THE CONCEPT OF BASIC ELECTRIC CIRCUIT

1.0

The Objective of Electrical System

1. To gather, store, process, transport and present information 2. To distribute, store and convert energy between various forms 2.0 Basic Electric Circuits

The basic electric circuits consist of: 1. Electric Charge and Current 2. Kirchhoffs Current Law (KCF) series circuit and parallel network 3. Voltage 4. Kirchhoffs Voltage Law (KVL) series circuit and parallel network 5. Summary of circuit element designations 6. Passive and Active Circuit Element 7. Resistance and Ohms Law 8. Series Resistor and the Voltage Divider Rule 9. Parallel Resistors and the Current Divider Rule 10. Single-loop Circuits 11. Single-node-pair Circuits 12. Resistor Combinations 2.1 Electric Charge and Current

An electrical system generally transmits energy due to the movement of electric charge. Current is a rate of flow of charge. Electric current is the result of the movement of electrons through a conductor (as shown in Figure 2.1). The resulting current I is given by: I= Q/t, Q = It. The relationship between I, Q and t can be referred to Figure 2.2. The units of current are called amperes, where 1 amphere (A) = 1 coulomb/second (C/s). Electric current is also the amount of charge passing through a given point in 1 second.

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Figure 2.1

Figure 2.2 Example 1: A current of 10A flows through an electric heater for 10 minutes. What is the total charge circulated through the heater? Exercise 1: In an electrical circuit, a charge of 60 C flows past a point in 10s. What is the current in the circuit? Exercise 2: A lightning flash carries 25 C of charge and lasts for 0.01s. What is the current? Exercise 3: A current of 2A is flowing through a conductor. How long does it take for 10C of charge to pass any point? Exercise 4: Determine Current Given Charge. Suppose that charge versus time for a given circuit element is given by q(t) = 0 for t < 0 and q(t) = 2 2e-100t for t > 0. Sketch q(t) and i(t) to scale versus time. 2.2 Conductors and Insulators

Certain elements, chiefly metals, are known as conductors because an electric current will flow through them easily, e.g. Copper, aluminium, silver etc. Two of the best conductors are gold and silver. A material that does not readily permit electron flow is termed an insulator, e.g., porcelain, nylon, rubber etc. Prepared by Dr. Harlisya Harun, UPM

Two of the best insulators are neon and helium. 2.3 Electrical Network

An electrical network is a collection of elements through which current flows. Some important elements of a network: 1. 2. 3. 4. Branch Node Loop Mesh

Branch is any portion of a circuit with two terminals connected to it. Please refer to Figure 2.3 and 2.4.

Figure 2.3

Figure 2.4

Node is simply a point of connection of two or more circuit elements (as in Figure 2.5). Supernode a region that encloses more than one node (refer to Figure 2.6).

Figure 2.5

Figure 2.6

Loop is any closed path through the circuit in which no node is crossed more than once. It is any closed connection of branches. Please refer to Figure 2.7. Prepared by Dr. Harlisya Harun, UPM

Figure 2.7

Mesh is a loop that does not contain other loops (as shown in Figure 2.8).

Figure 2.8 3.0 Kirchhoffs Current Law series circuit and parallel network

In order for current to flow, there must exist a closed circuit (as in Figure 2.9).

Figure 2.9 Kirchhoffs current law states that because charge cannot be created but must be conserved, the sum of the currents at a node must equal to zero, as Equation 1.

N in 0 n 1

Eq. (1) Prepared by Dr. Harlisya Harun, UPM

The currents flowing towards the junction or node have been considered positive and those flowing away from the junction are negative (as in Figure 2.10).
I5 I1

I2 I4 I3

Figure 2.10

Example 1: Kirchhoffs Current Law Applied to an Automotive Electrical Harness. Figure 2.11 shows an automotive battery connected to a variety of circuits in an automobile. The circuits include headlights, taillights, starter motor, fan, power, locks, and dashboard panel. The battery must supply enough current to independently satisfy the requirements of each of the load circuits. Apply KCL to the automotive circuits.

Figure 2.11 Example 2: With reference to the network shown in Figure 2.12, determine the relationship between the currents I1, I2, I4 and I5.

Figure 2.12

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Example 3: Write down the current relationships for junctions a, b and c of the network shown in Figure 2.13 and hence determine the currents I2, I4 and I5.

Figure 2.13 Important Points. Parallel Network (Current). The total current supplied to the network equals to the sum of the currents in the various branches I = I 1 + I 2 + I 3.

Series Circuit (Current). The current is the same in all parts of the circuit: I = I1 = I2 = I3.

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4.0 Voltage and Kirchhoffs Voltage Law (KVL) series circuit and parallel network
Voltage Can Be Provided From 1. A battery 2. A conventional power supply 3. A computer power supply 4. A logic trainer 5. The computer parallel port (aka printer port) Voltage or potential difference (as in Equation (2)), between two points in a circuit indicates that the energy required to move charge from one point to the other.

1volt ( V ) 1

joule( J ) coulomb(C)

Eq. (3)

KVL is the algebraic (or signed) summation of voltages around a closed loop must equal zero (as in Equation 3).

