ECE 101

Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering I

Response of 1st Order RL and RC Circuits

https://github.com/topics/electric-circuits

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 Educational Material in References
❑Textbook [1]: James Nilsson, Susan Reidel, Electric Circuits,
Pearson, 11th Edition, Global Edition.
▪Chapter 7: sections 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4.

In this course, it is always important to refer to and read the textbooks.

* All proofs are provided on white board and/or available in textbooks.

** Most figures and equations are copied from textbooks.
 Natural Response of a Circuit
❑ Introduction
▪ It is the response that arises when stored energy in an inductor or capacitor is
suddenly released to a resistive network.
▪ This happens when the inductor or capacitor is abruptly disconnected from its dc
source.
The Natural Response of an RL Circuit

At t < 0, the switch is closed and

the inductor behaves like a short
circuit (why?)

At t ≥ 0, the switch is opened.

What is the significance of the time

constant?
The Natural Response of an RC Circuit

At t < 0, the capacitor behaves like

an open circuit (why?)
 Step Response of a Circuit
❑ Introduction
▪ It is the response that arises when energy is being acquired by an inductor or
capacitor when a dc voltage or current source is suddenly applied.
The Step Response of an RL Circuit
The Step Response of an RC Circuit
 General Solution for Step & Natural Responses
❑ Introduction
▪ It is a general method for finding the response of RL and RC circuits to any abrupt
change in a dc voltage or current source.
The General Method