FUNDAMENTALS OF ELECTRIC CIRCUITS

Part 1: DC CIRCUITS

Chapter 2: Basic laws

I. Introduction.

II. Ohm’s law.

III. Nodes, branches and loops.

IV. Kirchhoff’s laws.

V. Series resistors and voltage division.

VI. Parallel resistors and current division.

VII. Wye – Delta transformations

1
Fundamentals of Electric Circuits – Viet Son Nguyen - 2013
 Chapter 2: Basic laws

I. Introduction

 In order to determine the values of current, voltage, and power in an electric

circuit, we should understand some fundamental laws.

 This chapter presents:

 Ohm’s law, Kirchhoff’s laws

 Some techniques commonly applied in circuit design and analysis:

 Combining resistors in series and parallel

 Voltage division

 Current division

 Delta – Wye and Wye – Delta transformations

2
Fundamentals of Electric Circuits – Viet Son Nguyen - 2013
 Chapter 2: Basic laws

II. Ohm’s law

 In general, material have a characteristic behavior of resisting the flow of
electric charge.

 Resistance (R) is known as the ability to resist current.

i l ρ: resistivity of the material [Ωm]

R  l : length of material [m]
+ R A
v A: cross sectional area [m2]
-

 Ohm’s law: The voltage v across a resistor is directly proportional

v  Ri
to the current i flowing through the resistor.

 The resistance R of an element denotes its ability to resist v V

R   1  1
the flow of electric current; it is measured in Ohms [Ω] i A

3
Fundamentals of Electric Circuits – Viet Son Nguyen - 2013
 Chapter 2: Basic laws

II. Ohm’s law

 There are two extreme possible values of R

 Short circuit: is a circuit element with resistance approaching zero (current

could be anything).

 Open circuit: is a circuit element with resistance approaching infinity

(voltage could be anything).

+ + i=0
i
v=0 R=0 v R=∞

- -

v
R  0  v  iR  0 i  lim  0
R R

4
Fundamentals of Electric Circuits – Viet Son Nguyen - 2013
 Chapter 2: Basic laws

II. Ohm’s law

 Resister classification:
R
 Fixed resistors:

Mounted resistor
Composition (high precision) Symbol for
Wire wound (large resistance) fixed resistor
(small resistance
 Variable resistors:
R

v v
 Linear resistor:

Slope = R
Slope = R
 Nonlinear resistor: Do not consider i i

5
Fundamentals of Electric Circuits – Viet Son Nguyen - 2013
 Chapter 2: Basic laws

II. Ohm’s law

 Conductance is the ability of an element to conduct electric current, it is

measured in Siemens [S]

1 i A
G  1S=1
R v V

 Power dissipated by a resistor (conductance):

2 2
v i
p  vi  i 2 R  p  vi  v2 G 
R G

 a resistor always absorbs power from the circuit (passive element)

6
Fundamentals of Electric Circuits – Viet Son Nguyen - 2013
 Chapter 2: Basic laws

III. Nodes, branches, and loops

 Since the elements of an electric circuit can be interconnected in several ways

 we need to understand some basic concepts of network topology.

 We regard a network as an interconnection of elements or devices, whereas a

circuit is a network providing one or more closed paths

 We study the properties relating to the placement of element in the network

and the geometric configuration of the network.

7
Fundamentals of Electric Circuits – Viet Son Nguyen - 2013
 Chapter 2: Basic laws

III. Nodes, branches, and loops R1

b
10 Ω
 A branch (b) is a part of circuit that consists of
5V R2 R3
an/many element(s), connects between two 3Ω 2Ω
1A
different nodes and does not make a loop.
c
Ex: The circuit has four branches: the 5-V voltage source + R1, the 1-A current
source, resistor R2, resistor R3.

 A node (n) is the point of connection between at least three branches.

Ex: The circuit has three nodes: b and c.

 A loop is any closed path in a circuit, formed by starting at a node, passing

through a set of nodes, and returning to the starting node without passing
through any node more than once.

Ex: The circuit has totally 6 loops

8
Fundamentals of Electric Circuits – Viet Son Nguyen - 2013
 Chapter 2: Basic laws

III. Nodes, branches, and loops a R1

b
 A loop is said to be independent if it contains 10 Ω

a branch which is not in any other loop. 5V R2 R3

3Ω 2Ω
1A
Ex: The circuit has totally six loops, but only
three of them are independent. c

 A network with b branches, n nodes, and l independent loops, has an equation:

b  l  n 1
 Two or more elements are in series if they are cascaded or connected
sequentially and consequently carry the same current.

 Two or more elements are in parallel if they are connected to the same two
nodes and sequentially have the same voltage across them.

9
Fundamentals of Electric Circuits – Viet Son Nguyen - 2013
 Chapter 2: Basic laws

IV. Kirchhoff’s laws

 Kirchhoff’s laws include: Kirchhoff’s current law (KCL) and Kirchhoff’s voltage
law (KVL).

 Kirchhoff’s laws, coupled with Ohm’s law, make a sufficient and powerful set of
tools for analyzing a large variety of electric circuits.

