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Average Voltage Tutorial

In this tutorial we will look at calculating the “average” or mean
voltage value of a sinusoidal waveform using both the mid-ordinate
rule and the analytical rule

The process used to nd the Average Voltage of an alternating waveform is very similar to that for nding its RMS value, the
difference this time is that the instantaneous values are not squared and we do not nd the square root of the summed mean.

The average voltage (or current) of a periodic waveform whether it is a sine wave, square wave or triangular waveform is
de ned as: “the quotient of the area under the waveform with respect to time”. In other words, the averaging of all the
instantaneous values along time axis with time being one full period, (T).

For a periodic waveform, the area above the horizontal axis is positive while the area below the horizontal axis is negative.
The result is that the average or mean value of a symmetrical alternating quantity is therefore zero, (0) because the area
above the horizontal axis (the positive half cycle) is the same as the area below the axis (the negative half cycle) and thus
cancel each other out. This is because when we do the maths of the two areas, the negative area cancels out the positive area
producing zero average
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Then the average or mean value of a symmetrical alternating quantity, such as a sine wave, is the average value measured
over only one half of a cycle, since as we have just stated, the average value over one complete cycle is zero regardless of the
peak amplitude.

The electrical terms Average Voltage and Mean Voltage or or even average current, can be used in both an AC and DC circuit
analysis or calculations. The symbols used for representing an average value are de ned as: VAV or IAV.

Average Voltage Graphical Method

Again consider only the positive half cycle from the previous RMS voltage tutorial. The mean or average voltage of a
waveform can be found again with a reasonable amount of accuracy by taking equally spaced instantaneous values.

The positive half of the waveform is divided up into any number of “n” equal portions or mid-ordinates. The width of each mid-
ordinate will therefore be no degrees (or t seconds) and the height of each mid-ordinate will be equal to the instantaneous
value of the waveform at that point along the x-axis of the waveform.

The Graphical Method

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Each mid-ordinate value of the voltage waveform is added to the next and the summed total, V1 to V12 is divided by the
number of mid-ordinates used to give us the “Average Voltage”. Then the average voltage (VAV) is the mean sum of mid-
ordinates of the voltage waveform and is given as:

 
and for our simple example above, the average voltage is therefore calculated as:

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So as before lets assume again that an alternating voltage of 20 volts peak varies over one half cycle as follows:

Voltage 6.2V 11.8V 16.2V 19.0V 20.0V 19.0V 16.2V 11.8V 6.2V 0V

Angle 18o 36o 54o 72o 90o 108o 126o 144o 162o 180o

The Average voltage value is therefore calculated as:

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Then the Average Voltage value for one half-cycle using the graphical method is given as: 12.64 Volts.

Average Voltage Analytical Method

As said previously, the average voltage of a periodic waveform whose two halves are exactly similar, either sinusoidal or non-
sinusoidal, will be zero over one complete cycle. Then the average value is obtained by adding the instantaneous values of
voltage over one half cycle only. But in the case of an non-symmetrical or complex wave, the average voltage (or current) must
be taken over the whole periodic cycle mathematically.

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The average value can be taken mathematically by taking the approximation of the area under the curve at various intervals
to the distance or length of the base and this can be done using triangles or rectangles as shown.

Approximation of the Area

 
By approximating the areas of the rectangles under the curve, we can obtain a rough idea of the actual area of each one. By
adding together all these areas the average value can be found. If an in nite number of smaller thinner rectangles were used,
the more accurate would be the nal result as it approaches 2/π.

The area under the curve can be found by various approximation methods such as the trapezoidal rule, the mid-ordinate rule or
Simpson’s rule. Then the mathematical area under the positive half cycle of the periodic wave which is de ned as V(t) =
Vp.cos(ωt) with a period of T using integration is given as:
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Where: 0 and π are the limits of integration since we are determining the average value of voltage over one half a cycle. Then
the area below the curve is nally given as Area = 2VP. Since we now know the area under the positive (or negative) half cycle,
we can easily determine the average value of the positive (or negative) region of a sinusoidal waveform by integrating the
sinusoidal quantity over half a cycle and dividing by half the period.

For example, if the instantaneous voltage of a sinusoid is given as: v = Vp.sinθ and the period of a sinusoid is given as: 2π, then:

 
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Which is therefore given as the standard equation for the Average Voltage of a sine wave as: /
Average Voltage Equation

The average voltage (VAV) of a sinusoidal waveform is determined by multiplying the peak voltage value by the constant
0.637, which is two divided by pi (π). The average voltage, which can also be referred to as the mean value, depends on the
magnitude of the waveform and is not a function of either the frequency or the phase angle.

