REGENT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

LABORATORY EXPERIMENT #4
AC Voltage/Current Measurement: Voltage and Current in Series RC and RL circuits.

INTRODUCTION:

In Experiment #3, we investigated the behavior of capacitors (and inductors) in DC and non-sinusoidal AC
circuits such as rectangular waves. In this laboratory session, we will investigate the response of capacitors
in sinusoidal AC circuits. (While inductors behave similarly in that they also can be described by their
magnitude and phase, time will not permit us to experiment with them in this lab session.)

Unlike resistors, which require only one parameter (the resistance) to describe their AC circuit properties, a
capacitor requires three:

1. Magnitude C (measured in farads)

2. Frequency f (measured in Hertz or radians)
3. Phase q (degrees or radians)
(For an inductor, the three parameters are magnitude L (measured in Henrys), frequency and phase.)

The objective of this laboratory session is to discover these parameters and demonstrate how you can
visualize and measure them. National Instruments myDAQ tools for AC signal generation and
measurements, which include the function generator, oscilloscope, and Bode analyzer, are used in this lab
session.

EQUIPMENT
 NI myDAQ
 1 kΩ Resistor
 0.1 µF Capacitor
 Solderless Breadboard
 Laptop

Fig. 1 RC Voltage Divider Circuit

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EXPERIMENT A:

Build the RC circuit shown in Figure 1. Connect a 1 kΩ resistor to the function generator (FGEN) output (AO
0) screw terminal on the side on your myDAQ connector block. A 0.1 µF capacitor is connected in series
with the resistor. The other end of the capacitor goes to the AGND screw terminal. The capacitor voltage is
measured with two leads across the capacitor and is connected to the AI 1+ and AI 1- screw terminals. The
resistor voltage is measured with two leads across the resistor and is connected to the AI 0+ and AI 0- screw
terminals. From your NI ELVISmx Instrument Launcher strip, select [FGEN]. (NOTE: NI myDAQ is uniquely
suited for this measurement because the negative analog input (AI #-) perform differential measurements,
meaning they are not directly tied to ground (AGND).

From your NI ELVISmx Instrument Launcher strip, select [FGEN].

Fig. 2 Function Generator Front Panel

Configure the FGEN as a sine wave generator shown in Fig. 2. (NOTE: The only output of the function
generator is via the analog output screw terminals labeled AO 0 and AGND on the side connector strip.

From your NI ELVISmx Instrument Launcher strip, select [Scope]. Verify your connections and settings (Fig.
3), and then press the [Run] button in the ‘Run Continuously’ Acquisition Mode on both the FGEN and
Scope instruments. You are now looking at the voltage drop across the resistor (green trace). Verify that the
frequency measured on the Scope is the same as that set on the FGEN.
Now by clicking on the [Enabled] boxes, disable the green trace and enable the blue trace.

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You are now looking at the voltage across the capacitor (blue trace). It is a sine wave of the same frequency
but with a smaller amplitude than the resistor voltage. However, there is another big difference. Let’s
discover it. Try different frequencies on the FGEN. What happens to the capacitor voltage?
As the frequency is changed, the signal amplitude of the voltage across the capacitor also changes. This
shows that the capacitor voltage depends not only on the magnitude of the capacitor but also on the
frequency (the larger the frequency, the smaller the amplitude). In fact, the capacitor voltage depends on the
inverse of the frequency (1/f).

Fig. 3 Scope Front Panel Configured for this Lab.

Return to the original frequency of 1.0 kHz.

Now enable the green trace so both traces are seen. Both traces are sine waves of the same frequency but
with different amplitudes. Note also that the capacitor voltage (blue trace) lags or follows the resistor voltage
(green trace). If one was to measure the position of the blue peak with respect to the green peak, then this
lag can be interpreted as a minus time difference.

Click the [Cursors On] box. Two cursors (C1 and C2) show up on the left side on the graph. Click and drag
each one in turn to rest on successive peaks: one on a blue and one on a green peak (Fig. 4).

Record the time difference dT between the two peaks as a measure of the phase shift.

