Balanced Three-Phase

Circuits

Qi Xuan
Zhejiang University of Technology
Dec 2015

Electric Circuits 1
 Structure

BalancedThreePhaseVoltages
ThreePhaseVoltageSources
AnalysisoftheWyeWyeCircuit
AnalysisoftheWyeDeltaCircuit
PowerCalculationsinBalancedThree
PhaseCircuits
MeasuringAveragePowerinThreePhase
Circuits
Electric Circuits 2
 BalancedThreePhaseVoltages
aphasevoltage
bphasevoltage
cphasevoltage

abc(orpositive)phasesequence acb(ornegative)phasesequence

Electric Circuits 3
Thefactthatathreephasecircuitcanhaveoneoftwophasesequencesmustbe
takenintoaccountwhenevertwosuchcircuitsoperateinparallel.Thecircuitscan
operateinparallelonlyiftheyhavethesamephasesequence.

Ifweknowthephasesequenceandonevoltageintheset,we
knowtheentireset.

FromEqs.11.1and11.2,wehave

Electric Circuits 4
 ThreePhaseVoltageSources

a. Rotationoftheelectromagnetinducesa
sinusoidalvoltageineachwinding.
b. Thephasewindingsaredesignedsothat
thesinusoidalvoltagesinducedinthem
areequalinamplitudeandoutofphase
witheachotherby120.
c. Thephasewindingsarestationarywith
respecttotherotatingelectromagnet,so
thefrequencyofthevoltageinducedin
eachwindingisthesame.

Electric Circuits 5
Therearetwowaysofinterconnectingtheseparatephasewindingstoforma
threephasesource:
Yconnected connected

Neutralterminal

Theneutralterminalmayormaynotbeavailableforexternalconnections.
Here,themodelconsistssolelyofidealvoltagesources,becausetheimpedance
ofeachphasewindingissosmall(comparedwithotherimpedancesinthe
circuit)thatweneednotaccountforitinmodelingthegenerator.

Electric Circuits 6
If the impedance of each phase winding is not negligible, we place the
winding impedance in series with an Ideal sinusoidal voltage source:
Yconnected connected

Four kinds of circuits

Problems

Electric Circuits 7
 AnalysisoftheWyeWyeCircuit

Internal impedance Line impedance Load impedance

Node-voltage equation:

Electric Circuits 8
 BalancedThreephaseCircuit
a. Thevoltagesourcesformasetofbalancedthreephase
voltages.ThismeansthatV an ,V bn ,andV cn areasetof
balancedthreephasevoltages.
b. Theimpedanceofeachphaseofthevoltagesourceisthe
same.ThismeansthatZga = Zgb = Zgc.
c. Theimpedanceofeachline(orphase)conductoristhesame.
ThismeansthatZ1a = Z1b = Z1c.
d. Theimpedanceofeachphaseoftheloadisthesame.This
meansthatZA = ZB = ZQ.
Thereisnorestrictionontheimpedanceofaneutralconductor;itsvaluehasnoeffect
onwhetherthesystemisbalanced.

Electric Circuits 9
Then,forabalancedthreephasecircuit,Eq.11.5canberewrittenas:

where

Thereisnodifferenceinpotentialbetweenthesourceneutral,n,
andtheloadneutral,N;consequently,thecurrentintheneutral
conductoriszero.Hencewemayeitherremovetheneutral
conductorfromabalancedYYconfiguration(I0 = 0)orreplaceit
withaperfectshortcircuitbetweenthenodesnandN(VN = 0).

Thecurrentineachlineisequalinamplitude
andfrequencyandis120outofphasewith
theothertwolinecurrents.Thus,ifwe
calculatethecurrentI aA andweknowthe
phasesequence,wehaveashortcutfor
findingIbBand IcC.

Electric Circuits 10
 SinglephaseEquivalentCircuit
Onceweknowthelinecurrent
inthefigure,calculatingany
voltagesofinterestis
relativelysimple.

Singlephaseequivalentcircuit

ThecurrentintheneutralconductorthiscircuitisI aA ,whichisnotthesameasthe
currentintheneutralconductorofthebalancedthreephasecircuit,whichis

=0
Balanced
Electric Circuits 11
Ofparticularinterestistherelationshipbetweenthelinetolinevoltagesandthelineto
neutralvoltages.

