EE287: Circuit theory

Lecture1: Revision - Basic Concepts

 Lecture Objectives
• Learn about the concepts of charge, current, and voltage
• Learn about power and energy
• Identify the principal elements of electrical circuits
• Understand the concepts of nodes, branches, and loops
• Understand the basic SI units and SI prefixes
 Electric Charge
• The concept of electric charge is the
– underlying principle in explaining all electrical
phenomena
• Charge is
– the most basic quantity in an electric circuit
– an electrical property of the atomic particles of which
matter consists
• and is measured in coulombs (C)
 Electric Charge
• From elementary physics we know that all
– matter is made of atoms
• Each atom consists of
– Electrons
– protons
– neutrons
– The smallest amount of charge that exists is the
• charge carried by an electron, equal to

qe  1.602 x 10 19 C
– The proton is assigned a plus sign
q p  1.602 x 10 19 C
 Example 1.1
• How much charge is represented by 4,600
electrons?
• Solution:
– Each electron has

 1.602 x 10 19 C

– Hence 4,600 electrons will have

(1.602 x 10 19 ) x (4600)   7.369 x 10 16 C
 Electric Current
• Electric current is defined as the
– time rate of change of charge passing through a
predetermined area
• electric current
dq
i 
dt
• Current is the movement of charge
– If the current passing a terminal is i
• the charge transferred between time t0 and t is
t
Q   i dt
t0
 Example 1.2
• Determine the total charge entering a terminal between
t = 1s and t = 2s if the current passing the terminal is
 
i  3t 2  t A
 Solution
• Analysis
2 2
Q   i dt   3t 2
 t dt
t 1 1
2
 3 t  2
 1

 t  
  8  2   1    5.5 C
 2 1  2
 Electric Current
• If the current does not change with time, but remains constant, we
call it direct current (dc)

• A time varying current is known as alternating current (ac)

 Voltage
• To move a charge between
– two points in a circuit requires some work or energy transfer

The voltage (or potential difference) vab between two points in a

circuit indicates the energy required to move a unit charge from
one point to the other
 Power and Energy
• Need to know
– how much power an electric device can handle
• The electric power
– absorbed or supplied by an element is the
• product of the voltage across the element and the current flowing
through it
p vi
• The energy absorbed or supplied by an element from
time t0 to time t is

t t
w   p dt   vi dt
t0 t0
 Passive Sign Convention
• Passive sign convention is satisfied
– when the current enters through
• the positive terminal of an element and p = + v i.
– power absorbed by the element
• the negative terminal, p = -vi
– power supply by the element
 Passive Sign Convention
• What is the sign of the power computed ?

• What is the sign of the power computed ?

 Circuit Elements
• An element is the
– basic building block of a circuit
• An electric circuit is simply
– an interconnection of circuit elements which
• accomplish a specific tasks
 Circuit Elements
• There are two types of elements found in electric
circuits
– Passive elements (not capable of generating energy)
• Resistors, capacitors and inductors

– Active elements (capable of generating energy)

• Generators, batteries, operational amplifiers
 Circuit Elements
• The most important active elements are
– voltage and current sources
• that generally deliver power to the circuit connected to them
– There are two kinds of sources
• Independent source
• Dependent source

• An ideal independent source is

– an active element that provides a
specified voltage or current that is
independent of other circuit elements
 Circuit Elements
• An ideal dependent (controlled) source is
– an active element in which the source quantity is
controlled by another voltage or current
• There are four possible types of dependent sources, namely
– A voltage-controlled voltage source (VCVS)
– A current-controlled voltage source (CCVS)
– A voltage-controlled current source (VCCS)
– A current-controlled current source (CCCS)
 Branch
• A branch is any portion of a circuit with two terminals
connected to it
 Node
• A node is the junction of two or more branches
• A supernode is obtained by
– defining a region that encloses more than one node
 Loop
• A loop is any closed connection of branches
 Mesh
• A mesh is a loop that does not contain other loops
• Loops1 and 2 are meshes but loop3 is not a mesh
 System of Units
• As Engineers,
– we deal with measurable quantities
• Our measurements, however,
– must be communicated in a standard language
• Such an International standard language is the
– International system of Units (SI)
• In this system there are six principle units
 System of Units
• SI units are based on six fundamental quantities

Quantity Unit Symbol

Length meter m
Mass kilogram kg
Time second s
Electric current Ampere A
Temperature Kelvin K
Luminous Intensity Candela cd
 System of Units
Prefixes based on the power of 10 are used to relate larger
and smaller units to the basic unit

