Sine Wave Software

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bryonb

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Has anybody come across a program that will generate a sine wave for displaying on an overhead projector? I teach 2nd year apprentices in a JATC program which includes A/C theory. It would be nice to be able to display the wave shapes in say an LCR circuit without having to manually draw it on the white board (which isn?t easy to do neatly and quickly as most of you know!). I have searched in vane online. I am hoping to find a program that will allow you to enter amplitude (voltage), frequency and phase shift for each wave.

Great forum by the way
Thanks!
 
Try searching for Alex Mceachern. I have used his software for power quality teaching in the past. Not sure how it will work in LC circuits but it might help or get you started. If nothing else, its pretty cool to play with.

Good luck
 
In a pinch, when I've needed to do this, I just use a spreadsheet program.

in column A use simply have increasing values:
$A$1 = 0
A2 = A1 + 1
in column B you then put the function that you want to graph
B1 = sin(A1*pi() / 180)

the reason for the pi()/180 factor is that the sin function wants the angular measure in radians.
You can add additional columns for additional functions,

eg. sine shifted by 120 degrees
C1 = sin( (A1 + 120) * pi() / 180)

or third harmonic
D1 = sin( (3 * A1) * pi() / 180 )

or scaled for voltage
E1 = sqrt(2) * V * sin(A1* pi()/180)
the sqrt(2) value is for converting RMS to peak voltage, since sin goes from -1 to +1

Then you simply graph the values using the standard graphing tools.

-Jon

P.S. I hope that no-one finds my frequent use of sin offensive :)
 
I have added the Graphs to my web page after you open my page scroll down the page to Misc. Stuff they are under it.

All depends on your browser you might have to save them to your hard drive before you can open them. Below is the address to my web page.

Important note:

After you open the graph make sure all cells with information in them are highlitied,then go to the work bar at the top of page and click on the graph icon, and create your graph in x,y scatter.

http://home.comcast.net/~ronaldrc/wsb/home.html
 
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Trick I learned for drawing a 3 phase sine wave on a whiteboard do it comes out even.

1. Draw a straight horizontial line across the board
2. Draw a big Zig-zag line up and down (Looks like ice cream cones) with the line being centered.
3. Top off your cones with a scoop of ice cream by drawing an arc across the tops (And bottoms of the upside down cones)

I know this sounds corny, but it really comes out looking good.
 
winnie said:
In a pinch, when I've needed to do this, I just use a spreadsheet program.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the idea, however I am a total idiot when it comes to Excel. I ended up with a straight line on my graph!

ronaldrc said:
I have added the Graphs to my web page after you open my page scroll down the page to Misc. Stuff they are under it.
Click to expand...

Great site with lots of helpful graphics. I couldn't get the MsWorks file to work in my version of Excel 2002. It gives me a "file not recognizable format" error. :confused:

rdelauter said:
Try searching for Alex Mceachern. I have used his software for power quality teaching in the past. Not sure how it will work in LC circuits but it might help or get you started. If nothing else, its pretty cool to play with.
Click to expand...

Pretty cool indeed! I blown most of the morning playing with it!
 
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Bryon, if your JATC can afford it, there is a company called LAbVolt that makes some outstanding equipment for doing exactly what you are needing. This is a real-time oscilloscope module with 3 isolated voltage channels and 3 isolated current channels. The module outputs to your computer and can then be shown with a multi-media projector.

You can hook up actual circuits and show how adding different components changes the phase relationships. Teaching ELI and ICE? No problem. LCR series and parallel? No problem. Power factor of a motor and corrcting with capacitors? No problem.

Our JATC has three complete labvolt units with motors, caps, resistors, inductors, all kinds of meters, xfmrs. You can even get motor control components for it. Forward-reverse? No problem. Plugging? Reduced voltage starting. All kinds of stuff you can use it for. Of course, all this stuff is not cheap - but well worth it in my opinion.

If the JATC can't afford all the stuff, you can still get just the o-scope module.
 
I remember drooling over some of LabVolt's stuff at NTI a couple of years ago. Glancing through their website, the "Electromechanical Systems Simulation Software (LVSIM?-EMS) (8970)" looks like a great tool to use in a classroom lecture setting. Do you have any experience with this?
 
Sorry I took so long to answer, have been trying to follow another thread
that makes no sense. :D. I have come to the conclusion that electrical Engineers and Electricians are the most hard headed ,stuborn and self center people on the face of the earth, me included.We can't seem to agree on anything.

Hope the Graphs worked for you. :)
 
ronaldrc said:
Sorry I took so long to answer, have been trying to follow another thread
that makes no sense. :D. I have come to the conclusion that electrical Engineers and Electricians are the most hard headed ,stuborn and self center people on the face of the earth, me included.We can't seem to agree on anything.

Hope the Graphs worked for you. :)
Click to expand...

I don't agree with that and nothing you can say will change my mind but if you knew everything I knew, you would have to agree with me :grin:
 
bryonb said:
Has anybody come across a program that will generate a sine wave for displaying on an overhead projector? I teach 2nd year apprentices in a JATC program which includes A/C theory. It would be nice to be able to display the wave shapes in say an LCR circuit without having to manually draw it on the white board (which isn?t easy to do neatly and quickly as most of you know!). I have searched in vane online. I am hoping to find a program that will allow you to enter amplitude (voltage), frequency and phase shift for each wave.

Great forum by the way
Thanks!
Click to expand...



i heard of a prog that does what you need... it is exist

hope you find it ! :cool:
 
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