Bisha University EE 321 Electric Circuits

Faculty of Engineering Dr. Ahmed Mustafa Hussein

2. Balanced three-phase circuits

The three-phase sources, explained before, can be connected either wye (Y) or delta () as
shown in Fig. 5.

(a) Wye (Y) Connection (b) Delta () Connection

Fig. 5, Three-phase connection (Generator side)

Consider the wye-connected voltages in Fig. 5(a). The voltages Van, Vbn, and Vcn are
respectively between lines a, b, and c, and the neutral line n. These voltages are called
phase voltages. If the voltage sources have the same amplitude and frequency  and are
out of phase with each other by 120◦, the voltages are said to be balanced. This gives

There are two possible combinations. One possibility is called positive (abc) sequence This
sequence is produced when the phasor diagram rotates counterclockwise. The phase
sequence is determined by the order in which the phasors pass through a fixed point in the
phase diagram. This can be expressed mathematically as:

4 Chapter One: Three-Phase Circuits Dr. Ahmed Mustafa Hussein EE2020