Calculate average current or peak current for sine, rectified, triangular, sawtooth, DC, and PWM waveforms using peak current or duty cycle.

Average Current Calculator

Leave one current field blank, then calculate.

Full-wave sine
Waveform
PWM
Iavg = (2/π) × Ipeak
%

Average Current Formula

The following formula is used to calculate the average (mean/DC) current of a full-wave rectified sine wave from its peak current.

I_{ave} = I_p \cdot \frac{2}{\pi} \approx 0.637\,I_p
  • Where Iave is the Average Current (mean value) (amps)
  • Ip is the peak current (amps) 

For a full-wave rectified sine wave, multiply the peak current by 2/π (≈ 0.637) to get the average current. For comparison, an unrectified sine wave averaged over a full cycle has an average of 0, and a half-wave rectified sine wave has an average of Ip/π (≈ 0.318·Ip).

How to Calculate Average Current?

The following two example problems outline how to calculate the Average Current.

Example Problem #1:

  1. First, determine the peak current (amps). In this example, the peak current is measured to be 115 A (full-wave rectified sine wave).
  2. Finally, calculate the Average Current using the formula above: 

Iave = Ip · (2/π)

Inserting the values from above and solving the equation with the input values gives: 

Iave = 115 · (2/π) ≈ 73.21 (amps)

Example Problem #2: 

Using the same process as example problem 1, we first define the variables outlined by the formula. In this case, the values are:

peak current (amps) = 251

Entering these values into the formula above gives : 

Iave = 251 · (2/π) ≈ 159.79 (amps)