ADDIS ABABA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering

Department of Electromechanical Engineering

Fundamentals of Electric Circuits

By: Tariku B
Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 1
 Unit Three
DC Circuit Analysis
3.1 Ohm’s Law
3.2 Nodes, Branches, and Loops
3.3 Kirchhoff’s Laws
3.4 Series Resistors and Voltage Division
3.5 Parallel Resistors and Current Division
3.6 Wye-Delta Transformations

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 2

 3.1 Ohm’s Law
• Ohm’s law states that the voltage across a resistor is directly
proportional to the current flowing through the resistor
• Mathematical expression for Ohm’s Law

• If the current enters in the negative terminal

of the voltage, then ohm’s law will be
• Two extreme possible values of R:
(zero) and (infinite) are related with two basic circuit
concepts : short circuit and open circuit

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 3

 Short and open circuit
• A short circuit is a circuit element with
resistance approaching zero
• An open circuit is a circuit element with
resistance approaching infinity
• Conductance is the ability of an element
to conduct electric current; it is measured
in siemens (S)
• The power dissipated in a resistor is always positive
Thus, a resistor always absorbs power from the circuit

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 4

 3.2 Nodes, Branches and Loops
• Since the elements of a circuit can be interconnected in
several ways, it is important to understand the basic concepts
of network topology
• Network = interconnection of elements or devices
• Circuit = a network with one or more closed paths
• A branch represents a single element either passive or active
such as a voltage source or a resistor
• A node is the point of connection between two or more
branches. Nodes are indicated by a dot in a circuit
• If a short circuit connects two nodes, the two nodes
constitute a single node
Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 5
 3.2 Nodes, Branches and Loops
• A loop is any closed path in a circuit
• It is 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
• Independent loops are loops which contains at least one
branch which is not a part of any other independent loop
• Independent loops or paths result in independent sets of
equations
• A network with branches, nodes, and independent loops
will satisfy the fundamental theorem of network topology:

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 6

 … Nodes, Branches and Loops
Example 1: How many branches, nodes and loops are there?

Original circuit Equivalent circuit

• Two or more elements are in series if they exclusively share a single node
and consequently carry the same current
• Two or more elements are in parallel if they are connected to the same
two nodes and consequently have the same voltage across them

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 7

 3.3 Kirchhoff’s Laws
• Kirchhoff’s current law (KCL) states that the algebraic sum of
currents entering a node (or a closed boundary) is zero
• Sign Convention: Currents entering the node are positive and
currents leaving the node are negative

Current entering a node = Current leaving a node

Mathematically, is the number of branches connected to the node
is the nth current entering (or leaving) the node

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 8

 … Kirchhoff’s Laws
• Kirchhoff’s voltage law (KVL) states that the algebraic sum of all
voltages around a closed path (or loop) is zero
• Sign Convention: The sign each voltage is the polarity of the
terminal first encountered in traveling around the loop

Sum of voltage drops = Sum of voltage rises

is the number of voltages in the loop

Mathematically, (or the number of branches in the loop)
is the nth voltage

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 9

 Examples
1) Find , , , , , , , , , and

a) b)

d)
c)

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 10

 3.4 Series Resistors and Voltage Division
• Series: Two or more elements are in series if they are cascaded or
connected sequentially and consequently carry the same current
• The equivalent resistance of any number of resistors connected in a
series is the sum of the individual resistances
N
Req  R1  R2      R N   Rn
n 1

• The voltage divider can be expressed as

Rn
vn  v
R1  R2    RN
• The larger the resistance, the larger the voltage drop

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 11

 3.5 Parallel Resistors and Current Division
• Parallel: Two or more elements are in parallel if they are connected
to the same two nodes and consequently have the same voltage
across them
• The equivalent resistance of a circuit with resistors in parallel is:
1 1 1 1
    
Req R1 R2 RN

• The total current is shared by the resistors in inverse proportion to

their resistances. The current divider can be expressed as:

v iReq
in  
Rn Rn

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 12

 3.6 Wye-Delta Connections
• Resistors may be neither in parallel nor in series
• There are three-terminal networks which can be wye (Y) or tee (T)
network and the delta ( ) or pi ( ) network as shown below

Delta ( )

Wye (Y) Tee (T) Pi ( )

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 13

 Wye-Delta Transformations

Delta -> Star Star -> Delta

Rb Rc R1 R2  R2 R3  R3 R1
R1  Ra 
( Ra  Rb  Rc ) R1

Rc Ra R1 R2  R2 R3  R3 R1
R2  Rb 
( Ra  Rb  Rc ) R2

Ra Rb R1 R2  R2 R3  R3 R1
R3  Rc 
( Ra  Rb  Rc ) R3

• Each resistor in the network is the • Each resistor in the network is the
product of the resistors in the two sum of all possible products of
adjacent branches, divided by the resistors taken two at a time, divided
sum of the three resistors by the opposite resistors

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 14

 Examples
Calculate the equivalent resistance

a) b)

Find
•
• The power dissipated in the 3-kΩ
and 20-kΩ resistors
c) • The power supplied by the
current source

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 15

 Examples
Calculate the equivalent resistance

a) b)
Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 16
 Examples
• Obtain the equivalent resistance for the circuits and use it to find
current

a) b)
Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 17
 Examples
• Obtain ,

b)
a)
Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 18
 Examples

Find the equivalent resistance

a) All resistors are 1Ω b) Find and in the circuit

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 19

 Examples
Consider the Wheatstone bridge shown below
a) Calculate
b) Rework part if the ground is placed at instead of

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University Electromechanical Engineering 20