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Alternating Current and Voltage Alternating current has largely replaced direct current in commercial power systems for a number of reasons. It can be transmitted over long distances more readily and more economically than direct current, since AC voltages can be increased or decreased by means of transformers. Because more and more units are being operated electrically in airplanes, the power requirements are such that a number of advantages can be realized by using AC. Space and weight can be saved, since AC devices, especially motors, are smaller and simpler than DC devices. In most AC motors no brushes are required, and commutation trouble at high altitude is eliminated. Circuit breakers will operate satisfactorily under load at high altitudes in an AC system, whereas arcing is so excessive on DC systems that circuit breakers must be replaced frequently. Finally, most airplanes using a 24- volt DC system have special equipment that requires a certain amount of 400 cycle AC current. AC and DC Compared “AC" stands for Alternating Current. Many of the principles, characteristics, and effects of AC are similar to those of direct current. Similarly, there are a number of differences, which will be explained. Direct current flows constantly in only one direction with a constant polarity. It changes magnitude only when the circuit is opened or closed, as shown in the DC waveform in Figure 10-97. Alternating current changes direction at regular intervals, increases in value at a definite rate from zero to a maximum positive strength, and decreases back to zero; then it flows in the opposite direction, similarly increasing to a maximum negative value, and again decreasing to zero. DC and AC waveforms are compared in Figure 10-97.
Since alternating current constantly changes direction and intensity, the following two effects (to be discussed later) take place in AC circuits that do not occur in DC circuits:
Generator Principles After the discovery that an electric current flowing through a conductor creates a magnetic field around the conductor, there was considerable scientific speculation about whether a magnetic field could create a current flow in a conductor. In 1831, it was demonstrated this could be accomplished. To show how an electric current can be created by a magnetic field, a demonstration similar to that illustrated in Figure 10-98 can be used. Several turns of
a conductor are wrapped around a cylindrical form, and the ends of the conductor are connected together to form a complete circuit, which includes a galvanometer. If a simple bar magnet is plunged into the cylinder, the galvanometer can be observed to deflect in one direction from its zero (center) position (Figure 10-98A). When the magnet is at rest inside the cylinder, the galvanometer shows a reading of zero, indicating that no current is flowing (Figure 10-98B). In Figure 10-98C, the galvanometer indicates a current flow in the opposite direction when the magnet is pulled from the cylinder. The same results may be obtained by holding the magnet stationary and moving the cylinder over the magnet, indicating that a current flows when there is relative motion between the wire coil and the magnetic field. These results obey a law first stated by the German scientist, Heinrich Lenz. Lenz’s law states: The induced current caused by the relative motion of a conductor and a magnetic field always flows in such a direction that its magnetic field opposes the motion. When a conductor is moved through a magnetic field, an electromotive force (emf) is induced in the conductor.
The first finger of the left hand is pointed in the direction of the magnetic lines of force (north to south), the thumb is pointed in the direction of movement of the conductor through the magnetic field, and the second finger points in the direction of the induced emf. When a loop conductor is rotated in a magnetic field, a voltage is induced in each side of the loop. [Figure 10- 101] The two sides cut the magnetic field in opposite directions, and although the current flow is continuous, it moves in opposite directions with respect to the two sides of the loop. If sides A and B and the loop are rotated half a turn and the sides of the conductor have exchanged positions, the induced emf in each wire reverses its direction, since the wire formerly cutting the lines of force in an upward direction is now moving downward.
The value of an induced emf depends on three factors:
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