Decimal multiples and

submultiples of SI units
EE287: Circuit Theory

Revision - Basic Laws

 Lecture Objectives
• Learn about
– Ohm's law
– Kirchhoff's current and voltage laws
 Introduction

• To determine the values of

– current, voltage and power in a circuit requires that
• we understand some fundamental laws that govern electric
circuits
 Resistance
• Materials in general have a
– characteristic of resisting the flow of electric charge
• This ability to resist current is known as RESISTANCE and is
– represented by the symbol R
• The resistance of any material with uniform cross-sectional
area A and length l is given by

l
R
A

– where ρ is known as the resistivity of the material

 Ohm’s Law
• The relationship between current and voltage for
– a resistor is known as Ohm’s law
 Ohm’s Law
• Ohm’s law states that
– the voltage v across a resistor is directly proportional to the
current i flowing through the resistor

vi
• Mathematically Ohm’s Law is:

v  iR
• where R is the resistance
 Ohm’s Law
• There are two extreme possible values of R:
– 0 (zero)
–  (infinite)
– related to two basic circuit concepts:
• short circuit and open circuit.
– An element with R = 0 is called a short circuit
• For a short circuit
v i R 0
– showing the voltage is zero but the current could be anything
 Ohm’s Law
• Similarly an element with R = ∞ is known as an open
circuit
– For an open circuit
v
i  lim 0
R R

• indicating that the current is zero though the voltage could be

anything
 Ohms Law
• Conductance
– is the ability of an element to conduct electric current; it is the
reciprocal of resistance R and is measured in mhos or siemens

1 i
G  
R v

• The power dissipated by a resistor:

2
v
p  vi  i 2 R 
R
 Ohms Law
• Conductance
– is the ability of an element to conduct electric current; it is the
reciprocal of resistance R and is measured in mhos or siemens

1 i
G  
R v

• The power dissipated by a resistor:

2
v
p  vi  i 2 R 
R
 Problem
• In the circuit shown below, calculate the current i, the
conductance G, and the power p
 Solution
• The voltage across the resistor is
– the same as the source voltage (30V)
• Hence the current is
v 30
i    6 mA
R 5 x 10 3

• The conductance is
1 1
G    mS
R 5 x 10 3

• The power
p  
isv i  30 6 x 10 3  180 mW

• or 
p  i 2 R  6 x 10 3  5 x10   180 mW
2 3
 Kirchhoff’s Laws
• Ohm’s law by
– itself is not sufficient to analyze circuits
• However, when it is coupled with
– Kirchhoff’s two laws, we have a sufficient, powerful set of tools
for analyzing variety of electric circuits
• Kirchhoff’s Current Law (KCL)
– states that the algebraic sum of currents entering a node (or a
closed boundary) is zero
 Kirchhoff’s Current Law
• Mathematically, KCL implies that
N

i
n 1
n 0

– where N is the number of branches connected to the node

– in is the nth current entering or leaving the node
• Current entering a node may be regarded as positive
• Current leaving a node as negative
 Kirchhoff’s Current Law
• Consider the node in the figure below

• Applying KCL gives

i1   i2   i3  i4   i5   0
• Rearranging the terms we get

i1  i3  i 4  i 2  i5
• Thus
– the sum of currents entering a node is equal to the sum of the
currents leaving the node
 Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law
• Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law (KVL)
– states that the algebraic sum of all voltages around a closed
path (or loop) is zero
• Mathematically, KVL states that
M

v
m 1
m 0

– where M is the number of voltages in the loop and vm is the mth

voltage
 Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law
• To illustrate KVL, consider the circuit below

• The sign on
– each voltage is the polarity of the terminal encountered first as
we travel along the loop

 v1 ,  v 2 ,  v3 ,  v 4 , and  v5 
 Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law
• Thus, KVL yields
 v1  v 2  v3  v 4  v5  0

• Rearranging terms gives

 v 2  v3  v5  v1  v 4

• which may be interpreted as

– sum of voltage drops equals sum of voltage rises
 Problem
• For the circuit below, find the voltages v1 and v2
 Solution
• We apply Ohm’s law and Kirchhoff’s voltage law to find v1 and v2
• Assume that current i flows through the loop as shown in the circuit
below

• From Ohm’s law

v1  2 i, v2   3 i (1)
• Applying KVL around the loop gives
 20  v1  v 2  0 ( 2)
 Solution
• Substituting (1) into (2), we obtain

