MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology

DepartmentofElectricalEngineeringandComputerScience
6.061IntroductiontoPowerSystems
ClassNotes
Chapter1: ReviewofNetworkTheory

J.L. Kirtley Jr.
1 Introduction
Thisnoteisareviewofsomeofthemostsalientpointsofelectricnetworktheory. Initwedonot
proveanyoftheassertionsthataremade. Wedealonlywithpassive,linearnetworkelements.
2 Network Primitives
Electricnetworktheorydealswithtwoprimitivequantities,whichwewillrefertoas:
1. Potential (orvoltage),and
2. Current.
Current is the actual ow of charged carriers, while dierence in potentialis the force that
causes thatow.Aswewillsee, potential isasingle- valued function thatmay be uniquely dened
over thenodes ofa network.Current, on the other hand,ows throughthebranches ofthe network.
Figure1showsthebasicnotionofabranch,inwhichavoltage isdenedacrossthebranchanda
current is denedtoow throughthe branch.Anetwork is a collection ofsuchelements, connected
together bywires.
i
+ v
Figure1: BasicCircuitElement
Networktopology istheinterconnectionofitselements. That,plustheconstraintsonvoltage
and current imposed by the elements themselves, determines the performance of the network,
describedbythedistributionofvoltagesandcurrentsthroughoutthenetwork.
Twoimportantconceptsmustbedescribedinitially.Theseareofloopandnode.

2007 James L. Kirtley Jr.

1
c

1. Aloop inthenetworkisanyclosed paththroughtwoormoreelementsofthenetwork. Any

non-trivialnetworkwillhaveatleastonesuchloop.
i
2
+
v
2

+

i
i
v
v 1
3
3
1
Figure2: Thisisaloop
2. anode isapointatwhichtwoormoreelementsareinterconnected.
i
1
+
v
1
v
2 +
i
2
+

v
3
i 3
Figure3: Thisisanode
The two fundamental lawsofnetworktheoryare knownasKirchos Voltage Law (KVL),and
Kirchos Current Law (KCL). These laws describe the topology ofthe network, andarise directly
fromthefundmantallawsofelectromagnetics.Theyaresimplystatedas:
Kirchos Voltage Lawstates that,aroundanyloop ofanetwork,thesumofallvoltages,
takeninthesamedirection,iszero:
v
k
= 0 (1)
loop
Kirchos Current Law states that,atanynode ofanetwork,thesumofallcurrentsentering
thenodeiszero:
i
k
= 0 (2)
node
1Note that KVL isa discrete version of Faradays Law,validto the extent thatno time-varying
ux links the loop. KCL is justconservationofcurrent,allowingfornoaccumulationofchargeat
thenode.
2
Networkelementsaectvoltagesandcurrentsinoneofthreeways:
1. Voltage sourcesconstrainthepotentialdierenceacrosstheirterminalstobeofsomexed
value (thevalueof thesource).
2. Current sourcesconstrainthecurrentthroughthebranchtobeofsomexedvalue.
3. All other elements impose some sortofrelationship, either linear or nonlinear, between voltage
acrossandcurrentthroughthebranch.
+
v
i

Voltage Current
Source Source
Figure4: Notationforvoltageandcurrentsources
Voltageandcurrentsourcescanbeeitherindependent ordependent. Independentsourceshave
values which are, as the name implies, independent of other variables in a circuit. Dependent
sourceshavevalueswhichdependonsomeothervariableinacircuit. Acommonexampleofa
dependent source is the equivalentcurrent source used for modeling the collector junction in a
transistor. Typically, this is modeled as a current dependent current source, in which collector
current is taken to be directlydependent on emittercurrent. Such dependent sources mustbe
handledwithsomecare,forcertaintrickswewillbediscussingbelowdonotworkwiththem.
For the present time, we will consider, in addition to voltage andcurrentsources, onlyimpedance
elements,whichimposealinearrelationshipbetweenvoltageandcurrent. Themostcommonof
these is theresistance,whichimposestherelationshipwhichisoftenreferredtoasOhms law:
v
r
=Ri
r
(3)
i
r
+
R v
r

