1st Order Circuits

Lecture 14 1
 1st Order Circuits
• Any circuit with a single energy storage
element, an arbitrary number of sources,
and an arbitrary number of resistors is a
circuit of order 1.
• Any voltage or current in such a circuit is
the solution to a 1st order differential
equation.

Lecture 14 2
 Important Concepts
• The differential equation
• Forced and natural solutions
• The time constant
• Transient and steady state waveforms

Lecture 14 3
 A First Order RC Circuit
+ vr(t) -
R +
+
vs(t) C vc(t)
- -

• One capacitor and one resistor

• The source and resistor may be equivalent to a
circuit with many resistors and sources.
Lecture 14 4
 Applications Modeled by a 1st
Order RC Circuit
• Computer RAM
– A dynamic RAM stores ones as charge on
a capacitor.
– The charge leaks out through transistors
modeled by large resistances.
– The charge must be periodically
refreshed.
Lecture 14 5
 More Applications
• The low-pass filter for an envelope detector in
a superhetrodyne AM receiver.
• A sample-and-hold circuit for a PCM encoder:
– The capacitor is charged to the voltage of a
waveform to be sampled.
– The capacitor holds this voltage until an
A/D converter can convert it to bits.

Lecture 14 6
 The Differential Equation(s)
+ vr(t) -
R +
+
vs(t) C vc(t)
- -

KCL around the loop:

vr(t) + vc(t) = vs(t)

Lecture 14 7
Differential Equation(s)
t
1
Ri (t )   i ( x)dx  vs (t )
C 

di (t ) dvs (t )
i (t )  RC C
dt dt
dvr (t ) dvs (t )
vr (t )  RC  RC
dt dt
Lecture 14 8
What is the differential equation
for vc(t)?

Lecture 14 9
 A First Order RL Circuit

is(t) R L v(t)

• One inductor and one resistor

• The source and resistor may be equivalent to a
circuit with many resistors and sources.
Lecture 14 10
 Applications Modeled by a 1st
Order LC Circuit
• The windings in an electric motor or
generator.

Lecture 14 11
 The Differential Equation(s)

is(t) R L v(t)

KCL at the top node:

t
v(t ) 1
  v( x)dx  is (t )
R L 
Lecture 14 12
The Differential Equation
L dv(t ) dis (t )
v(t )  L
R dt dt

Lecture 14 13
 1st Order Differential Equation
Voltages and currents in a 1st order circuit
satisfy a differential equation of the form

dv(t )
v(t )  a  f (t )
dt

Lecture 14 14
 Important Concepts
• The differential equation
• Forced (particular) and natural
(complementary) solutions
• The time constant
• Transient and steady state waveforms

Lecture 14 15
 The Particular Solution
• The particular solution vp(t) is usually a
weighted sum of f(t) and its first derivative.
• If f(t) is constant, then vp(t) is constant.
• If f(t) is sinusoidal, then vp(t) is sinusoidal.

Lecture 14 16
 The Complementary Solution
The complementary solution has the
following form:
t /
vc (t )  Ke

What value must  have to give a solution to

dvc (t )
vc (t )  a 0
dt
Lecture 14 17
 Complementary Solution
t / a
vc (t )  Ke

• How do I choose the value of K?

• The initial conditions determine the value of
K.

Lecture 14 18
 Important Concepts
• The differential equation
• Forced (particular) and natural
(complementary) solutions
• The time constant
• Transient and steady state waveforms

Lecture 14 19
 The Time Constant
• The complementary solution for any 1st
order circuit is
t /
vc (t )  Ke

• For an RC circuit,  = RC
• For an LC circuit,  = L/R

Lecture 14 20
What Does vc(t) Look Like?

 = 10-4

Lecture 14 21
 Interpretation of 
•  is the amount of time necessary for an
exponential to decay to 36.7% of its initial
value.
• -1/ is the initial slope of an exponential
with an initial value of 1.

Lecture 14 22
 Implications of the Time
Constant
• Should the time constant be large or small:
– Computer RAM
– The low-pass filter for the envelope
detector
– The sample-and-hold circuit
– The electrical motor

Lecture 14 23
 Important Concepts
• The differential equation
• Forced (particular) and natural
(complementary) solutions
• The time constant
• Transient and steady state waveforms

Lecture 14 24
 Transient Waveforms
• The transient portion of the waveform is a
decaying exponential:

Lecture 14 25
 Steady State Response
• The steady state response depends on the
source(s) in the circuit.
– Constant sources give DC (constant)
steady state responses.
– Sinusoidal sources give AC (sinusoidal)
steady state responses.

Lecture 14 26
 Computer RAM
• Voltage across a memory capacitor may
look like this:

Lecture 14 27
 Low Pass Filter
• Voltage in the filter may look like this:

Lecture 14 28
 Sample and Hold
• The voltage in the sample and hold circuit
might look like this:

Lecture 14 29