 20  2 i  3 i  0 or 5 i  20 i  4 A

• Substituting i in (1) finally gives

v1  8 V , v 2   12 V
 Problem
• Determine v0 and i in the circuit below
 Solution
• Substituting (2) into (1) yields
 16  10 i  12 i  0  i   8 A
• and
v 0  48 V
 Problem
• Find currents and voltages in the circuit below
 Solution
• We apply Ohm’s law and Kirchhoff’s laws to the circuit below

• By Ohm’s law
v1  8 i1 , v 2  3 i2 , v 3  6 i3 (1)
• KCL at node a gives

i1  i 2  i3  0 ( 2)
 Solution
• Applying KVL to loop1, we get
 30  v1  v 2  0
• we express this in terms of i1 and i2 as in (1) to obtain

 30  8 i1  3 i 2  0
• or
i1 
30  3 i2  (3)
8

• Applying KVL to loop2, yields

 v 2  v3  0  v3  v 2 ( 4)
• expressing this in terms of i2 and i3 as in (1)

i2
6 i3  3 i 2  i3  (5)
2
 Solution
• Substituting (3) and (5) into (2) gives
30  3i 2  i
 i2  2  0
8 2
• or
i2  2 A
• From the value of i2, we now use (1) to (5) to obtain

i1  3 A, i3  1 A, v1  24 V , v2  6 V , v3  6 V
 Lecture Objectives
• Learn about
– combining resistors in series and in parallel
– the principles of
• voltage division
• current division
 Series and Parallel Resistors
• combining resistors in series or parallel is a
– technique use in simplifying the analysis of circuits
 Series Resistors
• Consider the single-loop circuit shown below
– The 2 resistors are in series since the same current flows in both
of them

v1  i R1 , v 2  i R2 (1)
– Applying Ohm’s law to each of the resistors, we obtain

 v  v1  v 2  0 ( 2)
– If we apply KVL to the loop, we have
 Series Resistors
• Combining (1) and (2), we get

v  v1  v 2  i R1  R2  (3)
• or
v
i (4)
R1  R2
• Equation 3 can be written as

v  i Req (5)
• Implying that the two resistors can be
– replaced by an equivalent resistor Req

Req  R1  R2 (6)
 Series Resistors
• The earlier figure can be replaced by the one shown
below

• The two circuits are equivalent because they exhibit the

– same voltage-current relationship at terminal a-b
• An equivalent circuit such as the one above is useful in
– simplifying the analysis of a circuit
 Series Resistors
• The equivalent resistance of any number of resistors
connected in series is the
– sum of the individual resistances
• For N resistors in series, then
N
Req  R1  R2  ........................  RN   Rn (7 )
n 1
 Parallel Resistors
• Consider the circuit shown below where
– two resistors are connected in parallel and therefore have the
same voltage across them

v  i1 R1  i 2 R2
• From Ohm’s law
v v
i1  , i2  (8)
• or R1 R2
 Parallel Resistors
• Applying KCL at node a gives the total current i as

i  i1  i2 (9)

• Substituting (8) into (9), we get

v v  1 1  v
i    v    
R1 R2  R1 R2  Req

• where Req is the equivalent resistance of the resistors in

parallel
1 1 1
  (10)
Req R1 R2
 Parallel Resistors
• or 1 R  R2
 1
Req R1 R2

• or R1 R2
Req  (11)
R1  R2
• Thus the equivalent resistance of two parallel resistors is
equal to
– the product of the resistances divided by their sum
• For N resistors in parallel, the equivalent resistance is
1 1 1 1
   .........................  (12)
Req R1 R2 RN
• Note that Req is always smaller than the resistance of the smallest
resistor in the parallel combination
 Problem
• Find Req for the circuit shown below
 solution
• To get Req, we combine resistors in series and in parallel
• The 6-Ω and the 3-Ω resistors are in parallel, so their
equivalent resistance is 6x3
6  // 3   2
63
• Also, the 1-Ω and 5-Ω resistors are in series, their
equivalent resistance is
1   5  6 
 solution
• The two 2-Ω resistors are in series, so the equivalent
resistance is
2   2  4 
• This 4-Ω resistor is in parallel with the 6-Ω resistor and
their equivalent resistance is
4x6
4  // 6   2.4 
46
 solution
• The three resistors are in series. Hence their equivalent
resistance for the circuit is
Req  4   2.4   8   14.4 
 Voltage Division
• We determine the voltage across each resistor in the
circuit below

v1  i R1 , v2  i R2

v
i 
R1  R2
 Voltage Division
• Combining the two equations we have

R1 R2
v1  v, v2  v (13)
R1  R2 R1  R2

• The source voltage v is divided among the resistors in

– direct proportion to their resistances
• The larger the resistance, the larger the voltage drop
– This is called the
» principle of voltage division
– The circuit is called a voltage divider
 Voltage Division