Figure5: ResistanceCircuitElement
Abitlateroninthisnote,wewillextendthisnotionofimpedance tootherelements,butfor
themomenttheresistancewillserveourpurposes.
3
3 Examples: Voltage and Current Dividers
Figure6maybeusedasanexampletoshowhowweuseallofthis. Seethatithasoneloop and
threenodes. Aroundtheloop,KVLis:
V
s
v
1
v
2
= 0
Attheupperright- handnode,wehave,byKCL:
i
1
i
2
= 0
Theconstitutive relations imposedbytheresistancesare:
v
1
=R
1
i
1
v
2
=R
2
i
2
Combiningthese,wendthat:
V
s
= (R
1
+R
2
)i
1
Wemaysolveforthevoltageacross,say,R
2
,toobtaintheso-calledvoltage divider relationship:
R
2
v
2
=V
s
(4)
R
1
+R
2
i
1
2
+

+
v
1
v
2
i
2
v
s
+

R
1 R
Figure6: VoltageDivider
AsecondexampleisillustratedbyFigure7. Here,KCLatthetopnodeyields:
I
s
i
1
i
2
= 0
AndKVL,writtenaroundtheloopthathasthetworesistances,is:
R
1
i
1
R
2
i
2
= 0
Combiningthesetogether,wehavethecurrent divider relationship:
R
1
i
2
=I
s
(5)
R
1
+R
2
Oncewe have derivedthevoltageandcurrent dividerrelationships,wecanuse themas partof
ourintellectualtoolkit,becausetheywillalwaysbetrue.
4

4
5
I
+

+

R
1
R
2
v
1
v
2
i
1
i
2
s
Figure7: CurrentDivider
Node Voltages and Reference
OneoftheconsequencesofKVListhateverynodeinanetworkwillhaveapotentialwhichis
uniquelyspeciedwithrespect to some other node.Thus, ifwe take one ofthe nodes in the network
to be a reference, ordatum, eachofthe other nodes will have a unique potential.The voltage across
anynetwork branch is then the dierence between the potentials at the nodes towhichtheelement
isconnected. Thepotentialofanodeisthesum ofvoltagesencounteredwhentraversingsome
pathbetweenthatnodeandthedatum node. Notethatanypathwilldo. IfKVLissatised,all
pathsbetweeneachpairofnodeswillyieldthesamepotential.
A commonly used electric circuit is the Wheatstone Bridge, shown in its simplest form in
Figure 8. Theoutputvoltage is foundsimplyfrom the inputvoltageas just the dierence between
twovoltagedividers:
R
2
R
4
v
o
=v
s

R
1
+R
2
R
3
+R
4
Thiscircuitisusedinsituationsinwhichoneormoreresistorsvarieswith,saytemperatureor
mechanicalstrain. Thebridgecanbebalanced sothattheoutputvoltageiszerobyadjustingone
ofthe other resistors.Then relatively smallvariations in the sensingelementcan result in relatively
bigdierencesintheoutputvoltage.If,forexampleR
2
isthesensingelement,R
4
canbeadjusted
to balance the bridge.
Serial and Parallel Combinations
There are a number of techniques for handling network problems, and we will not be able to
investigateeachofthemindepth. Wewill,however,lookintoafewtechniquesforanalysiswhich
involve progressive simplication ofthe network.To start, we consider how one might handle series
andparallelcombinationsofelements. Apairofelementsisinseries ifthesamecurrentows
throughbothofthem. Iftheseelementsareresistorsandifthedetailofvoltagedivisionbetween
them is notrequired, it is possible to lumpthe two together as a single resistance.This is illustrated
inFigure9. Thevoltageacrossthecurrentsourceis:
v
s
=v
1
+v
2
=i
s
R
1
+i
s
R
2
=i
s
(R
1
+R
2
)
Theequivalentresistancefortheseriescombinationisthen:
R
series
=R
1
+R
2
(6)
5
+
v
1
+
i R
1 R
2
v
2 s v
s

