Experiment Title:

Circuit Theorems___________________________

Subject:

Circuit Theory UEEA 1243__________________

Course:

Mechanical Engineering_____________________

Date of Experiment: 1st May 2014____________________________

Name of Lecturer:

Name of Student
Low Jen Hahn
Chin Yuan Qiao
Tan Wei Ken

Mr Wong Chee Woon______________________

Mr Lin Horng Sheng_______________________
Mr Chong Zan Kai_________________________
Student ID No
1404527
1401376
1402019

Year and Semester

Y1S1
Y1S1
Y1S1

Title
Experiment 2: Circuit Theorems
Objectives
1.
2.

To verify the Thevenins theorem through experimental measurements.

To verify the Maximum Power Transfer theorem through experimental measurements.

Materials and Apparatus

Resistors:

11-

Instruments: 1 1-

91 , 220 , 330 , 470 , 1 k, 2.2 k, 3.3 k (1/4-W)

0-1 k potentiometer, 0-10 k potentiometer
DMM
DC power supply

Abstract
In this experiment, the first part of it was a circuit was constructed to find the Thevenin
voltage and resistance. The load resistor, RL was first determined in the circuit and was
removed to become open-circuit. Then, all resistors used in the circuit was measured and the
values were recorded. This is because the resistance values stated in the resistor might not give
the exact value. Then, the Thevenin voltage, ETh is determined by connecting the resistor(s) is
that parallel with the resistor load to the multimeter to determine the voltage. After that, the
voltage source is turned off. Through this, we are able to measure the Thevenin resistance in
the circuit. The current flow direction when measuring the Thevenin resistance is by looking
from the perspective of load resistor.
The second part of this experiment was to validate the maximum power transfer occurs
when load resistor, RL is equal to Thevenin resistance, RTh. The potentiometer was adjusted for
different values to obtain different values of power in order to get the maximum power transfer.

Theory
Thevenins theorem provides a means of reducing a complex two terminals, linear
multi-source dc network to one having a single voltage source called Thevenin voltage, ETh
and a series resistor called Thevenin resistance, RTh. The Thevenin voltage is the open-circuit
voltage across the terminals of interest and the Thevenin resistance is the resistance seen at
these terminals with all of the voltage and current sources replaced by their internal resistances
(Figure 1). For voltage sources, the internal resistance is taken as zero (short circuit) and for
current sources the internal resistance is infinite (open circuit).

Figure 1

If a dc voltage source is to deliver maximum power to a resistor, the resistor must

have a value equal to the internal resistance of the source. In a complex network, maximum
power transfers to a load will occur when the load resistance is equal to the Thevenin
resistance seen by the load. For this value, the voltage across the load will be onehalf of
the Thevenin voltage.

In equation form, R L = R Th ,

VL =

E 2 Th
E Th
, and Pmax =
4R Th
2

Procedure
Part 1 Thevenins Theorem
Determining RTh
1. The RTh is determined by constructing the network of Figure 3 and the resistance
between points a-a is measured with RL removed.
2. The value of RTh is entered in column 2 of Table 1

Figure 3
Determining ETh
3. The ETh is determined by constructing the network of Figure 4 and the open-circuit
voltage is measured between points a-a. This value is entered in column 2 of Table 1.

Figure 4

Part 2 Maximum Power Transfer (Validating the Condition RL = RTh)

1. The network of Figure 5 is constructed and the potentiometer is set to 50 .
2. The voltage across RL is measured as the RL is varied through the following values:
200, 300, 400 and 500.

Figure 5

Calculations:
Part 1 Thevenins Theorem
(a)
3.262k

0.966k

RTh

2.155k

RTh

= 0.966k + 3.262k // 2.155k

= 2.263k

I1

Loop 1,
I1(2.155k ) + I1(3.262k ) = 12 V
I1(5.417k ) = 12 V
I1 = 2.22 mA

VTh

= VR2 = I1R2
= (2.22 x 10-3 A)(2.155k )
= 4.78 V

VTh

b)

IL =

.
.

= 2.104 mA

c)
3.262k

2.155k

0.966k

I = E/R1
I = 3.68mA

IL = [R2 / (R2+R3+RL)] x I
IL = 2.21mA

Result:
Part 1 Thevenins Theorem
(a)

R1(measured) = 3.262 k

R3(measured) = 0.966 k

R2(measured) = 2.155 k

RL(measured) = 0.470 k

Table 1

b)

Calculated Values
of ETh and RTh
[ Part 1(a)]

Measured Values
of ETh and RTh
[ Part 1(e) and 1(f)]

% Difference

ETh =_4.76 V______________

ETh =_4.77 V_____________

[part 1(e)]

4.77 V 4.76 V
x 100% = 0.21%
4.77 V

RTh =_2.263 k______________

RTh =_2.264 k___________

[part 1(d)]

2264 2263
x 100% = 0.04%
2264

Thevenin equivalent circuit:

2.264 k

4.77 V
2.107 mA

IL = 2.107 mA

Part 2 Maximum Power Transfer (Validating the Condition RL = RTh)

RL

VL

200
300
R(measured ) = 322.6
400
500

3.084V
3.887V
4.040V

VL2
RL
47.5mW
50.4mW
50.6mW

4.480V
4.900V

50.2mW
48.0mW

P=

Table 2

Graph 1
51
50.5
50

P(mW)

49.5
49
48.5
48
47.5
47
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

R (k)

(b)

For maximum power transfer:

RL(theoretical) = 2.263 k
RL(experimental) = 2.264 k
% difference of RL = 0.04%

(c)

For maximum power transfer, VL(experimental) = 4.04 V

% difference of VL =

.
.

x 100% = 0.99%

0.5

0.6

Discussion
Part 1 Thevenins Theorem
By comparing the calculated current IL in Part 1 (c) and the measured IL with the
value at Part1 (b), we can see that the measured IL is slightly lower. This is because the
Thevenin equivalent circuit is a simplified circuit and this is why there is a difference of
current with the actual complex circuit.
Part 2 Maximum Power Transfer (Validating the Condition RL = RTh)
The RL(experimental) has a higher value compared to the RL(theoretical) by 0.04%.
This is because there is internal resistance in the circuit.
The VL(experimental) has a higher value compared to the VL(theoretical) by 0.99%
because of the higher RL(experimental).

Conclusion
A complex circuit can be simplified using Thevenins Theorem by finding the Thevenin
voltage and resistance. Furthermore, in order to deliver the maximum power to a resistor, the
resistor must have a value equal to the resistance of the source, which is RTh.