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 Fig. 4 The R and C Circuit Waveforms

dT =______________

Now move one of the cursors to a successive peak on the same color. This measurement of dT gives the
period T. Record your measurement.
T=________________

The phase q between the two signals is calculated from the ratios:

(dT/T) = (q/360)

What a surprise! It is just 90 degrees. Now adding the lag property (sign is negative), then the phase
difference is -90 degrees or –π/2 radians. In complex notation, this phase difference is given by (-j) or (1/j).

Capacitors have only an imaginary (j) component.

For AC circuits, a capacitor behaves like a resistor and is called the capacitive reactance Xc. Its magnitude
is given by (1/wC), and its phase is –90 degrees or (1/j).

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Reactance of a capacitor is a vector Xc = (1/jwC).

NOTES ON INDUCTANCE

If one was to replace the capacitor in our circuit with an inductor and follow the same procedure as above,
then one would discover that inductance is also imaginary. An inductor in an AC circuit behaves like a
resistor and is called inductive reactance XL.

Inductors have the following:

Magnitude, L (measured in Henries)

Frequency, w (measured in radians)
And
Phase, j (inductance signal leads the resistance signal)

The reactance of an inductor is a vector XL = (jwL).

While a charged capacitor stores an electric field, an inductor stores a magnetic field. Electronics is just
applied E&M (electro-magnetic) theory.

VOLTAGE DIVIDER

Any circuit with a combination of resistors, capacitors, and inductors can be replaced with a single
component called impedance. It is a vector with both real and imaginary parts and is written as

Z = R + Xc + XL

It can be visualized as a vector with a real part (R) plotted on the X-axis and an imaginary part (I) {Xc, XL}
plotted on the Y-axis.

The vector sum of all the components (real and imaginary) is a vector of magnitude |Z| and phase angle q,
where q = arctan(imaginary part/real part).

The simplest electronic circuit is a voltage divider, like our RC circuit. It can be represented by the following
vector diagram.

Fig. 5 Phasor or Vector Diagram of a Complex RC Impedance

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EXPERIMENT B:

One of the best ways to visualize the frequency dependence of an impedance circuit is with a Bode plot.
Here one plots the voltage gain (dB) versus the log of the frequency to reveal a characteristic curve for the
real part (magnitude) of a circuit. A second plot of the phase (linear scale) versus the log of the frequency
shows a characteristic curve for the imaginary part of the circuit. NI myDAQ automates this measurement
with a Bode Analyzer (BODE).

From your NI ELVISmx Instrument Launcher strip, select [BODE].

Fig. 6 Bode Analyzer Plot of the Simple RC Circuit

Verify the settings shown in Fig. 6.

Notes:
 Stimulus Channel [AI 0] from FGEN to myDAQ screw terminals (FGEN to AI 0+, AGND to AI 0-).
 Response Channel [AI 1] from capacitor voltage to screw terminals (Capacitor voltage to AI 1+,
AGND to AI 1-).
 Graph ranges have been changed for (Auto) to a Gain setting (0 to -–16 db) and a Phase setting (0
to -–90 degrees).
 Press [Run] to view the Bode plot.

You can immediately see the entire frequency response for the RC network. The voltage gain is a constant
until the reactance of the capacitor becomes significant. Then the gain falls off as a straight line for f > 2 kHz.
On a log-log plot such as in the gain curve, a straight line indicates a power law. Here the power is -1 or 1/f.

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You can see that the phase of the circuit is resistive (0 degrees) for small frequencies but capacitive (-–90
degrees) for very large frequencies. This is similar to our observations from the scope measurements, only
easier to see. But there is more!

Enable [Cursors On] by checking the box.

Now drag the cursor line (red) on the left side until the phase is close to 45 degrees. This is a special point
and is called the -3 dB cutoff frequency on the gain plot.

Fig. 7 Bode Plot of the RC Circuit with Cursors Enabled

Recall the definition of the phase

Tan q = (|Xc|/|R|)

At the angular frequency w where q = 45 degrees, Tan 45 = 1.

At this point, the real part of the impedance equals the imaginary part of the impedance.
In the real world, this means that the voltage across the capacitor VC is equal to the voltage across the
resistor VR. You can observe this from your Scope or Bode measurements.