Circuit Simulation and Kirchoff’s Laws

Objective
The purpose of this experiment is to continue to build circuit construction skills, and to introduce
PSpice, a circuit simulation software tool. Upon completion, you should also be familiar with
Kirchoff’s Voltage Law and Kirchoff’s Current Law.

Concepts
In this lab, we’ll continue to look at DC circuits. We looked at Ohm’s Law in Lab 1, and now two
more basic circuit concepts will be introduced: Kirchoff’s Voltage Law (KVL) and Kirchoff’s
Current Law (KCL). Both are based on conservation of energy.

A loop in a circuit is any closed electrical path through which current can flow. KVL says that the
voltages around any closed loop in a circuit sum to zero.

A node is a point on a circuit at which two or more circuit elements (so far we’ve only used voltage
sources and resistors) meet. KCL states that the sum of all currents entering and leaving a node is
zero. In other words, the current that enters a node is equal to the current that leaves a node.

You’ll first observe these characteristics in a circuit you build on a breadboard. After that, you’ll
simulate the same circuit in PSpice, and compare the results.

Equipment and Components

This experiment will require the use of the Agilent E3630A Power Supply and Fluke Digital
Multimeter, a breadboard, 22 AWG wire, and resistors with nominal values of 3.3 kΩ , 3.6 kΩ , 4.7
kΩ , and 5.6 kΩ . Oh, and we’ll use the computers for PSpice.

Prelab: None

Part 1: (More!) Voltage and current measurements

The first part of the lab is similar to end of the last lab. The purpose here is to get more practice at
building and taking measurements on circuits, to illustrate Kirchoff’s Laws, and to have a circuit to
which we can compare our simulations in Part 2. If building the circuit went slow for you last time,

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it’s a chance to get more experience. And if you already know how to build circuits, this part should
go pretty quickly. Show off.

R 3
R 1

3 . 3 k O h m
5 . 6 k O h m

V 1
1 0 V d c R 2 R 4
4 . 7 k O h m 3 . 6 k O h m

Figure 1: Measurement circuit

1. Before building the circuit, measure the resistances of each resistor and enter them in your data
sheet.

2. Construct the circuit in Figure 1.

3. Measure the source voltage and adjust it to be as close to the nominal value (in this case 10 V) as
possible.

4. Measure the voltage across each resistor and enter them on the data sheet.

5. Given the three voltage loops in Figure 2, show that the algebraic sum of the voltages around
each loop is equal to zero. Show your calculations on the data sheet.

Figure 2: Voltage Loops

6. Measure the current through each resistor and enter the values in the data sheet.

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7. The nodes of the circuit are numbered in Figure 3. Remember that a node is a point where two or
more circuit elements meet. Ground is not a circuit element - it is simply a 0 V reference. That’s
why the ground node has been called Node 0.

Show that the algebraic sum of currents into a node is equal to zero and put your calculations on
the data sheet.

Figure 3: Circuit Nodes

8. Use Ohm’s Law to calculate the resistance for each resistor and enter them in the data sheet. How
does it compare to the measured quantities?

Part 2: P-Spice Simulation

In this part of the show, we’ll construct the same circuit in PSpice, then run a DC simulation and
compare the results.

1. Create a folder on the C drive called pspice in which to save your files. Open My Computer and
click on the C:\ drive. Once it’s open, right click and select New Folder. Name the folder PSpice.

2. From the Start menu, select Programs, then P-Spice Student, then Capture Student. This
opens up the Orcad Schematic Capture software we’ll use to simulate the circuit.

3. From the File menu, select New, then Project. In the ‘New Project’ window, shown in Figure 4,
Give your project a name, select Analog or Mixed A/D, and select the project location.

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 Figure 4:’New Project’ window

4. The next window that appears is the ‘Create PSpice Project’ window. Select Create a blank
project and click OK.

5. The project is now open, and will look something like the screen grab shown in Figure 5. The
Schematic window is where we’ll be constructing the circuit.

Figure 5:’New Project’ window

6. Now we want to build the circuit. To get circuit elements, select the Place menu, then Part.
PSpice selects parts from its parts libraries. To add these libraries, select Add Library. There

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 will be a folder called pspice. Open this folder, select all the libraries in it (this can be done by
highlighting them all at once), then select Open. The result is shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: ‘Place Part’ window with libraries added and DC voltage source
selected

7. Now if you scroll through the parts list, you’ll see a large number of elements. Since we’re
building the circuit from Figure 1, the first part we want is a DC voltage source. We can select it
either by scrolling and finding the name, or by typing Vdc in the Part menu, as shown in Figure
6. Once you have the part selected, click OK.

8. Place the source on your schematic page by left-clicking on the spot that you want to place it. To
stop placing sources, right click and select End Mode. Parts can be moved by simply
highlighting and dragging.