Weassumeapositive,orabc,sequenceandtheline
toneutralvoltageoftheaphaseasthereference:

Electric Circuits 12
1. Themagnitudeofthelinetolinevoltage
is3timesthemagnitudeofthelineto
neutralvoltage.
2. Thelinetolinevoltagesformabalanced
threephasesetofvoltages.
3. Thesetoflinetolinevoltagesleadsthe
setoflinetoneutralvoltagesby30.

Linevoltage:thevoltageacrossanypairoflines
Phasevoltage:thevoltageacrossasinglephase
Linecurrent:thecurrentinasingleline
Phasecurrent:currentinasinglephase

Observethatinaconnection,linevoltageandphasevoltageareidentical,
andinaYconnection,linecurrentandphasecurrentareidentical.

Electric Circuits 13
 SomeNotes
Becausethreephasesystemsaredesignedtohandlelargeblocks
ofelectricpower,allvoltageandcurrentspecificationsaregiven
asrmsvalues.
Whenvoltageratingsaregiven,theyreferspecificallytotherating
ofthelinevoltage.Thuswhenathreephasetransmissionlineis
ratedat345 kV,thenominalvalueofthermslinetolinevoltage
is345,000 V.
Inthischapterweexpressallvoltagesandcurrentsasrmsvalues.
Finally,theGreekletterphi()iswidelyusedintheliteratureto
denoteaperphasequantity.ThusV , I , Z , P andQ are
interpretedasvoltage/phase,current/phase,impedance/phase,
power/phase,andreactivepower/phase,respectively.
Electric Circuits 14
 Example#1
AbalancedthreephaseYconnectedgeneratorwithpositivesequencehasan
impedanceof0.2 + j0.5 /andaninternalvoltageof120V/.Thegeneratorfeeds
abalancedthreephaseYconnectedloadhavinganimpedanceof39+j28 /.The
impedanceofthelineconnectingthegeneratortotheloadis0.8+j1.5 /.Thea
phaseinternalvoltageofthegeneratorisspecifiedasthereferencephasor.

Constructtheaphaseequivalentcircuitofthesystem.
CalculatethethreelinecurrentsIaA,IbB,andIcC.
a)Calculatethethreephasevoltagesattheload.VAN,VBN,andVCN.
b)CalculatethelinevoltagesVAB,VBC,andVCAattheterminalsoftheload.
c)Calculatethephasevoltagesattheterminalsofthegenerator,Van,Vbn,andVcn.
d)CalculatethelinevoltagesVab,Vbc,andVca attheterminalsofthegenerator.

Electric Circuits 15
 SolutionforExample#1
b) a)

c)

d)

Electric Circuits 16
e)

f)

Electric Circuits 17
 AnalysisoftheWyeDeltaCircuit
Iftheloadinathreephasecircuitisconnectedinadelta,itcan
b e t ra n sfo r m e d i nto a w ye by u s i n g t h e d e l ta to w ye
transformationdiscussedinSection9.6.Whentheloadis
balanced,theimpedanceofeachlegofthewyeisonethirdthe
impedanceofeachlegofthedelta,or
Forbalancedload,we
have

SeeEqs.9.519.53

Electric Circuits 18
Weusethiscircuittocalculatethelinecurrents,andwethenusethelinecurrentsto
findthecurrentsineachlegoftheoriginalload.Therelationshipbetweentheline
currentsandthecurrentsineachlegofthedeltacanbederivedusingthecircuit
shownintheFigure.

Todemonstratetherelationshipbetween
thephasecurrentsandlinecurrents,we
assumeapositivephasesequenceandlet
I representthemagnitudeofthephase
current.Then

Electric Circuits 19
Themagnitudeofthelinecurrentsis3timesthemagnitude
ofthephasecurrentsandthatthesetoflinecurrentslagsthe
setofphasecurrentsby30.

Electric Circuits 20
 Example#2
TheYconnectedsourceinExample#1(p.427)feedsaconnectedload
throughadistributionlinehavinganimpedanceof0.3+j0.9/.Theload
impedanceis118.5 + j85.8 /.Usetheaphaseinternalvoltageofthe
generatorasthereference.
Constructasinglephaseequivalentcircuitofthethreephasesystem.
CalculatethelinecurrentsIaA,IbB,andIcC.
a)Calculatethephasevoltagesattheloadterminals.
b)Calculatethephasecurrentsoftheload.
c)Calculatethelinevoltagesatthesourceterminals.

