King Saud University

College of Engineering
Electrical Engineering Department

EE-205: Electrical Circuit Lab Experiment No. 5

Three Phase AC Circuits

Objectives

• To get acquainted with the different methods of 3-phase connections and the
corresponding relations between voltages and currents.
• To study balanced 3-phase circuits.
• To measure 3-phase power.

Material Required

Resistors: Three similar loading resistors

Equipment: Three ac ammeters, two ac voltmeters, two wattmeters and three-phase

transformer.

Background

I. General

Most of electrical energy is generated and transmitted using 3-phase system. Three-phase ac
supply system have the following advantages:

1. It is so far the most economical system from the point of view of generation,
transmission and distribution.
2. It can feed electrical energy to a wide variety of loads. For example the loads may be
three-phase loads or combinations of single and/or three-phase loads.

On the utilization side, three phase motors enjoy a uniform torque, while single phase motors
do not.

II. The Three-Phase Power Supply

The following points are to be noted for the three phase power supply.

1. The three-phase supply is usually obtained from a three-phase ac generator having

three symmetrical windings as shown in Fig.1. The magnitude axis of the winding of
each phase is shifted from that of the other by 120o.

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2. The three-phase supply is equivalent to three single phase generators as shown in
Fig.2. Points A, B, C which represent the ends of each generator phase winding are
usually connected together to form one point, n, known as the neutral.

A A
Line A

/
A/
C/ n n
B
neutral

Line B
B B
C C
Line C

(a) Three single-phase supplies. (b) a Y-connected three-phase supply.

Fig. 2 : A three-phase supply.

3. In the normal case of operation, the following time relations can be written:

V A
=V An
=V AA ′
=V Max
cos ωt = 2V p
cos ωt

=V =V =V (cos ωt −120 ) = 2V (cos ωt −120 )

o o
V B Bn BB ′ Max p

=V =V =V (cos ωt +120 ) = 2V (cos ωt +120 )

o o
V C Cn CC ′ Max p

It means that the three phase voltages are equal in magnitude but shifted in phase by 120o.
The supply in this case is known as a balanced Y-connected three phase supply.

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 _ _ _
VC
VCA VAB
o
150

120 o
o
30 _
VA
o
120 o
90

_
VB

_
VBC

Fig. 3: Phasor diagram of the three-phase balanced supply.

Here, three new voltage phasors namely VAB, VBC and VCA are introduced. These are known
as line-to-line voltage phasors or simply line voltage phasors.

The time equations of these line voltages are:

= 2 V l cos(ωt + 30 )
o
V AB

= 2 V l cos(ωt − 90 )
o
V BC

= 2 V l cos(ωt + 150 )
o
V CA

The magnitude of the line-to-line voltage Vl is 3 times the magnitude of the phase
voltage Vp i,e:
V l = 3V p
There is also a phase shift between the line and the phase voltage phasors. It is worthy to note
that both phase voltages VA, VB, VC and line voltages VAB, VBC and VCA form a balanced
three phase set.

III. Three-Phase Balanced Loads

A three-phase supply system delivers power to loads. The loads may be connected in star
(wye) or delta shape of connections. Such schemes of connections are shown in Fig.4 for the
case of balanced load (i,e. individual impedances are equal). The relations between the phase
quantities and line quantities as well as the expression for the power consumed are given in
the following:

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 A
IA
IAB

ICA

B
IB IBC

C
IC

(a) Delta connected balanced load.

A A
IA

IB B
B C
C
IC

(b) Y-connected balanced load with neutral connected.

Fig. 4: Three-phase loads.

a) for the Δ connected balanced load

I l
= 3Ip

V =V l p

P = 3V I p p
cos Φ
= 3V l I l cosΦ

b) For the Y-connected balanced load:

I l
= I p

V l
= 3V p
P = 3V p I p cos Φ
= 3V l I l cosΦ

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where Il and Ip are the effective or rms values of the line current and phase current,
respectively. Vl and Vp are the effective or rms values of the line voltage and phase voltage,
respectively. Φ is the phase angle between the current in each phase and the voltage across it,
i,e. between Vp and Ip.
Note: The above relations are not generally valid for unbalanced three phase loads or
generators.

IV. Three-Phase Power Measurements

n n

Z Z

Fig. 5: Measuring the power of a balanced three-phase circuit using a single wattmeter.

For a balanced three-phase circuit, it is sufficient to measure the power in only one phase
using a single wattmeter as shown in Fig.5. The total power is then three times the reading of
this wattmeter.
For an unbalanced three-phase load, one wattmeter is not sufficient and the need for using
three wattmeters , one for each phase, arises. However, it has been proved that two
wattmeters are sufficient to measure the total three phase power , provided the wattmeters are
connected as shown in Fig.6.

W1

Z
Z

W2

Fig. 6: The two-wattmeter method for Measuring the power in 3-phase circuits.

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The total power is equal to the algebraic sum of the readings of the two wattmeters.
Due to different load power factors, one of the two meters may have negative value. In this
case, its voltage or current coil connections must be reversed and the total power is equal to
the difference between the two-wattmeter readings.

Procedure I: Three Phase Loading

1. Connect the circuit as shown in Fig. 7.

2. Set Ran = Rbn = Rcn = 100 Ώ by using the digital meter.

A L1 A a

VP
VL
n
3-Phase
Transformer
L2 b
B A
c

C L3 A

Fig. 7: Three-phase balanced load.

3. Switch on the supply.

4. Watch the readings on the three ammeters and record it.
5. Record the readings of the voltmeters.

Procedure II: Three-Phase Power Measurement Using Single Wattmeter

1. Connect the circuit as shown in Fig. 8, without changing the values of resistance
+ 10A com
A a
A L1 W
+ 600V com
3-Phase
Transformer

n n

L2
B c
b

L3
C

Fig. 8: Measuring Three-phase power using a single wattmeter.

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 which are set for a balanced load.
2. Switch on the supply.
3. Take readings of Power in phase A.
4. Calculate the total power by multiplying the power determined in phase A by 3.
5. Compare the total power determined above with that obtained from the expression:

PT = 3 I2A RA

Procedure III: Three Phase Power Measurement Using a single Wattmeters

com 10A +
A L1
com + A
600V
W

n
3-Phase
Transformer
L2
B C
B

C
L3

Fig. 9: Measuring the three-phase power using a single

wattmeters.

1. Connect the wattmeter to measure the power in the circuit of the previous experiment
as shown in Fig. 9.
2. Take readings of the three phase total power by pressing a special key on the
wattmeter.
3. Compare this total power with that obtained using single wattmeter method above.