D.C.

Circuit Analysis
Many electrical and electronic circuits are formed from complicated combinations
of simple circuit elements. The design, analysis and testing of such circuits to
meet specific design constraints and performance criteria can be made simpler
and less time-consuming by using basic analytical techniques and circuit
theorems. In this module we will look at these theorems and techniques and
their application in analysing D.C. circuits. Interestingly, as we progress through
this course we will also see that many of these theorems and techniques can
also be applied to A.C. circuits.

Circuit Terminology

i) Series connection – when two or more terminal elements are connected

such that they carry the same current then they are said to be connected
in series.

ii) Parallel or shunt connection – when two or more terminal elements have
their terminals connected together to a pair of common terminals then the
elements are said to be connected in parallel or shunt.

Note that the two elements may not have the same current in them when
connected in parallel.

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iii) Series-parallel connection – is a combination of series and a parallel
connections

Here, is in series with the parallel combination of and .

iv) Node or junction – is a common connection point for two or more

elements. A reference point (earth or ground connection) is often
necessary in circuit diagrams to indicate a reference point or point of zero
potential.

v) Branch – The interconnection of elements between two nodes.

vi) Mesh or Loop – a number of branches connected such that they form a
closed path or loop

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vii) Circuit or network – is an interconnection of circuit elements with a
number of branches and nodes forming a defined arrangement

viii) Open-circuit – if a circuit element has infinite resistance across its

terminals then it is said to open circuited (this also means that no current
flows in the branch)

ix) Short-circuit – if the element has zero resistance across its terminals then
it is said to be a short-circuit. A short-circuit generally results in abnormal
operation of the circuit and is often referred to as a fault.

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x) Constant voltage source – provides current at a fixed voltage. The current
is determined by the resistance of the load.

xi) Constant current source – supplies constant current, irrespective of the

load voltage (note that this means that it is also independent of the load
resistance, except in the case of an open circuit which would require
infinite voltage).

Review questions –

i.) What is the voltage-current characteristic for a constant voltage source?

ii.) What is the voltage-current characteristic for a constant current source?

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Circuit types –

 Two circuits are said to be equivalent they each draw the same currents and
dissipates the same total power when the same voltages are applied to the
terminals.
 A linear circuit is one that has a linear voltage – current relationship.
 A bilateral circuit is one which behaves in exactly the same manner,
irrespective of the reversal of polarity of the applied voltage or current
through the circuit. (A D.C. circuit containing only circuit resistance is an
example of this).

Kirchhoff’s Laws –

Kirchhoff’s current law –

The algebraic sum of the currents flowing into a node must be equal to zero.

Or the sum of the currents flowing into a node = the sum of the currents flowing
out of a node, that is here we have

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Kirchhoff’s voltage law –

The algebraic sum of the potential differences and emfs (or voltages) around a
closed loop must be equal to zero.

Or the sum of the voltage drops = the sum of the voltage rises as we trace
around a closed loop, that is, here we would have

Important conventions –

 Current flows from a point of higher potential to a point of lower potential.

 Voltage arrows are drawn pointing towards the point of higher potential –
this means that they point from negative to positive across a source and
in the opposite direction to the current flow in a load (note that within a
source the current is taken as flowing from negative to positive).
 When writing KVL equations for a loop or mesh we take all the voltages
with arrows in the same direction as the loop as positive and those
against the loop direction as negative.

Here we would have 0 as we have chosen the loop to travel in a

clockwise direction. It is important to note that the direction of the current
and the voltage across the resistances are in opposite directions. This is

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 required so that the current flows from the higher potential to the lower
potential and the voltage arrow points to the higher potential.

Important points to note –

 We have seen what a parallel circuit containing resistance looks like. The
question then is, can this concept can be equally applied to voltage and
current sources? To answer this question we can consider the following
parallel connected voltage sources.

V1 V2 Vab

Using KVL we can see that and . If then there would

be infinite circulating current between the two voltage sources. In practice
our voltage sources would have some internal resistances and thus our
circuit would become

R1 R2
Vab
V1 V2

In general, we connect voltage sources in parallel so that we can deliver

more load current, or power, to the load at a fixed voltage. To achieve
this ideally we want and , however this may not be possible
in practice and thus we may have circulating currents between the
sources.

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 Voltage sources can also be connected in an “anti-parallel” arrangement
as shown in the figure below.

(I1-I2) a

R1 R2

I1 I2 Vab
V1 V2

Here we can see that . This would be an

unusual configuration as there would be circulating currents between the
two sources.

Current sources can also be connected in parallel as shown in the

following figure.

Using KCL we can see that the load current will be the sum of the
individual current sources.