N Vn 0 n 1

Eq. (3)

Voltage polarities: Again, the issue of the sign, or polarity, or direction, of the voltage arises. When we write a Kirchhoff Voltage Law equation, we attach a sign to each reference voltage polarity, depending on whether the reference voltage is a rise or a drop. This can be done in different ways. For this set of material, we will always go around loops clockwise. We will assign a positive sign to a term that refers to a reference voltage drop, and a negative sign to a term that refers to a reference voltage rise. In this example (refer to Figure 2.14), we have already assigned reference polarities for all of the voltages for the loop indicated in red. For this circuit, and using our rule, starting at the bottom, we have the following equation: v A v X vE vF 0
RC
RC

+
vA

RD + vX RE + vE +

+
vA

RD + vX RE + vE + RF vF

RF iB

vF

iB

Figure 2.14

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Example 1: For the network shown in Figure 2.15, determine the voltages V1 and V3.

Figure 2.15 Example 2: Determine the unknown voltage V2 by applying KVL to the circuit (as shown in Figure 2.16).

6V 12V 1V

Figure 2.16 Important Point. Series Circuit Voltage.

The total voltage equals the sum of the voltages across the different parts of the circuit: -V + V1 + V2 + V3 = 0.

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Parallel Network (Voltage).

The voltage across a parallel combination is the same as the voltage across each branch: V =V1 = V2 = V3. 5.0 Resistance and Ohms Law

An ideal resistor is a device that exhibits linear resistance properties (as shown in Figure 2.17) according to Ohms law, which states that: V = IR Ohms Law Eq. (4)

i.e. the voltage across an element is directly proportional to the current flow through it The value of resistance R is measured in units of ohms (), where 1 = 1 V/A.

Figure 2.17 5.1 Need of Resistance

To determine whether the circuit is a good conductor low resistance or bad conductor high resistance. Low resistor copper, aluminium or carbon. High resistor glass, porcelain or plastic.

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Semiconductor silicon (to make diode) and germanium (to make transistor). 5.2 Power Calculation for Resistance 1. 2. 3. 4. V = IR, I = V/R Power: P = IV = I2 R = (V2)/R Energy dissipated is given by W = Pt = I2 Rt = Ivt

In electronic circuits, the common standard rating are W, W, 1 W and 2 W Example 1: A current of 5A flows in a resistor of resistance 8. Determine the rate of heat dissipation and also heat dissipated in 30s. Example 2: A motor gives an output power of 20 kW and operates with an efficiency of 80 percent. If the constant input voltage to the motor is 200 V, what is the constant supply current? Example 3: Determine the minimum resistor size that can be connected to a given battery without exceeding the resistors W power rating. Please refer to Figure 2.18.

Figure 2.18 5.3 Resistor Coding

The resistor coding can be referred to Figure 2.19.

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Figure 2.19 6.0 Series Resistor and the Voltage Divider Rule

Series resistor and voltage divider rule is given in Figure 2.20, 2.21, Equation (5) and (6).

Figure 2.20

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Figure 2.21 Equivalent series resistance as in Equation (5).

R EQ R n n 1

Eq. (5)

The voltage across each resistor in a series circuit is directly proportional to the ratio of its resistance to the total series resistance of the circuit (as in Equation (6)).

vn

Rn vs R1 R 2 R 3 R n R N

Eq. (6)

Example 1: Calculate the voltage across each of the resistors shown in Figure 2.22 and hence calculate the supply voltage V.

Figure 2.22 Prepared by Dr. Harlisya Harun, UPM

Example 2: Determine the voltage v3 in the circuit shown in Figure 2.23. Given R1=10, R2=6 , R3=8 , Vs=3V.

Figure 2.23 Example 3: A voltage divider is to give output voltage of 10V from an input voltage of 30 V as indicated in Figure 2.24. Given that R2 = 100, calculate the resistance of R1.

Figure 2.24

7.0 Parallel Resistors and the Current Divider Rule

Two or more circuit elements are said to be in parallel if the elements share the same terminals (as shown in Figure 2.25). From KVL, it follows that the elements will have the same voltage.

Figure 2.25

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The current divider rule is given in Equation (7).

Rn 1 1

in

R1

R2

Rn

is RN

Eq. (7)

Or:
R eq 1 1 R1 1 R2 1 R3

V i tot R eq R eq V i tot R1 R1 R eq V i2 i tot R2 R2 R eq V i3 i tot R3 R3 i1

Example 1: Determine the current i1 in the circuit shown in Figure 2.26. Given R1 = 10, R2 = 2 , R3 = 20, Is = 4A.

Figure 2.26 Example 2: Calculate the supply current to the network shown in Figure 2.27:

Figure 2.27

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Example 3: For the network shown in Figure 2.28, calculate the effective resistance and hence the supply current.

Figure 2.28 Example 4: Find I, VBE, VFD and P3 for circuit shown in Figure 2.29.

Figure 2.29 Example 5: Find I and Vo from Figure 2.30.

Figure 2.30

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Example 6: Find I, VAC, VCB and P6 (Figure 2.31).

Figure 2.31 Example 7: Find V, I1, I2, I3 and P4 from Figure 2.32.

Figure 2.32 8.0 Resistor Combinations

Combinations of resistors are shown in Figure 2.33.

Figure 2.33 Example 1: Find the equivalent resistance at the terminals A-B in the network shown in Figure 2.34.

Figure 2.34 Prepared by Dr. Harlisya Harun, UPM