Chapter 1:

Direct Current (DC) System

Presented by :
Prof. M. L. Chen
Department of Building Services
Engineering, The Hong Kong
Polytechnic University.

1
DC System - contents
Simple dc system
Load characteristics
Circuit theory (laws)
Parallel operation
Radial circuits
Ring circuits
Short-circuit analysis
Analogy with ac systems
DC supply sources
2
DC System - contents

3
 Configuration of DC Systems
Battery flashlight Basic Electrical System
Control System
(switch)

Power
Load unit
Source G
(bulb)
(battery)

Transmission
system (wire)

4
 DC Circuit Examples
Basic tools for analyzing D C circuits:
Ohm's Law, power relationship, voltage and current laws,
Thevenin's, Superposition and Norton's theorems.

5
 Concept - Voltage
 Voltage, also called electromotive force (EMF), is
an expression for electric potential or potential
difference. If an electrical path is provided
between the two points with a voltage, electric
charges will flow through this path.
 The common symbol is letter V, E, or v, e.
 The standard unit is volt, symbolized by V.
 One volt is the EMF required to drive one
coulomb of electrical charge (6.24 x 1018 charge
carriers) past a specific point in one second.

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 Concept - Current
 Current is a flow of electrical charge carriers,
usually electrons or electron-deficient atoms.
 The common symbol is letter I or i.
 The standard unit is ampere, symbolized by A.
 One ampere represents one coulomb of electrical
charge moving past a specific point in one second.
 Physicists consider current to flow from
relatively positive points to relatively negative
points; this is called conventional current or
Franklin current.

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 Concepts - Resistance
 Resistance is the opposition that a substance
offers to the flow of electric current.
 The common symbol is letter R or r.
 The standard unit is ohm, symbolized by Ω.
 When an electric current of one ampere passes
through a component across which a potential
difference (voltage) of one volt exists, then the
resistance of that component is one ohm.
 Many loads can be considered as a resistor.
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 Concepts - Resistance
 The dc resistance of a conductor depends upon its
resistivity (), length (l) and cross sectional area
(a), i.e.:
R =  l/a (1)
 And changes with temperature. One simple
formula is:
Rt = R0 ( 1 +  (t-t0) ) (2)
where R0 , are the resistance and temperature
coefficient of the resistance at t0, respectively,
and Rt the resistance at temperature t.
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 Ohm’s Law
 Ohm's Law is the mathematical relationship
among the electrical current, resistance, and voltage.

small
internal
resistance

large internal resistance

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Question 1

Q. Define the SI (System International)

units for these parameters.
(R, ,  ).

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Question 2
Q. The voltage drop for a 2.5 mm2 PVC
insulated copper conductor as given in Table
A6(4) of the IEE Wiring Regulations is 18
mV/A/m (Conductor operation temp. is
70°C). Calculate the resistance and compare
with the value given by the above formula.

12
 Question 3
Q. Table 17A of the IEE Wiring Regulations gives
the resistance of a 2.5 mm2 copper conductor as
7.41 mΩ/m at 20°C. Table 17B gives a multiplier
of 1.38 for PVC cables. This is the multiplier on the
Table 17A value to give the resistance at 115°C.
The resistance temperature coefficient used in the
Tables is 0.004 per °C at 20°C. Compare these
figures with equations (1) & (2), and explain why?

13
 Power relationship
The electric power associated with a complete circuit or a
circuit component represents the rate at which energy is
converted from the electrical energy to some other form,
e.g., heat, mechanical energy, or energy stored in electric
fields or magnetic fields.

R
 Ohm’s law: I=V/R
2 I
 Power dissipated: P=IV=V /R (watts)
V

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Resistance Network

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Kirchhoff’s Law
 First (current) law - 
I = 0. At any instant the
algebraic sum of the
currents at a junction in a
network is zero.
V3  Second (voltage) law - V
= 0. At any instant the
V1 V2 algebraic sum of the
voltage drops around any
E1 E2
closed path of a circuit is
E1-V1-V3+V2-E2=0 zero.
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 Example: Two Loop Circuit

For
R1= 5 Ω, R2= 15 Ω, R3= 10 Ω, V1= 50 V, V2= 100 V.
The calculated currents are
I1= 3.636 A, I2= 0.909 A.

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 Example: Parallel operation
 Assuming that batteries connected in
parallel have the same e.m.f. then the
load sharing will be in inverse ratio to
the internal resistances, assuming any
cable resistance is negligible
I
I1=0.12I/(0.1+0.12) I1 I2

I2=0.1I/(0.1+0.12)

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 Question 6
Q. Two batteries are equally charged to 12 V. Their
internal resistances are, respectively 0.1 Ω and 0.12
Ω. What is the current supplied by each cell if the
load resistance is 1 Ω ?

I
I1 I2

V0

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 Simple dc system analysis
I ri
+ I
A
V
Eoc
V AV R
-

A simple d.c. system Equivalent circuit

Open-circuit test by voltmeter reveal EOC
Short-circuit test by ammeter gives ISC
Then, ri = Eoc / Isc (Ω)
The battery terminal voltage is given by:
V = Eoc – I.ri (V)
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 Question 4 (1)
Q. It may be possible to obtain the voltage-
current characteristic by test. Fig. 3 gives the
results for a number of 1.5 V (nominal) primary
batteries connected in series (a) and in parallel
(b). The resistance may be calculated from the
slope of the lines drawn. Estimate the internal
resistance of each battery (cell) from Fig. 3.

