If you want to know more about alternating current circuits How do they work, what are they for and how are they generated? Well, do not go, because in the next article we will tell you about all its details.
What are alternating current circuits and what are they for?
One of the most important branches of physics in history is electronics, as it includes physical engineering and technology to understand the flow and control of electrons. The identification of it is based on the vacuum tube that could amplify some tiny signals in larger electron fields.
Electronics have worked with electrical circuits and this is very important to understand since they involve the components associated with passive electrical ones, where beyond all the conventional it is made up of integrated circuits, sensors or transistors.
Active components are influenced by their non-linear behavior, making their electronics widely used in data processing, thus transforming electronic components or control systems into an independent device.
Many electronic devices use semiconductor components, that is, electrical science and technology has long been concerned with storing and converting energy into other types of resources using cables, batteries, or motors.
Many of the electronic components are found in the instruments, such as a speaker, cable, switch, battery, transducer, among others. Making the analogs then serve as a capacitor, diode, amplifier, etc., different components that serve as tools for the process.
For its part, the electric current is that movement of the electrons, and they generate a current that goes from positive to negative. And the electrical quantities are charge, voltage, intensity, resistance or energy.
The atoms of a body are neutral and have the same number of charged protons, causing direct and alternating currents to be also generated. Direct currents are those produced by batteries, for example, causing any of them to generate a constant voltage that circulates through a receiver.
And so we then arrive at alternating current circuits, which in turn consist of combinations of resistive and capacitive elements combined with an alternating voltage source.
Why is it important to know about alternating current circuits?
By being able to apply a voltage, a variable current can be established for a short time, making it known as a transient current, which gives way to a so-called stationary current.
An alternating current circuit can consist of a union of elements of resistance, capacities or self-inductions in which a motor supplies it with an alternating current. It also allows the simple study of their functions of circuits made up of resistor materials.
Resistor materials are those that have been specially designed to introduce an electrical resistance between two points of an electrical circuit. In addition, others that alternating current analyzes are capacitors and inductors.
Capacitors for their part are known to be the capacitor from a passive device, capable of storing energy sustained by an electric field. Inductors maintain a similar functionality and this coil is made up of a conductor, and is related to magnetic induction with the cause that produces it, such as current.
Regarding its analysis, the alternating current circuit has complex operations where the differential equation must be worked on. All its sources are sinusoidal and have a linear and stationary regime, since circuits with diodes are excluded and their results will only be approximations.
To determine the voltage and intensity in each branch, a system of differential equations must be applied so that all the activity applied by the circuits can be known. This process is very laborious, because in the event that the circuit has more than two coils, different equations must be applied to know how the operation can turn out.
How to analyze and carry out these processes?
The alternating current wave produces sinusoidal wave alternators, which at the same time produce the same wave up to fifty times per second. What makes it have a generated wave frequency, its values can be voltage or intensity in an electrical circuit that are deduced by trigonometry, operations that can help answer or prevent how it can work.
Each value cannot vary by the wave, that is, for an angle of rotation the hypotenuse of the triangle will maintain the maximum value of the wave, making its maximum value always the same, the equation or function is used to obtain the different values of each instant.
But if we are talking about an alternator, these values would be Instantaneous Voltage, which generates a current alternator at its terminals, if you do not know many of these topics, we will simplify it for you. This receiver can be considered as the value of the voltage that connects with the alternating path, and if it is connected to a receiver, a current intensity will be able to flow through it.
Depending on the receiver, the wave will begin to be delayed or advanced, as there are phasors that will make the voltage and intensity wave equal to sinusoidal. In order to analyze alternating current circuits, two procedures must be used, one geometric of rotating vectors and one used by pure complex numbers.
Where the maximum current is the frequency of time, and units are commonly used for current and its submultiples, this alternating current gives rise to whole numbers, such as the milliamp and the microampere.
Often the alternating voltage is symbolized with a wave inside a circle so that it can be differentiated from a direct voltage, which is represented by the two unequal and parallel lines.
Types of alternating current circuits
There are many kinds of alternating current circuits, from the simplest to the most complex, that is why we have those of resistance, coil or capacitors.
The resistives in the circuit have a resistance connected to an alternating voltage source, which by law is also for purely resistive alternating current circuits, causing the current to be in phase to reach its maximum values.
Inductive circuits are the coils that are related to the inductive current by means of an equation for properties of trigonometric ratios, then written in phase-shifted voltage and current, causing it to be delayed ninety degrees with respect to the voltage of the current that begins before the point.
Inductive reactance is defined as the one that increases with frequency and has different resistance dimensions, therefore, we arrive at the last elementary circuit, which is that of the capacitors. It is one that is connected to an alternating current source that complies with the load with respect to time and works to condense that energy.
In this case, the current is ahead of the voltage and, as can be seen, it helps the capacitive reactance that decreases with frequency, having units of resistance for its applications.
The current is periodically changed in its sense, because during the first times only a direct current was used, but as the years went by it changed from being direct to being alternate because it had gained in economy, efficiency and ease of transmission without leaving any minor loss.
The current is part of homes and industries and although direct use did not disappear, alternating current is used frequently and in almost everything, since it has multiple applications, light bulbs, plates or cooking stoves are the resistive element and not it depends on the direction of movement of the charges.
On the other hand, the fact that the current can change with a frequency of the motors, and diverse applications has the following circuits, such as, phase shifters and bridge type.
The phase shifters are those that consist of an alternating source that is connected to a resistor and capacitor, known as series circuits used to erase unwanted phase shifts in another circuit, also adding a voltage divider so that radio stations are tuned.
Bridge-type circuits are powered by alternating current, and can be used to measure capacitance, and serve as a direct current bridge capable of measuring the value of an unknown resistance.
Are there examples of alternating current circuits?
Yes, because the alternating current circuit is simpler than the study process sounds, although of course, it is essential to know everything already mentioned. It is important to name some of the various effects that can be obtained, so that you can build or solve some kind of problem.
One of the most common circuits is that of resistance, coil and inductor that respond in a particular way to the frequency of the alternating source with which it is fed. For this reason, a radio signal generates a current with the same frequency, specially designed to serve as a receiver and maximum current amplitude, making an effect called resonance.
The receiver circuit serves as a tuner because it is designed so that signals of unwanted frequency generate very small currents. Which are not detected by loudspeakers and therefore are not audible, however, it does not mean that they are not audible.
If you liked the article, I invite you to read: Electrical circuits What are they? Parts, types and great details. I know it can be very useful to you.