Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore

EEE1001 – Basic Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Lecture-12, Faculty: Dr. B Rajanarayan Prusty

Average value

When dealing with DC signals, assigning a voltage or current is very straightforward: since the signal
doesn’t change over time, it just has to be measured and it’s done. However, this is not the case for
periodic signals such as AC voltages and currents, whose value is constantly changing.

One way of expressing the amplitude of different wave shapes in a more equivalent fashion is to
mathematically average the values of all the points on a waveforms graph to a single, aggregate number.
This amplitude measure is known simply as the average value of the waveform. If we average all the
points on the waveform algebraically (that is to consider their sign, either positive or negative), the
average value for most waveforms is technically zero because all the positive points cancel out all the
negative point over a full cycle.

This, of course, will be true for any waveform having equal area portions above and below the zero line
of a plot. However as a practical measure of a waveform’s aggregate value, average is usually defined as
the mathematical mean of all the point’s absolute values over a cycle. In other words we calculate the
practical average value of the waveform by considering all points on the wave as positive quantities as if
the waveform looks like as shown.

Effective value

Origin of the concept: Initially the only source of electricity was a cell supplying direct voltage. But later
on the demerits of DC system led to the invention of AC electricity, and no sooner the later started
replacing the former. In contrast with DC, AC is time variant and for an alternating current of peak value
“IP” won’t be a reliable metric to characterize the net effect because it appears only twice in a full cycle
with opposite polarity. The problem of finding out the net effect of current is not there with the case of
DC as its magnitude is time invariant. Hence, determining the effective value (DC equivalent) of AC
became a concern. The average value of an AC over a complete cycle is zero as the positive and negative
portions of the waveform cancels out with each other. However, its value for a half cycle is just an
indication of the DC not the effective heating value. So an effective value for AC was derived which
evaluated the competency of the AC with that of the DC.

In order to understand the concept of effective value let us consider the following two situations as shown
in figure-1.

(a) Bulb connected to DC (b) Bulb connected to AC

Figure-1: Power dissipated in the bulb due to both DC and AC

We have direct current flowing in one and alternating current flowing in the other. Since, the incandescent
bulbs are identical (brightness is same), the value of resistance is same in both the cases (let it be R). Let
us consider that, power dissipated in the bulb for both the cases is same.

Now power dissipated in the bulb due to direct current is

(1)
Power dissipated in the resistor due to alternating current is
(2)
In the later case the current is defined as Ieff (effective value of current). Hence effective value of
alternating current can be defined as that value of steady current (DC) which would dissipate same
average power in a given resistor (here bulb) as dissipated by the alternating current. The reader might be
slightly confused with this statement but things will get clear as we proceed into the depth of the
discussion.

When the supply voltage is alternating in nature, the instantaneous value of power as consumed by the
bulb will be expressed as
(3)
Now the average value of power can be expressed as

(4)
The average value of can be determined by averaging the area swept by waveform.
 Figure-2: Waveform of and drawn on the same time axis

Figure-2 shows the waveform of and (drawn just by squaring the waveform). From the
figure it is clear that has both positive and negative half cycle whereas do not have any
negative value.
Now average value of can be expressed as
( )
(5)
Solving the equation-5 we obtain

(6)
Putting equation-6 in equation-4 we obtain

(7)
Comparing equation-2 and equation-7 we obtain

(8)
Now comparing equations-2 and 4 we obtain

(9)
From the equation-9 it is clear that in order to determine the effective value of i.e. , we have to
square root the mean of . Hence effective value of any alternating signal (current or voltage) is also
called as root mean square value or the famous abbreviation used is . The effective value of a
waveform is extremely dependent upon its wave shape. Hence they are only significant when we deal
with waveforms of known shape. However when the waveform is irregular, the effective value is
normally assumed to refer to that for sinusoidal waveform. Peak, Peak-to-peak, average, effective value
of a sinusoidal voltage waveform is shown in figure-3
Figure-3: Sinusoidal voltage waveform representing its peak, peak-to-peak, average and effective values

In commercial practices alternating voltage and current are measured and expressed in terms of
effective values and not in terms of instantaneous or peak values.

