CHEP‐FallSpring

20232024
EPM 116 Electrical Circuits and Machines
Exp # Title
1 Resistance Measurements and Ohm’s Law
2 Kirchoff’s Laws and Division Rules
3 Superposition and Thevenin’s Theorems
4 AC concepts and sinusoidal waves
5 Inspection of Three Phase
6 Determination of equivalent circuit parameters of a
single phase transformer

7 Characteristics of separately excited DC generator

8 Characteristics of AC machines
 Experiment P5
Three-Phase Circuits

1 Objective
 To measure the electrical quantities in three phase circuits including:
 currents, voltages, and power.

2 Apparatus
Three resistors 39 Ω , 4 A.
Three resistors 250 Ω , 1.6 A.
Power supply with variable voltage.
Three ammeters (AC) 5 A.
Three voltmeters (AC) 150 V.
Air core coil.
Three inductances 14Ω.
Three wattmeters (250 V – 5 A).

3 Theoretical Background

3.1 Load connections

A balanced 3-phase system is one in which three voltages are
generated. These voltages are equal in magnitude and frequency but they
are different by one third of a cycle in time (120 degrees in phase angle) as
shown in Figure (1). When these voltages are applied to three equal
impedances, 3-phase balanced currents will flow. If these impedances are
not equal, the resulting currents will be unbalanced. These are many
different ways in which the load impedances may be connected .The most
familiar connections for load impedances are shown in Figure (2)

Vc
Va ~
120o Va

~~ 120o
Vb ~ Vc
Vb

Figure 1. 3-phase voltage

source.
 Va ~ Za
(1-a)

Zb Zc
Vb ~ ~~ Vc

Va ~ Za
(1-b)

Zb Zc
Vb ~ ~~ Vc

Va ~
(1-c) Zb Za

Vb ~ ~~ Vc
Zc

Fig 2. Three phase load connections:

(a) 3 wire star connected load,

(b) 4 wire star connected load, and

(c) delta connected load.

3.2 Power measurement
The total average power delivered to the three-phase load is given by:
T
Pt   vania  vbnib  vcnic  dt
1
T 0
Obviously, three wattmeters could be connected to measure this 3-
phase power, each one of them is connected to measure the power consumed
in one phase as illustrated in Figure (3-a). In this figure, each wattmeter has
its current coil connected in one line and its voltage coil is connected from
that line to the neutral n (i.e. point p is connected with n). The three-
wattmeters method is the proper for a 4 wire system, while a delta (or a 3-
wire star) connected load does not have available neutral connection.
Accordingly, two-wattmeters method is normally used as shown in Figure (2-
b)

W1 Za
a

W2 Zb
3-a b

W3 Zc
c

p n

W1 Za
a

Zb
3-b b

Zc
c
W3

Fig 3. Three phase power measurements:

(a) 3-wattmeters, 4-wire system, and

(b) 2-wattmeters, 3-wire system.

 However, the three-wattmeters method can be, also, used to measure
the power for delta (or a 3-wire star) connected load. In this case, the
voltage coils are connected together at the point P and the total power is
given by:

Pt   vapia  vbpib  vcp ic  dt

T
1
T0
T T
Pt   vania  vbnib  vcnic  dt  v pn ia  ib  ic  dt
1 1
T 0 T 0

and since: ia  ib  ic  0

Then, the sum of wattmeters reading is the total power delivered to the 3
wire system load. It should be noted that if point P in Figure (3-a) is
connected to point (line) b. This leaves wattmeter (W2) inactive, for there is
no potential across its potential coil. it always reads zero and may simply be
omitted. This leads to the two-wattmeter connection shown in Figure (3-b)
which is considered as the standard connection for measuring power in 3
wire system.

3.3 Load phase angle measurement

The total active and reactive power for a balanced 3-phase system
equal to:
P  3 Vl I l cos 
Q  3 Vl I l sin 

where, Vl is line to line voltage, Il is the line current, and  is the load
phase angle. Figure (4) shows the phase voltages and currents, and the line
voltages.
va vab
ia

ic
vbc

vb
Vc

ib vca

Figure 4. 3-phase voltages & currents.

Referring to Figure (4), the reading of the two wattmeters, when measuring
3-phase power for a balanced system, may be given by:

W1  Vab I a cos   30

W2  Vcb I c sin   30

Therefore:

W1  W2  3Vl I l cos   Pt
Qt
W1  W2  Vl I l sin  
3

and hence, the load phase angle can be calculated as:

tan  
Qt W  W2 
 3 1
Pt W1  W2 
Accordingly, the load Power Factor (PF) can calculated using:

PF = cos ( )
3.4 Load reactive power measurement
The reactive power Q in balanced 3-phase system may be measured
using only one wattmeter connected as shown in Figure 5.

W Za
a

Zb
b

Zc
c

Fig 5. Measurement of Q.

It can be shown that the wattmeter reading W is given as follows:

W  Vbc I a cos  a bc  Vl I l cos 90   

Q
 Vl I l sin  
3
 4 Experimental Procedures

4.1 Part 1
1. Connect the circuit as shown in Figure (6) with the load impedance as
follows:
Za = Zb = Resistance of 39 ,
 Zc = Resistance of 39  in series with an inductance of 14 .

5A 250V, 5A Za
a A
V
300V
W2 Zb
b A
V
W3 Zc
c A
V
p n

Fig 6. Connection diagram of Part 1.

2. Take all the meter readings for each of the following cases.
(a) Point p being isolated.
(b) Point p being connected to the load neutral point n.
(c) Point p being connected to the line a.
(d) Point p being connected to the line b.
(e) Point p being connected to the line c.

3. Comment on the results.

4.2 Part 2
1. Connect the circuit as shown in Figure (7) with the load impedance as
follows:
 Z = Resistance of 250 ,
 ZY = Resistance of 39  in series with an inductance of 14 .

250V, 5A S
W1 W2
a
Z
V 5A 2.5 A
250V
b A A Z

Z
c
W3
250V, 5A ZY ZY ZY

Fig 7. Connection diagram of Part 2.

2. Record the meter readings first when the switch S being open (only the
balanced star load connected), then with the switch S being close (a
balanced delta resistive load is added).

3. Calculate the active and reactive power and the load phase angle in both
cases.

4. Comment on the results.

 Experiment P5
Three-Phase Circuits
Experimental Result

1. Measurements of power of unbalanced 3-phase load

Case Va Vb Vc Ia Ib Ic Pa Pb Pc P3ph
A φ

B
C
D
E

Calculations:

Comments:
2. Measurements of power of balanced 3-phase loads

Case VL Vph IL Iph P3-phφ Q3-phφ PF

S-open
S-closed

Calculations:

Comments:
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