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Re: [Amps] transformer talk

To: Amps@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [Amps] transformer talk
From: John Popelish <jpopelish@rica.net>
Date: Thu, 09 Feb 2006 13:16:29 -0500
List-post: <mailto:amps@contesting.com>
Bill Turner wrote:

> I wonder if someone could clarify this for me. I've heard this before 
> but not quite understood it.
> 
> My question is, for the same DC output, why is the RMS current in the 
> transformer higher with one type of filter vs another type? I would 
> think it would be the same.

To be more precise, the ratio of RMS AC input current to average DC 
output current of a rectifier with capacitor input filter is higher 
than the ratio of RMS input current to average DC output current of a 
rectifier with choke input filter.

RMS is a calculation that tells you the DC that has the same heating 
effect as an arbitrary waveform.  The S in RMS refers to a squaring 
operation on the instantaneous current or voltage, since heat in 
resistors is proportional to the square of current through or voltage 
across them.  To perform an RMS calculation, you need to 
instantaneously square at least a half cycle (since the squaring 
operation makes the negative and positive half cycles look the same), 
then average that squared waveform over its period of time, then take 
the square root of that average.  Root of the Mean of the Square.  The 
squaring operation gives appropriate emphasis of the larger peaks, 
since these contribute a non proportional (squared) addition to the 
total energy per cycle, dumped into any winding resistance this 
current passes through.
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