ECTE202 Circuits and Systems

Autumn Session 2018

Wollongong Campus

Week 1
Dr Jeff Moscrop
Email: jeffm@uow.edu.au
Room: 35.G40

Subject Information

✤ ECTE202 is a 6 CP, Autumn Session subject

✤ Reference Text: C. K. Alexander and M. N. O. Sadiku, ‘Fundamentals
of Electric Circuits’, Sixth Edition
✤ Most Figures will be adapted from the text

✤ Lectures and Tutorials will be held every week of the session:

✤ Tutorials will commence in Week 2,
✤ Tutorial questions will be provided via Moodle,
✤ Questions will be uploaded with the lecture notes,
✤ Your attempt at the tutorial questions is to be submitted to the
tutor at the start of the tutorials.
✤ Keeping a Workbook of Tutorial exercises is also recommended!

Circuits and Systems Week 1 2

Assessment (See Subject Outline for further details)

✤ Tutorial Quizzes: 10%

✤ (2 Quizzes of equal weighting: Weeks 4 and 10)

✤ In-Session Tests: 20%

✤ (2 Tests of equal weighting: Weeks 7 and 13)
✤ Final Examination: 65%
✤ Tutorial Participation: 5%

Circuits and Systems Week 1 3

Further Information

✤ SOLS emails will be used to distribute important course related

messages - if a message appears, please read it!
✤ Lecture Notes:
✤ Course lecture notes will be provided using Moodle,
✤ In the notes (and on lecture slides) you will find empty
pages designed for example questions that will be
completed during the lecture.
✤ If you are not enrolled in a tutorial class, please do so as soon as
possible (Mon. or Tues. only).

✤ There is a PASS program for ECTE202.

Circuits and Systems Week 1 4

Course Outline - Section 1

✤ DC Circuits (Weeks 1-7)

✤ Review of fundamental quantities, concepts and basic laws - This Week;
✤ Node Analysis and fundamental Mesh Analysis - Week 2;
✤ Further Mesh Analysis, Superposition, Thévenin and Norton’s Theorems, and
Source Transformations - Week 3;
✤ Energy Storage Elements (capacitors and inductors) and first order circuits -
Week 4;
✤ Second Order Circuits, source-free series and parallel circuits, step-responses -
Week 5;
✤ No Lecture in Week 6;
✤ General Second Order Circuits and mid-session exam - Week 7;

✤ Note that the main objective of this course is the development of circuit theory skills. This
cannot be achieved by just reading - it requires sustained problem solving exercises.

Circuits and Systems Week 1 5

Course Outline - Section 2

✤ AC Circuits (Weeks 8-13)

✤ Sinusoidal steady state analysis - Week 8;
✤ AC Frequency response, Transfer Functions and Bode Plots -
Week 9;
✤ Circuit resonance and filters - Week 10;
✤ Laplace Transforms and their applications - Week 11;
✤ The Laplace Transform and circuit analysis, introduction to
Fourier analysis - Week 12;
✤ Fourier Series and magnetically coupled circuits, and end-
session in-class exam - Week 13.

Circuits and Systems Week 1 6

This Week:

Revision of Fundamental Quantities, Concepts and

Basic Laws

Charge, Current, Voltage, Power, Energy, Circuit Elements, dependent and independent
sources, Ohm’s Law, KVL, KCL etc.

Chapters 1 and 2 of Text.

Circuits

✤ Circuits consist of electrical components connected together to

achieve a required aim.

✤ The desired aim is specified through a circuit design process

and not simply some random collection of requirements.
✤ Circuit analysis is performed by applying techniques in a logical
and methodical manner.

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Circuit Design

✤ Specify a range of inputs:

✤ sensors, power supply, signal conditioning, frequency
considerations, phase and amplitude of inputs etc.

✤ Specify a range of outputs:

✤ indicators, signals transformed in time, signals transformed in
frequency, phase and amplitude of outputs etc.

✤ Active and passive circuit components:

✤ R, L, C, transistors, diodes, op-amps etc.

✤ Function:
✤ i.e. the purpose of the proposed design.
Circuits and Systems Week 1 9

Systems

✤ Electrical Systems are combinations of circuit and other non-electrical

parts performing an integrated task.
✤ Design and analysis of systems is achieved using a ‘top-down’ approach:
✤ Break down system into subsystems;
✤ Each part can then be designed and analysed separately;
✤ Integration of subsystems.

✤ Examples of such systems are:

✤ Computer: power supply, hard disk, CPU, monitor etc.
✤ Television: aerial, power supply, tuner, speaker, screen etc.
✤ House Alarm: power supply, motion sensors, keypad, speaker, lights
etc.

Circuits and Systems Week 1 10

Charge and Current
✤ Charge
✤ Charge is an electrical property of the atomic particles of which matter
consists, measured in Coulombs (C).
✤ The charge on one electron is negative and equal in magnitude to
1.602 x 10-19 C.
✤ The charges that occur in nature are integral multiples of the electronic
charge.
✤ Current
✤ Electric current i = dq/dt. The unit of ampere can be derived as:
✤ 1 A = 1 C/s
✤ A Direct Current (DC) is a current that remains constant with time.
✤ An Alternating Current (AC) is a current that varies with time.

