Experiment # 7

RC and RL Transient Response

Objective:
 verify the switching behavior of RC and RL circuits.

Material/Equipment:
1. Resistors
2. Capacitors
3. Inductors
4. Breadboard
5. Jumper wires
6. DC Power supply
7. Oscilloscope
8. Function generator
9. Multimeter

Theory Background:
1. RC circuit:
A capacitor will charge when it is connected to a dc voltage source, When the capacitor is
fully charged, there is no current. (A capacitor behaves as open circuit). But when the
voltage source is disconnected and the wire is connected across a charged capacitor the
capacitor will discharge as shown in the Fig.1 below

A capacitor charges and discharges following an exponential curve, as shown in Fig.2 below.
In these graphs, the approximate percentage of full charge is shown at each time-constant
Interval .The charging curve is an increasing exponential, and the discharging curve is a
decreasing exponential. It takes five time constant interval to change the voltage by 99%.
This five time-constant interval is generally accepted as the time to fully charge or
discharge a capacitor and is called the transient time.

2. RL
circuit
When an inductor is connected in series with a resistor and dc source, Increasing and decreasing
voltages and currents follow exponential curves, the current will increase to approximately 63%
of its full value in one time-constant interval after voltage is applied as shown in the Fig.3
below.

Regarding to the induced voltage (VL) across the inductor it decreases as the current increases
which means if the induced voltage across the inductor has decreased by 63%, which causes
the current to increase by 63% as shown in Fig.4.
The formula for increasing and decreasing the induced voltage as below:

PRE-LAB:
Use Multisim to simulate RL circuit at Fig.7 and fill the following table :

I. Procedure (RC Charging/Discharging ):

1. Use Multisim to connect the RC circuit shown in Fig.5 below :
2. Set the oscilloscope horizontal axis (time) at 100us/div, and vertical axis (voltage) at
0.5V/div. Connect the probe at “VC”, as shown in Fig.5 above, turn-on the simulator and
display the charging/discharging waveform on the OSC.
3. Stop the auto-run of the oscilloscope. Activate vertical cursors to start taking measurements.
Put the 2nd cursor at the start instance and move the 1st cursor in steps using the differential
time between the two markers (ΔT) to fill the Table.1 below:

ΔT 0us 20us 40us 60us 80us 100us 300us 500us 520us 540us 560us 580us
Vc
4. Measure ΔT when VC ≈ 1.57V. This is the actual time-constant of charging circuit.
5. Sketch at the graph paper(1) below , the capacitor charging/discharging voltage waveform
using the values at Table.1. The charging /discharging curve must be compared with
theoretical curve.

Graph Paper(1)

6. Use breadboard to build the RC circuit at Fig.6 and use real Oscilloscope & Function
generator to fill Table.2 below:
7. Set the function generator to the following parameters:
Function: Square-wave
Frequency: 1KHz
Amplitude: 2.5Vpp or 1.25 Vp
8. Run the signal generator, adjust the oscilloscope axes to display the waveform at ‘A’
channel.

ΔT 0us 20us 40us 60us 80us 100us 300us 500us 520us 540us 560us 580us
Vc

9. Use cursors to measure the first time constant.

 T1 =

II. Procedure (RL Increasing /Decreasing ):

1. Use breadboard to connect the circuit in Fig.7 shown below on breadboard and use real
Oscilloscope & Function generator to fill Table.3 below:
2. Set the function generator to the following parameters:
Function: Square-wave,
Frequency: 1kHz, Amplitude: 1.25Vp( 2.5Vpp),
3. Run the function generator, adjust the oscilloscope axes to monitor the inductor voltage (VL)
4. Use the differential time in the OSC (ΔT) to fill the Table.3:

ΔT 5us 50us 100us 200us 300us 400us 500us 600us 700us 800us 900us
VL

5. Use cursors to measure the first time constant.

࣎T1 =
6. Sketch at the graph paper(2) below the inductor increasing/decreasing voltage waveform using
the values at Table.3. The increasing/decreasing voltage curve must be compared with
theoretical curve.
Graph Paper(2)
Review Questions:
Procedure I
1. In the experimental curve shown at graph paper(1) , what is the charging capacitor
voltage ( VC ) ? Explain.
2. Calculate VC when ΔT =80µs.Explain the relation between ࢔ࢊ ࣎
VC =
3. Calculate the following :
a. The time constant when R=12K & C=1000PF
b. If this circuit charged with 5V source , how long will it take the capacitor to reach
full charge ? At full charge, what is the capacitor voltage ?
c. If this capacitor charged to 100V ,and discharged through the resistor , what is the
capacitor voltage at two time constant ?

Procedure II
4. Use the first time constant obtained from graph paper(2) to estimate the inductor
value .
L = t*r
a. In the experimental curve shown at graph paper(2) what is the inductor voltage ( VL) at ?
Explain
b. Explain theoretically the relation between the VL curve & IL curve.
c. Explain how the inductor & the capacitor will behave at steady state condition .