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Real Power in AC Circuits
Real power (P), also known as true or active power, performs the “real work” within an electrical circuit.
Real power, measured in watts, defines the power consumed by the resistive part of a circuit.
Then real power, (P) in an AC circuit is the same as power, P in a DC circuit. So just like DC circuits, it is
always calculated as I2*R,
where R is the total resistive component of the circuit.
As resistances do not produce any phasor difference (phase shift) between voltage and current
waveforms, all the useful power is delivered directly to the resistance and converted to heat, light and
work.
Then the power consumed by a resistance is real power which is fundamentally the circuits average
power.
To find the corresponding value of the real power the rms voltage and current values are multiplied by
the cosine of the phase angle, Φ as shown.
Real Power P = I2R = V*I*cos(Φ) Watts, (W)
But as their is no phase difference between the voltage and the current in a resistive circuit, the phase shift
between the two waveforms will be zero (0). Then:
Real Power in an AC Circuit

Where real power (P) is in watts, voltage (V) is in rms volts and current (I) is in rms amperes.
Then real power is the I2*R resistive element measured in watts,
which is what you read on your utility energy meter and has units in Watts (W), Kilowatts (kW), and
Megawatts (MW).
Note that real power, P is always positive.
Reactive Power in AC Circuits

Reactive power (Q), (sometimes called wattless power) is the power consumed in an AC circuit that does
not perform any useful work but has a big effect on the phase shift between the voltage and current
waveforms.
Reactive power is linked to the reactance produced by inductors and capacitors and counteracts the effects
of real power.
Reactive power does not exist in DC circuits.
Unlike real power (P) which does all the work, reactive power (Q) takes power away from a circuit due to
the creation and reduction of both inductive magnetic fields and capacitive electrostatic fields, thereby
making it harder for the true power to supply power directly to a circuit or load.
The power stored by an inductor in its magnetic field tries to control the current, while the power stored
by a capacitors electrostatic field tries to control the voltage.
The result is that capacitors “generate” reactive power and inductors “consume” reactive power.
This means that they both consume and return power to the source so none of the real power is consumed.
To find reactive power, the rms voltage and current values are multiplied by the sine of the phase angle, Φ
as shown.
Reactive Power Q = I2X = V*I*sin(Φ) volt-amperes reactive, (VAr’s)
As there is a 90o phase difference between the voltage and the current waveforms in a pure reactance
(either inductive or capacitive), multiplying V*I by sin(Φ) gives a vertical component that is 90o out-of-
phase with each other,
so:
Reactive Power in an AC Circuit
Where reactive power (Q) is in volt-amperes reactive, voltage (V) is in rms volts and current (I) is in rms
amperes.
Then reactive power represents the product of volts and amperes that are 90o out-of-phase with each
other, but in general, there can be any phase angle, Φ between the voltage and the current.
Thus reactive power is the I2X reactive element that has units in volt-amperes reactive (VAr), Kilovolt-
amperes reactive (kVAr), and Megavolt-amperes reactive (MVAr).
Apparent Power in AC Circuits

We have seen above that real power is dissipated by resistance and that reactive power is supplied to a
reactance.
As a result of this the current and voltage waveforms are not in-phase due to the difference between a
circuits resistive and reactive components.
Then there is a mathematical relationship between the real power (P), and the reactive power (Q), called
the complex power.
The product of the rms voltage, V applied to an AC circuit and the rms current, I flowing into that circuit
is called the “volt-ampere product” (VA) given the symbol S and whose magnitude is known generally
as apparent power.
This complex Power is not equal to the algebraic sum of the real and reactive powers added together, but
is instead the vector sum of P and Q given in volt-amps (VA).
It is complex power that is represented by the power triangle. The rms value of the volt-ampere product is
known more commonly as the apparent power as, “apparently” this is the total power consumed by a
circuit even though the real power that does the work is a lot less.
As apparent power is made up of two parts, the resistive power which is the in-phase power or real power
in watts and the reactive power which is the out-of-phase power in volt-amperes, we can show the vector
addition of these two power components in the form of a power triangle.
A power triangle has four parts: P, Q, S and θ.
The three elements which make up power in an AC circuit can be represented graphically by the three
sides of a right-angled triangle, in much the same way as the previous impedance triangle.
The horizontal (adjacent) side represents the circuits real power (P), the vertical (opposite) side represents
the circuits reactive power (Q) and the hypotenuse represents the resulting apparent power (S), of the
power triangle as shown.
Power Triangle of an AC Circuit
 Where:
 P is the I2*R or Real power that performs work measured in watts, W
 Q is the I2*X or Reactive power measured in volt-amperes reactive, VAr
 S is the I2*Z or Apparent power measured in volt-amperes, VA
 Φ is the phase angle in degrees. The larger the phase angle, the greater the reactive power
 Cos(Φ) = P/S = W/VA = power factor, p.f.
 Sin(Φ) = Q/S = VAr/VA
 Tan(Φ) = Q/P = VAr/W
The power factor is calculated as the ratio of the real power to the apparent power because this ratio
equals cos(Φ).
Power Factor in AC Circuits

