In electrical engineering, the alpha-beta (

) transformation (also known as the Clarke

transformation) is a mathematical transformation employed to simplify the analysis of threephase circuits. Conceptually it is similar to the dqo transformation. One very useful application
of the
transformation is the generation of the reference signal used for space vector
modulation control of three-phase inverters.

Definition
The

transform applied to three-phase currents, as used by Edith Clarke, is[1]

where
is a generic three-phase current sequence and
is the corresponding current
sequence given by the transformation . The inverse transform is:

The above Clarke's transformation preserves the amplitude of the electrical variables which it is
applied to. Indeed, consider a three-phase symmetric, direct, current sequence

where is the rms of

,
,
and
is the generic time-varying angle that can also
be set to without loss of generality. Then, by applying to the current sequence, it results

where the last equation holds since we have considered balanced currents. As it is shown in the
above, the amplitudes of the currents in the
reference frame are the same of that in the
natural reference frame.

Power invariant transformation

The active and reactive powers computed in the Clark's domain with the transformation shown
above are not the same of those computed in the standard reference frame. This happens because
is not unitary. In order to preserve the active and reactive powers one has, instead, to consider

which is a unitary matrix and the inverse coincides with its transpose.[2] In this case the
amplitudes of the transformed currents are not the same of those in the standard reference frame,
that is

Simplified transformation
Since in a balanced system
consider the simplified transform[3]

and

Geometric Interpretation

and thus

one can also

The
transformation can be thought of as the projection of the three phase quantities
(voltages or currents) onto two stationary axes, the alpha axis and the beta axis.

Shown above is the

transform as applied to three symmetrical currents flowing through
three windings separated by 120 physical degrees. The three phase currents lag their
corresponding phase voltages by . The - axis is shown with the axis aligned with phase
'A'. The current vector
rotates with angular velocity . There is no component since the
currents are balanced.
Edith Clarke, the first woman to be elected fellow of the American Institute of Electrical
Engineers, was born February 10, 1883 in Howard County, Maryland, U.S.A. She received an
A.B. degree in mathematics and astronomy from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York in
1908. In 1911, she took courses in Civil Engineering at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
From 1912 to 1918, she worked for the American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T). Her work
consisted mainly of solving mathematical equations.
In 1919, she was the first woman to receive an M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Following this, she started working for General
Electric in 1919 , where she remained for the next twenty-odd years. In 1920, she took leave of
absence from her job and was a visiting professor of physics at Islanbul Women's College in
Turkey.
In 1926, she addressed the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) at their convention
in New York City in February 1926. It is believed that she was the first woman to do so. She
spoke on the topic of "Steady-State Stability in Transmission systems".

In 1943, she published an electrical engineering textbook Circuit Analysis of AC Power Systems,
Symmetrical and Related Components. In 1948, she was elected fellow of the AIEE. At that time
she was a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Texas in Austin, where she
remained until 1959. She was probably the first woman to teach electrical engineering at the
university level. In 1954 she received the Achievement Award of the Society of Women
Engineers. Edith Clarke died October 29, 1959 in Olney, Maryland.

World of Computer Science on Edith Clarke

Edith Clarke is chiefly recognized for her contributions to simplifying and mechanizing the
calculations required in power systems analysis. A pioneering female engineer, Clarke was the
first woman granted an M.S. in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) and later became the first woman to deliver a technical paper before the
American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE).
Clarke was born on a farm near Ellicott City, Maryland, one of nine children of Susan Dorsey
(Owings) and John Ridgely Clarke, a lawyer. She attended a nearby school until 1897, when she
entered boarding school after the deaths of her parents. She returned home two years later with
no ambition for a career. Clarke decided to study languages with a tutor, however, and entered
Vassar College in 1904. There she studied mathematics and astronomy, graduating with an A.B.
in 1908.
Clarke taught math and science in San Francisco...