Electric Circuits 21
 SolutionforExample#2
a)
TheloadimpedanceoftheYequivalentis:

b)

singlephaseequivalentcircuit

c)

Electric Circuits 22
d) Thephasecurrentsoftheloadmaybecalculateddirectlyfromthelinecurrents:

e)

Electric Circuits 23
 PowerCalculationsinBalanced
ThreePhaseCircuits
AveragepowerinabalancedWyeload

BalancedYload

Electric Circuits 24
 Ifwedenote

Wewillhave

VLandIL arethermsmagnitudesofthelinevoltageandcurrent

Electric Circuits 25
 ComplexPowerinaBalancedWyeLoad
Similarly,wecangetthefollowingreactivepower:

Forabalancedload Fromthesamephase

Thus,ingeneral

Electric Circuits 26
 PowerCalculationsinaBalancedDeltaLoad
Thepowerassociatedwitheachphaseis

Forabalancedload,

Thus, we have

Electric Circuits 27
ComparingEq.11.48andEq. 11.34,wecanseethat,inabalancedload,regardlessof
whetheritisYorconnected,theaveragepowerperphaseisequaltotheproductof
thermsmagnitudeofthephasevoltage,thermsmagnitudeofthephasecurrent,andthe
cosineoftheanglebetweenthephasevoltageandcurrent.

Theexpressionsforthetotalpowerdelivered,reactivepowerand
complexpoweralsohavethesameformasthosedevelopedfor
theYload:

Electric Circuits 28
 InstantaneousPowerinThreePhaseCircuits

Itisinvariantwithtime!

Electric Circuits 29
 Example#3
a) CalculatetheaveragepowerperphasedeliveredtotheY
connectedloadofExample#1(P.427).
b) Calculatethetotalaveragepowerdeliveredtotheload.
c) Calculatethetotalaveragepowerlostintheline.
d) Calculatethetotalaveragepowerlostinthegenerator.
e) Calculatethetotalnumberofmagnetizingvarsabsorbedby
theload.
f) Calculatethetotalcomplexpowerdeliveredbythesource.

Electric Circuits 30
 SolutionforExample#3
FromExample#1,V = 115.22 V,I = 2.4 A,and = 1.19 (36.87) =
35.68.Therefore

Thetotalaveragepowerdeliveredtotheloadis

Thetotalpowerlostinthelineis

Thetotalinternalpowerlostinthegeneratoris

Thetotalnumberofmagnetizingvarsabsorbedbytheloadis

Thetotalcomplexpowerassociatedwiththesourceis

Electric Circuits 31
 MeasuringAveragePowerinThree
PhaseCircuits
Thebasicinstrumentusedtomeasurepowerin
threephasecircuitsistheelectrodynamometer
wattmeter.Itcontainstwocoils.Onecoil,called
thecurrentcoil,isstationaryandisdesignedto
carryacurrentproportionaltotheloadcurrent.
Thesecondcoil,calledthepotentialcoil,is
movableandcarriesacurrentproportionaltothe
loadvoltage.

Electric Circuits 32
 TheTwoWattmeterMethod
Considerageneralnetworkinsideaboxto
whichpowerissuppliedbynconductinglines.
Ifwewishtomeasurethetotalpoweratthe
terminalsofthebox,weneedtoknown 1
currentsandvoltages.Thisfollowsbecauseif
wechooseoneterminalasareference,there
areonlyn 1 independentvoltages.Likewise,
onlyn 1 independentcurrentscanexistinthe
nconductorsenteringthebox.Thusthetotal
poweristhesumofn 1productterms;that
is,p = v1i1 + v2i2 + + vn-1in-1.

Applyingthisgeneralobservation,wecanseethatforathreeconductorcircuit,
whetherbalancedornot,weneedonlytwowattmeterstomeasurethetotalpower.

Electric Circuits 33
1. Ifthepowerfactorisgreaterthan0.5,bothwattmetersreadpositive.
2. Ifthepowerfactorequals0.5,onewattmeterreadszero.
3. Ifthepowerfactorislessthan0.5,onewattmeterreadsnegative

Electric Circuits 34
 Conclusion
Balancedthreephasecircuit
Abc/acbphasesequence
YY/Ycircuits
Phase/linevoltage/current
Perphaseaverage/reactive/complexpower
TwoWattmetermethod

Electric Circuits 35