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Voltage
✤ Voltage (potential difference) is the energy required to move a
unit charge through an element (dw/dq), measured in Volts (V).

✤ The voltage, vab is the voltage between two points in a circuit:

✤ if vab > 0, the potential of a is higher than b
✤ if vab < 0, the potential of a is lower than b

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Power

✤ Power is the rate at which energy is delivered (or used up) and is
measured in units of Joules per second.
✤ i.e. 1 Watt (W) = 1 Joule/sec
✤ This can also be expressed as: dw dw dq
p= = = vi
dt dq dt

✤ where w is the energy in Joules (J) and t is the time in

seconds (s)

✤ The power, p, is a time varying quantity and is called the

instantaneous power.

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Power

✤ Absorbing Power - case (a): current enters through the +ve terminal and
vi > 0, implying that the circuit element is absorbing power.
✤ Supplying Power - case (b): current enters through the -ve terminal and
vi < 0, implying that the circuit element is supplying power.

✤ The law of conservation of energy must be obeyed in any electrical circuit:

✤ The total power supplied to the circuit must balance the power absorbed.

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Circuit Elements

✤ Circuit analysis is the process of determining voltage across, or

currents through circuit elements.

✤ Circuit Elements can be classified as passive or active.

✤ active elements are capable of generating energy.
✤ Circuit Elements can be represented pictorially, by a schematic,
or by an equivalent circuit.

✤ Simple ideal components: R, L, C, ideal voltage sources, ideal

current sources.
✤ Real components: batteries, transformers, diodes, transistors.

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Circuit Elements

✤ (a) & (b) independent and dependent voltage sources (active elements)
✤ (c) & (d) independent and dependent current sources (active elements)

✤ (e) - (g) are the symbols for resistor, inductor and capacitor (passive
elements) respectively.

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Independent Voltage and Current Sources

✤ An ideal independent voltage or current source is an active element

that provides a specified voltage or current completely independent
of other circuit elements.
✤ An ideal independent voltage source will deliver whatever
current is necessary to maintain its terminal voltage.
✤ An ideal independent current source will produce the necessary
voltage to ensure the stated current flow.

+
v − i

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Dependent Voltage and Current Sources

✤ An ideal dependent voltage or current source is an active element in
which the source quantity is controlled by another voltage or current
somewhere else in the circuit.
✤ Voltage Controlled Voltage Source (VCVS)
✤ Current Controlled Voltage Source (CCVS)
✤ Voltage Controlled Current Source (VCCS)
✤ Current Controlled Current Source (CCCS)

+
(k)v (k)i
−

Circuits and Systems Week 1 18

Dependent Source Example

Consider the following circuit:

1. What types of sources are used in this circuit?

2. How do we ‘solve’ the circuit to determine ix?

3. What is the value of ix in the circuit?

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Basic Laws

✤ Ohm’s Law tells us that the voltage across a resistor is directly

proportional to the current flowing through the resistor.

✤ Georg Ohm assigned the constant of proportionality to be

resistance and assigned it the symbol R.
v = iR
✤ The resistance of an element denotes its ability to resist the flow
of electric current and it is measured in Ohms (!).
✤ Using Ohm’s law and the expression for power, we can derive
expressions for the instantaneous power dissipated in resistive
elements: v2
p = i2 R or p=
R
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Basic Laws

✤ Open Circuit and Short Circuit

R1 R2 R1 R2

+ +
v −
R3 v −
R3

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Basic Definitions

✤ Conductance (G) is the ability of an element to conduct electric current.

✤ Conductance is measured in mhos (f) or Siemens (S)
1 i
G= =
R v
✤ Branch: represents any two terminal circuit element.
✤ Node: defined as a point of connection between two or more branches.
✤ Loop: defined as any closed path in a given circuit.
✤ Series Circuit: Two or more elements are in series if they share a single node and
carry the same current.
✤ Parallel Circuit: Two or more elements are in parallel if they are connected to the
same two nodes and have the same voltage across them.

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Kirchhoff’s Laws

✤ Kirchhoff’s Current Law (KCL) states that the algebraic sum of

currents entering a node (or closed boundary) is zero.
✤ The sum of currents entering a node is equal to the sum of
currents leaving a node!

✤ Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law (KVL) states that the algebraic sum of

all voltages around a closed path (or loop) is zero.
✤ Sum of voltage drops = sum of voltage rises.

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KVL example

✤ Determine vx and vo in the circuit:

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KCL example

✤ Determine vo and io in the circuit:

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Series Resistors and Voltage Division

v
✤ For a series circuit, the equivalent resistance −+
of any number of resistors connected in
R1
series is the sum of the individual resistors.