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  We have seen what a series circuit containing resistances looks like. This
concept can be equally applied to voltage and current sources. There are
two ways in which voltage sources can be series connected:

a) Series aiding –

V1
Vab

V2

Here we can see (by KVL) that .

b) Series opposing -

V1
Vab

V2

.Current sources should generally not be connected in series –

why do you think that this might be the case?

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Letting the ‘math’ take care of the signs for you –

One of the challenges we face when performing circuit analysis is that when we
start we do not necessarily know what the polarity of the voltage is or what the
direction of the current flow will be. Fortunately we do not need to worry about
this as the math will take care of this for us. All we need to do is to correctly
write our expression for the current/voltage and use the solution to tell us what
is really happening. The following examples demonstrate how to apply this
approach.

a) Use Kirchhoff’s current law to find the missing current for the circuit
shown below where 1.5 and 0.5 .

Using KCL we have

⟹ 1.5 0.5 2.0

Important points to note –

 When we say that 1.5 and 0.5 these values are positive
given the current directions shown in the figure.
 The solution tells us that 2.0 which means that must flow
in the opposite direction to that shown in the diagram. (What is
important here is that it does not matter which way we draw
initially as the math will tell us if it is positive (the arrow shows the
correct direction) or it is negative (the current flows in the opposite
direction to the arrow).
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  Make sure that you do not make the mistake of “double correcting”.
That is, if I now redraw the diagram as

then I have in fact made positive (that is 2.0 ). This would

also change the KCL equation to:

b) Use Kirchhoff’s voltage law to find the voltage across the resistor for the
circuit shown below.

Using KVL we have

⟹ 5 10 5

Important points to note –

 Before we started we did not know the direction of the current or the
polarity of the voltage across the resistor. What is important is that we
do not care so long as we correctly label our values and thus use these
labels to write our equation. Here I chose the current to flow from left

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 to right (as shown by the current label) and thus I must have the
voltage from right to left across the resistor. Given this is done then all
I need to do is use KVL to write my voltage expression.
 The solution tells us that the voltage is in fact negative which means
that the current and the voltage arrows are pointing in the wrong
direction. This is, what we really have is

Given this new labelling KVL gives us

⟹ 10 5 5

We can also see that if 10Ω then using Ohm’s law that

0.5 (flowing from right to left as shown by the current arrow).

As we shall see when we study Loop and Mesh analysis, this approach will
always work no matter how complex the problem.

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Kirchhoff’s law applied to simple capacitor circuits –

Capacitors connected in series –

Consider the following series connected circuit of capacitors,

If we recall that . (that is, charge equals current times time) then we can
see that because these capacitors are connected in series they must have the
same current flowing through them and thus each capacitor must have the same
charge stored in it (see Appendix A of “Basic Principles of Electrical
Technology” for a more detailed discussion of how current “flows” in a
capacitor). Using we can thus write

If we let the equivalent capacitance of the circuit be then we must also have

. Using KVL around our capacitor circuit we have

Therefore we can see that

1 1 1 1

that is, the equivalent capacitance ( ) of a set of series connected capacitors

is given by

1 1 1 1 1
⋯

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Note – to be absolutely correct we must realise that current does not in fact flow
through a capacitor as it did for a resistor due to the dielectric which separates
the two plates of the capacitor. There are in fact two types of current flow which
exists, the first is known as conduction current which is what happens in a
resistor and the second is known as displacement current which is what happens
in a perfect capacitor. Understanding these concepts is beyond the scope of this
unit, however whether it be conduction current or displacement current we will
see the same effect in terms of the current drawn from the source and thus our
reasoning still provides us with the correct outcome.

Capacitors connected in parallel –

Consider the following parallel connected circuit of capacitors,

V C1 C2 C3 C4

As all the capacitors are connected in parallel they will all have the same voltage
across them = . This means that the charge stored in each capacitor will be
given by and the total charge for the circuit will be the sum of all the
individual capacitor charges,

where , , and . If the total or equivalent

capacitance of the circuit is then which means that

and thus we have

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That is, for capacitors connected in parallel the equivalent capacitance is given
by

Circuit reduction techniques –

In general, electric circuits are simpler to analyse if we can reduce the number
of branches, nodes and loops (that is, there are less equations to worry about).
We will now investigate four techniques which can be used to simplify electric
circuits, these are:

1) Series connected resistances

2) The voltage divider rule
3) Parallel connected resistances
4) The current divider rule

Resistances connected in series –

We have seen that when resistances are connected in series we have the
following connection configuration