Power factor, cos(Φ), is an important part of an AC circuit that can also be expressed in terms of circuit
impedance or circuit power.
Power factor is defined as the ratio of real power (P) to apparent power (S), and is generally
expressed as either a decimal value, for example 0.95, or as a percentage: 95%.
Power factor defines the phase angle between the current and voltage waveforms, were I and V are the
magnitudes of rms values of the current and voltage.
Note that it does not matter whether the phase angle is the difference of the current with respect to the
voltage, or the voltage with respect to the current.
The mathematical relationship is given as:
Power Factor of an AC Circuit
We said previously that in a pure resistive circuit, the current and voltage waveforms are in-phase with
each other so the real power consumed is the same as the apparent power as the phase difference is zero
degrees (0o).
So the power factor will be:
Power Factor, pf = cos 0o = 1.0
That is the number of watts consumed is the same as the number of volt-amperes consumed producing a
power factor of 1.0, or 100%. In this case it is referred to a unity power factor.
We also said above that in a purely reactive circuit, the current and voltage waveforms are out-of-phase
with each other by 90o.
As the phase difference is ninety degrees (90o), the power factor will be:
Power Factor, pf = cos 90o = 0
That is the number of watts consumed is zero but there is still a voltage and current supplying the reactive
load. Clearly then reducing the reactive VAr component of the power triangle will cause θ to reduce
improving the power factor towards one, unity.
It is also desirable to have a high power factor as this makes the most efficient use of the circuit delivering
current to a load.
Then we can write the relationship between the real power, the apparent power and the circuits power
factor as:
An inductive circuit where the current “lags” the voltage (ELI) is said to have a lagging power factor, and
a capacitive circuit where the current “leads” the voltage (ICE) is said to have a leading power factor.
Power Triangle Example No1
A wound coil that has an inductance of 180mH and a resistance of 35Ω is connected to a 100V 50Hz
supply. Calculate: a) the impedance of the coil, b) the current, c) the power factor, and d) the apparent
power consumed.
Also draw the resulting power triangle for the above coil.
Data given: R = 35Ω, L = 180mH, V = 100V and ƒ = 50Hz.
(a) Impedance (Z) of the coil:
(b) Current (I) consumed by the coil:
(c) The power factor and phase angle, Φ:

(d) Apparent power (S) consumed by the coil:
(e) Power triangle for the coil:

As the power triangle relationships of this simple example demonstrates, at 0.5263 or 52.63% power
factor, the coil requires 150 VA of power to produce 79 Watts of useful work. In other words, at 52.63%
power factor, the coil takes about 89% more current to do the same work, which is a lot of wasted current.
Adding a power factor correction capacitor (for this example a 32.3uF) across the coil, in order to
increase the power factor to over 0.95, or 95%, would greatly reduce the reactive power consumed by the
coil as these capacitors act as reactive current generators, thus reducing the total amount of current
consumed.

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Real Power in AC Circuits

Real Power P = I2R = VIcos(Φ) Watts, (W)

Real Power in an AC Circuit

Reactive Power in AC Circuits

Reactive Power Q = I2X = VIsin(Φ) volt-amperes reactive, (VAr’s)

Apparent Power in AC Circuits

Power Triangle of an AC Circuit

Power Factor in AC Circuits

Power Factor, pf = cos 0o = 1.0

Power Factor, pf = cos 90o = 0

(b) Current (I) consumed by the coil:

(c) The power factor and phase angle, Φ:

(e) Power triangle for the coil:

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