i
2
+

+
R
1
v
1
R
3
s



v
o
+
R
2
v
3
R
4

+
Figure 8: Wheatstone Bridge
v
3
+
v
+
v
4

Figure9: SeriesResistanceCombination
Similarly,resistanceelementsconnectedinparallel canbelumpedifitisnotnecessarytoknow
thedetailsofdivisionofcurrentbetweenthem. Figure10showsthiscombination.
Here,currentiissimply:
v v 1 1
i= + =v +
R
1
R
2
R
1
R
2
Theequivalentresistancefortheparallelcombinationisthen:
1 R
1
R
2
R
par
=
1 1
= (7)
+ R
1
+R
2
R
1
R
2
Because ofthe importance of parallelconnection ofresistances (andofother impedances), a special
symbolicformisusedforparallelconstruction.Thisis:
R
1
R
2
R
1
||R
2
= (8)
R
1
+R
2
Asanexample,consider thecircuitshown in Figure 11, part (a). Here,we have four,resistors
arrangedinanoddwaytoformatwo- terminalnetwork. Tondtheequivalentresistanceofthis
thing,wecandoaseriesofseries-parallelcombinations.
Thetworesistorsontherightcanbecombinedasaseriescombinationtoformasingle,two
ohmresistor asshown in part (b).Then theequivalentresistor,which is in parallelwithoneofthe
6
2 2
2 1 2 2 1
Series
Parrallel
Series
(a) (b)
Comb
(c) Comb (d)
Comb
Figure11: Series-ParallelReduction
3
6
I

+

+

R
1
R
2
v
1
v
2
i
1
i
2
v
+
Figure10: ParallelResistanceCombination
2 1
twoohmresistorscan becombinedto formasinglecombination part(c).That is inserieswiththe
remainingresistor,leavinguswithanequivalentinputresistanceofR= 3.
Loop and Node Equations
Therearetwowell- developedformalwaysofsolvingforthepotentialsandcurrentsinnetworks,
oftenreferredtoasloop andnode equationmethods. Theyarecloselyrelated, usingKCLand
KVLtogetherwithelementconstraintstobuildsetsofequationswhichmaythenbesolvedfor
potentialsandcurrents.
In the node equation method, KCL is written at each node of the network, with currents
expressedintermsofthenodepotentials. KVLissatisedbecausethenodepotentialsare
unique.
In the loop equation method, KVL is written abouta collection ofclosed paths in the network.
Loopcurrents are dened,andmade to satisfy KCL, andthe branchvoltages are expressed
intermsofthem.
Thetwomethodsareequivalentandachoicebetweenthemisusuallyamatterofpersonalprefer-
ence. Thenodeequationmethodisprobablymorewidelyused,andlendsitselfwelltocomputer
analysis.
Toillustratehowthesemethodswork,considerthenetworkofFigure12.
Thisnetworkhasthreenodes. WearegoingtowriteKCLforeachofthenodes,butnotethat
onlytwoexplicitequationsarerequired.IfKCLissatisedattwoofthenodes,itisautomatically
satisedatthethird. Usuallythedatum nodeistheoneforwhichwedonotwritetheexpression.
7
i
1
R
2