I R1 R2 Rn

V1 V2 Vn

Using KCL we can see that the current, I, in all the n series connected resistors
will be the same. The total voltage seen across all n series connected resistors
will be given by

and using Ohm’s law we can rewrite this expression as

⋯ ⋯

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This expression shows us that we could replace our n series connected
resistances with a single resistance of

and thus our voltage equation would become

That is, we can simplify our circuit as follows:

I R1 R2 Rn I RE

a b a b
V1 V2 Vn V

Important points to note –

 When resistances are connected in series then the “equivalent resistance”

is equal to the sum of the series connected resistances.
 The combined or equivalent resistance must be greater than any one of
the individual resistances. (No resistance can be negative and thus the
sum must be greater than any one of the resistances).
 The resultant conductance of series connected resistances must be
smaller than the conductance of any of the individual resistances (recall

that ).

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Voltage divider –
Consider the following series connected resistive circuit:

V1 R1
V

V2 R2
Vout

Using KVL we can write

and thus the current in the circuit is given by

Using Ohm’s law we can write an expression for the voltage across (= output
voltage = Vout),

and similarly we could find the voltage across using

This is known as the voltage divider rule and we can use this to step down a
D.C. voltage. However, as we shall see later, in connecting a load resistance to
the output terminals we will change the value of .

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Now let us return to our series connected capacitor circuit,

Here we can see a similar effect in that the source voltage is divided across
the three series connected capacitors. That is and thus we have a
voltage divider arrangement. Using we can see that we

have and using the equivalent capacitance of the series circuit we

could write which means that ⟹ .

Key points –

 For a series connected circuit the current in the series connected elements
is the same
 For a series connected circuit the voltage seen across the series connected
elements is divided according to the voltage divider rule.

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Resistances connected in Parallel or shunt –

A current divider occurs when circuit elements are connected in shunt or parallel
as shown below.

I1 I2

R1 R2
V

As and are connected in parallel across the source voltage , both

resistors have a voltage of across them. The current in each resistor can be
found using Ohm’s law as follows:

Using Kirchhoff’s current law we can also see that .

If we write the source current in terms of the equivalent circuit resistance we

have

1 1

That is,

1 1 1

Which can be written in general for connected parallel resistances as

1 1 1 1
⋯

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That is, we can simplify a parallel connect set of resistances using

where

1
1 1 1
⋯

It should be noted that for two resistors connected in parallel we can readily
simplify our equivalent resistance expression as follows:

1 1 1

Important points to note -

 It is important to realise that this simple form is only true for two resistors
connected in parallel. If we try to do this for three resistors connected in
parallel then we will get

1 1 1 1

which is not as simple as we had for the case of two resistors connected in
parallel.

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  We should also note that because we can express our equivalent

resistance using

where , , , …, .

Current divider rule –

We have seen that for a parallel connected circuit that the current is divided
amongst the parallel connected branches. Using the fact that we can find the
current in a branch using Ohm’s law, that is,

and the source current can be found using

We can make the substitution in the branch current expression to give

and similarly

Now for a circuit with two resistors in parallel we found that

and thus

and

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This is known as the current divider rule.

Point to note –

 Unlike the voltage divider rule, the current divider uses the resistance of
the ‘other’ branch. If we think about this then this outcome makes sense
as the greater the resistance of the ‘other branch’ the more current will
flow in branch we are calculating the current for. In fact, in the limit of the
‘other branch’ being open circuited then all the current will flow in our
branch.

The loading effect on a voltage divider –

Now that we can manage series and parallel connected resistances, we can
analyse our voltage divider (or series circuit) under load conditions. Consider the
following voltage divider circuit with a load resistance connected across the
output terminals.

Recall that with no load connected we had . Now however,

the circuit has changed as the equivalent resistance of the bottom leg (that is,
the leg in series with ) is now given by

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and thus our circuit now looks like

V1 R1
V

Ro
Vout

and thus the output voltage becomes

Recall that for no load we had which will be the case for ⟶ ∞ in

the above expression. That is, for ≫ the output voltage is approximately
equal to the unloaded voltage, however, as is reduced then the output
voltage will fall.

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This is an important effect when measuring the voltage in a circuit. What we
have shown is that we need to use a very high resistance measuring device to
measure voltages otherwise we will change the circuit voltage as we try to
measure it.

Superposition Theorem –

Statement - the current through a branch due to two or more active sources in a
circuit is the algebraic sum of the currents due to each source, with the other
sources replaced by their respective internal resistances.

In this circuit we are looking for the current flowing in due to sources and
. Using the principle of superposition we have

Example -

Find the current in the load resistor for the following circuit.

