CLASSIC ELECTRICAL MEASUREMENTS 85

For the symmetrical load (balanced circuit) according to the phasor

diagram presented in Fig. 3.12 the wattmeters indicated values are

P1 UI cos 30$  M
(3.16)
P2 UI cos 30  M
$

where U is phase-to-phase voltage and I is the phase current.

It is easy to prove that using the Aron circuit for balanced system we can
determine the reactive power Q and the phase angle M because

P P
tgM 3 1 2 ; Q 3 P1  P2 (3.17)
P1  P2

We can also measure the reactive power by appropriate connection of the

wattmeters into the three-phase circuit, as shown in Fig. 3.13.

U1
I1
L1 W1
M
90o-M U23
L2 W2

L3 W2 U3
U2
N

Figure 3.13. Reactive power measurement in three-phase system: the circuit and
corresponding phasor diagram

For balanced systems the indication of the first wattmeter can be

calculated from the following dependence

P1 I1U 23 cos 90 $  M 3 I1U1 sin M 3Q1 (3.18)

For three-phase three-wattmeter system the total reactive power can be

determined as

P1  P2  P3
Q (3.19)
3