• In general
– if a voltage divider has N resistors in series with the source
voltage
• The nth resistor (Rn) will have a voltage drop
Rn
vn  v (14)
R1  R2  ............  RN
 Current Division
• Given the total current i entering node a, how do we
obtain current i1 and i2
• We know that the equivalent resistor has the same
voltage
R1 R2
v  i Req i (15)
R1  R2
• combining (8) and (15) yields
R2 R1
i1  i, i2  i (16)
R1  R2 R1  R2
 Current Division

• Which shows that the total current i is shared by the

resistors in
– inverse proportion to their resistances
• This is known as
– the principle of current division
• The circuit is known as a current divider
 Problem
• Find the equivalent resistance seen by the
source and the current i in the circuit below
 Solution
• Analysis
– Step1: (4//4) + 22 = 24 Ω
– Step2: (24//8) = 6 Ω
– Further
• (4 + 6)//90 = 9 Ω
– The equivalent resistance is
• Req = 1 + 9 = 10 Ω
 Solution
• The source current is
50
iS   5A
10

• We can find the current i by the current divider rule as

follows

 10 
i    5  0.5 A
 10  90 
 Problem
• Find i and v0 in the circuit below
 Solution
• The 50-Ω and 30-Ω resistors are in series and their
equivalent resistance is
50   30  80 

• The 80-Ω and 20-Ω resistors are in parallel and their

equivalent resistance is
20 x 80 1600
  16 
20  80 100
• The 16-Ω and 24-Ω resistors are in series giving an
equivalent resistance of
16   24  40 
 Solution
• The 60-Ω and 20-Ω resistors are in parallel and their
equivalent resistance is
20 x 60 1200
  15 
20  60 80
• The 15-Ω and 25-Ω resistors are in series and their
equivalent resistance is
15   25   40 
• The two 40-Ω resistors are in parallel giving an
equivalent resistance of
40 x 40 1600
  20 
40  40 80
 Solution
• The 20-Ω and 10-Ω resistors are in series and their
equivalent resistance is
20   10   30 

vs 15
i   0.5 A
Req 30
• If i1 is the current through the 24- resistor and io is the
current through the 50- resistor, using current division
gives
40 20
i 1 i  0.25 A, io  i1  0.05 A
40  40 20  80

vo  30io  30 x 0.05  1.5 V

 Problem

• For the circuit shown below, determine i1 to i5

 Solution
• The equivalent resistance is
1
Req  3  2 // 4 //1  3   3.5714
1/ 2  1/ 4  1
40
i1   11.2 A
3.5714

• Use current division to get i2 and i3

0.666
i2  ( ) x11 .2  1.6 A
0.666  4

4
i3  ( ) x11 .2  9.6 A
0.666  4
 Solution
• Again use current division to get i4 and i5
 2 
i4  
 2  1
 x 9.6  6.4 A
 

 1 
i5  
 2 1
 x 9.6  3.2 A
 
 Problem
• Find v1 and v2 in the circuit below. Also calculate i1 and i2
and the power dissipated in the 12-Ω and 40-Ω resistors
 solution
• v1 = 5 V
• i1 = 416 mA
• p1 = 2.083 W
• v2 = 10 V
• i2 = 250 mA
• p2 = 2.5 W
 Lecture Objective
• to discuss
– Wye-delta transformation
 Introduction
• Situations often arise in
– circuit analysis when the resistors are neither in parallel nor in
series
• Consider the circuit below

How do we combine resistors R1

through R6 when the resistors are
neither in series nor in parallel?
 Wye –Delta Transformation
• Many circuits of this type can be
– simplified by using three terminal equivalent networks
• These are the
– Wye (Y) or tee (T) networks shown below
 Wye –Delta Transformation
• and
– The delta (Δ) or pi (π) networks as shown below
 Delta to Wye Conversion
• Suppose it is more convenient to
– work with a Wye network in a place where the circuit contains
delta configuration
• we superimpose a Wye network on the existing delta network and
find the equivalent resistances in the Wye network
 Delta to Wye Conversion
• To obtain the equivalent resistances in the Wye network,
we
– compare the two networks and make sure that
• the resistance between each pair of nodes in the delta network is
– the same as the resistance between the same pair of nodes in
the Wye network
 Delta to Wye Conversion
• For terminals 1 and 2 in the Wye we have
R12 Y   R1  R3 (1)
• For terminals 1 and 2 in the delta we have
R12    Rb // Ra  Rc  (2)

