent Power, S
S=ExI
S = 115.7V(1.303A) = 150.757 VA
Power Factor, PF
PF = cos = P/S

PF = (145.1)/(150.757) = 0.962 0.96

Reactive Power, Q
Q = S2 P2

Q = (150.757)2 (145.1)2 = 40.910 Vars

Has the reactive power consumed by the circuit decreased between step 9 (RL Circuit)
and 18 (RLC Circuit)?
The reactive power consumed by the circuit has significantly decreased from the
previous RL-Circuit calculations.
Has the line current been reduced by a significant amount with the addition of
capacitance? No.
Is the active power consumed by the RL Load approximately the same with and without
capacitance? Yes, but it is not exactly the same, but approximate.
Conclusion
We determined the active, reactive, and apparent power of an inductive load, then
observed the effects of adding capacitance to the circuit. In adding capacitance to the load
the power factor increased from 0.74 to 0.96. This means that adding capacitance
improved the power factor since, ideally, wed like to reach unity power factor. Adding
capacitance also did not significantly change the amount of active power consumed by
the load, which aids in a more efficient power supply system.
Review Questions
1. An electromagnet draws 3kW of active power and 4 kvars of inductive reactive
power. What s the apparent power? 5 kVA
2. What is the power factor cos for the electromagnet in Question 1? 0.60
3. A capacitor drawing 4 kvars of reactive power is plced in parallel with the
electromagnet in Question 1. How does this effect the apparent power and the
power factor? Apparent power remains the same and the cos decreases.
4. What is the formula used to determine reactive power Q? Q = S2-P2
5. A capacitor drawing 8 kvars is placed in parallel with an electromagnet that draws
3 kW of active power and 4 kvars of reactive power Q provided by the ac power
source and the power factor cos ? Q goes from +4 to -4 kvars and cos is
less than unity.

Impedance
Objective
To determine and demonstrate the impedance of ac circuits as outline by our lab manual.

Procedure
1. In addition to the power supply we installed the following necessary
modules: resistive, inductive, and capacitive
2. We connected the power to a three-phase wall receptacle (i.e- the voltmeter
was connected across node 4 and neutral)
3. We then constructed the circuit below with the resistive and inductive
components connected in parallel. We set the resistance to 80, the inductance
to 60, and the voltage to 120V.
Is = 1.0 A
R = 80
XL = 60
Line voltage = 120 V

Circuit for figure 5-19

4. We then connected the main power supply to our computer station and ran
configuration ES15-4, resulting in the following values given in the next section.
5. After completing our measurements we replaced the inductive reactance with
capacitive reactance. Both the capacitor and resistor was set to 60 .
6. After recording values for the previous step, we constructed an RLC series circuit
shown below. The values of the resistance, inductance, and capacitance were set
to 80, 60 and 120 respectively.

7. After recording values for the above circuit, we constructed the RL parallel circuit
shown below. The values of the resistance, inductance, and source voltage were set to
80, 60 and 120V respectively.

7. After recording values for the above circuit, we substituted the inductor for a
capacitor, creating an RC parallel circuit with the same values given previously.
8. Finally, we set up the below RLC parallel circuit with the resistance, inductance,
and capacitance values to 80, 80, and 60 respectively.

Calculations/Data Figure 5-19 Circuit

Measured Values
Es= 115.4 V
ER= 86.14 V
EL= 66.02

Z = 109.0
R = 81.19
XL = 61.55

Impedance, Z

Z = R2+XL = 101.88
= arctan XL/R = 61.55 / 81.19 = 0.758
Circuit Voltages, Es, ER, EL
Es-IsZ = 0 ES=ISZ ES=(1.0A)(101.88) = 101.88 V
ER-ISR = 0 ER= ISR ER= (1.0A)(80) = 80 V
EL-ISXL=0 EL= ISXL EL= (1.0A)(60) = 60V
Compare the calculated and measured values of Z and those for the different voltages.
Are they approximately the same?
Yes, approximately.
Calculated Values
Z = 101.88
ES = 101.88 V
ER= 80 V
EL= 60 V

vs.

Measured Values
Z = 109. 0
ES = 115.4 V
ER= 86.14 V
EL= 66.02 V

Are the measured values of R and XL approximately the same as the values set on the
load modules?
Yes.
We then used the Phasor Analyzer to observe the phase angle between the voltage and
the current.

Is the measured value of approximately equal to the calculated value? Yes.

Data/Calculations Capacitive Reactance

Calculated Z = R2+XL= 86.245 , we should get a phase angle of -45 degrees.

Es-IsZ = 0 ES=ISZ ES=(1.34A)(86.245) = 115.56 V
ER-ISR = 0 ER= ISR ER= (1.34A)(60) = 80.4 V
EL-ISXC=0 EL= ISXC EC= (1.34A)(60) = 80.4V
After comparing the measured and calculated values for Z, we noticed that the voltages
are approximately the same. The measured and calculated values for R and XC are not the
same. The phase angle between the voltage and current is as expected. See diagram
below.

Data/Calculations RLC Series Circuit

Measured values for Z, R, and XEQ :
Z = R2 + (XL - XC)2 = 107.618

= arctan (XEQ/R) = arctan(-
60.81/89.34) = -34.24 degrees

Compare the calculated and measured values of Z. Are they approximately the same?
Yes, they are: 107.6 108.3
Are the measured values of R and XEQ approximately equal to those set in the circuit.
Yes they are close, but not exact.
Observing the graph below, is the measured value approximate to the calculated value?
Yes, its close. -35.1-34.21

Data/Calculations Parallel Capacitive Circuit

Z = RXC/R2+XC2
= 80*60/802+602 = 48

= arctan 80/-60) = 53.1 degrees

IS= ES/Z = 120/48 = 2.5A
IR= ER/R=114.7/80= 1.4 A
IC=EC/XC=115.3/60=1.9 A

The measured and calculated values of Z are very close. The same can be said for the R
and XC values and the phase angle.

Data/Calculations RLC Parallel Impedance

XEQ= XCXL /Xc XL = 60*80/60-80 = -240

Z = RXEQ/R2*XEQ = 15.59
= arctan 80/-240) = -18.43 degrees

Compare the calculated and measured values of Z. Are the approximately the same?
They should be, but they are not.
Are the measured values of R and XC approximately the same as those set in the circuit?
The R values are similar, but the XEQ measured and calculated values are not
similar.
After observing the measured phase angle and comparing it to the calculated values, the
results are similar.
Conclusion
We calculated and compared the impedance for RL and RLC circuits in series and in
parallel. We proved that impedance is equal to the source voltage multiplied by the
current. We were then able to use the voltage analyzer to double check that our angle
calculations were correct.
Review Questions
1. The total opposition to current flow in an ac circuit is called impedance.
2. Circuit impedance can be determined from a.) Z = E/I
3. What is the impedance of an RLC parallel circuit when R, XL and XC are all equal,
ES= 120V and IS=2A? 120/2 =60, 60/3 = 20 ea.
4. The combined reactance in a series ac circuit results in the impedance having a
positive phase angle. Does the circuit lead or lag the source voltage? The current
leads the voltage because the capacitance is reactive.
5. The impedance of an RLC parallel circuit can be determined from both a and c.