RIZAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

PASIG CAMPUS

THEVENIN’S THEOREM

FABROA, MICHAEL JOSEPH C.

NAME

PCEIT-09-FS401E/TUESDAY/3:00-6:00PM
SECTION SCHEDULE

GODOFREDO CALSADO
PROFESSOR
 THEVENIN’S THEOREM

What is Thevenin’s Theorem?

Like all other mathematical and scientific theories/laws, Thevenin’s Theorem was invented by
the man himself, Léon Charles Thévenin, a French telegraph engineer born in Meaux, France. After his
time in the corps of telegraph engineers, Thevenin was appointed as a teaching inspector at the École
supérieure de télégraphie in 1882. It was here that he became interested in the measurement of
electrical circuits using the two available methods at the time – Kirchhoff’s Circuit Laws and Ohm’s Law.
This theorem states that “You can take any linear circuit, which can contain several emfs and
resistive components, and simplify the circuit into one voltage source and series resistance connected
to a load.”

How to solve a circuit using Thevenin’s Theorem?

To calculate the equivalent circuit, one needs a resistance and some voltage - two unknowns.
Thus two equations are needed. These two equations are usually obtained by using the following steps,
but any conditions one places on the terminals of the circuit should also work:
 
1. Calculate the output voltage, VAB, when in open circuit condition (no load resistor - meaning
infinite resistance). This is VTH.
2. Calculate the output current, I AB, when the output terminals are short circuited (load resistance
is 0). RTH equals VTH divided by IAB.
 
    The Thevenin-equivalent voltage is the voltage at the output terminals of the original circuit.
When calculating a Thévenin-equivalent voltage, the voltage divider principle is useful, by declaring one
terminal to be Vout and the other terminal to be at the ground point.

Example 1:
 
For example, consider the following circuit;
 

 
 Firstly, we have to remove the centre 40Ω resistor and short out (not physically as this would be
dangerous) all the emf´s connected to the circuit, or open circuit any current sources. The value of
resistor Rs is found by calculating the total resistance at the terminals A and B with all the emf´s
removed, and the value of the voltage required Vs is the total voltage across terminals A and B with an
open circuit and no load resistor Rs connected. Then, we get the following circuit;
 

Find the Equivalent Resistance (Rs):

10Ω Resistor in parallel with the 20Ω Resistor

 

 
Find the Equivalent Voltage (Vs):
 

 
We now need to reconnect the two voltages back into the circuit, and as V S   =  VAB the current flowing
around the loop is calculated as:
 

 
So the voltage drop across the 20Ω resistor can be calculated as:
VAB = 20 - (20Ω x 0.33amps) =   13.33 volts.
Then the Thevenin’s Equivalent circuit is shown below with the 40Ω resistor connected.
 

 
And from this the current flowing in the circuit is given as:
 

Note: Thevenin’s theorem can be used as a circuit analysis method and is particularly useful if the load is
to take a series of different values. It is not as powerful as Mesh or Nodal analysis in larger networks
because the use of Mesh or Nodal analysis is usually necessary in any Thevenin exercise, so it might well
be used from the start. However, Thevenin’s equivalent circuits of Transistors, Voltage Sources such as
batteries etc, are very useful in circuit design.