• Setting (1) = (2) gives

Rb Ra  Rc 
R12  R1  R3  (3)
Ra  Rb  Rc
• Similarly

Rc Ra  Rb 
R13  R1  R2  ( 4)
Ra  Rb  Rc

Ra Rb  Rc 
R34  R2  R3  (5)
Ra  Rb  Rc
 Delta to Wye Conversion
• Subtracting (5) from (3), we get
Rc Rb  Ra 
R1  R2  (6)
Ra  Rb  Rc

• Adding (4) and (6) gives

Rb Rc
R1  (7 )
Ra  Rb  Rc
• Subtracting (6) from (4) yields

Rc R a
R2  (8)
Ra  Rb  Rc
 Delta to Wye Conversion
• Subtracting (7) from (3), we obtain
Ra Rb
R3  (9)
Ra  Rb  Rc
• We do not need to memorize
– equations 7 to 9 to transform a delta network to Y

• Conversion rule
– each resistor in the Y network is
the product of the resistors in the
two adjacent Δ branches,
divided by the sum of the three Δ
resistors
 Problem
• Convert the Δ network in the circuit below to an
equivalent Y network
 Solution
• Using equations 7 to 9, we obtain
Rb Rc 10 x 15 250
R1     5
Ra  Rb  Rc 15  10  25 50
Rc R a 25 x 15 375
R2     7.5 
Ra  Rb  Rc 15  10  25 50

Ra Rb 15 x 10 150
R3     3
Ra  Rb  Rc 15  10  25 50
 Wye to Delta Conversion
• To obtain the conversion formulas for
– transforming a Wye network to an equivalent delta network
• We use equations 7 to 9 and get
Ra Rb Rc Ra  Rb  Rc 
R1 R2  R2 R3  R3 R1 
( Ra  Rb  Rc ) 2
Ra Rb Rc
 (10)
Ra  Rb  Rc

• Dividing equation 10 by equation 7 leads to

R1 R2  R2 R3  R3 R1
Ra  (11)
R1
 Wye to Delta Conversion
• Dividing equation 10 by each of equations 8 and 9 leads
to
R1 R2  R2 R3  R3 R1
Rb  (12)
R2

R1 R2  R2 R3  R3 R1
Rc  (13)
R3

• conversion rule
– Each resistor in the Δ network
is the sum of all possible
products of Y resistors taken
two at a time, divided by the
opposite Y resistor
 Problem
• Transform the Wye network in the circuit below to a delta
network
 Solution
• Using equations 11 to 13 we have

R1 R2  R2 R3  R3 R1 10 x 20  20 x 40  40 x 10 1400
Ra     140 
R1 10 10

R1 R2  R2 R3  R3 R1 10 x 20  20 x 40  40 x 10 1400
Rb     70 
R2 20 20

R1 R2  R2 R3  R3 R1 10 x 20  20 x 40  40 x 10 1400
Rc     35 
R3 40 40
 Problem
• Obtain the equivalent resistance Rab for the circuit below
and use it to find current i
 Solution
• Analysis
– There are two Y networks and three Δ networks
– Transforming just one will simplify the circuit
• Convert the Y network comprising the 5-Ω, 10-Ω and 20-Ω resistors
to a Δ network
– Let
R1  10 , R2  20 , R3  5

• From equations 11 to 12 we have

R1 R2  R2 R3  R3 R1 10 x 20  20 x 5  5 x 10 350
Ra     35 
R1 10 10
R1 R2  R2 R3  R3 R1 350
Rb    17.5 
R2 20
 Solution
• From equation 13 we have
R1 R2  R2 R3  R3 R1 350
Rc    70 
R3 5
 Solution
• Combining the three pairs of resistors in parallel, we
obtain 70 x 30
70 // 30   21
70  30
12.5 x 17.5
12.5 // 17.5   7.292 
12.5  17.5
15 x 35
15 // 35   10.5 
15  35

• The equivalent circuit is

 Solution
• Hence we find
17.292 x 10.5
Rab  7.292  10.5 // 21   9.632 
17.292  21

• Then
vs 120
i   12.458 A
Rab 9.632
 Problem
• Calculate I0 in the circuit below
 Solution
• Convert T to Delta
 Problem
• Find the equivalent resistance at terminal a-b