9. Now type R into the ‘Place Part’ window to start putting down resistors. Another way to do this
is to type R into the pulldown menu at the top when you’re in your Schematic window. Either
way, select the resistor part and place four of them on your schematic, as shown in Figure 7. To
rotate a resistor, type ‘r’ (on some versions you need to type ‘ctrl+r’) while you have it selected.
R 3
R 1

1 k
1 k
V 1
0 V d c R 2 R 4
1 k 1 k

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 Figure 7: Resistor placement on schematic

10. Change the values of the source each resistor by double-clicking on the value. The ‘Display
Properties’ window, shown in Figure 8, will appear. Replace the value for each element with the
numbers given in Figure 1.

Figure 8: ‘Display Properties’ window

11. Now we’ll wire up the circuit by selecting Place, then Wire. To place the wire, first click on the
point where you want to start the connection, then move to the point where you want to end the
connection, and click again. To stop placing wire, right click and select End Wire. Like any part,
wire can be moved by highlighting and dragging it. Figure 8 shows the result of this step.
R 3
R 1

3 . 3 k
5 . 6 k

V 1
1 0 V d c R 2 R 4
4 . 7 k 3 . 6 k

Figure 9: Wired circuit

12. So, what else do we need? Remember that voltage is an energy difference between two points.
PSpice calculates voltages at each circuit node, with reference to ground, so every PSpice circuit
needs a ground. Each node has a number, and the software recognizes the ground as node 0. Go
to the Place menu, then Ground, and type in ‘0’ since we want the ground to be named node 0.
Connected it to the circuit as shown in Figure 1 way back at the beginning, and the circuit is
complete.

13. Now it’s time to simulate. First set up the simulation profile by selecting the PSpice menu and
New Simulation Profile. Name your profile and make sure ‘none’ is selected in the Inherit
From box. This brings up the ‘Simulation Settings’ window shown in Figure 10.

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 Figure 10: ‘Simulation Settings’ window

14. Select ‘Bias Point’ as your analysis type. We don’t use time domain, because it deals with
signals that vary with time. Since this is a DC circuit, the output does not vary with time. A DC
sweep covers a range of input voltages. Since we’re only looking at an input voltage of 10 V, we
don’t need a DC sweep. AC sweep deals with a range of input voltages with periodic signals.
We select Bias Point because we’re looking at a DC source with only one value that doesn’t
change. By the way, you can click OK now.

15. To run the simulation, select the PSpice menu, then click Run. The result should look similar to
Figure 11.

Figure 11: Simulation result

If the voltage and current values don’t show up, click the buttons. As stated before, the
voltages in PSpice are given in terms of the nodes. So the voltage at Node 1 is 10 V with respect to
ground (0 V reference), and the voltage at Node 2 is 4.852 V. Since R1 is between Node 1 and Node
2, the voltage across R1 is 10 V – 4.852 V = 5.148 V. Write the voltages and currents down on your

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data sheet. Compare them to your actual circuit by answering Question 5 on the data sheet. Print out
your simulation result. When you’re finished, hand it in with your completed data sheets.

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 Lab 2: Circuit Simulation Data Sheet
Name_____________________________ Section________

Prelab (due at the beginning of lab)

Fill in the answers to this data sheet as you go through the Agilent Measurement Tutorial. Remember
to include units.

Ohm’s Law

1. Power supply voltage reading:

2. Multimeter voltage measurement:

3. Measured voltage across resistor:

4. Draw the correct schematic to measure current in the circuit:

5. Measured current:

6. Use Ohm’s Law to calculate actual resistance and show the calculation:

7. Measured resistance value:

8. Percent error of resistance (show calculation):

Kirchoff’s Voltage Law – Voltage Divider

9. Number of nodes and number of loops:

10. Measured value of R1:

11. Measured value of R3:

12. Measured value of Vr1:

13. Measured value of Vr2:

14. Measured value of Vr3:

15. Calculated value of Vr1 (show calculation):

16. Calculated value of Vr2 (show calculation):

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17. Calculated value of Vr3 (show calculation):

18. Percent error between measured and calculated Vr3 (show calculation):

19. Calculate total current in the circuit and show the calculation. To calculate total current, you use
the total voltage and total resistance in the circuit. Remember that resistors add in series.

20. Measured series circuit current:

Kirchoff’s Current Law – Current Divider

21. Number of nodes in current divider circuit:

22. Measured value of Ir1:

23. Measured value of Ir2:

24. Measured value of Ir3:

25. Calculated current through R2 (show calculation):

Part 1: Voltage and current measurements

1. For each resistor below, list the measured resistance, voltage, current, and value of V/I.

3.3kΩ 4.7 kΩ 5.6 kΩ 3.6 kΩ

R(Ω )

V (V)

I (mA)

V/I (Ω )

2. Kirchoff’s Voltage Law

Sum of voltages around Loop 1:

Sum of voltages around Loop 2:

Sum of voltages around Loop 3 (around the perimeter of the circuit):

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3. Kirchoff’s Current Law

Sum of currents into Node 0:

Sum of currents into Node 1:

Sum of currents into Node 2:

Sum of currents into Node 3:

Part 2: P-Spice Simulation

4. Write in your P-Spice simulation results here.

3.3kΩ 4.7kΩ 5.6kΩ 3.6kΩ

V (V)

I (mA)

5. How do these values compare with those of your circuit in Part 1?

6. Include a printout of your simulation result.

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