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XI C

Alternating
Current
Physics Project

Sreoshi Mazumdar
 Acknowledgement
I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to all
those who gave me the possibility to complete this project.
Special thanks to my physics teacher, Mr. Debabrata
Bhattacharya, for not only giving me this golden opportunity
for doing a project on such an interesting topic but also for
stimulating suggestions and encouragement that had helped
me in writing this project.
I learned a lot about Alternating current while researching. I
also thank my parents and my friends for morally supporting
me in completing my project on time.

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 INTRODUCTION
Most students of electricity begin their study with what is known as
direct current (DC). DC is the kind of electricity made by a battery
(with definite positive and negative terminals), or the kind of charge
generated by rubbing certain types of materials against each other.
It is not the only “kind” of electricity in use. Certain sources of
electricity (most notably, rotary electro-mechanical generators)
naturally produce voltages alternating in polarity, reversing positive
and negative over time. Either as a voltage switching polarity or as a
current switching direction back and forth, this “kind” of electricity
is known as Alternating Current (AC).

Figure 1 Direct VS Alternating Current.

In applications where electricity is used to dissipate energy in the

form of heat, the polarity or direction of current is irrelevant, so long
as there is enough voltage and current to the load to produce the
desired heat (power dissipation). However, with AC it is possible to
build electric generators, motors and power distribution systems
that are far more efficient than DC, and so we find AC being used
predominantly across the world in high power applications.

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 Power and Supply
Electrical energy is distributed as alternating current because AC
voltage may be increased or decreased with a transformer. This
allows the power to be transmitted through power lines efficiently at
high voltage, which reduces the energy lost as heat due to a lower,
voltage for use. Use of a higher voltage leads to significantly more
efficiently transmission of power. The power losses in the wire are a
product of the square of the current (I) and the resistance (R) of the
wire, described by the formula:
P= I^2R
This means that when transmitting a fixed power on a given wire, if
the current is halved, the power loss due to the wire’s resistance will
be reduced to one quarter.
The power supply is equal to the product of the current and the
voltage, that is
P= IR
Consequently, the power transmitted at higher voltage requires less
loss-producing current than for the same power at a lower voltage.

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 Mean Value
In an AC circuit, the current in the circuit is an alternating current. Therefore, its
value continuously changes with respect to time. Therefore, we have the difficulty
of specifying the magnitude of the current as it is not a constant value. Hence, we
calculate the average value of the alternating current.
Mean value of an alternating current is the total charge flown for one complete
cycle divided by the time taken to complete the cycle i.e. time period T.
The magnitude of an alternating current changes from time to time and its
direction also reverses after every half cycle. This means that the current is
positive in one-half cycle and it is negative in the other half cycle. Because of this,
the net charge flown is zero.
Therefore, the mean value of an alternating current for a complete cycle is zero.
But, of zero value as no meaning and not useful for calculations. As a result, we
measure the mean value of an alternating current only for the positive half cycle.
Let derive an expression for the average value of sinusoidal alternating current
over a positive half cycle. A sinusoidal alternating current is given
as i=imsinωti=imsin⁡ωt,
imim is the amplitude of the sine wave (maximum current), ωω is the angular
frequency of the function and t is time.
Average current for half cycle is given as iav=∫0T/2idtT2iav=∫0T/2idtT2 , where T is
the time period of the function.
And T=2πωT=2πω⇒T2=πω⇒T2=πω
iav=∫0π/ωimsinωtdtπωiav=∫0π/ωimsin⁡ωtdtπω
=−imωcosωt|π/ω0πω=−imωcos⁡ωt|0π/ωπω
=−2imcosωt|π/ω0π=−2imcos⁡ωt|0π/ωπ
=−2im(cosω(πω)−cos(0))π=−2im(cos⁡ω(πω)−cos⁡(0))π
=−2im(0−1)π=2imπ=−2im(0−1)π=2imπ.

The mean value of the alternating current is 2 im/π.

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 Root Mean Square
It is a comparison between heat produced by Alternating Current
and Direct Current.
RMS value of Alternating current
Root mean square or R.M.S. value of Alternating current is defined
as that value of steady current, which would generate the same
amount of heat in a given resistance is given time, as is done by A.C.
current , when maintained across the same resistance for the same
time. The R.M.S. value is also called effective value or virtual value of
alternating Current.
On the similar lines one can calculate the RMS value of Alternating
Voltage Small heat produced by Alternating Voltage in small time dt
is = (E Sin ωt) 2 dt/R

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 Phasors
Phasor Diagram

A phasor is a scaled line whose length represents an AC quantity that

has both magnitude (peak amplitude) and direction (phase) which is
frozen at some point in time. A phasor diagram is used to show the
phase relationships between two or more sine waves having the same
frequency. A phasor diagram is one in which the phasors, represented
by open arrows, rotate counter clockwise, with an angular frequency
of ω about the origin. The phasors have the following properties:
1. The length of a phasor is proportional to the maximum value of
the alternating quantity involved.
2. The projection of a phasor on the vertical axis gives the
instantaneous value of the alternating quantity involved.

