Unit 9

Kirchhoff's Laws, Thevenin’s,

Norton’s, and Superposition
Theorems
 Objectives
• After studying this unit, you should be able
to:
– State Kirchhoff’s voltage and current laws
– Solve problems using Kirchhoff’s laws
– Discuss Thevenin’s theorem
– Find the Thevenin equivalent voltage and
resistance values for a circuit network
 Objectives (cont’d.)
– Discuss Norton’s theorem
– Find the Norton equivalent current and
resistance values for a circuit network
– Solve circuits using the superposition theorem
 Preview
• Ohm’s law
– In some circuits, cannot be used or would be
very difficult to use to find unknown value
• Kirchhoff’s laws
– Can be used to solve any type of circuit
• Often used when circuits do not have clearly
defined series or parallel connections
• Thevenin’s and Norton’s theorems
– Used to simplify circuit networks
 Kirchhoff’s Laws
• Voltage and current relationships:
– Algebraic sum of voltage sources and voltage
drops in a closed circuit must equal zero
– Algebraic sum of currents entering and
leaving a point must equal zero
 Kirchhoff’s Current Law
• Algebraic sum of current entering and
leaving a point must equal zero

FIGURE 9–1 The algebraic sum of the currents

entering and leaving a point must equal zero.
 Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law
• Algebraic sum of the voltages around any
closed loop must equal zero

FIGURE 9–2 The current splits to separate branches.

Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law (cont’d.)

FIGURE 9–3 Marking resistor elements.

 Thevenin’s Theorem
• Used to simplify a circuit network into an
equivalent circuit
– Single voltage source and series resistor

FIGURE 9–7 Thevenin’s theorem reduces a circuit network

to a single power source and a single series resistor.
FIGURE 9–8 Equivalent Thevenin resistance.
 Norton’s Theorem
• Used to reduce a circuit network into a
simple current source and a single parallel
resistance
• Current sources
– Power sources can be represented as a
voltage source or current source
FIGURE 9–13 The Thevenin equivalent circuit contains a
voltage source and series resistance. The Norton equivalent
circuit contains a current source and parallel resistance.
Determining the Norton
Equivalent Circuit

FIGURE 9–15 Determining the Norton equivalent circuit.

 Superposition Theorem
• Any branch of a circuit supplied by a
multipower source
– Can be determined by finding current
produced in that branch by each of the
individual power sources acting alone
• All other power sources must be replaced by a
resistance equivalent to their internal resistances
• Total current flow through the branch is the
algebraic sum of individual currents produced by
each of the power sources
FIGURE 9–20 A circuit with two power sources.
 Summary
• Kirchhoff's Laws
– Used to solve any type of circuit
• Algebraic sum of the voltage drops and voltage
sources around any closed path must equal zero
• Algebraic sum of the currents entering and leaving
any point must equal zero
– Used to solve unknown values for circuits that
contain more than one power source
– Is generally necessary to solve simultaneous
equations
 Summary (cont’d.)
• Thevenin’s theorem
– Involves reducing a circuit network to a simple
voltage source and series resistance
• Equivalent voltage is the open circuit voltage
across two points
– To determine Thevenin equivalent resistance,
replace voltage source with a short circuit
 Summary (cont’d.)
• Norton’s theorem
– Involves reducing a circuit network to a
current source and parallel resistance
• Current is determined by shorting output terminals
• Resistance is determined by replacing the current
source with a short circuit
 Summary (cont’d.)
• Superposition theorem
– Used to find current flow through any branch
of a circuit containing more than one power
source