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EE231 "Electric Circuit Fundamentals": By: Engr. Paolo Josemari P. Zafra

This document provides an overview of fundamental circuit parameters including: - Electric current is the flow of electric charge. Current is measured in amperes. It can be direct current (DC), which remains constant, or alternating current (AC), which varies sinusoidally. - Voltage is the electric potential energy required to move a unit of charge between two points. It is measured in volts. It is defined as work per unit charge. - Power is the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by a circuit. Power is defined as the product of voltage and current, and is measured in watts. The relationship and passive sign convention for power is explained.

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Paolo Josemari Zafra
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176 views

EE231 "Electric Circuit Fundamentals": By: Engr. Paolo Josemari P. Zafra

This document provides an overview of fundamental circuit parameters including: - Electric current is the flow of electric charge. Current is measured in amperes. It can be direct current (DC), which remains constant, or alternating current (AC), which varies sinusoidally. - Voltage is the electric potential energy required to move a unit of charge between two points. It is measured in volts. It is defined as work per unit charge. - Power is the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by a circuit. Power is defined as the product of voltage and current, and is measured in watts. The relationship and passive sign convention for power is explained.

Uploaded by

Paolo Josemari Zafra
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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EE231

Lecture 1
“Electric Circuit Fundamentals”
By: Engr. Paolo Josemari P. Zafra
Outline
• Introduction
• Fundamental Circuit Parameters
• Circuit Elements
• Ohm’s Law
• Circuit Topology
• Kirchhoff’s Laws
• Series Resistors and Voltage Division
• Parallel Resistors and Current Division
• Wye-Delta Transformations
Introduction
- Circuit theory is an important and perhaps the oldest branch of
electrical engineering
- There are two aspects to circuit theory: analysis and design
- Circuit analysis involves the determination of current and voltage
values
- Circuit design focuses on the design of circuits that exhibit a certain
prespecified voltage or current characteristics
- Both design and analysis would require an electric circuit as a
reference
Introduction

An Electric Circuit is an interconnection


of electrical elements
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
• The most basic quantity in an electric circuit is the electric charge
• Charge is an electrical property of the atomic particles of which
matter consists, measured in coulombs (C)
• The charge on an electron is negative having a magnitude of
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
• A unique feature of electric charge or electricity is the fact that it is
mobile
• It can be transferred from one place to another, where it can be
converted to another form of energy
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
• When a conducting wire (consisting of several atoms) is connected to
a battery (a source of electromotive force), the charges are compelled
to move; positive charges move in one direction while negative
charges move in the opposite direction
• This motion of charges creates electric current
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
• It is conventional to take the current flow as the movement of
positive charges. This convention is known as Conventional Current
Flow
• Physically, the conventional current flow is incorrect. Electrons tend
to flow from the negative terminal to the positive. This flow of
electrons is termed electron current flow.
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
• In general, analysing an electrical circuit yields results that are
independent of the assumed direction of current flow
• Conventional current flow is the standard that most all of the world
follows
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
NOTE:
In doing circuit analysis, usually an assumed direction for the current is
made. If the solved current is positive, the assumption is said to be
correct. If the value of the current comes out negative, the direction is
said to be opposite.
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
Electric current is the time rate of change of charge, measured in
amperes (A). Mathematically, it is given by

Measured in amperes ( )

Note:
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
The charge transferred between time to is obtained by integration
of the equation in the previous slide
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
• The way we define current states that the current need not to be a
constant value
• There can be several types of current; that is, charge can vary with
time in several ways that may be represented by different kinds of
mathematical functions
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
A direct current (dc) is a current that remains constant with time. By
convention, the symbol is used to denote direct current.
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
An alternating current (ac) is a current that varies sinusoidally with
time. A time-varying current is represented by the symbol
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
• To move the electron in a conductor in a particular direction requires
some work or energy transfer
• This work is performed by an external electromotive force (emf)
• This emf is also known as voltage or potential difference
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
The voltage between two points and in an electric circuit is the
energy (or work) needed to move a unit charge from to .
Mathematically is given by

Wherein is measured in volts


Note:
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
Voltage could also be defined as the energy required to move a unit
charge through an element, measured in volts ( )
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
• The plus (+) and minus (-) signs are used to define reference direction
or voltage polarity
• The can be interpreted in two ways: (1) point is at a potential of
volts higher than point , or (2) the potential at point with
respect to point is
• It follows logically that in general,
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
• Keep in mind that electric current is always through an element and
that electric voltage is always across the element or between two
points
• Like electric current, a constant voltage is called a dc voltage and is
represented by whereas a sinusoidally time-varying voltage is called
an ac voltage and is represented by
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
For practical purposes, we also need to know how much power an
electric device can handle. Power is the time rate of expending or
absorbing energy, measured in watts (W), which, in terms of current
and voltage, is given by

Wherein is in watts ( )
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
• The power is a time-varying quantity and is called the instantaneous
power
• Thus, the power absorbed or supplied by an element is the product of
the voltage across the element and the current through it
• If the power has a sign, power is being delivered to or absorbed by
the element while a sign indicates that power is supplied by the
element
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
• Current direction and voltage polarity play a major role in
determining the sign of power
• The sign of the power follows the passive sign convention
• In general,
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
In general, . In fact, the law of
conservation of energy must be obeyed in any electric circuit. For this
reason, the algebraic sum of power in a circuit, at any instant of time,
must be zero:

This again confirms the fact that the total power supplied to the circuit
must balance the total power absorbed
Fundamental Circuit Parameters
The energy absorbed or supplied can also be obtained through
integration of the previous expression for power

Note:
Energy is the capacity to do work, measured in joules ( )
Example 1
The current through an element is shown in the figure below.
Determine the total charge that passed through the element at:
(a) (b) (c)
Example 2
The two figure below shows the current through and the voltage across
a device. Find the total energy absorbed by the device for the period of
Example 3
The power consumption for a certain household for a day is shown in
figure below. Determine: (a) The total energy consumed in kWh (b) the
average power per hour

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