Angular measurement

Since the cycles of voltage/current correspond to rotation of the loop around a circle, parts of the
circle are expressed in angles. The complete circle is 3600.. One half cycle, or one alternation, is 1800
. A quarter turn is 90 0. Degrees are also expressed in radians (rad). One radian is equal to
57.30 .A complete circle has 2π rad; therefore 3600 = 2π rad

Question
Convert :300 into radians (π/6)
π/3 into degrees (600 ¿

The equation of a sinusoidal waveform

In Fig 7 a, OA represents a vector that is free to rotate anticlockwise about 0 at an angular velocity of
ω rad/s.
A vector is a quantity that has magnitude and direction. A rotating vector is known as a phasor.

Fig 7 a
 Fig 7 b

After time t seconds the vector OA has turned through an angle ωt. If the line BC is constructed
perpendicular to OA as shown, then

If all such vertical components are projected on to a graph of y against angle ωt (in radians), a sine
curve results of maximum value OA. Any quantity which varies sinusoidally can thus be represented
as a phasor. A sine curve may not always start at 0°. To show this a periodic function
is represented :

Phasor representation of sinusoidal quantities

To represent a sinusoidal quantity on a phasor diagram:

1. The length of the arrow in a phasor diagram indicates the magnitude of the alternating
voltage/current
2. The angle of the arrow with respect to the horizontal axis indicates the phase angle

NB:
If the phase angle is + ϕ, then the phasor angle will be plotted in the anti-clockwise direction with
respect to the x axis and is said to lead the reference phasor by ϕ , however if it is -  ϕ, then it is
plotted in the clockwise direction with respect to the x axis and is said to lag the reference phasor by
an angle ϕ.

PHASE RELATIONSHIPS

The phase angle between two waveforms of the same frequency is the angular difference at a
given instant of time. As an example, the phase angle between waves B and A (Fig 8) is 90 0 .Taking
the instant of time 90 0. The horizontal axis is shown in angular units of time. Wave B starts at
maximum value and reduces to zero value at W", while wave A starts at zero and
increases to maximum value at 90 0 .Wave B reaches its maximum value 90 0 ahead of wave A, so
wave B leads wave A by 90 0. This 90 0 phase angle between waves B and A is maintained
throughout the complete cycle and all successive cycles. At any instant of time, wave B has the
value that wave A will have 90 0 later. Wave B is a cosine wave because it is displaced 90 0 from
wave A, which is a sine wave. Both waveforms are called sinusoids
 Fig 8

NB: if two waveforms do not have a phase difference, they are said to be in phase and if two
waveforms have a phase difference they are said to be out of phase.

Questions

a. For the following sinusoidal quantities, plot the corresponding phasor diagrams with
respect to v❑ = 2 sin(ωt ) and state the waveform that leads/lags the other.

1. v1 = 6 sin(ωt + 300 )
2. v 2 = 10 sin(ωt + 700)
3. v3 = 4 sin(ωt - 300 )
4. v 4 = 8 sin(ωt - 1200)

b.

i ii
For the 2 diagrams above,draw the phasor diagrams for each and identinfy the leading/lagging
waveform.

(a) 199.9 = 200V

(b) 50Hz
(c) 268.9V

(a) 75V
(b) 150V
(c) 53.03V
(d) 0.01s
(e) 100Hz
(f) 14 0 19' NB 1 degree= 60 minutes