Kirchhoffs Law & Millmans Theorem

Kirchhoffs Law
In 1845, a German physicist, Gustav Kirchhoff developed a pair or set of rules or laws which deal with the conservation of current and energy within electrical circuits. These two rules are commonly known as: Kirchhoff's Circuit Laws with one of Kirchhoff's laws dealing with the current flowing around a closed circuit, Kirchhoff's Current Law, (KCL) while the other law deals with the voltage sources present in a closed circuit, Kirchhoff's Voltage Law, (KVL). These laws apply to AC circuits provided that the magnitude and phase are both taken into consideration.

Kirchhoffs Current Law

Kirchoffs Current Law or KCL, states that the "total current or charge entering a junction or node is exactly equal to the charge leaving the node as it has no other place to go except to leave, as no charge is lost within the node". In other words the vector sum of ALL the currents entering and leaving a node must be equal to zero, I(exiting) + I(entering) = 0. This idea by Kirchhoff is commonly known as the Conservation of Charge.

Kirchhoffs Current Law

The term Node in an electrical circuit generally refers to a connection or junction of two or more current carrying paths or elements such as cables and components. Also for current to flow either in or out of a node a closed circuit path must exist. We can use Kirchhoff's current law when analysing parallel circuits.

Kirchhoffs Current Law

Currents entering the Node Equals Currents leaving the Node

Kirchhoffs Voltage Law

Kirchoffs Voltage Law or KVL, states that "in any closed loop network, the total voltage around the loop is equal to the sum of all the voltage drops within the same loop" which is also equal to zero. In other words the vector sum of all voltages within the loop must be equal to zero. This idea by Kirchhoff is known as the Conservation of Energy.

Kirchhoffs Voltage Law

The sum of all the Voltage Drops around the loop is equal to zero.

Kirchhoffs Voltage Law

Starting at any point in the loop continue in the same direction noting the direction of all the voltage drops, either positive or negative, and returning back to the same starting point. It is important to maintain the same direction either clockwise or anti-clockwise or the final voltage sum will not be equal to zero. We can use Kirchhoff's voltage law when analysing series circuits.

Example Problem 1
A 50 resistor, a 0.100H inductor and a capacitor are connected in series to a 300V at 60Hz source. Find the value of C if the current flowing through the circuit is 2.75A and the voltage across the inductor if the voltage across C is 135V.

Example Problem 2
A series resistor-inductor circuit is connected in parallel with a series resistor-capacitor circuit. It is supplied by a 110<0o V voltage source of 50Hz frequency. Given with L=0.03H, C=30F, the resistor series to the inductor is 50 and the resistor series to the capacitor is 100. Find the currents through the series RC, series RL and the total current supplied by the source to the network.

Example Problem 3
In the figure show below, find the current I and the voltage across (a) and (b).

Millmans Theorem
Millman's theorem (or the parallel generator theorem) is a method to simplify the solution of a circuit. Specifically, Millman's theorem is used to compute the voltage at the ends of a circuit made up of only branches in parallel. This theorem is very convenient for determining the voltage across a set of parallel branches, where there are enough voltage sources present to preclude solution via regular series-parallel reduction method. However, it is limited to in that it can be only applied to circuits which can be re-drawn to this form. It cannot be used to solve an unbalanced bridge circuit.

Millmans Theorem

Millmans Theorem
The equivalent voltage is the ratio of the sum of all short circuit currents to the admittance of each branch. On the other hand, the equivalent impedance is the parallel combination of all the impedances with the sources set to zero.

Example Problem 4
In the circuit shown, determine the rms voltage across L1 and R1 and the rms currents I1, I2 and I3.

Example Problem 5
In the figure shown, a series resistor-inductor circuit is connected in parallel with a series resistor-capacitor circuit. It is supplied by two voltage source both 110V at 60Hz frequency. One of the voltage sources has an internal resistance of 10 while the other one has an internal resistance of 5. Given with L=3mH, C=30F, the resistor series to the inductor is 50 and the resistor series to the capacitor is 100. Solve for the voltage across (a) and (b) and the current through the series RC and RL circuits.

Figure

Thank you!