I V
+

R
1
R
3
v
2
+
Figure12: SampleNetwork
KCLwrittenforthetwouppernodesofthenetworkis:
V V v
2
+ = 0 (9) i
1
+
R
1
R
2
v
2
V v
2
I+ + = 0 (10)
R
2
R
3
Thesetwoexpressionsareeasilysolvedforthetwounknowns,i
1
andv
2
:
R
3
R
2
R
3
v
2
= V + I
R
2
+R
3
R
2
+R
3
R
1
+R
2
+R
3
R
3
i
1
= V I
R
1
(R
2
+R
3
) R
2
+R
3
b
I V
+

i
1
R
1
R
2
R
3
v
2
+

i
a
i
Figure13: SampleNetworkShowingLoops
Theloop equation methodissimilar. Weneedthesamenumberofindependentexpressions
(two), so we need to take two independent loops. For this, take as the loops as is shown in
Figure 13:
1. TheloopthatincludesthevoltagesourceandR
1
.
2. TheloopthatincludesR
1
,R
2
,andR
3
.
It is also necessaryto deneloop currents, whichwe will denote asi
a
andi
b
. These are the currents
circulatingaroundthetwoloops. Notethatwheretheloopsintersect,theactualbranch current
willbethesumofordierencebetweenloopcurrents. Forthisexample,assumetheloopcurrents
aredenedtobecirculatingcounter-clockwiseinthetwoloops. Thetwoloopequationsare:
V +R
1
(i
a
i
b
) = 0 (11)
R
1
(i
b
i
a
) +R
2
i
b
+R
3
(i
b
I) = 0 (12)
Theseareequallyeasilysolvedforthetwounknowns,inthiscasethetwoloopcurrentsi
a
andi
b
.
8
7 Linearity and Superposition
Anextraordinarilypowerfulnotionofnetworktheoryislinearity. Thispropertyhastwoessential
elements,statedasfollows:
1. Foranysingle inputxyieldingoutputy,theresponsetoaninputkxiskyforany valueofk.
2. If,inamulti-inputnetworktheinputx
1
byitselfyieldsoutputy
1
andasecondinputx
2
by
itself yieldsy
2
,thenthecombinationofinputsx
1
andx
2
yieldstheoutputy=y
1
+y
2
.
Thisisimportanttousatthepresentmomentfortworeasons:
1. Ittellsusthatthesolutiontocertainproblemsinvolvingnetworkswithmultipleinputsis
actuallyeasier thanwemightexpect: ifanetwork is linear,wemaysolve for the outputwith
eachseparateinput,thenaddtheoutputs. Thisiscalledsuperposition.
2. Italsotellsusthat,fornetworksthatarelinear,itisnotnecessarytoactuallyconsiderthe
value ofthe inputs in calculatingresponse.What is important is asystem function,oraratio
ofoutputtoinput.
Superpositionisanimportantprinciplewhendealingwithlinearnetworks,andcanbeused
tomakeanalysiseasier. Ifanetworkhasmultipleindependentsources,itispossibletondthe
responsetoeachsourceseparately,thenaddupalloftheresponsestondtotalresponse. Note
thatthiscanonlybedonewithindependent sources!
Consider,forexample,theexamplecircuitshowninFigure12. Ifweareonlyinterestedinthe
outputvoltagev
2
,wemayndtheresponsetothevoltagesourcerst,thentheresponsetothe
currentsource,thenthetotalresponseisthesumofthetwo. Tondtheresponsetothevoltage
source, we mustturn othe current source.This is done byassumingthat it is not there.(After
all, a current sourcewith zero current is justan open circuit!). The resultingnetwork is asin
Figure 14.
R
2
2v
V
+

R
3
v
+

Figure14: SuperpositionFragment: VoltageSource
NotethattheresistanceR
1
doesnotappearhere. Thisisbecausearesistanceinparallelwith
avoltagesource is justavoltagesource,unlessone is interested incurrent in theresistance. The
outputvoltage is just:
R
3
v
2v
=V
R
2
+R
3
Next, weturn o the voltage source andturn on the currentsource.Note thata voltage source
thathasbeenturnedoisashort circuit,becausethatimplieszerovoltage. Thenetworkisas
shown in Figure 15
9
8
R
2
I
+
R
3
v
2i