✤ For N resistors connected in series: +

vx R2
N
X −
Req = R1 + R2 + ... + RN = Rn
n=1

✤ To determine the voltage across each

resistor, we can use the voltage divider rule: RN

Rx
vx = v
Req
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Parallel Resistors and Current Division
✤ For a parallel circuit, the equivalent resistance v
of any number of resistors connected in −+
i
parallel is given by the expression:
R1
1 1 1 1
= + + ... +
Req R1 R2 RN R2
ix
✤ To determine the current through each
resistor, we can use the current divider
rule:
Req RN
ix = i
Rx

Circuits and Systems Week 1 27

Conductance and Parallel Resistors

✤ You can use conductance instead of resistance for calculations involving
parallel circuits.
✤ For N resistors connected in parallel:
1
Geq = = G1 + G2 + ... + GN
Req

✤ That is, the equivalent conductance of resistors connected in parallel

is the sum of their individual conductances.
✤ Thus, for a network of parallel resistors, in order to find the current
in any one branch:
Gx
ix = i
Geq
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Wye-Delta Conversions
✤ Circuits exist where resistors are neither in parallel or series:

✤ Such circuits can often be simplified to three-terminal equivalent networks.

[Boylestad, Introductory Circuit Analysis]

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Delta-Wye Transformation

to

Rb R c Ra Rc R a Rb
R1 = R2 = R3 =
R a + Rb + Rc R a + Rb + Rc R a + Rb + Rc

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Wye-Delta Transformation

to

R 1 R 2 + R1 R 3 + R2 R3 R 1 R 2 + R1 R3 + R2 R3
Ra = Rb =
R1 R2
R 1 R 2 + R1 R 3 + R2 R3
Rc =
R3

Circuits and Systems Week 1 31

Balanced Networks

✤ We say that the Y and ∆ networks are balanced when the

following is true:
R 1 = R2 = R3 = R Y , R a = Rb = R c = R

✤ Then our formulae become:

R
RY = , R = 3RY
3

✤ These transformations are commonly used in three-phase

networks!

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Wye-Delta Example
✤ Transform the wye network to a delta network:

Circuits and Systems Week 1 33

Delta-Wye Transformation Example

✤ For this resistor network, determine the resistance between the points a and b
and determine the current i.

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Delta-Wye Transformation Example

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Methods of Analysis

✤ There are two basic techniques that we are interested in using:

✤ Node Analysis
✤ Mesh Analysis
✤ Node Analysis is based on the systematic application of KCL;
✤ Mesh Analysis is based on the systematic application of KVL;
✤ Node analysis techniques were introduced in first-year circuit
theory courses;

✤ First though, we will quickly revise how to solve simultaneous

equations using Cramer’s Rule.

Circuits and Systems Week 1 36

Solving Simultaneous Equations - Cramer’s Rule

✤ Circuit analysis will often require the solution of simultaneous

equations of the form:
a 1 x + b1 y = c 1
a 2 x + b2 y = c 2

✤ These may be expressed in matrix form as:

  
a1 b1 x c1
=
a2 b2 y c2
✤ Consider the determinant:
a1 b1
D= = a 1 b2 a 2 b1
a2 b2

Circuits and Systems Week 1 37

Solving Simultaneous Equations - Cramer’s Rule

✤ Using Cramer’s Rule x and y can be calculated via:

c1 b1 a1 c1
c2 b2 a2 c2
x= y=
D D
✤ Note that the determinants shown on each numerator are formed by replacing
the column of D that relates to the variable of interest with the solution vector.
✤ Hence: x = (c1b2 - c2b1)/D and y = (a1c2 - a2c1)/D

✤ This approach can be extended to higher order equations (such as those in the
tutorials).

✤ For orders higher than 3 though, a spreadsheet or Matlab should be used.

✤ Appendix A1 of the textbook presents an overview of Cramer’s Rule and matrix

inversion.
Circuits and Systems Week 1 38
Node Analysis

✤ Node Analysis provides us with a mechanism for determining the

voltages of the nodes in the circuit being analysed.
✤ Steps to determining node voltages:
✤ Select a node as the reference node - you should always try to use
a node with v = 0 V.
✤ Assign voltages v1, v2, … , vn-1 to the remaining n-1 nodes.
✤ Apply KCL to each of the n-1 non-reference nodes. Use Ohm’s law
to express the branch currents in terms of the node voltages
(labelling the currents and voltages can often help.).
✤ Solve the resulting simultaneous equations to obtain the unknown
node voltages.
✤ Both independent and dependent sources will be encountered.

Circuits and Systems Week 1 39

Node Analysis

✤ Expressing branch currents in terms of node voltages:

✤ You can choose the direction of current from one node to
another. If you choose incorrectly, you will just get an answer
with the opposite sign.
✤ The value of the current depends on the difference between
the two node voltages and the branch resistance.
✤ The voltage difference is also influenced by any other sources
that may be in the branch.

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Node Analysis Example 1: What are the node voltages?

Circuits and Systems Week 1 41

Node Analysis Example 2: Solve for ix using nodal analysis.

Circuits and Systems Week 1 42