Electrical Engineering Fundamentals/Voltage Sources

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A DC voltage source with constant voltage $V_s$ connected to a resistor

A voltage source provides a potential difference.

There are several types of voltage sources. The most common ones are direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) .

A DC voltage source has constant voltage across its terminals. Examples of DC voltage sources are batteries and solar cells.

An AC voltage source has a voltage across its output the shape of sine wave with constant amplitude:

$V(t)=V_p\sin (\omega t+\delta )$

where

$V(t)$ is the voltage at time $t$

$V_p$ is the peak voltage

$\omega$ is the angular frequency

$t$ is the time

$\delta$ is some phase, which is often set to zero at $t=0$

An example of an AC voltage source is the AC generator.