Figure15: SuperpositionFragment: CurrentSource
Theresponsetothisis:
v
2i
=IR
2
||R
3
The totalresponse is then just:
R
3
R
2
R
3
v
2
=v
2v
+v
2i
=V +I
R
2
+R
3
R
2
+R
3
Thevenin and Norton Equivalent Circuits
A particularly important ramication of the property of linearity is expressed in the notion of
equivalent circuits. Towit: ifweareconsideringtheresponseofanetworkatanygiventerminal
pair,thatisapairofnodesthathavebeenbroughtouttotheoutsideworld,itfollowsfromthe
propertiesof linearity that, if thenetwork is linear, theoutputatasingle terminal pair (either
voltageorcurrent)isthesumoftwocomponents:
1. Theresponsethatwouldexistiftheexcitation attheterminalpairwerezeroand
2. Theresponseforcedattheterminalpairbytheexcitingvoltageorcurrent.
Thisnotionmaybeexpressedwitheithervoltage orcurrent astheresponse. Theseyieldthe
Thevenin andNorton equivalentnetworks,whichareexactlyequivalent.Atany terminal pair, the
propertiesofalinear networkmaybeexpressedintermsofeitherTheveninorNortonequivalents.
TheThevenin equivalent circuit is shown in Figure 16, while theNorton equivalent circuit is shown
in Figure 17.
i
+ R
th
+
v
V
th

Figure16: TheveninEquivalentNetwork
10
i
+
v
R
eq

I
n
Figure17: NortonEquivalentNetwork
TheTheveninandNortonequivalentnetworkshavethesame impedance. Further,theequiva-
lentsourcesarerelatedbythesimplerelationship:
V
Th
=R
eq
I
N
(13)
TheThevenin Equivalent Voltage,thesourceinternaltotheTheveninequivalentnetwork,is
thesameastheopen circuit voltage,whichisthevoltagethatwouldappearattheterminalsof
theequivalentcircuitwereittobeopencircuited.Similarly,theNorton Equivalent Current is the
sameasminustheshort circuit current.
Toconsiderhowwemightusetheseequivalentnetworks,considerwhatwouldhappenifthe
Wheatstonebridgewereconnectedbysomeresistanceacrossitsoutput,asshowninFigure18

+

+

R
1
v
1
+

+

v
o
R R v v
2
R
3
4 4 3
v
3
v
s
+

R
5
+

Figure18: WheatstoneBridgeWithOutputResistance
Theanalysisofthissituationissimpliedsubstantiallyifonerecognizesthateach sideofthe
bridgecanbeexpressedaseitheraTheveninorNortonequivalentnetwork. Wemayproceedto
solvetheproblembyndingtheequivalentnetworksforeachside,thenpastethemtogetherto
formthewholesolution.So:considertheequivalentnetworkfortheleft-handsideofthenetwork,
formedbytheelementsV ,R
1
andR
2
. ThisisshowninFigure19.
11
R
1 +
R
Th l
V
+

R
2
V
Th l


Figure19: ConstructionofEquivalentCircuit
Where,here,thecomponentsoftheequivalentcircuitare:
R
2
v
Thl
= V
R
1
+R
2
R
eql
= R
1
||R
2
Similarly, theright sideofthenetworkisfoundtohaveanequivalentsourceandresistance:
R
4
v
Thr
= V
R
3
+R
4
R
eqr
= R
3
||R
4
AndthewholethingbehavesastheequivalentcircuitshowninFigure20
R
Th l
R
5
R
Th r
+
+
V
Th l
V
Th r

Figure20: EquivalentCircuit
This is, of course, easily solved for the current through, and hence the voltage across, the
resistanceR
5
,whichwasdesiredintherstplace:
R
5
R
2
R
5
v
5
= (v
Thl
v
Thr
) =V fracR
4
R
3
+R
4
R
5
+r
eql
+r
eqr
R
1
+R
2
R
5
+R
1
||R
2
+R
3
||R
4
Two Port Networks
So far, we have dealt witha number ofnetworks whichmay be said to beone port or single-terminal-
paircircuits. Thatis,theimportantactionoccursatasingleterminalpair,andischaracterized
byanimpedance andbyeitheraopen circuit voltage orashort circuit current,thusformingeither
aTheveninorNortonequivalentcircuit. Asecond,andforusveryimportant,classofelectrical
network has two (orsometimesmore)terminal pairs. Wewillconsider formallyhere thetwo port
network,illustratedschematicallyinFigure21.
Thereare a number ofways ofcharacterizingthis type ofnetwork.For the time being,consider
that it ispassive, so that there is no outputwithoutsome inputandthere are no dependentsources.
12
9