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Question 4 (2)

Fig.3. (a) Load tests on (b) Load tests on parallel

series connected batteries connected batteries

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 Charging and discharging
 Primary (non-rechargeable) & secondary cells
 Charging: terminal voltage (Vc) must exceed the
internal emf (E), and charging current (Ic) is an
order less than discharging current, i.e. during
charging : E = Vc – Ic . ri (V)
 Discharging: terminal voltage (Vd) is obviously
less than E, by an amount dependent on the
discharge current (Id) and the internal resistance,
since: Vd = E – Id . ri (V)
E ri I

source
V
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 Energy equation
 In the general case for a dc source:
V = E - I .ri (Volts)
 Multiplying by current (I) gives the power eq.:
V I = E I - I2 ri (Watts)
 Integrating over a period of time (dt) gives the
energy eq.:
V I dt = E I dt - I2 ri dt (Joules)
loss
E ri I
V R Loss - heat- temperature rise
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 Circuit - Radial connection

 In electrical distribution systems the radial

circuits is most common. Individual loads may
supplied by direct individual connections to the
source, or by common connections, so that the
loads are in parallel and distributed.
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 Circuit - ring connection

 To improve the voltage drop and increase

reliability loads may be connected in a ring circuit
arrangement. It is possible to have multiple feeds.

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 Question 7 (1)
Q. A two-conductor DC ring distribution circuit is
fed at two points A and C at 200 V. Two loads are
connected at B and D. Load B is 50 A and is located
between A and C, 1/3 rd of the conductor length
from A. Load D is 30 A and is located between A
and C, 2/3 rd of the conductor length from A. The
total resistance of one loop of conductor is 0.6 ohm.
Calculate the current distribution in the conductors
and the voltage at each load.

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Question 7 (2)

0.2 ohm
Vb
I1
I2 0.2 ohm
I3 Vd
0.2 ohm

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 Thevenin’s theorem
•Any combination of batteries and resistance with two terminals
can be replaced by a single voltage source e in series with a
resistor r.
• The e (thevenin voltage) is equal to the open circuit voltage at
the two terminals.
• The r (thevenin resistance) is the resistance measured at the two
terminals with all voltage sources replaced by short circuits and
all current sources replaced by open circuits.

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 Thevenin: two loop problem
Consider the current through the R2 below, replace the
network to the left of R2 by its Thevenin equivalent
simplifies the determination of I2.

R1= 5 Ω, R2= 15 Ω, R3= 10 Ω, V1= 50 V, V2= 100 V.

33.3V, 3.3Ω, 3.6 A.

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 Thevenin: Short circuits analysis
ri
For example, I
Nominal output: 12 A at 12 V. E oc R
V
Test: Isc=120 A, Eoc =13.32 V.
Consequently, R=V/I=12/12=1 Ω Short circuit branch
ri = 13.32/120 = 0.11 Ω,
For a fault with zero impedance,
Isc=Eoc/ri=13.32/0.11=120 A
If Eoc is unknown, and ri << R, approximately,
ri' = V/Isc = 12/120 = 0.1 Ω,
Isc = V/ri' = 12/0.1 = 120 A,
A more eloquent approach is to use Thevenin's theorem
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 Thevenin: Short circuits analysis
A Thevenin’s A
ri I Equivalent rt
R V Circuit for Isc ri R rt
Eoc V
B
(source) B Branch AB (source)
The Thevenin equivalent circuit .
 That is, rt = R. ri /(R + ri) = 0.11/ 1.11 = 0.1 Ω
(This is more or less the same as ri’ given above.)
 Fault current is: Isc = V/rt = 12/0.1 = 120 A
 Furthermore, as I=Eoc /(ri +R), V=R.I= R. Eoc/(ri +R),
Isc = V/rt = V. (R +ri)/(R. ri)
= (R/(R + ri)). Eoc. (R +ri)/(R .ri) = Eoc/ri (A)
V 32
 Short circuit analysis - fault with resistance
ri
Consider a fault resistance rf I
of, say, 0.1Ω. The simple E oc V rf R
solution neglects the load
resistance R is,
Isc = Eoc/(ri + rf) = 13.32/(0.11 + 0.1) = 63.4 A
Using V instead of Eoc gives an approximate solution:
Isc = V/(ri + rf) = 12/(0.11 + 0.1) = 57.1 A
The more rigorous solution using Thevenin's theorem
gives: Isc = V/(rt + rf) = 12/(0.1 + 0.1) = 60 A
The difference in the values is not great in this example.

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Question 8

Q. Does current flow through an open

circuit? Describe the difference between a
closed circuit and a short circuit.

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 D C sources
1. Batteries are not the only DC sources. Direct current
generators, solid state rectifiers (ac to dc conversion),
variable dc output converters, etc. are used where high
power direct current is required. The main point is that
they are controlled.
2. In many cases, term DC means current which is not
necessarily constant with time. They may be ‘ripple’ on
basic dc, pulsed dc (square or half- sinusoid waves, etc).
In some cases the ‘ripple’ may be large enough to cause
negative current flow.
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Direct Current (DC) System

The end

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