TOPIC 6

DC Circuits
6. DC Circuits
 Simple Circuit
Consist of:
 A power source.
 A fuse or a circuit breaker.
 A switch.
 A load.
 A conductor.

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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)
 Open and Closed Circuits

 Closed circuit
- one continuous path from one of the source terminals, through the
load and back to the other terminals.
 Open circuit
- any interruption or break in the path.
 Short circuit
- there is a path from one source terminal to the other without
passing through the load.

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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)
 Ohm’s Law stated that:

The current in an electrical circuit is directly

proportional to the EMF (voltage) and
inversely proportional to the resistance
i.e. 1 volt causes 1 ampere to flow through
a resistance of 1 ohm.

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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)

1 volt causes 1 ampere to

flow through a resistance
of 1 ohm.

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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)
 Ohm’s Law equation is,
V where, I = current in ampere
I = ------ V = voltage in volt
R R = resistance in ohms
 This law can determine,
 the correct size and length of wires to be
used in a circuit.
 the proper sizes of fuses and circuit breakers
and many other details of a circuit.
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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)
 To find voltage : V =I x R V
 To find current : I =V / R
I R
 To find resistance : R = V / I

 If the voltage applied to a given circuit is

doubled, the current will be doubled.
 If the resistance is doubled and the voltage
remains the same, the current will reduced to
one-half.
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 V
I R

If the voltage applied to a

If the resistance is given circuit is doubled, the
doubled and the
current will be doubled.
voltage remains the
same, the current
will reduced to one-
half.
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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)
 Series DC Circuits.

 A series circuit contain only one electron path.

 All current must pass through each unit of the circuit.
 If one unit of series circuit should be burned out, or open, the entire
circuit will no longer receive current.

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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)
 Series Resistor Circuits. V1
I1

 The current is the same in all parts of the I

circuit. R1
IT = I1 = I2 = I3
 The total voltage equals the sum of the V R2 V2

voltages across the different parts of the

circuit. R3
VT = V1 + V2 + V3 I2

I3
V3

 The total resistance equals the sum of the individual resistances in the
circuit.
RT = R1 + R2 + R3

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The current is the same in all parts of the circuit.
IT = I1 = I2 = I3

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The total voltage equals the sum of the voltages across the different parts of the
circuit.
VT = V1 + V2 + V3
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The total resistance equals the sum of the individual resistances in the circuit.
RT = R1 + R2 + R3
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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)
 Voltage Divider
 Several resistors are connected in series and
connected across the power source, it will create
a voltage drop across each resistor to form a
voltage divider circuit (voltage division). R1
 A voltage divider can provides voltages on either
side of ground or reference voltage (either + or -). V1

R2
V2

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Voltage Divider
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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)
 Parallel DC Circuits.

 More than one path for the electrons to flow.

 Voltage is the same across any of the path.
 The current through each path is inversely proportional to the
resistance of the path.
 The total resistance of the circuit is less than the lowest resistance in
a circuit.
 Most widely used circuit arrangement i.e. aircraft loads. If one
component fails, it has no effect on the others.

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Parallel Circuit

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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)
 Parallel Resistor Circuits.
 The total current supplied to the network I

equals the sum of the currents in the various

V1 R1 V2 R2 V3 R3
branches. V

IT = I1 + I2 + I3
I1 I2 I3

 The voltage across a parallel combination is the same as the voltage

across each branch.
V T = V1 = V2 = V 3
 The reciprocal of the equivalent resistance equals the sum of the
reciprocals of the branch resistances.
1/RT = 1/R1 + 1/R2 + 1/R3

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IT = I1 + I2 + I3

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VT = V1 = V2 = V3

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RT = R RT = Product

n Sum
1/RT = 1/R1 + 1/R2 + 1/R3
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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)
 Series-Parallel Networks (Complex Circuit)

 Consist of both series and parallel circuits i.e.

parallel resistors connected in series with other
resistors.

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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)

 A resistor network that is a combination of parallel and series can

sometimes be broken up into smaller parts that are either one or the
other.
 The same rules used to determine volts, amperes and resistance for
series and parallel circuits.
 Typically, easiest to start at the parallel branch first, than add up to
the series.

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Example 1 Calculate the unknown value?
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Example 2 Calculate the unknown value?
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Example 3 Calculate the unknown value?
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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)
 Kirchoff’s Current (First) Laws (KCL) stated
that:

The algebraic sum of the currents at any junction of conductors in a

circuit is zero.
IT = I1 + I2 + I3 + …… or IT - I1 - I2 - I3 = 0

The amount of current flowing away from a point in a circuit is equal to

the amount flowing to that point.

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 The amount of current
flowing away from a point in
a circuit is equal to the
amount flowing to that
point.

IT = I1 + I2 + I3 + …… or IT - I1 - I2 - I3 = 0
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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)
 Kirchoff’s Voltage (Second) Laws (KVL)
stated that:

The algebraic sum of the applied voltage and the voltage drop around
any closed circuit is equal to zero.
VT = V1 + V2 + V3 + … or V T - V1 - V2 - V3 = 0

The voltage across each load must be exactly the same as the voltage
supplied by the source.

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VT = V1 + V2 + V3 + … or VT - V1 - V2 - V3 = 0
The voltage across each load must be exactly the same as the voltage supplied
by the source.

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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)
 Wheatstone Bridge

 Purpose is to measure unknown resistance with great precision.

 Use in temperature indication i.e. carburetor air, cabin air etc
 Use zero center scale meter (galvanometer) between point A
and B thus current can flow in either direction.

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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)

 Bridge is balanced, when there is

no potential difference between
point A and B means no current
flow through the meter. This is
done by adjusting the R3 if R1, R2
and Ru is known value resistance.

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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)
R1 = 10K ohm, R2 = 1K ohm,
R3 = 250 ohm, find RU if the
bridge is said to be balanced

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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)
Example
Find the unknown resistance (Ru) if R1=10K,
R2=1K, R3=250ohm when the bridge is balanced.
R1 R2
---- = ----
Ru R3

Therefore ; Ru = R1 x R3 = 10 x 0.25 = 2.5k

R2 1

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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)
Find the unknown value of RU
when the bridge is said to be
balanced

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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)
 Wheatstone Bridge as a Temperature Sensor

Wheatstone Bridge at
balanced

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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)

When temperature increase,

temperature bulb resistance
increase, thus bridge
unbalanced. Current flow
through instrumentation

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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)
 Internal Resistance in a Power Supply
(Batteries)

 Every voltaic cell contains some amount of internal resistance due to the
electrodes and the electrolyte.

 The larger a cell is constructed, the greater the electrode contact area
with the electrolyte, and thus the less internal resistance it will have.

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Internal resistance
of a cell must be
low as possible
thus less voltage
lost.

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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)

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6. DC Circuits (cont’d)
 To construct a battery
with lower internal
resistance than what one
cell can provide (for
greater current capacity),
we should have to
connect the cells together
in parallel.

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END OF TOPIC 6: DC CIRCUITS

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