# 12.5 Resonance in an AC Circuit

#### LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of the section, you will be able to:

• Determine the peak ac resonant angular frequency for a RLC circuit
• Explain the width of the average power versus angular frequency curve and its significance using terms like bandwidth and quality factor

In the  series circuit of Figure 12.3.1, the current amplitude is, from Equation 12.3.2,

(12.5.1)

If we can vary the frequency of the ac generator while keeping the amplitude of its output voltage constant, then the current changes accordingly. A plot of  versus  is shown in Figure 12.5.1.

(Figure 12.5.1)

Figure 12.5.1 has a similar appearance to the plot of a damped harmonic oscillator’s variation in amplitude with respect to the angular frequency of a sinusoidal driving force. This similarity is more than just coincidence, as shown by the application of Kirchhoff’s loop rule to the circuit of Figure 12.3.1. This yields

(12.5.2)

or

where we substituted for Equation 12.5.2 has the general form of the differential equation for damped harmonic motion, demonstrating that the driven  series circuit is the electrical analog of the driven damped harmonic oscillator.

The resonant frequency of the  circuit is the frequency at which the amplitude of the current is a maximum and the circuit would oscillate if not driven by a voltage source. By inspection, this corresponds to the angular frequency  at which the impedance  in Equation 12.5.1 is a minimum, or when

and

(12.5.3)

This is the resonant angular frequency of the circuit. Substituting ω0ω0 into Equation 12.3.1Equation 12.3.2, and Equation 12.3.3, we find that at resonance,

Therefore, at resonance, an  circuit is purely resistive, with the applied emf and current in phase.

What happens to the power at resonance? Equation 12.4.3 tells us how the average power transferred from an ac generator to the  combination varies with frequency. In addition,  reaches a maximum when  which depends on the frequency, is a minimum, that is, when and  Thus, at resonance, the average power output of the source in an  series circuit is a maximum. From Equation 12.4.3, this maximum is

Figure 12.5.2 is a typical plot of  versus  in the region of maximum power output. The bandwidth  of the resonance peak is defined as the range of angular frequencies  over which the average power  is greater than one-half the maximum value of The sharpness of the peak is described by a dimensionless quantity known as the quality factor  of the circuit. By definition,

(12.5.4)

where is the resonant angular frequency. A high  indicates a sharp resonance peak. We can give  in terms of the circuit parameters as

(12.5.5)

(Figure 12.5.2)

Resonant circuits are commonly used to pass or reject selected frequency ranges. This is done by adjusting the value of one of the elements and hence “tuning” the circuit to a particular resonant frequency. For example, in radios, the receiver is tuned to the desired station by adjusting the resonant frequency of its circuitry to match the frequency of the station. If the tuning circuit has a high  it will have a small bandwidth, so signals from other stations at frequencies even slightly different from the resonant frequency encounter a high impedance and are not passed by the circuit. Cell phones work in a similar fashion, communicating with signals of around that are tuned by an inductor-capacitor circuit. One of the most common applications of capacitors is their use in ac-timing circuits, based on attaining a resonant frequency. A metal detector also uses a shift in resonance frequency in detecting metals (Figure 12.5.3).

(Figure 12.5.3)

### EXAMPLE 12.5.1

#### Resonance in an  Series Circuit

(a) What is the resonant frequency of the circuit of Example 12.2.1? (b) If the ac generator is set to this frequency without changing the amplitude of the output voltage, what is the amplitude of the current?

#### Strategy

The resonant frequency for a  circuit is calculated from Equation 12.5.3, which comes from a balance between the reactances of the capacitor and the inductor. Since the circuit is at resonance, the impedance is equal to the resistor. Then, the peak current is calculated by the voltage divided by the resistance.

#### Solution

a.     The resonant frequency is found from Equation 12.5.3:

b.     At resonance, the impedance of the circuit is purely resistive, and the current amplitude is

#### Significance

If the circuit were not set to the resonant frequency, we would need the impedance of the entire circuit to calculate the current.

### EXAMPLE 12.5.2

#### Power Transfer in an RLC Series Circuit at Resonance

(a) What is the resonant angular frequency of an  circuit with and ? (b) If an ac source of constant amplitude is set to this frequency, what is the average power transferred to the circuit? (c) Determine  and the bandwidth of this circuit.

#### Strategy

The resonant angular frequency is calculated from Equation 12.5.3. The average power is calculated from the rms voltage and the resistance in the circuit. The quality factor is calculated from Equation 12.5.5 and by knowing the resonant frequency. The bandwidth is calculated from Equation 12.5.4 and by knowing the quality factor.

#### Solution

a.     The resonant angular frequency is

b.     At this frequency, the average power transferred to the circuit is a maximum. It is

c.     The quality factor of the circuit is

We then find for the bandwidth

#### Significance

If a narrower bandwidth is desired, a lower resistance or higher inductance would help. However, a lower resistance increases the power transferred to the circuit, which may not be desirable, depending on the maximum power that could possibly be transferred.

In the circuit of Figure 12.3.1, and  (a) What is the resonant frequency? (b) What is the impedance of the circuit at resonance? (c) If the voltage amplitude is what is  at resonance? (d) The frequency of the AC generator is now changed to Calculate the phase difference between the current and the emf of the generator.