Step 1 – Replace source with its internal resistance and calculate in due
to only

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 R1=2kΩ R2=1kΩ
I1a Ia

E1 2V R3=
V 4kΩ

2
714.3 10
2 0.8 10

and using the current divider rule we have

714.3 10 0.2 142.9 10

Step 2 – Replace source with its internal resistance and calculate in due
to only

6
2.571 10
1 1.333 10

and using the current divider rule we have

2.571 10 0.333 857.1 10

Step 3 – use superposition theory to calculate the branch current

142.9 857.1 10 1 10

⟹ 1

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Millman’s parallel generator theorem –

Consider the following multiple source circuit:

Using double subscript notation we can write the branch voltages as follows

and thus rearranging to give the branch currents we have

where the conductances , and are given by , and .

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Applying KCL at node b we have

which gives

which is Millman’s parallel generator theorem. This theorem can be stated for
the more general case of parallel connected generators as

⋯
⋯

where = the internal conductance of the generator and = the

conductance of the load.

Points to note –

 The load voltage is dependent on the load conductance – this is evident

thorough the term in the denominator of Millman’s equation. This also
makes physical sense as we would expect the load current to increase for an
increasing load conductance (or reduced load resistance) which would in turn
cause an increased voltage drop across the source resistances and thus
produce a lower load voltage. In the limit of ∞ (or 0) we can see
that 0 as the load is a short circuit.
 If the load conductance 0 (that is, an open circuit load or ∞)
then Millman’s theorem gives the open circuit load voltage (which as we shall
see later, is known at the Thevenin voltage for the circuit).

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Example –

Find the branch currents in the following circuit.

Step 1 – find the generator (or source) and load conductances.

1 1
0.5 10
2 10

1 1
1 10
1 10

1 1
0.25 10
4 10

Step 2 – Use Millman’s theorem to find the load voltage.

2 0.5 10 6 1 10
4.0
0.5 1 0.25 10

Step 3 – find the load current

4 0.25 10 1

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Step 4 – find the source currents

Given the load voltage we can find the two source currents using KVL around the
two loops as follows:

Loop 1 –

2 4
⟹ 1
2 10

Note that the negative sign tells us that the current is in fact flowing in the
opposite direction to that shown in the diagram (that is, the current is flowing
into the source which makes physical sense when we consider that the load
voltage is greater than )

Loop 2 –

6 4
⟹ 2
1 10

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What would happen if:

i) The load was short-circuited –

The circuit would become

and thus we would have

Loop 1 –

2
1
2 10

Loop 2 –

6
6
1 10

and using KCL

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 ii) The load was open-circuited –

The circuit would become

Using Millman’s theorem we have

2 0.5 10 6 1 10
4.67
0.5 1 0 10

and thus the branch currents are given by

2 4.67
1.33
2 10

6 4.67
1.33
1 10

We can see that, as required by KCL, and this shows that is charging
or there is a circulating current in the circuit.

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Thevenin’s theorem –

Thevenin’s theorem states that, with reference to or relative to a pair of

terminals within or connected to a network of linear elements, the network is
equivalent to a voltage source in series with a resistance. The voltage of the
source is equal to the open circuit voltage across the reference terminal pair.
The voltage source is known as the Thevenin voltage ( ). The series resistance
is known as the Thevenin equivalent resistance ( ). It is the resistance
experienced by a current injected into one of the reference terminals and coming
out of the other reference terminal. That is,

Here we can see that Thevenin’s theorem allows to simplify a complex linear
circuit by representing it as a perfect voltage source connected in series with a
resistance.

Important points -

 The Thevenin voltage is found by open-circuiting across the load

terminals and measuring the voltage.
 The Thevenin resistance is found by injecting a current into the load
terminals with all the network sources short-circuited and measuring the
resistance seen by the current.

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Example –

Consider the following circuit

Step 1 – find the Thevenin voltage (= open circuit voltage)

R1 R2

E a b
Vt

R3 R4

With the load terminal open-circuited the measured voltage across the terminals
will be given by

and using the voltage divider rule we have

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and thus

Step 2 – find the Thevenin resistance (= resistance looking into the network
from the connection terminals)

With the source short-circuited the Thevenin resistance will be given by

Important points to note –

 The direction of the Thevenin voltage defines the direction of the

current in the load resistance . Here we have defined the voltage of
point ‘a’ as greater than that of point ‘b’ for a positive Thevenin voltage.
This means that for 0 the current in will flow from point ‘a’ to point
‘b’.
 The load voltage is not equal to the Thevenin voltage – this is because the
Thevenin voltage is the open circuit voltage and when we apply a load
then there will be a voltage drop across the Thevenin resistance (the
magnitude of which will depend on the load resistance, as we will see
shortly).

