MECH 368:

Electronics for Mechanical Engineers

Basics of Electric Circuits

Ameer Abdelhadi
Concordia University
Winter 2017
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to
• Understand basic fundamentals of electric circuits
• Identify the principal elements of electrical circuits
• Apply basic circuit analysis techniques

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Hydrodynamics Analogy
Fluids Electricity • Charges move from high
Fluid (mass) Electric charge potential to low potential
(electrons)
Flow Current
• Water flows from high
elevation to low
Pipes Wires
elevation
Pipe blockage Resistor
i.e. waterwheel i.e. Motor
Valve Switch
Gravitational Field Electric field
E e I
Potential (height) Voltage (also
potential!)
Pump Current Source

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Electrical System

• Electric power source compels

electric field in the circuit
• Electrons flow opposite to the
electric field  current
Photos courtesy of Giorgio Rizzoni

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Direct Current (DC)

Photos courtesy of Giorgio Rizzoni & Appropedia

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Alternating Current (AC)

Photos courtesy of Giorgio Rizzoni, sparkfun, hvacreducation, & Wikipedia

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Ideal Voltage Source
• An ideal power source provides the prescribed
voltage across it terminals
• Irrelevant to the current drawn from it
• Provides infinite current if short-circuited!

Photos courtesy of Giorgio Rizzoni

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Ideal Current Source
• An ideal current source provides the prescribed
current to any circuit connected to it
• Irrelevant to the voltage on its terminals
• Provides infinite voltage if not connected!

Photos courtesy of Giorgio Rizzoni

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Dependent (Controlled) Sources

• Example: op-amp

Photos courtesy of Giorgio Rizzoni

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Branch
Any portion of a circuit with two terminals

Photos courtesy of Giorgio Rizzoni

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Node
• Is a junction of two or more branches
• Supernode: a region that encloses more than one node

Photos courtesy of Giorgio Rizzoni

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Loop
Any closed connection of branches

Photos courtesy of Giorgio Rizzoni

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Mesh
• A loop that does not include other loops

Photos courtesy of Giorgio Rizzoni

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Current and Voltage
Electric current: time rate of changing of charge
𝑑𝑞 1 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑜𝑚𝑏 [𝐶]
𝑖= 1 𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒 [𝐴] =
𝑑𝑡 1 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 [𝑠]

Electric voltage (potential difference): the total work

pre unit of charge associated with a charge moving
between two points
1 𝑗𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑒[𝐽]
1 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡 [𝑉] =
1 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑜𝑚𝑏[𝐶]
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Kirchhoff Current Law (KCL)
Matter Conservation

• Charge cannot be created but must be conserved

• The sum of the currents at a node must equal zero

Photos courtesy of Giorgio Rizzoni

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KCL Example 1
Given Is=5A, I1=2A, I2=-3A, I3=1.5A, Find I0 and I4
KCL on node a: Sanity check;
I0+I1+I2=0 KCL on node b:
I0+2-3=0 IS-I3-I4+I0+I1+I2=0
 I0=1A IS-I3-I4=0
5-1.5-I4=0
 I4=3.5A
KCL on ground node:
-IS+I3+ I4=0
-5+1.5+I4=0
 I4=3.5A
Photos courtesy of Giorgio Rizzoni

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KCL Example 2
Given I3=2A, I5=0A, Find Is1

KCL on super node:

IS1-I3- I5=0
 IS1=I3+I5=2A

Photos courtesy of Giorgio Rizzoni

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Kirchhoff Voltage Law (KVL)
Energy conservation

• The sum of all source voltages equal to the sum of

all load voltages
• The net voltage across a closed circuit is zero

Photos courtesy of Giorgio Rizzoni

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KVL Example
Given VS2=12V,
V1=6V,
V3=1V,
Find V2

KVL around the large loop:

