Max Power

Consider the AC circuit shown above, with source impedances and RMS source voltages given. The load impedance Z L Z_L internally consists of a combination of resistors, capacitors, and inductors.

What is the maximum active power (in watts) which can possibly be dissipated by the load?


The answer is 75.

This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and, finally, (c) loading the non-javascript version of this page . We're sorry about the hassle.

2 solutions

Chew-Seong Cheong
Aug 14, 2017

The three parallel AC voltage sources with source impedance is equivalent to a single voltage source V S V_S with a source impedance Z S Z_S where

V S = 10 0 10 0 10 0 = 10 0 V Z S = ( 1 + j 0 ) ( 1 + j 1 ) ( 0 + j 1 ) = 1 1 + 1 1 + j + 1 j = 1 1 + 1 j 2 j = 1 3 2 ( 1 j ) = 1 + j 3 Ω \begin{aligned} V_S & = 10 \angle 0^\circ || 10 \angle 0^\circ || 10 \angle 0^\circ \\ & = 10 \angle 0^\circ \text{ V} \\ Z_S & = (1 +j0)|| (1 +j1)|| (0 +j1)|| \\ & = \dfrac 1{1 + \frac 1{1+j} + \frac 1j} \\ & = \dfrac 1{1+\frac {1-j}2 - j} \\ & = \dfrac 1{\frac 32(1-j)} \\ & = \frac {1+j}3 \ \Omega \end{aligned}

For maximum active power dissipated by the load the load impedance must be the conjugate of the source impedance. Z L = Z S = 1 j 3 Ω Z_L = \overline {Z_S} = \dfrac {1-j}3 \ \Omega .

Then the power dissipated at the load

P L = ( ( Z L Z S + Z L × V S ) 2 × 1 Z L ) = ( Z L V S 2 ( Z S + Z L ) 2 ) = ( 1 j 3 × 1 0 2 ( 2 3 ) 2 ) = ( 75 ( 1 j ) ) = 75 W \begin{aligned} P_L & = \Re \left(\left(\frac {Z_L}{Z_S+Z_L}\times V_S\right)^2 \times \frac 1{Z_L}\right) \\ & = \Re \left(\frac {Z_L V_S^2}{(Z_S+Z_L)^2}\right) \\ & = \Re\left(\frac {\frac {1-j}3\times 10^2}{\left(\frac 23\right)^2} \right) \\ & = \Re \left(75(1-j)\right) \\ & = \boxed {75} \text{ W} \end{aligned}

Excellent problem. I think the problem is even more interesting if the three voltage sources are not all in phase. For example, if the first source is in opposite phase (180^o off) to the other two sources?

Laszlo Mihaly - 3 years, 9 months ago

Log in to reply

Yeah, I thought of making it that way. But I figured I would keep it somewhat simple. Feel free to post a followup if you want.

Steven Chase - 3 years, 9 months ago

Log in to reply

I will. I had to figure out the solution first, but I think I got it.

Laszlo Mihaly - 3 years, 9 months ago

I have just posted the problem. I noticed that you solved it before I finished writing up the solution. It is great to see that we got the same result!

Laszlo Mihaly - 3 years, 9 months ago

Log in to reply

@Laszlo Mihaly Indeed, thanks for posting

Steven Chase - 3 years, 9 months ago

How the minus sign came in the second step in Zs

Rahul AS - 3 years, 9 months ago

Log in to reply

In electric circuits j j is used for the imaginary unit . That is j = 1 j=\sqrt {-1} to avoid confusion with i i being current. 1 j = 1 j × j j = j j 2 = j 1 = j \dfrac 1j = \dfrac 1j \times \dfrac jj = \dfrac j{j^2} = \dfrac j{-1} = - j .

Chew-Seong Cheong - 3 years, 9 months ago

Perhaps I am not understanding but if a purely imaginary impedance is used, larger active powers can be achieved in the load. For example, for Z L = j / 2 Ω Z_L = -j/2 \Omega , the power I arrive at is 288 W. In fact, the value I find to give the maximum power is about 0.581 Ω -0.581 \Omega . Am I missing some information?

Bradley Treece - 3 years, 9 months ago

Log in to reply

If the load is purely reactive (pure j), the load power is zero, by definition.

Steven Chase - 3 years, 9 months ago

For purely reactive load the voltage and current is 9 0 90^\circ out of phase. And real power is given by P = V I cos ϕ P = VI\cos \phi , where cos ϕ \cos \phi is the power factor. When ϕ = 9 0 \phi = 90^\circ , P = 0 P=0 .

Chew-Seong Cheong - 3 years, 9 months ago

Would be nice if a solution is given where the maximum is proved with calculus, not by using the conjugation magic

Filip Kozarski - 3 years, 9 months ago

Log in to reply

It's a fun exercise. Would be good as a "Note"

Steven Chase - 3 years, 9 months ago

Log in to reply

Maximizing the real part of "voltage difference" times "current" at the load doesn't seem to yield the same result though.

Filip Kozarski - 3 years, 9 months ago

Log in to reply

@Filip Kozarski I'll post the general derivation for conjugate impedance matching here.

Steven Chase - 3 years, 9 months ago

Log in to reply

@Steven Chase Thank you a lot:)

Filip Kozarski - 3 years, 9 months ago

I posted a link to a note as a solution to this problem.

Steven Chase - 3 years, 9 months ago
Steven Chase
Aug 23, 2017

@Chew-Seong Cheong provided a nice solution which utilizes the conjugate impedance matching principle. For further justification of this approach see the this note

Here you compute load power as |I|^2 R L, while the first answer used Re(U^2/Z L). As I haven't studied this in English I'm not sure what the "active power" refers to, but it seems you have now used a different definition.

Filip Kozarski - 3 years, 9 months ago

Log in to reply

I'm sorry for italics, I tried to use _ for indices

Filip Kozarski - 3 years, 9 months ago

Log in to reply

When dealing with power formulas, there are several equivalent versions.

Steven Chase - 3 years, 9 months ago

Log in to reply

@Steven Chase Well, if the real part is only taken at the end, a purely imaginary Z_L could give a nonzero "active" power

Filip Kozarski - 3 years, 9 months ago

Log in to reply

@Filip Kozarski Here's a general picture of it, considering just the voltage, current, and impedance associated with an element.

P = R e ( V I ) = R e ( V ( V Z ) ) = R e ( V 2 Z ) \large{P = Re(\vec{V} \vec{I}^*) = Re(\vec{V} (\frac{\vec{V}}{\vec{Z}})^*) = Re\big(\frac{|\vec{V}|^2}{\vec{Z}^*}\big)}

The squared voltage inside is a scalar. Thus, if the load impedance is purely reactive, there will be no active power.

Steven Chase - 3 years, 9 months ago

Log in to reply

@Steven Chase Ok great:). Just a note then, the first solution has a typo, taking the square of voltage (and not the square of it's magnitude). Furthermore, when dividing by Z_L, we should get a conjugated value. It doesn't affect the result of course.

Filip Kozarski - 3 years, 9 months ago

0 pending reports

×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...