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  It should be noted that we can use Millman’s theorem to find the Thevenin
voltage provided we recognise that the Thevenin voltage is the open
circuit voltage and thus from Millman’s theorem

⋯
⋯

we would need to make 0 or the load resistance is infinite. If we do

not do this then we will not get the Thevenin voltage.

Challenge question –

Now that we understand the Thevenin equivalent circuit, what characteristics

might we expect a “strong” and a “weak” source to have?

Norton’ theorem –

Norton’s theorem states that, with reference to or relative to a pair of terminals

within or connected to a network of linear elements, the network is equivalent to
a current source in parallel with a resistance. The current of the source is equal
to the short circuit current that flows when the pair of terminals are shorted and
is known as the Norton current ( ). The parallel resistance is known as the
Norton equivalent resistance ( ).

We can use our Thevenin equivalent circuit to find our Norton equivalent circuit
as follows

As we ca see, Norton’s theorem allows to simplify a complex linear circuit by

representing it as a perfect current source connected in parallel with a
resistance.
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For our Thevenin and Norton equivalent circuits to equivalently represent the
original network they must both have the same open circuit voltage (that is,
across the terminal a and b) and the same short circuit current. From the
Thevenin equivalent circuit we can see that the short circuit voltage will be given
by

By inspection of our Norton equivalent circuit we can see that the short circuit
current will be equal to (as is parallel connected it will not influence the
short circuit current), and thus

From our Thevenin equivalent circuit we can see that the open-circuit terminal
voltage will be equal to (as under open-circuit conditions there will be no
voltage drop across as there is no current flow in the circuit). In order to have
the same open-circuit voltage for our Norton circuit we require that

as all the current flows in with the terminals open-circuited. From this
equation we can see that

That is, the Norton resistance must be equal to the Thevenin resistance,

Points to note –

 When using the Norton equivalent circuit the load current will not be equal
to the Norton current ( ) as the current will be divided between the
Norton resistance and the load resistance.

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  For our Thevenin equivalent circuit the voltage at the output terminals will
be given by

where

and thus

 For our Norton equivalent circuit the load current (using the current
divider rule) will be given by

But and and thus

just as it did for our Thevenin equivalent circuit. Also, the load voltage is
given by

which is the same as we found for our Thevenin equivalent circuit (see
proof below).

Proof –

For our Thevenin equivalent circuit we found the load voltage to be

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 For our Norton equivalent circuit we know that and and
thus

which is the same outcomes as we found using our Norton equivalent

circuit.

Important points to note about Thevenin and Norton equivalent circuits –

 Why do we use them? – The whole reason for finding the Thevenin (or
Norton) equivalent circuit is so that we can replace a complex circuit with
a simplified circuit to perform analysis on when a load is connected.
 The circuit represents the source network without the load connected (this
is why we find the Thevenin resistance with the load terminal open
circuited and the Thevenin resistance looking into the load terminals =
load disconnected).

Point of interest –

 Recall that previously we used the circuit shown below to represent a

practical voltage source.

This is in fact the Thevenin equivalent circuit for a voltage source.

Furthermore, if we consider the behaviour of our Thevenin source under
extreme conditions then we can make the following approximations,

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 1) If ≪ then our circuit will behave like a current source as
will dominate and thus the current flowing into the load will be

approximately constant and equal to .

2) If ≫ then our circuit will behave like a voltage source as

will be dominant and thus the voltage drop across will be small
compared to (think voltage divider).

Example –

a) Given the following circuit, find the Thevenin equivalent circuit and the
power dissipated in the load resistor.
b) Find the power dissipated in the load resistor if it was changed to a 5 Ω
resistor.

10 , 5

2Ω, 5 Ω , 10 Ω

Step 1 – find the Thevenin voltage

To find the Thevenin voltage we open circuit the load and find the voltage across
the open-circuited terminals. We can do this a number of ways including using
Millman’s theorem, superposition or loop analysis. Using Millman’s theorem we
have

10 5
2 5 6
8.5714
1 1 0.7
2 5

Note that we have not used the load conductance as the load is open circuited
and thus the conductance would be equal to zero.

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Step 2 – find the Thevenin resistance

To find the Thevenin resistance we open circuit the load and find the resistance
looking into the load terminals with all voltage source short circuited.

2 5
1.42857 Ω
2 5

Step 3 – draw the Thevenin equivalent circuit

Step 4 – use the Thevenin equivalent circuit to calculate the power dissipated in
the load.

Note that the Thevenin voltage is not across the load so I cannot use it directly
to find the power dissipated in the load.

