Electric Circuits EE (100) Lab Manual Handout # 11

Name
Reg. No
Marks / Grade

EXPERIMENT NO. 11

MAXIMUM POWER TRANSFER THEOREM

Objectives:
To experimentally verify that maximum power will be delivered to the load when
load resistance is equal to the total equivalent resistance of the circuit.

Equipment:
Resistors
DMM
Breadboard,
DC power supply
Connecting wires

Prerequisite:
Before coming to the lab, students must study and practice the Maximum Power
Transfer theorem, and also review other circuit analysis techniques.

Theory Overview:
If the entire circuit is replaced by its Thevenin’s equivalent circuit except for the
load, the power delivered to the load is

2
2 ⎛ VTH
p =i R = (11.1
)
⎞
L L R
⎜+
⎜R
L
⎝
R
T
H

Electrical Engineering Department UET Fsd. Page 1 of 4

Electric Circuits EE (100) Lab Manual Handout # 11
i

R
T

VTH RL

Figure 11.1: A linear two-terminal Thevenin equivalent circuit

Electrical Engineering Department UET Fsd. Page 2 of 4

From elementary calculus maximum power will be transferred to load when
RL = RTH (11.2)

2
V
∴ T (11.
H
3)
PL max =
4
R
L

Figure 11.2: The

pL (W)
power transfer
profile
pLmax

0 RTH RL (Ω)

Safet
y
Preca
ution
s

 Look at each exercise carefully before connecting the circuits.

 Make sure all power is off before connecting or disconnecting
components.
 Ask your TA to check the circuit before turning on the power.
 When measuring voltage or current, make sure the DMM is
correctly set for what you need to measure.

Procedure:
1. Connect on breadboard the given circuit in figure 11.1 with VTH = 10V
and RTH
= 5.6kΩ. The aim is to measure the current i flowing in the circuit and
prove that maximum power is delivered to load when the load
resistance is equal to the Thevenin’s resistance of the circuit.

2. Insert different values of the load resistance and measure the

current i flowing through the circuit. Record value in Table 11.1.

3. Use equation 11.1 to determine the power delivered to the load.

4. Observe that the maximum amount of power is delivered to the load

when RL is equal to RTH. Verify your result using equation 11.3.
5. Draw a graph between the power delivered to
the loadpLand the load resistance
RL. Graphically determine the value of RL for which maximum
power theorem is satisfied. Do you agree with the result?
Observations:

VTH = V

RTH = Ω

Load resistance Current flowing thru circuit Power delivered to the load
RL (Ω) i (A) pL (mW)
100

220

680

1000

2200

3300

5600

10k

12k

68k

100k

150k

470k

Table 11.1: Data to test the validity of Maximum Power Transfer theorem
pL (mW)

0 0.10 0.22 0.68 1.00 2.20 3.30 5.60 7.50 10.0 12.0 68.0 100 150 470
RL (kΩ)
Figure 11.3: Power delivered to the load vs. the load resistance

Questions:

1. Using elementary calculus, determine the expression for the load resistance RL
(Fig. 11.1) so that maximum power is transferred at the load terminals?