ELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS

ASSIGNMENT # 1
Real, Reactive and Apparent Power
Instructor: Muhammad Haris Mohsin
Spring 2014

Prepared By:
Tayyab Hussain Hashmi
K12-2357
Section: A


Resistance, Reactance and Impedance:
Reactance (denoted by X) is a form of opposition that electronic components exhibit
against the alternating current because of capacitance or inductance. In some respects,
Reactance is like an AC counterpart of direct currents Resistance. But the two
phenomena are different in important ways, and they can vary independently of each
other. Resistance and Reactance combine to form Impedance (denoted by Z), which is
defined in terms of two-dimensional quantities known as complex number.
When alternating current passes through a component that contains reactance, energy is
alternately stored in, and released from, a magnetic field or an electric field. In the case
of a magnetic field, the reactance is inductive. In the case of an electric field, the
reactance is capacitive. Inductive reactance is assigned positive imaginary
number values. Capacitive reactance is assigned negative imaginary-number values.
Z = R + jX
Where Z is Impedance, R is Resistance, X is Reactance and j is (-1)^1/2
Real, Reactive and Apparent Power:
In an AC circuit consisting of a source and a load, both the current and voltage
are sinusoidal, which means that there can be a phase difference between the AC voltage
and AC current supplied to the load. This difference can play an important role in the
power supplied to different type of loads. If the load is purely resistive, the voltage and
current reverse their polarity at the same time. At every instant the product of voltage
and current is positive, indicating that the direction of energy flow does not reverse. In
this case, the power transferred is Real Power.


If the loads are purely Reactive, then the voltage and current are 90 degrees out of
phase. For half of each cycle, the product of voltage and current is positive, but on the
other half of the cycle, the product is negative, indicating that on average, exactly as
much energy flows toward the load as flows back. There is no net energy flow over one
cycle. In this case, the power continually bounces back and forth between the source and
the load; there is no net transfer of energy to the load. This is called Reactive Power, and
it is measured in a unit called Volt-Amps-Reactive (VAR). The mathematical symbol for
reactive power is Q.
The Apparent Power is the product of a circuit's voltage and current, without reference
to phase angle. Apparent power is measured in the unit of Volt-Amps (VA) and is
symbolized S.
For an AC circuit containing both Resistive and Reactive load,
Real Power, P = VIcos
Reactive Power, Q = VIsin
Apparent Power, S=VI
Where, angle is the impedance angle of the load. For Inductive load the is positive
and for Capacitive load the is negative.
Power Triangle:
cos = P/S
sin = Q/S
tan = Q/P



Apparent
Power (S)
Reactive
Power (Q)
True Power (P)