i
1
v
2
1
i
2
+

+

v
Figure21: Two-PortNetwork
Thenwemaycharacterizethenetworkintermsofthecurrents atitsterminalsintermsofthe
voltages, or, conversely, wemaydescribethevoltages intermsofthecurrents attheterminals.
Thesetwowaysofdescribingthenetworkaresaidtobetheadmittance orimpedance parameters.
Thesemaybewritteninthefollowingway:
The impedance parameter point of view would yield, for a resistive network, the following
relationshipbetweenvoltagesandcurrents:
v
1
R
11
R
12
i
1
= (14)
v
2
R
21
R
22
i
2
Similarly, theadmittance parameter pointofviewwouldyieldasimilarrelationship:
i
1
G
11
G
12
v
1
= (15)
i
2
G
21
G
22
v
2
Thesetworelationshipsare,ofcourse,theinversesofeachother. Thatis:

1
G
11
G
12
R
11
R
12
= (16)
G
21
G
22
R
21
R
22
Ifthenetworksarelinear andpassive (i.e. therearenodependent sourcesinside),theyalso
exhibit the property of reciprocity. In a reciprocal network, the transfer impedance or transfer
admittance isthesameinbothdirections.Thatis:
R
12
= R
21
G
12
= G
21
(17)
It is often usefulto express two- port networks in terms ofTor networks, shown in Figures 22
and 23.
Sometimesitisusefultocascadetwo-portnetworks,asisshowninFigure24. Theresulting
combinationisitselfatwo-port. Supposewehaveapairofnetworkscharacterizedbyimpedance
parameters:
v
1
R
11
R
12
i
1
=
v
2
R
12
R
22
i
2
13




R
11
R
12
R
22
R
12
R
12
Figure22: T- EquivalentNetwork
G G
12
G
11 12
G G
22 12
Figure23: -EquivalentNetwork
v
3
R
33
R
34
i
3
=
v
4
R
34
R
44
i
4
Bynotingthatv
2
=v
3
andi
3
=i
2
,itispossibletoshow,withalittlemanipulation,that:
v
1
R
11

R
14
i
1
=
v
4
R
14
R
44

i
4
where
R
2
R
12
=
11
R
11

R
22
+R
33
R
2
R
34
=
44
R
44

R
22
+R
33
R
12
R
34
R
14
=
R
22
+R
33
10 Inductive and Capacitive Circuit Elements
So far, we have dealt with circuit elements which have no memory and which, therefore, are
characterizedbyinstantaneousbehavior. Theexpressionswhichareusedtocalculatewhatthese
elementsare doingarealgebraic (and formostelementsare linear too). As itturnsout,muchof
thecircuitrywewillbestudyingcanbesocharacterized,withcomplexparameters.
However, we take a quick diversion to discuss briey the transient behavior ofcircuits containing
capacitorsandinductors.
14
i
1
+
v
1

1
i
2
i
3
+ +
v
2
v
3

i
4
+
v
4

2
Figure24: CascadeofTwo-PortNetworks
i
c
v
c
i
l
v
l
C
L
Figure25: CapacitanceandInductance
SymbolsforcapacitiveandinductivecircuitelementsareshowninFigure25. Theyarechar-
acterizedbytherelationshipsbetweenvoltageandcurrent:
i
c
=C
dv
c
dt
v

