Average/Mean and RMS value of AC signal

Dave

Joined Nov 17, 2003
6,969
What specifics are you wanting to know?

For a general sinusoidal wave:

RMS = 1/√2 x the amplitude ~ 0.707 x amplitude

Average = 2/π x the amplitude ~ 0.636 x amplitude

For more arbitrary waves further analysis is required. Does this help? If not post back with what specifically is your problem and we'll see what we can do.
 

zgozvrm

Joined Oct 24, 2009
115
Average/Mean and RMS value of AC signal

Please give general idea about these two mentioned topics
RMS can be thought of as the "DC equivalent" value of the AC signal.

On a graph, it is the "straight-line" value such that the area bounded by it and the X-axis (at the top and bottom) from 0 degrees to 360 degrees is equal to the area bounded by the X-axis and the 2 half-cycles of the sine wave.
 

pawankumar

Joined Oct 28, 2009
42
thanks everyone...this was my first post in this forum.since i am new to electronics,my doubts might seem stupid.please bear with me..they are geniune.
thanks in advance to the senior members and everyone who are going to reply me for my queries
regds,
pawankumar
 

The Electrician

Joined Oct 9, 2007
2,971
RMS can be thought of as the "DC equivalent" value of the AC signal.

On a graph, it is the "straight-line" value such that the area bounded by it and the X-axis (at the top and bottom) from 0 degrees to 360 degrees is equal to the area bounded by the X-axis and the 2 half-cycles of the sine wave.
What you have described is the average of the absolute value of the AC signal, not the RMS value.
 
For a sine wave, the average and RMS differ by more than 10%. When making electrical measurements, one should aspire to do much better than that.

For other waveforms, such as the very spiky current drawn by non-powerfactor corrected compact fluorescent lamps, the difference can be much more.

The average absolute value is appropriate when the quantity of charge transported is relevant, such as when charging batteries.

The RMS value is relevant when power is the parameter of interest.

The absolute value of a number is its value without considering sign. Negative numbers become positive and positive numbers remain positive.
 
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