8.5714
0.75
1.4286 10

5.625

To find the power dissipated in a 5 Ω resistor we simply need to use our

Thevenin circuit with a 5 Ω load, that is,

8.5714
1.333
1.4286 5

8.89

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Loop and Mesh Analysis –

Loop analysis is based on the application of Kirchhoff’s voltage law (KVL) around
all the circuit loops.

Points to note –

1) loop analysis is restricted to “planar circuits”, that is circuits which can be

drawn on a plane without any branches crossing over.

2) when writing KVL for the loops we must ensure that we write sufficient
loop equations such that every branch current is included in at least one
of the loop equations.

Example –

Note – loop currents are fictitious whereas branch currents are real or physical.
Having found our loop currents we can find the branch currents using the
principle of superposition.

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Step 1 – apply KVL to a minimum number of selected loops so that all branches
are included at least once. Here we have,

and expanding and rearranging these equations according to our loop currents
we get

Note – we have multiplied the loop equations for loops 2 through 6 by negative
1 to make them align with the equation for loop 1 which was rewritten so that
the voltage source remained positive. This has no net effect on the solution but
as we will see it does allow us to develop a pattern in our final set of equations.

Step 2 – write the loop impedance matrix;

0 0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0 0

0
0
0
0
0

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Points to note –

1) The loop impedance matrix is a square matrix of size equal to the number of
loop currents used
2) The matrix is symmetrical about the main diagonal
3) Entry , in the matrix = , = the negative of the branch impedance
common to the current loops and . If the two loops do not share a
common branch resistance then , 0
4) Entry , in the matrix = sum of all of the branch resistances in loop
5) All loops are drawn in the same direction (that is, all in a clockwise or all in
an anti-clockwise direction) and the loop currents are taken as positive in the
direction of the drawn loops
6) The forcing function vector (column matrix of circuit sources) has entries =
the sum of the voltage sources which appear in the loop (the sign of the
voltage sources being positive when the voltage source is in the same
direction as the loop current and negative when it opposes the loop current
direction). Do not forget to include all sources within the loop.

Step 3 –

The loop currents can be solved by inverting the loop impedance matrix and
multiplying by the forcing function vector ( ). That is, given our system of
equations is described by

the solution for the unknown loop currents is given by

Step 4 –

Having solved for all the loop currents the branch current, voltages or power can
be found.

(Remember that the loop currents are not necessarily the branch currents which
means that you may need to use superposition to find the physical branch
currents)

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Additional Notes –

1) If there are current sources with parallel impedances connected across

them then they need to be converted to the Thevenin equivalent voltage
source before loop analysis can be performed.

Node Analysis –

Node analysis is based on the calculation of the node voltages with respect to
the chosen reference node. Having found the network node voltages we can
readily calculate the branch currents.

Node analysis is based on the application of Kirchhoff’s current law (KCL) at all
nodes with unknown node voltages.

Points to note –

1) . This means that if

is positive then node has a higher potential than node .
2) Given the convention for we would then say that the current in this
branch would flow from node to node (that is we would take the
current direction as positive in this direction).
3) The reference node can be chosen to be any node but is commonly the
negative of one of the sources.
4) Because we use KCL to define our equations it is generally more

convenient to use branch conductance rather than impedance (i.e.

for a purely resistive branch).

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Example –

Step 1 – using KCL at every node write a node equation for each of the nodes,

, ,

, , , 0

, , , 0

, , , 0

, , , 0

, , , 0

, 0

, , 0

Note – It is important to recognise here that all the node currents are taken to
flow out of the node. This is reflected by the branch voltages which always have
their first subscript equal to the node they are describing. For example, for the
node 1 equation we have , , . Which shows that if , 0 the
node 1 voltage > node 2 voltage and thus the current would flow from node 1 to
node 2 (i.e. out of the node).

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These equations can now be rewritten using so that all voltages are
with respect to the reference node. Here we have,

Points to note –

 We assume that all currents flow out of the node in the equations. This
seems incorrect as for example in the node 1 equation we use the current
flowing from node 1 to node 2 as positive and then in the node 2 equation
we assume positive current flow from node 2 to node 1. The reason that
the equations are correct is that we always calculate the branch currents
in terms of the branch voltage and not the node voltage. That is, for the
branch current between nodes 1 and 2 we use equations , and , .
As , , consistency of the branch current polarity will be taken care
of.

 We do not need a node equation for the reference node. In fact if we did
write an equation for the reference node we would find that it would not
contain any new information (that is information not already contained in
the other node equations) and thus we would end up with a conductance
matrix which would not be invertible.