=L
di

dt
(18)
Note that, whiletheseelementsarelinear, sincetimederivativesare involvedintheirchar-
acterization, expressions describing their behavior in networks will become ordinary dierential
equations.
10.1 Simple Case: R-C
r
C R
+
v

i
c
i
Figure26: SimpleCase: R-C
Figure26showsasimpleconnectionofaresistanceandacapacitance. Thiscircuithasonly
two nodes, so there is a single voltage v across both elements. The two elements produce the
constraints:
v
i
r
=
R
dv
i
c
=
dt
15

and,sincei
r
=i
c
,
dv 1
+ v= 0
dt RC
Now,weknowthatthissortofrst-order,linearequationissolvedby:
t
v e

RC
(Toconrmthis, justsubstitutetheexponential intothe dierential equation.) Then, ifwe have
someinitial condition,sayv(t= 0)=V
0
, then
t
v=V
0
e

RC
This wasa trivialcase, sincewe dontdescribehow thatinitialconditionmighthave taken
place. Butconsideracloselyrelatedproblem,illustratedinFigure27.
10.2 Simple Case with Drive
R

C v
c
+

v
s
+
Figure27: RCCircuitwithDrive
Theanalysisofthiscircuitisaccomplishedbynotingthatitcontainsasingleloop,andadding
upthevoltagesaroundtheloopwend:
dv
c
RC +v
c
=v
s
dt
Now,assumethatthevoltagesourceisastep:
v
s
=V
s
u
1
(t)
Weshoulddenethestepfunctionwithsomecare,sinceitisofquitealotofuse. Thestepis
oneofahierarchyofsingularity functions. Itisdenedas:
0 t <0
u
1
(t) = (19)
1 t >0
Now,rememberingthatdierentialequationshaveparticular andhomogeneous solutions,and
that fort >0aparticularsolutionwhichsolvesthedierentialequationis:
v
cp
=V
16



Ofcoursethisdoesnotsatisfytheinitialconditionwhichisthatthecapacitancebeuncharged:
v
c
(t = 0+) = 0. Again, remember that the whole solution is the sum of the particular and a
homogeneoussolution,andthatthehomogeneoussolutionistheun-drivencase. Tosatisfythe
initialcondition,thehomogeneoussolutionmustbe:
t
c
ch
=V e

RC
Sothatthetotalsolutionissimply:
t
v
c
=V 1 e

RC
Next,supposev
s
=u
1
(t)Vcos t. Weknowthehomogeneoussolutionmustbeofthesame
form,buttheparticularsolutionisabitmorecomplicated. Inlaterchapterswewilllearnhowto
maketheprocessofextractingtheparticularsolutioneasier,butforthetimebeing,letsassume
thatwithasinusoidaldrivewewillgetasinusoidalresponseofthesamefrequency. Thuswewill
guess
v
cp
=V
cp
cos (t )
The time derivative is
dv
cp
=V
cp
sin(t )
dt
sothatwecanndanalgebraicequationfortheparticularsolution:
Vcos t=V
cp
(cos (t ) +RC sin(t ))
Note the trigonometric identities:
cos (t ) = cos cos t +sinsint
sin(t ) = sincos t +cos sint
Sincethesineandcosinetermsareorthogonal,wecanequatecoecientsofsineandcosineto
get:
V = V
cp
[cos +RC sin]
0 = V
cp
[sin +RC cos ]
Thesecondofthesecanbesolvedforthephaseangle:
= tan
1
RC
andsquaringbothequationsandadding:
V
2
=V
cp
2
1 +(RC)
2
so that theparticular solution is:
V
v
cp
= cos (t )
1 +(RC)
2
Finally, ifthecapacitor is initiallyuncharged (v
c
(t=0+)=0),wecanaddinthehomogeneous
solution (we alreadyknow the form ofthis), andnd the totalsolution to be:
V t
v
c
p= cos (t ) cos e

