THEVENIN’S & NORTON’S THEOREMS

Léon Charles Thévenin (30 March 1857,

Meaux, Seine-et-Marne – 21 September
1926, Paris) was a French telegraph
engineer who extended Ohm's law to the
analysis of complex electrical circuits.

Edward Lawry Norton (28 July 1898,

Rockland, Maine–28 January 1983,
Chatham, New Jersey) was an
accomplished Bell Labs engineer and
scientist famous for developing the concept
of the Norton equivalent circuit.
 THEVENIN’S THEOREM:
Consider the following:
A
•
Network 1 B Network 2
•
For purposes of discussion, at this point, we consider that both networks are composed
of resistors and independent voltage and current sources. If we do not need to fully
analyze the Network 1, but only need to concentrate on Network 2:
A
•
Network 1 Network 2 VOC = ?
B
•
Fully detach Network 2 from Network 1 and we focus temporarily only on
Network 1. Now place a voltmeter across terminals A-B and read the voltage.
We call this the open-circuit voltage.
No matter how complicated Network 1 is, we read one voltage. It is either
positive at A, (with respect to B) or negative at A.
 call this voltage Voc and we also call it VTHEVENIN = VTH
 •A
Network 1
•B RTH = ?
• We now deactivate all sources of Network 1.

• To deactivate a voltage source, we remove the source and replace it with a

short circuit.

• To deactivate a current source, we remove the source.

• Now measure the resistance looking into Network 1 from the terminals AB.

• This is called the Thevenin equivalent resistance RTH.

• Replace whole of Network 1 with VOC in series with RTH.

A
RTH
Network
VOC 1

B
Determine the Thévenin equivalent of network A, and compute
the power delivered to the load resistor RL.

RTH =
Consider the following Circuit. Use repeated source
transformations to simplify and find the power delivered to RL
Use Thévenin’s theorem to find the current through the 2Ω resistor
in the circuit (Hint: Designate the 2Ωresistor as network B.).

Ans: VTH = 2.571 V,

RTH = 7.857, I2 = 260.8 mA.
Using Thevenin’s theorem, calculate the current through the 4 Ω resistor.

VTh = ?

Rth = 4Ω

RTh = ?
Additional Examples: pp118-129
Norton’sTheorem:
Any two-terminal active network containing voltage sources
and resistance when viewed from its output terminals, is
equivalent to a constant-current source and a parallel
resistance.

The constant current is equal to the current which would

flow in a short-circuit placed across the terminals and
parallel resistance is the resistance of the network when
viewed from these open circuited terminals after all voltage
and current sources have been removed and replaced by
their internal resistances.

(Usual practice: Voltage sources short circuited, Current

sources open circuited)
Norton equivalent circuit
Find the Thévenin and Norton equivalent circuits for the network
faced by the 1 kΩ resistor

Thevenin
Equivalent
VOC = ? Circuit
 Norton
Equivalent Circuit
Or, by KVL as:
15*I – 50 + 10*I + 100 + 25*I = 0  I = -1  Vab = 100 – 25*1  Vab = 75
Or, by KCL as:
(Vab – 50)/(10+15) + (Vab – 100)/25 = 0  2 Vab = 150  Vab = 75
Maximum Power Transfer Theorem

For pL to be a Maximum ?
Find the value of RL such that maximum possible power will be
transferred to RL. Find also the value of the maximum power
and the power supplied by source under these conditions.

Thevenin
Equivalent
Circuit

Maximum power drawn by RL = Vth2 /(4 × RL)= 7.52/(4 × 4.5)

? = 3.125 W.
Since same power is developed in Rth, power supplied by the
source = 2 × 3.125??
= 6.250 W.
Obtain the condition from maximum power transfer to the load
RL. Hence determine the maximum power transferred.

Thevenin
Equivalent
Circuit