Characteristic impedance

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The characteristic impedance or surge impedance Z0 of a uniform transmission line is the ratio of the amplitudes of a single pair of voltage and current waves propagating along the line in the absence of reflections. The SI unit of characteristic impedance is the ohm. A transmission line terminated at one end with its characteristic impedance will appear infinitely long to a source at the other end.

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[edit] Transmission line model

Applying the transmission line model based on the telegrapher equations, the general expression for the characteristic impedance of a transmission line is:

Z_0=\sqrt{\frac{R+j\omega L}{G+j\omega C}}

where

R is the resistance per unit length,
L is the inductance per unit length,
G is the conductance per unit length,
C is the capacitance per unit length,
j is the imaginary unit, and
ω is the angular frequency.

The voltage and current phasors on the line are related by the characteristic impedance as:

\frac{V^+}{I^+} = Z_0 = -\frac{V^-}{I^-}

where the superscripts + and represent forward- and backward-traveling waves, respectively.

[edit] Lossless line

For a lossless line R and G are zero and the equation for characteristic impedance reduces to

Z_0 = \sqrt{\frac{L}{C}}.

[edit] Surge Impedance Loading

The surge impedance loading (SIL) of a power transmission line is the MW loading when reactive power is produced nor absorbed, or

\mathit{SIL}=\frac{V_\mathrm{L-L}}{Z_0}

in which VL − L is the line-to-line voltage in kilovolts.

Power system operators use the SIL as a measure to determine whether a line is supplying (actual loading below SIL) or absorbing reactive power from the system (actual loading above SIL).

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Ulaby, F. T. (2004). Fundamentals Of Applied Electromagnetics, media edition. ISBN 0-13-185089-X. 
  • Pozar, D. M. (February 2004). Microwave Engineering, 3rd edition. ISBN 0-471-44878-8. 

This article contains material from the Federal Standard 1037C, which, as a work of the United States Government, is in the public domain.

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