AC Dynamo/ Generator
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An electric generator, or dynamo, is a device which converts mechanical energy into
electrical energy. The simplest practical generator consists of a rectangular coil rotating
in a uniform magnetic field. The magnetic field is usually supplied by a permanent
magnet.
If a machine is constructed to rotate a magnetic field around a set of stationary wire
coils with the turning of a shaft, AC voltage will be produced across the wire coils as that
shaft is rotated, in accordance with Faraday’s Law of electromagnetic induction.
This is the basic operating principle of an AC generator, also known as an alternator

Notice how the polarity of the voltage across the wire coils reverses as the opposite
poles of the rotating magnet pass by.
Connected to a load, this reversing voltage polarity will create a reversing current
direction in the circuit. The faster the alternator’s shaft is turned, the faster the magnet
will spin, resulting in an alternating voltage and current that switches directions more
often in a given amount of time.

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Construction of AC Generator

The simple AC generator has two main parts – Rotor and Stator. The rotor is a rotating
component and the stationary part of a machine is a stator.

Stator

The stator is a stationary component that efficiently holds armature winding. The
armature winding purpose is to carry current to the load and the load can be any
external equipment that consumes electrical power. It consists of three main parts:

 Stator Frame – It is an outer frame that is used to hold stator core as well as
armature windings.
 Stator Core – It is laminated with steel or iron to reduce eddy current losses.
Slots are made on the interior part of a core to hold armature windings.
 Armature Windings – Armature windings are wound on the slots of armature
core.
Rotor

The rotor is a rotating part of an AC generator. It consists of magnetic field windings. DC

supply is used to magnetize magnetic poles. Each end of magnetic field windings is
attached to slip rings. This combination is connected to a common shaft on which the
rotor rotates. The two types of the rotor are salient pole rotor and cylindrical pole rotor.

Salient Pole Rotor

The salient pole rotor type is shown in the figure below. In this type of rotor, the number
of poles gets projected, known as salient poles with their bases pinned to the rotor can
be observed. They are used in low and medium speed applications.

Salient Pole Rotor

Cylindrical Pole Rotor
Cylindrical type rotors consist of an unruffled and robust cylinder with slots arranged on
the outer surface of a cylinder. It is used in high-speed applications. The diagram of the
cylindrical pole rotor is shown below.

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 Cylindrical Rotor

Types of AC Generator
AC generators are of two types. They are

Asynchronous Generators

Asynchronous generators are also known as induction generators. In this type of

generator, slip helps the rotor to rotate. Rotor always attempts to match the
synchronous speed of a stator but fails. If the rotor matches the synchronous speed of a
stator, the relative velocity becomes zero, and hence the rotor experiences no torque.
They are suitable to run wind turbines.

Synchronous Generators

The synchronous generator is a type of AC generator that rotates at a synchronous

speed. It works on the principle of Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction – an emf
is induced when a coil rotates at a uniform magnetic field. They are mainly used in power
plants to generate high voltages.

Applications

The applications of the ac generator mainly include generating power from windmills,

hydro-electric dams, and many more.

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 AC Motor
The benefits of AC over DC with regard to generator design are also
reflected in electric motors.
While DC motors require the use of brushes to make electrical
contact with moving coils of wire, AC motors do not. In fact, AC and
DC motor designs are very similar to their generator counterparts
(identical for the sake of this tutorial), the AC motor being
dependent upon the reversing magnetic field produced by
alternating current through its stationary coils of wire to rotate the
rotating magnet around on its shaft, and the DC motor being
dependent on the brush contacts making and breaking connections
to reverse current through the rotating coil every 1/2 rotation (180
degrees).

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 Transformers
A transformer is an electrical device that uses electromagnetic induction to pass
an alternating current (AC) signal from one electric circuit to another, often changing (or
"transforming") the voltage and electric current. Transformers do not pass direct
current (DC), and can be used to take the DC voltage (the constant voltage) out of a
signal while keeping the part that changes (the AC voltage). In the electrical
grid transformers are key to changing the voltages to reduce how much energy is lost
in electrical transmission.

How Transformers work

It often seems surprising that a transformer keeps the total power the same when
voltage goes up or down. One must keep in mind that when the voltage goes up, the
current goes down:
P=I1V1=I2V2P=I1V1=I2V2
Transformers use electromagnetic induction to change the voltage and current. This
change is called transformer action, and describes how the transformer changes an AC
signal from its primary to its secondary component (like in the equation above). When
an AC signal is applied to the primary coil, the changing current causes a magnetic
field to change (get bigger or smaller). This changing magnetic field (and
associated magnetic flux) will pass through to the secondary coil inducing a voltage
across the secondary coil, thereby effectively coupling the AC input from the primary to
secondary component of the transformer. The voltage applied to the primary
component will also be present in the secondary component.

The fundamental principle that allows

transformers to change the voltage
of alternating current is the direct
relationship between the ratio of loops of
wire in the primary winding to the
secondary winding and the ratio of the
primary voltage to the output voltage.
The ratio between the number of turns
(or loops) in the primary coil to the
number of turns in the secondary coil is
known as the turns ratio. The turns ratio establishes the following relationship with
voltage:
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 Np/Ns=Vp/Vs=Is/
 Np = Number of turns in the primary coil

 Ns = Number of turns in the secondary coil

 Vp = Voltage across the primary
 Vs = Voltage across the secondary
 Ip = Current through the primary
 Is = Current through the secondary
From this equation, if the number of turns in the primary coil is greater than the number
of turns in the secondary coil (Np>Ns), then the voltage across the secondary coil will
be less than in the primary coil. This is known as a "step-down" transformer, because it
lowers, or steps down, the voltage. The table below shows common types of
transformers used on the electrical grid.

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