Thus this average or mean value (either voltage or current) of a sinusoidal waveform can also be shown as an equivalent DC
value of area and time.

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The average value is zero over one complete cycle, as the positive average area would be cancelled by the negative average
area ( VAVG – (-V AVG ) ) in the sum of the two areas, thus resulting in zero average voltage over one complete cycle of a
sinusoid.

Referring to our graphical example above, the peak voltage, (Vpk) was given as 20 Volts. Using the analytical method the
average voltage is therefore calculated as:

VAV = Vpk x 0.637 = 20 x 0.637 = 12.74 volts
Which is the same value as for the graphical method.

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To nd the peak value from a given average voltage value, just rearrange the formula and divide by the constant. For example,
what is the sinusoidal peak value, Vpk if the average value is 65 volts.

Vpk = VAV ÷ 0.637 = 65 ÷ 0.637 = 102 volts
Note that multiplying the peak or maximum value by the constant 0.637 ONLY applies to sinusoidal waveforms.

Average Voltage Summary

Then to summarise. When dealing with alternating voltages (or currents), the term Average value is generally taken over one
complete cycle, whereas the term Mean value is used for one half of the periodic cycle.

The average value of a whole sinusoidal waveform over one complete cycle is zero as the two halves cancel each other out, so
the average value is taken over half a cycle. The average value of a sine wave of voltage or current is 0.637 times the peak
value, (Vp or Ip. This mathematical relationship between the average values applies to both AC current and AC voltage.

Sometimes it is required to be able to calculate the value of the direct voltage or current output from a recti er or pulse type
circuit such as a PWM motor circuit because the voltage or current, although not reversing, is changing continuously. Since
there are no phase reversals the average value is used and the RMS (root-mean-square) value is unimportant for this type of
application.

The main differences between an RMS Voltage and an Average Voltage, is that the mean value of a periodic wave is the
average of all the instantaneous areas taken under the curve over a given period of the waveform, and in the case of a
sinusoidal quantity, this period is taken as one-half of the cycle of the wave. For convenience the positive half cycle is generally
used.

The effective value or root-mean-square (RMS) value of the waveform is the effective heating value of the wave compared to a
steady DC value and is the square root of the mean of the squares of the instantaneous values taken over one complete cycle.

For a pure sinusoidal waveform ONLY, both the average voltage and the RMS voltage (or currents) can be easily calculated as:

Average value = 0.637 × maximum or peak value, Vpk

Wevalue = 0.707 × maximum
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One nal comment about using Average Voltage and RMS Voltage. Both values can be used to represent the “Form Factor”
of a sinusoidal alternating waveform. Form factor is de ned as being the shape of an AC waveform and is the RMS voltage
divided by the average voltage (form factor = rms value/average value).

So for a sinusoidal or complex waveform the form factor is given as: ( π/(2√2) ) which is approximately equal to the constant,
1.11. Form factor is a ratio and therefore has no electrical units. If the form factor of a sinusoidal waveform is known, then the
average voltage can be found using the RMS voltage value and vice-versa as the average voltage is 0.9 times the RMS voltage
value of a sine wave.

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81 Comments

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lucy haule
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 The tutorial is good enough for the perfect understanding of the concept,but then i would like to request for solved questions from the
tutorials.

Posted on December 10th 2019 | 2:23 pm  Reply

Vidhi
Give darivation also na this is only theory its not enough for exam students cant understand properly

Posted on November 28th 2019 | 10:57 am  Reply

Mohd vamis
Very nice

Posted on November 07th 2019 | 2:20 pm  Reply

mrityunjay pandey
Please tell me how to get the pdf of these tutorials

Posted on October 27th 2019 | 10:28 pm  Reply

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 Rra
Grate

Posted on October 25th 2019 | 2:09 pm  Reply

Pupul
Please elaborate as we are taking the RMS value for complete cycle (0- 2pie) not (0-pie)

Posted on September 26th 2019 | 6:41 am  Reply

Arya Joshi
Hello!

I had a question. If I use positive average voltage to nd RMS values, will I be getting RMS values for a full cycle or only half a cycle? In other
words, would it be safe to say that to nd electrical energy: (V^2)/R*t, t would be the entire full cycle?

Posted on July 05th 2019 | 1:26 am  Reply

MD TYAGI
This is very useful information for electrical engineer

We Posted on June 25th 2019 | 1:37 pm

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 S. Zoe
Very helpful, I have understood the difference between the average of the sin wave and other waves…

Posted on February 19th 2019 | 6:51 am  Reply

Soulimane MAMMAR
Hi, in the Area formula the integration limites must be 0 to T/2 and not 0 to PI since you are using t as the variable

Posted on December 16th 2018 | 10:37 pm  Reply

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