In real-life applications, voltage and current signals have harmonic components, which distort the sine
wave signal. In this case, dividing the peak value by the square root of two would be a mistake, because
the signal is no longer a pure sinusoid. In this case, it is necessary to measure the True RMS value with
the following formula:

Questions:

What do AC meters show? Is it the RMS or peak voltage?

AC voltmeters and ammeters show the RMS value of the voltage or current. DC meters also show the
RMS value when connected to varying DC provided that the DC is varying quickly; if the frequency is
less than about 10 Hz you will see the meter reading fluctuating.

What does '6V AC' really mean? Is it the RMS or peak voltage?

If the peak value is meant it should be clearly stated, otherwise assume it is the RMS value. In everyday
use, AC voltages (and currents) are always given as RMS values because this allows a sensible
comparison to be made with direct voltages (and currents), such as from a battery. For example, a 6V AC
supply means 6V RMS with the peak voltage about 8.6V. The UK mains supply is 230V AC; this means
230V RMS so the peak voltage of the mains is about 320V.

Peak Factor and Form Factor

To have a clear understanding of peak factor (PF) and form factor (FF), let us consider a waveform as
depicted in figure-4. In the waveform positive half cycle of three standard alternating signals with
different wave shape is considered. The three alternating signals are rectangular, trapezoidal and
triangular and are depicted with black, red and green color respectively (these three signals are chosen as
they are very familiar to the readers however alternating signals with other shapes can also be
considered). The x-axis (here t-axis) values are taken randomly just as an example. The peak value of
voltage Vm is assumed as 10 V.
 Figure-4: Rectangular, trapezoidal and triangular voltage waveforms drawn on the same time axis

The first signal is the rectangular alternating signal and is similar to a direct signal. As we know that for a
symmetrical alternating signal average value is calculated over a half cycle (Note: In case of a rectangular
and square alternating signals, one half cycle is looking like a direct signal); hence for both direct signal
and rectangular alternating signal, the average value is same (Note: Rectangular alternating signal covers
maximum area in its waveform).

Now let us calculate average and RMS value of voltage for all the four cases.

For the rectangular signal peak, average and RMS values all are same i.e. Vm (= 10 V).

Table-1:
Type of signal Area swept by the Peak value Average RMS value
signal (in Volt) value (in Volt)
(in Volt.sec) (in Volt)
Rectangular 100 10 10 10
Trapezoidal 80 10 8 8.56
Triangular 50 10 5 5.77

From Table-1 it is clear that VAVG < VRMS < Vm. Hence it is essential to define two factors called PF and
FF to find out the relation between maximum, average and RMS values. Whilst FF is an indication of
maximum voltage that is supplied to the apparatus, PF measures the peakedness of a particular waveform.
PF and FF are expressed as

Table-2: Values of PF and FF for various alternating signals of Figure-23.

Type of signal PF FF
Rectangular 1 1
Trapezoidal 1.168 1.07
Triangular 1.73 1.15

From Table-2 it is clear that when area swept by the alternating signals (having same peak-to-peak
voltage and frequency) increases, PF and FF decreases. Also it is observed that PF is highest for
triangular signal and its value is minimum i.e. 1 for the rectangular signal as it is flat one.

Note: Both PF and FF have minimum value of 1 and they can never be less than one as in both the factors
the numerator is greater than the denominator.
Different wave shapes have specific value of FF but the reverse is not true i.e. a particular value of FF
does not signify a particular wave shape (as two waveforms with different shape may have a unique value
of FF). The following table shows the values of FF and PF for rectangular, triangular and sinusoidal
alternating signals for a fixed peak value as shown by figure. PF is also known as crest factor (CF).

Most of the meters measures average value of the alternating voltage and they do display its effective
value by multiplying the average value of voltage with its FF value (for sinusoidal alternating signal FF is
1.1). However if the measured alternating signal is not a perfect sinusoidal one then the reading will be
slightly wrong hence it is better to use a true RMS meter which can calculate the accurate RMS value of
non sinusoidal waves. Similarly PF is divided by the peak value (as measured by a peak responding
meter) to obtain the RMS reading. The reason behind using FF and PF to obtain the RMS reading instead
of using a true RMS voltmeter is that; peak and average responding meters are less costlier and
construction wise simple.