NODAL AND LOOP ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES

LEARNING GOALS
NODAL ANALYSIS
LOOP ANALYSIS

Develop systematic techniques to determine all the voltages

and currents in a circuit

NODE ANALYSIS
One of the systematic ways to
determine every voltage and
current in a circuit
The variables used to describe the circuit will be Node Voltages
-- The voltages of each node with respect to a pre-selected
reference node

LEARNING EXAMPLE

V1 V1 V2
@V1 : 4mA
0
6k 12k
@V2 : 2mA

V2 V2 V1

0
6k
12k

BY INSPECTION

1
1
1

V2 4mA

1
12k
6k 12k
1
1
1

V1
V2 2mA
12k
6k 12k

USING KCL

LEARNING EXAMPLE
SUPERNODE

V1 6V
V4 4V

SOURCES CONNECTED TO THE

REFERENCE

CONSTRAINT EQUATION

V3 V2 12V

KCL @ SUPERNODE

V2 6 V2 V3 V3 (4)

0 * / 2k
2k
1k 2k
2k
V2 IS NOT NEEDED FOR I O 3V2 2V3 2V
V2 V3 12V * / 3 and add
5V3 38V
V
OHM' S LAW I O 3 3.8mA
2k

CIRCUITS WITH DEPENDENT SOURCES

PRESENT NO SIGNIFICANT ADDITIONAL
COMPLEXITY. THE DEPENDENT SOURCES
ARE TREATED AS REGULAR SOURCES

WE MUST ADD ONE EQUATION FOR EACH

CONTROLLING VARIABLE

LEARNING EXAMPLE
FIND IO

VOLTAGE SOURCE CONNECTED TO REFERENCE

V1 3V

V V V
KCL@ V2 : 2 1 2 2 I x 0
3k
6k
CONTROLLING VARIABLE IN
TERMS OF NODE VOLTAGES

Ix

V2 V1 V2
V

2 2 0 * / 6k
3k
6k
6k
V2 2V1 0 V2 6V
IO

V1 V2
1mA
3k

REPLACE

V2
6k

SUPER NODE WITH DEPENDENT SOURCE

VOLTAGE SOURCE CONNECTED TO REFERENCE

V3 6V
SUPERNODE CONSTRAINT

V1 V2 2Vx

CONTROLLING VARIABLE IN TERMS OF NODES

KCL AT SUPERNODE

Vx V2 V1 3V2
* / 12k

2(V1 6) V1 2V2 V2 6 0
3V1 3V2 18 4V1 18

LEARNING EXAMPLE

FIND THE VOLTAGE Vo

@V4 : V4 4V
AT SUPER NODE

V1 V2 2VX
V2 V2 V3 V1 V3 V1 4V

2
mA

0
1k
1k
1k
1k
1k

1k @V : 2mA V V V V 0
3

1k

CONTROLLING VARIABLE

1k

VX V2

SOLVE EQUATIONS NOW

V1 3VX
2V1 2VX 2V3 6V
V1 VX 2V3 2V
VARIABLE OF INTEREST

VO V1 V3

LEARNING EXAMPLE

Find the current Io

@V2 : V2 12V

@V3 : V3 2VX
@ super node:
V4 V1 6V (constraint eq.)

FIND NODES AND SUPER NODES

V V3 V4 V5 V4
V1 V2 V1 V3

2I X 4

1k
1k
1k
1k
1k
0

@V5 : 2 I X

V5 V4 V5

0
1k
1k

CONTROLLING VARIABLES
VX V1 V2
IX

7 eqs in 7 variables

V4
1k

VARIABLE OF INTEREST

IO

V5
1k