Laboratory Summary 1A: Three-Phase AC Power Circuits

By: EE Systems Group

Date of Report submission: 9/6/2016

E_E 362 – Power and Machinery Laboratory - School of Electrical and

Computer Engineering
Introduction
In this lab, we worked on experimenting with
three-phase circuits. We went through
exercises where we practiced constructing a
three phase circuit, took measurements
from a three-phase circuit, worked on
studying the phase sequence of the
three-phase circuit.
Procedure
Exercise 1
Figure 2
The purpose of this exercise is to further
After we set all of the resistor values to 300
understand three-phase circuits. We started
ohms, we turned on the power and set it to
by building the circuit in Figure 1, then set
120 volts then began to take
the power source to 120 volts.
measurements. The voltage across the
resistors were approximately the same.
R1’s voltage was 118.9 V, R2’s was 118.8 V,
and R3’s was 118.9 V. The currents were all
approximately the same as well. R1’s was
0.388 A, R2’s ws 0.4 A, and 0.395 A. When
we saw that all three resistors had similar
voltages and currents, we realized the
circuit was balanced. Meanwhile, the line
voltage was 206.3 V, and the neutral current
was 0.035 A, almost zero compared to the
Figure 1
other currents. The average voltage across
We measured each line-to-neutral voltage.
all three resistors (phase voltage) was
E1-N was 119.7 volts, E2-N was 119.8 volts,
118.86 V, giving us a line to phase voltage
and E3-N was 119.8 volts, giving us an
ratio that was close to the square root of
average phase voltage of 119.76 volts. We
three. Next, we disconnected the neutral
checked the phase shift between each
line and and saw that the voltages and
voltage and found that it was 120 degrees.
currents remained unaffected. Next, we
Next, we foundthe line to line voltages of the
calculated the power dissipated by the
circuit. E1-2 was 207.7 volts, E2-3 was
circuit using two methods. First, we
206.7, and E3-1 was 207.4, giving us an
calculated the power dissipated by each
average line-to-line voltage of 207.26 volts.
resistor and added then them up. This gave
We found that the ratio of the line voltage
us 140.62 W. Next, we calculated the
over the phase voltage was approximately
average phase current and then multiplied it
1.73, or the square root of three.
by three times the average phase current.
Next, we constructed a three-phase
This gave us 140.61 W. Both results were
wye-connected circuit, as seen in Figure 2.
approximately the same.
Exercise 2: Three-Phase Power circuit. We started by constructing the circuit
in Figure 4.
Measurement
The purpose of this exercise is to allow us
to measure active, reactive, and apparent
power in a delta connected, three-phase
balanced and unbalanced circuit. Upon
taking measurements of the balanced and
unbalanced circuits, this exercise wanted us
to compare the values to our calculations.

For the first part of this exercise, we

constructed the circuit in Figure 3 in a
balanced form, meaning that the load was
set up with values that made the circuit
balanced. Figure 4
Next, we opened the oscilloscope to view
the AC voltages of L1, L2, and L3, using E1,
E2, and E3.

Figure 3

Upon setting it up, we recorded the values

that we measured and also had to solve the
circuit by hand to check if the calculations
were similar to the measured circuit. After
this check, the lab required us to make
some adjustments to the loads, specifically
Figure 5
changing R1 from 171 ohms to 300 ohms
After observing the oscilloscope as seen in
and Xc1 from 240 ohms to 600 ohms. This
Figure 5, we observed that the phase
made the circuit unbalanced and we were
sequence was L1 (A), L2 (B), and L3 (C).
required to again, measure the active,
We confirmed this by checking the phase
reactive, and apparent powers and also
analyzer as seen in Figure 6.
calculate the circuit in order to compare the
calculated and measured values.

Exercise 3: Phase Sequence

The purpose of this exercise was to identify
the phase sequence of a three-phase
 In conclusion of this lab, there were a lot of
new things that we were able to learn from.
The most important thing was learning how
different variances in load values can make
circuits balanced or unbalanced, which can
affect the output in a positive or negative
way, depending on what the circuit is setup
for. However, having a balanced circuit is
always the best especially for having long
distance wires as they help eliminate noise.

Figure 6
We repeated the process after switching L2
and L3. We viewed the oscilloscope in
Figure 7 and and the phase analyzer in
Figure 8 and noticed that B and C of the
phase sequence had swapped.

Figure 7

Figure 8
Conclusion