 Kirchhoff’s current law (KCL) states that the algebraic sum of currents
entering a node (or a closed boundary) is zero.
N Convention:

i n 0  Current entering a node may be regarded as positive.

n1  Current leaving the node may be taken as negative.

i1 i2
a a
Ie Ie
i3 Equivalent

i4 I1 I2 I3 Ie
i5 b b
i1  i2  i3  i 4  i 5  0 I e   I1  I 2  I 3
10
Fundamentals of Electric Circuits – Viet Son Nguyen - 2013
 Chapter 2: Basic laws

IV. Kirchhoff’s laws M

 Kirchhoff’s voltage law (KVL) states that the algebraic sum of all v
m1
m 0
voltages around a closed path (or loop) is zero.
+ v - +v -
Ex1: Write KVL for this circuit. 2 3

 Start with any branch and go around the loop v1 v4

either clockwise or counterclockwise

- v5 +
v1  v2  v3  v4  v5  0
+a Vab -
v2  v3  v5  v1  v4 b
V1 V2 V3
Ex2: When voltage sources are connected in series,
KVL can be applied to obtain the total voltage.
+a -
Vab b
Vab  V1  V2  V3

11
Fundamentals of Electric Circuits – Viet Son Nguyen - 2013
 Chapter 2: Basic laws

IV. Kirchhoff’s laws 4Ω

Ex3: Find v1 and v2 in the circuit. + v1 -
 Assume that current I flows through the loop as 10 V 8V
indicating in the Figure.
+ v2 -
 From Ohm’s law: v1  4i ; v2  2i 2Ω

 Applying KVL around the loop gives: v1  v2  10  8  18

 Substituting i in Ohm’s law to KVL: 6i  18  i  3A

 Finally we have: v1  4i  12V

v2  2i  6V

12
Fundamentals of Electric Circuits – Viet Son Nguyen - 2013
 Chapter 2: Basic laws

IV. Kirchhoff’s laws 2Ω i1 a i3 4Ω

+ v1 - + v3 -
Ex4: Find the currents and voltages in the circuit. i2
5V
+
v2 8Ω Loop 2
 From Ohm’s law:
Loop 1 -
v1  2i1 ; v2  8i2 ; v3  4i3 3V

 At node a, applying KCL gives: i1  i2  i3  0

 v1  v2  5  2i1  8i2  5
 Applying KVL to loop 1 and loop 2:  
v2  v3  3 8i2  4i3  3

 i1  i2  i3  0  i1  1,5A  v1  3V
  
 Finally we have:  2i1  8i2  5  i  0,25A  v  2V
2 2
8i  4i  3  i  1,25A  v  5V
 2 3 3  3

13
Fundamentals of Electric Circuits – Viet Son Nguyen - 2013
 Chapter 2: Basic laws

V. Series resistors and voltage division

 The equivalent resistance of any number of resistors connected in series is the

sum of the individual resistances.

N
Req  R1  R2  ...  RN   Rn
n1

 Voltage divider: The voltage v is divided among the resistors in direct

proportion to their resistances, the larger the resistance, the larger the voltage
drop.

Rn
vn  v
R1  R2  ...  RN

14
Fundamentals of Electric Circuits – Viet Son Nguyen - 2013
 Chapter 2: Basic laws

VI. Parallel resistors and current division

 The equivalent resistance of two parallel resistors is equal to the product of
their resistances divided by their sum

RR 1 1 1 1
Req  1 2    ...
R1  R2 Req R1 R2 RN

 The equivalent conductance of resistors connected in parallel is the sum of

their individual conductances.
N
Geq  G1  G2  ...  GN   Gn
n1

 Current divider:
Gn
in  i
G1  G2  ...  GN
15
Fundamentals of Electric Circuits – Viet Son Nguyen - 2013
 Chapter 2: Basic laws

R1
VII. Wye – Delta transformations
R2 R3
 How do we combine resistors when they are neither
v R4
in series nor in parallel ?
R5 R6
 Delta to Wye conversion:

Bridge circuit
R1 R2 Rc
1 3 1 3
R3 Rb Ra
2 4 2 4
Wye (Y) or T network Delta (Δ) or Π network

Rb Rc Rc Ra Ra Rb
R1  ; R2  ; R3 
Ra  Rb  RC Ra  Rb  RC Ra  Rb  RC
16
Fundamentals of Electric Circuits – Viet Son Nguyen - 2013
 Chapter 2: Basic laws

VII. Wye – Delta transformations

 Wye to Delta conversion:

R1 R2 Rc
1 3 1 3
R3 Rb Ra
2 4 2 4
Wye (Y) or T network Delta (Δ) or Π network

R2 R3 R1 R3
Ra  R2  R3  ; Rb  R1  R3 
R1 R2
R1R2
Rc  R1  R2 
R3

17
Fundamentals of Electric Circuits – Viet Son Nguyen - 2013
 Chapter 2: Basic laws

VII. Wye – Delta transformations a R1

i 13Ω
Ex: For the bridge circuit, find Req and i R2 R3
24Ω 10Ω
 In this circuit, there are two Y networks: (R2, 100V R6
R4, R6) and (R3, R5, R6)  transforming just 20Ω
30Ω R4 50Ω
R5
one of them will simplify the circuit
b
 Applying the Y to Δ transformation: R1
R3 R5
Ra  R3  R5  =85 R2 Rc
R6 R3 R6
Rc  R3  R6   34 Ra
R5 R6 R5
Rb  R5  R6  =170
R3 R4 Rb
 Combining all resistors, we obtain:


Req  R1   R2 / / RC    R4 / / Rb   / / Ra  uab 100
i    2,5A
Req  40 Req 40
18
Fundamentals of Electric Circuits – Viet Son Nguyen - 2013