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Step 2 – write the conductance matrix;

0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Points to note –

1) The conductance matrix is a square matrix of size equal to the number of

nodes – 1 (the -1 is due to the reference node which we do not write an
equation for).
2) The matrix is symmetrical about the main diagonal.
3) Entry , in the matrix = , = the negative of the total conductance
between the nodes and . If two nodes are not directly connected then

, 0.
4) Entry , in the matrix = sum of all of the conductance connected to node .
5) The forcing function vector (column matrix of circuit sources) has entries =
sum of the currents injected into the node.
6) The sum of all entries in a column or row = 0 except for those nodes
connected to the reference node where the sum = conductance connected
between the node and the reference node.

Step 3 –

The network node voltages can be solved by inverting the conductance matrix
and multiplying by the forcing function vector ( ). That is, given our system of
equations is described by

the solution for the unknown node voltages is given by

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Step 4 –

Having solved for all the node voltages the branch voltages, currents or power
can be found.

Additional Note –

1) If there are voltage sources which have series impedances then they need
to be converted to current sources using the Norton equivalent before
node analysis can be performed.

Example –

Analyse the following circuit using loop analysis to determine the physical branch
currents.

I1 R1=2kΩ R2=1kΩ I2
(I1-I2)
V1 V2
E1 = 2V R3= E2 = 6V
Loop 1 V3 4kΩ Loop 2
(I1) (I2)

Note that the current in the branch is defined in terms of the two loop
currents and .

Step 1 – write the loop impedance matrix

Loop 1 –

⟹ 0

Loop 2 –

⟹ 0

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and thus we have

6 Ω 4 Ω
4 Ω 5 Ω

Note that we could have written the impedance matrix by inspection using the
rules we found previously.

Step 2 – write the forcing function vector (or voltage source vector)

2
6

Step 3 – write the loop current solution equation

6 Ω 4 Ω 2
⟹
4 Ω 5 Ω 6

1 5 4 2
⟹
6 5 4 4 4 6 6

1 14 1
⟹
14 28 2

and 1

Note that the negative signs for both and tell us that current is in fact
flowing towards the source and current is in fact flowing out of the source
.

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Maximum power transfer theorem –

For maximum power transfer from a source network to the connected load, the
load resistance value ( ) must be equal to the Thevenin resistance . That is,

Proof –

From our Thevenin equivalent circuit we have

and the power transferred to the load will be given by

If we now take the derivative of the power delivered to the load with respect to
the load resistance (I have used the product rule but we could also have used
the quotient rule) we get

2
⟹

which has a turning point at 0 or . To confirm that this is a

maximum we need to test to see that 0 at . Using the quotient rule

we have

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and thus at we have

8 0
64 8

That is, 0 at and thus this turning point is a maximum.

Given that we have maximum power transfer from the source network to the
load when we can write an expression for the maximum power transfer
as follows,

4 4

Important points to note –

 For the voltage across the load is equal to as the Thevenin

voltage is equally divided across the Thevenin resistance and the load
resistance.

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Delta and Star connected networks –
 

There are two commonly found network connections which are formed from the
connection of three resistances, these are;

1) The “star” or “T” connected network

star-connection.

T-connection.

Points to note –

 The star and T connections are fully equivalent to each other

 The common point of connection between the three resistances in a star
connection is commonly known as the star point.

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 2) The “delta” or “π” connected network

delta-connection.

π-connection.

Points to note –

 The delta and π connections are fully equivalent to each other

 Unlike the star connection, the delta connection does not have a common
connection point between the three resistance making up its connection

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Delta-star conversion –

We will now show that a delta connected network can be replaced with a star
equivalent circuit such that the two circuit behave identically when looking into
the circuit from the connection terminals.

If we were to look into the a and b terminals of a delta connected network then
we would see a resistance of

that is, is connected in parallel with the series combination of and . If

we look into the a and b terminal of a star connected network then we would see
a resistance of

Thus for the two circuits to be equivalent when looking in from the outside world
we require that

Note that the single subscripts denote that star connected resistances whereas
the double subscripts denote the delta connected resistances. Similarly, if we
were to look into the b and c terminals of the two circuits then for the two
circuits to be equivalent we would require that

and looking into terminals c and a we would get

Now (3)-(2) gives

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and (4)+(1) gives

2
2

Using (2)-(3)+(1) gives

and (2)-(1)+(3) gives

Note – we can see a pattern for the delta-star conversion, that is

∆
∆

∆
∆

∆
∆

Important points to note –

 The star equivalent of a delta connected circuit is fully equivalent to the

delta circuit when looking into the terminals of the connection. It is not
equivalent within the circuit – that is, the currents flowing in the individual
resistances in the star and delta circuits are not the same.