RC
1 +(RC)
2
ThisisshowninFigure28
17
R=1, C=1, OM = 10
V
c
p

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
t
Figure28: OutputVoltageforRCExample
10.3 Second-Order System Example
R
1
R
2
v
s
+

v
o

+
L L i
i
1
2
Figure29: Two-InductorCircuit
Figure 29 shows a network with two inductances and two resistances. Assume that this is
drivenbyavoltagestep: v
s
=V
s
u
1
(t). Notethat, withtwoinductances, wewillrequiretwo
initialconditionstocompletethesolution.
Thesteadystate (particular)solution isv
o
=0. Therewill,ofcourse,becurrentowingin
eachoftheinductances,butifexcitationisconstanttherewillbenotimederivativeofcurrentso
thatvoltageacrosseachoftheinductanceswilleventuallyfalltozero.
Theinitialconditionsmaybefoundbyinspection. Rightafter t= 0 (noteweuset= 0+ for
this),outputvoltagemustbe:
v
o
(t= 0+)=V
s
This must be so since current cannot be made toow instantaneously in either inductance, so that
thereisnocurrentineitherresistance.
18

The second initialcondition is the rate ofchange ofvoltage right after the instantofthe voltage
step. Tondthis,notethatoutputvoltageisequaltothesourcevoltageminusthevoltagedrops
acrosseachofthetworesistances.
v
o
=v
s
R
2
i
2
R
1
(i
1
+i
2
)
Ifwe dierentiate thiswithrespect totimeandnotethatthe time derivativeofaconstant (after
thesteptheinputvoltageisconstant)iszero:
dv
o
di
2
di
1
(t= 0+)=(R
1
+R
2
) R
1
dt dt dt
Now,sincerightaftertheinstantofthestepbothinductanceshavethesourcevoltageV
s
across
them:
di
1
di
2
V
s
|
t=0+
= |
t=0+
=
dt dt L
therateofchangeofvoltageatt= 0+ is:
dv
o
2R
1
+R
2
|
t=0+
= V
s
dt L
Now,wecanndthehomogeneoussolutionusingtheloopmethod. Settingthesourcetozero,
assumeacurrenti
a
intheleft-handloopandi
b
intheright-handloop. KVLaroundthesetwo
loops yields:
d
(i
a
i
b
) = 0 R
1
i
a
+L
dt
di
b
di
a
R
2
i
b
+2L L = 0
dt dt
Withalittlemanipulation,thesebecome:
di
a
L +2R
1
i
a
+R
2
i
b
= 0
dt
di
b
L +R
1
i
a
+R
2
i
b
= 0
dt
AssumethatsolutionsareoftheformIe
st
,andthissetofsimultaneousequationsbecomes:
(sL+2R
1
) R
2
I
a
0
=
R
1
(sL+R
2
) I
b
0
Weneedtosolvethisfors(tond valuesofsforwhichthissetistrue,andthatissimplythe
solutionofthecharacteristicequation
(sL+2R
1
) (sL+R
2
) R
1
R
2
= 0
whichisthesameas:
2R
1
+R
2
R
1
R
2
2
s + s+ = 0
L L L
19
Now, for the sake of nice numbers, assume that R
1
= 2R, R
2
= 3R. The characteristic
equation is:
R

2
s+6 = 0 s
2
+7
L L
which factorsnicelyinto (s+
R
)(s+6
R
) = 0, or the two values ofsares=
R
ands=6
R
.
L L L L
Sincetheparticularsolutiontothisoneiszero,wehaveatotalsolutionwhichis:
v
o
=Ae

Theinitialconditionsare:
R
L
t
+Be
6
R
L
t
v
o
|
t=0+
=A+B = V
s
dv
o
R R
|
t=0+
= (A+6B) = 7 V
s
dt L L
Thesolutiontothatpairofexpressionsis:
V
s
6V
s
A= B=
5 5
andthisisshowninFigure30.
Two Inductor Example
V
o

1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0.2
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
t
Figure30: OutputVoltageforTwoInductorExample
20
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6.061 / 6.690 Introduction to Electric Power Systems
Spring 2011
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