MAE 3723 Systems Analysis

Fall 2016
Pre-Lab for Experiment 4 – Electrical Circuits
Due: Hand in your completed Pre-Lab to the Lab Instructor when you arrive at the
Systems Laboratory at the time you have scheduled using Sign Up Genius

Part 1: RC Circuits
In this part, you will analyze the step responses of the following RC circuits.

𝐶1

𝑅3 𝐶3

𝑅2 𝐶2
𝑣𝑖 𝑣𝑖 𝑣0 𝑣𝑖 𝑣0 𝑣𝑖 𝑅4 𝑣0
_
0

1. Derive the governing differential equation for part (a). Your result in the Laplace
domain should be as follows. Show all your work.

𝑉0 (𝑠) 𝑅1 𝑅2 𝐶1 𝑠 + 𝑅2
𝑇(𝑠) = =
𝑉𝑖 (𝑠) 𝑅1 𝑅2 𝐶1 𝑠 + (𝑅1 + 𝑅2 )

2. For the circuits in Figs. (b) and (c), determine the governing differential equations with
𝑣0 as the dependent variable (output) and 𝑣𝑖 as the independent variable (input).
Determine the transfer functions.

3. Solve the differential equations and make accurate plots of the step responses from 0 V
(rest) to 5 V for each circuit. Note that for (a) and (c), 𝑣0 (𝑡) is discontinuous from t = 0-
to t = 0+. Consider the Initial Value Theorem (Sect. 2.2.4) and the Final Value
Theorem (Sect. 2.2.5).

Use the following parameters. 𝑅1 = 100 kΩ, 𝑅2 = 47 kΩ, R3 = 470Ω,

R4 = 30 kΩ, C1 = 0.1 μF, C2 = 3500 𝜇𝐹, and C3 = 200 μF.

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Part 2: RLC Circuit
In this part, you will analyze the step response of the following RLC circuit.

Since the inductor actually has an internal resistance 𝑅𝐿 of 105 Ω, a better representation of
the circuit we will build in the lab is the following:

where 𝑅 = 𝑅1 + 𝑅𝐿 . 𝑅𝐿 is the built-in inductor resistance and 𝑅1 is the resistor which you
will pick to solve parts 1), 2), and 3).

(a) Derive the governing differential equation relating the input voltage 𝑣𝑖 to the output
voltage 𝑣0 .

(b) Determine the values of R1 which result in each of the following specifications, using 𝑅𝐿
= 105 Ω, L = 5 H, C = 10 μF.

1) The system is underdamped with ζ = 0.15

2) The system is critically damped

3) The system is overdamped such that the exponential term with the slowest decay
has a time constant of τ = 0.1 ms
You may use either MATLAB or Excel to make the plots of 𝑣𝑜 as a function of time assuming
that 𝑣𝑖 is equal to 5 𝑢𝑠 (𝑡 ).

NOTE: In the final report you will compare the model to the experimental data for the
systems studied in the lab. You will expected to use MATLAB for this purpose.
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