Norton Equivalent Circuit

Any two-terminal linear network, composed of

voltage sources, current sources, and resistors,
can be replaced by an equivalent two-terminal
Norton’s Theorem network consisting of an independent current
source in parallel with a resistor.

Norton equivalent circuit

Network of
i a .
+
i .
a
+
Sources Arbitrary Arbitrary
and Network IN RN Network
Resistors v v
.
-
b
.
-
b

Finding IN and RN (I) Finding IN and RN (II)

We can derive the Norton equivalent circuit
oa

Network of
.
a

IN = isc
Sources
isc
from a Thevenin equivalent circuit simply by IN RN isc and

making a source transformation

RTh
ob
Resistors
. b

IN
isc = IN
VTh RN

+
oa

Network of
.
a
+
voc
RN =
Sources
IN RN voc and voc

RN = RTh -
Resistors
.
- IN
ob b
VTh
IN = voc = RNIN
RTh

1
 Summary Example
To determine the Thevenin or Norton Determine the Thevenin and Norton equivalent circuits at
equivalent circuits, we need to calculate any terminals a-b of the following circuit. If a load with RL=10 Ω
two of the following three: is connected across terminals, what’s the power delivered
to the load? What is the power if RL=22.5 Ω and RL=50 Ω ?
• voc
• isc
• Req

VTh = voc
IN = isc
voc
RTh = RN =
isc