Chapter one: Fundamental Notions about electrical transients

1. What is electrical transient:

 Manifestation of a Sudden change in circuits conditions (as when switches open or fault
occur in the system)
 Transient time is very short (compared to the steady state one)
 It’s right its time is very short but it’s a very important event where the circuit is subjected
to an extreme stress (from excessive voltage or current)
 They can be calculated so that they will not remain innocuous for the circuit i.e to control
them and to protect the circuit
2. Circuit parameters:
 R, L, C are distributed elements and each part possesses its own share but they are treated
as lumped elements where they are concentrated in particular parts
 L and C have the characteristics of storing energy

 Under steady state, the value of the energy is constant where in AC circuit the energy is
being transferred cyclically btw L and C of the circuit
 In a sudden change in the circuit, there is generally redistribution of the energy to meet the
new conditions
 It’s very important to realize that the redistribution of the energy can’t take place
instantaneously for 2 reasons, namely:
1. To change magnetic energy, we need to change the current i.e Magnetic flux linkage
can’t suddenly change
2. To change the electric energy, we need to change the voltage and voltage across
capacitor is linked to the current i.e we need an infinite current to change the voltage
instantaneously and that is unrealizable.
3. Energy conservation

3. Circuit characteristics or thumbprint:

 RC circuit has an exponential response to any disturbance
 So as we figured out, the circuit takes a finite time to adjust from one condition to another
following the disturbance.
 Time constant RC is a measure of how rapidly this change take place
  We can see in this graph that; it takes the capacitor to charge 5RC
 Sometimes, the response will be as sin or cos function

 Sin and cos are periodic function so frequency exists which is called natural frequency, such
circuits are excited are their natural frequency as they don’t have a final steady state as they
oscillate. (they don’t have any time constant)

4. The principle of superposition

 principle: in linear system, if a stimulus S1 produces a response R1 and same for S2 and R2
then S1 and S2 applied simultaneously will evoke a response R1+R2.
 N.B: this is not restricted to only 2 stimulus, it can be performed on finite number of
stimulus
 a linear system is one in which the response is proportional to the stimulus i.e size of the
response is proportional to the stimulus .ex: as in a linear resistance if we apply a high
voltage (stimulus) then the current (response) will double as well.another example is
Hooke’s law
 this principle is as valid for steady state condition valid also for transient state
 “switching operation” is a broad term where it means where a new current path exists or an
existence path was eliminated (it includes occurring a fault or removing a fault also)
 I think that the transients of the circuits could be analyzed by this principle; read more in
“electric energy system and analysis” page 528