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Star-delta conversion –

We will now show that a star connected network can be replaced with a delta
equivalent circuit such that the two circuits behave identically when looking into
the circuit from the connection terminals.

This time we will start with our delta-star conversion expressions,

Now (1) (2) gives

⟹ 4

and (1) (3) gives

and substituting (4) and (5) into (1) gives

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Similarly, using (2) (1) and (2) (3) and substituting into (2) gives

and using (3) (1) and (3) (2) and substituting into (3) gives

Important points to note –

 The delta equivalent of a star connected circuit is fully equivalent to the

star circuit when looking into the terminals of the connection. It is not
equivalent within the circuit – that is, the currents flowing in the individual
resistances in the delta and star circuits are not the same.

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A practical example (not examinable) –

We will see when we study three-phase systems that star and delta connections
are commonly used for three-phase devices. One of the most common three-
phase devices you will encounter is a transformer. A transformer uses magnetic
induction to transform voltages and currents which is very useful for electrical
systems. When a transformer is star connected it is relatively easy for us to
measure the resistance of each of the windings and compare then to identify a
potential fault in the winding (a winding is simply a coil of insulated wire wound
around a magnetic core). For delta connected windings we cannot readily
measure individual windings as we are measuring across a parallel circuit. This
makes it difficult for us to compare resistance values. One simple way to
overcome this problem is to use the star-delta conversion to isolate the
individual winding resistances for a delta-connected set of windings so that we
perform a direct comparison just as we do for a star connected set of windings.
The derivation of the required equations follows:

The problem is defined by the circuit measurements,

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It is difficult to solve these equations to find the individual winding resistances
( , and ) due to the fact that these terms appear as products of each
other. The solution is to recognise the fact that the star equivalent circuit is fully
equivalent to the delta circuit. In this case this means that if we have a star
equivalent and I measure the resistance from phase to phase (as we did for the
delta) then we will have exactly the same result.

Solution – start with a star connected circuit,

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Measuring the phase to phase resistances we have

which can be written in matrix form as

1 1 0
0 1 1
1 0 1

1 1 1 1
⟹ 1 1 1
2
1 1 1

OR

1
2
1
2
1
2

where , and are the measured phase to phase resistances. We can

now use the star-delta transformations to calculate the delta equivalent leg
resistances as follows:

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Star-Delta transformation equations –

Substituting our star equivalent leg resistances (that is , ,

) we get

2
⟹
2

2 2 2
⟹
2

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 2
⟹
2

2 2 2
⟹
2

2
⟹
2

2 2 2
⟹
2

Note that in these equations the values on the left side have been denoted as
primes as these values represent the calculated leg resistances whereas the
values on the right hand side are the measured phase to phase resistance
values.

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D.C. Circuit Analysis Summary –

Capacitors in series Capacitors in parallel

Q1 Q2 Q3
V C1 C2 C3

Three capacitors connected in series Three capacitors connected in parallel

The charge on each capacitor Q must be the The voltage across each capacitor will be the
same. same as the supply voltage V.
Since Q = CV, the charge on each capacitor is The total charge Q, will equal the sum of the
given by: charges on each capacitor.
Q = C1V1 = C2V2 = C3V3 (1) Q = Q1 + Q2 + Q3 (10)
If the equivalent capacitance is C, then: where Q1 = C1V (11)
Q = C.V (2) Q2 = C2V (12)
From Kirchhoff’s voltage law, Q3 = C3V (13)
V = V1 + V2 + V3 (3) If the total capacitance is C, then:

Q Q Q Q = C.V (14)
  
C1 C2 C3

 1 1 1  Therefore, C.V = C1V + C2V + C3V

 Q    (4) = V.(C1 + C2 + C3) (15)
 C1 C2 C3 

Q (5) Therefore
 C = C1 + C2 + C3 (16)
C

1 1 1 1
Therefore    (6)
C C1 C2 C3

Capacitor voltage divider:

V3 = (C1/C3) .V1 from (1) (7)
= (C2/C3) .V2 from (1) (8)
= (C/C3) . V from (2) (9)
 Resistors connected in series

Resistors connected in parallel

1 1 1 1
⋯

Kirchhoff’s laws

KCL:
ΣI = 0
Algebraic sum of currents at a node is zero.

KVL:
ΣV = 0
Algebraic sum of voltage drops in a closed loop is zero.

Millman’s theorem

⋯
⋯

Thevenin’s theorem

a RTH a
network of
linear circuit
elements
VTH VTH
including
sources and
resistances
b
b
 Voltage divider rule

V1 R1
V

V2 R2
Vout

Norton’s theorem

Current divider rule

I1 I2

R1 R2
V

1 1