VS2-V1-V2-V3=0
V2=VS2-V1-V3=12-6-1=5v
Photos courtesy of Giorgio Rizzoni

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Electric Power
Dissipated or generated power:
𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 = = ∙ = 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 ∙ 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
P=V·I

Photos courtesy of Giorgio Rizzoni

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Ideal (Linear) Resistor; Ohm’s Law
• An ideal resistor exhibits linear resistance
properties according to Ohm’s law:
V=I·R; 1 ohm [Ω] = 1 volt [V] / 1 ampere [A]
Power: P=VI=I2R=V2/R

Photos courtesy of Giorgio Rizzoni

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Series Resistors & Voltage Divider
• Elements in series  current from one i
flows exclusively into the second vN
• KCL  series elements has same current (i)
• Ohm’s law: vn i
vn=i·Rn ; vs=i·Req  vn=vs(Rn /Req)
• KVL: v3
vs

vs=Ʃvn  i·Req=Ʃi·Rn  Req=ƩRn

v2
Voltage Divider Equivalent Series Resistance
v1

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Parallel Resistors & Current Divider
• Elements in parallel  Share same terminals
is
• KVL  parallel elements has same voltage (v)
v
• Ohm’s law: iN
in=v/Rn ; is=v/Req  in=is(Req /Rn) in
• KCL:
i3
is=Ʃin  v/Req=Ʃv/Rn  1/Req=1/ƩRn
i2

i1

is
v
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Voltage Divider Example:
The Wheatstone Bridge
Find the value of 𝑣𝑎𝑏
• Voltage divider for
the internal loop:
𝑅2
𝑣𝑎𝑑 = 𝑣𝑠
𝑅1 + 𝑅2
• Voltage divider for
the external loop:
𝑅𝑥
𝑣𝑏𝑑 = 𝑣𝑠
𝑅3 + 𝑅𝑥
• Voltage difference:
𝑅2 𝑅𝑥
𝑣𝑎𝑏 = 𝑣𝑎𝑑- 𝑣𝑏𝑑 = 𝑣𝑠 −
𝑅1+𝑅2 𝑅3+𝑅𝑥

Photos courtesy of Giorgio Rizzoni

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 Practical Voltage Source
𝒗𝒔
𝒊𝒔 =
𝑹𝑳
Ideal

lim 𝒊𝒔 = 𝟎 ; 𝒗𝑳 = 𝒗𝒔 vL
𝑹𝑳 →∞
ideal
Voltage Source

lim 𝒊𝒔 = ∞; 𝒗𝑳 = 𝒗𝒔 vS
𝑹𝑳 →𝟎

𝒗𝒔
𝒊𝒔 = ; 𝒗 = 𝒊𝒔 𝑹𝑳
𝒓𝒔 + 𝑹𝑳 𝑳 iS
vS /rS
Practical

lim 𝒊𝒔 = 𝟎 ; 𝒗𝑳 = 𝒗𝒔
𝑹𝑳 →∞

𝒗𝒔
lim 𝒊𝒔 = ;𝒗 = 𝟎
𝑹𝑳 →𝟎 𝒓𝒔 𝑳

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 Practical Current Source
i 𝒗𝒔 = 𝒊𝒔 𝑹𝑳

lim 𝒗𝒔 = 𝟎 ; 𝒊 = 𝒊𝒔
Ideal

𝑹𝑳 →𝟎 i
lim 𝒗𝒔 = ∞; 𝒊 = 𝒊𝒔 ideal
Current Source

𝑹𝑳 →∞ iS

𝒊𝒔 𝒗𝒔
i 𝒗𝒔 = ;𝒊 =
𝟏 𝟏 𝑹𝑳
+
𝒓𝒔 𝑹𝑳 vS
iS·rS
Practical

lim 𝒗𝒔 = 𝟎 ; 𝒊 = 𝒊𝒔
𝑹𝑳 →0

lim 𝒗𝒔 = 𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒔 ; 𝒊 = 𝟎
𝑹𝑳 →∞

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