SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING and DIGITAL SCIENCES

Circuits Theory

Chapter 2 – Resistive Circuits (cont.)

1
 Resistive Circuits
Summary
• Series and parallel connections; voltage and current dividers

• Kirchhoff voltage and current laws (KVL and KCL)

• Two stages:
– compile the equations
– solve the equations (WIMS, Matlab etc) and interpret the results

• Node voltages and mesh currents analysis – advanced

systematic methods that reduce the order of the system of linear
equations to be solved

• Dependent sources (4 types) – the general approach is to

compile equations for independent sources and then add control
equations

2
 Resistive Circuits
Thevenin Equivalent for Two-Terminal Circuits

• Two-terminal (single-port) circuit is one (that can be of any

complex interconnections of resistances and sources) that has only
two points or nodes that can be connected to other circuits

• The Thevenin equivalent of such circuits is one that consists of

only an independent voltage source in series with a resistance

3
 Resistive Circuits
Thevenin Equivalent for Two-Terminal Circuits

• The Thevenin equivalent with open-circuited terminals has no

current flowing through the circuit, therefore Vt  v oc

• The Thevenin equivalent with short-circuited terminals has

resistance value is the ratio of open-circuit
voltage Voc of the original circuit to its short-
circuit current, isc v
Rt  oc
isc

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 Resistive Circuits
Thevenin Equivalent for Two-Terminal
Circuits Example

vs 15
i1    0.1 A
R1  R2 100  50

Voc  Vt  R2  ii  5 volts

vs 15 v
i sc    0. 15 A
R1 100 

Voc 5 volts
Rt    33.33 
isc 0.15 A

5
 Resistive Circuits
Finding Thevenin Resistance for Two-Terminal Circuits
Directly
• When zeroing a voltage source, it becomes a short circuit. When zeroing a current
source, it becomes an open circuit
• We can find the Thevenin resistance by zeroing the sources in the original network and
then computing the resulting resistance between the terminals

6
 Resistive Circuits
Example: Thevenin Equivalent with a
Dependent Source
• We use node voltage analysis
for the open-circuit voltage (not
direct)

• and

Voc = 8.57 v

• Short-circuit

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 Resistive Circuits
Norton Equivalent for Two-Terminal Circuits
• The Norton equivalent consists of an independent current source
In in parallel with the equivalent (Thevenin) resistance

• If we zero the Norton current source (disconnecting it), the Norton

equivalent becomes a resistance because if we zero the voltage
source in the Thevenin equivalent (by short circuiting) it also
becomes a resistance, that is equivalent to the internal resistance
of the original circuit

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 Resistive Circuits
Norton Equivalent for Two-Terminal Circuits
• If we place a short circuit across the Norton equivalent, the Norton current
becomes equal to the short-circuit current In = iSC

Perform TWO of the following steps:

1. First determine the open-circuit voltage Vt =vOC
2. Next determine the short-circuit current In = iSC
3. Zero the current source and find the Thevenin resistance, looking
back into the terminals
Use Vt = Rt  In to compute the remaining value

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 Resistive Circuits
Norton Equivalent for Two-Terminal Circuits
Example
Vx VOC - 15 Voc
   0 KCL
4 20 20
Vx VOC - Vx

5 15

VOC VOC - 15 VOC

   0
16 20 20

Voc = 4.62 volts

Vx = 0 volts

isc = 15 v / 20  = 0.75 A

VOC 4.62 volts

R TH    6.15 
ISC 0.75 A

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Source Transformations

i1 = 10 V / 15  = 0.67 A

i2 = 5 A * 5  / 15  = 1.67 A

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 Resistive Circuits
Maximum Power Transfer
• Question: What load resistance RL should be connected to a two-terminal
circuit in order to maximize the power delivered to the load?

• The current through the resistor

• The power delivered
• Derivative of the power with respect to resistance

• Solution is
• Actual maximum power is
• The load resistance that absorbs the maximum power from a two-terminal
circuit is equal to the Thevenin resistance

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 Resistive Circuits
Superposition Principle
• Suppose we have a circuit composed of resistors, n independent sources (in
principle, linear dependent (controlled) sources also possible)
• The current flowing in each element is a response to the independent sources
• Consider zeroing all the independent sources (current sources become open
circuits and voltage sources become short-circuited) except the first source
• The response (while other sources are zeroed) for that source is then r1 (could
be either current or voltage response)
• If we keep only the second source, the response becomes r2
• We can repeat the process for each source in the circuit until response to the nth
source rn is obtained
• The superposition principle states that the total response is the sum of the
responses due to each of the independent sources acting individually:

rT  r1  r2    rn

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 Resistive Circuits
Superposition Principle Example

1. Only voltage source active

(apply voltage division principle)

2. Only current source active (resistors

in parallel)

3. Voltage across due to the current source

4. Adding the individual responses

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 Resistive Circuits
Linearity / Proportionality
• Suppose we have a circuit composed of resistors with a
single DC voltage source vs
• We made a DC circuit analysis and found a certain
resistor current iR
• Then for an arbitrary time dependent voltage source v (t )
the current will be time dependent equal

iR
i (t )  v(t )
vs
• Example:
v(t ) i (t )
10 2
50 sin t 10 sin t
100 exp(t /  ) 20 exp(t /  )

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 Resistive Circuits
Wheatstone Bridge - 1
• Wheatstone bridge is a circuit used to measure unknown resistances

• The bridge is capable of responding to a very small currents (less than

1 µA) through a detector resistance Rx
• Resistors R2 and R3 are adjustable and can be tuned until the detector
indicates zero current and no voltage between terminals a and b

• In these conditions we say the bridge is balanced

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 Resistive Circuits
Wheatstone Bridge - 2

• In balanced condition (ig =0, vab = 0) by applying KCL at nodes a and b

respectively KVL applied around the loop R1, R2 and detector
and since vab = 0

• Similarly KVL around R3, R4 and detector

• Dividing one equation by the other we obtain the resistors ratio for the
balanced bridge:

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 Large Ladder Circuit

 Consider a ladder circuit with a large number (say, 10, or 30, or 100) of
identical cells (kind of symmetry)

 Then instead of going into tedious calculations (continued fraction),

it is easier to calculate equivalent resistance assuming infinite number of cells

 The notion of infinity
 Infinite Cell Count - 1
 Consider a ladder circuit with a large number (say, 10, or 30, or 100) of
identical cells (kind of symmetry)

 How to calculate the equivalent resistance ?

 Infinite Cell Count - 1
 Consider a ladder circuit with a large number (say, 10, or 30, or 100) of
identical cells (kind of symmetry)

 Assuming infinite cell count, equivalent resistance does not change when
adding one more cell at the input

1·𝑅
𝑅 1
1 𝑅
 Infinite Cell Count - 2

 Assuming infinite cell count, equivalent resistance does not change when
adding one more cell at the input

1·𝑅
𝑅 1
1 𝑅

 Quadratic equation

𝑅 𝑅 1 0

 The positive root

1 5
𝑅 1.618 𝑂ℎ𝑚
2
 This number appears in connection with the Golden Ratio (make a web
search if curious)
Thanks for your attention and
Good Luck!