BIUST

College of Engineering
Electrical, Computer and Telecommunications Department

EEEN211
Tutorial for week 7

Covers material on chapter 05

Question 1.

A 17 μF capacitor connected in series with a 43 kΩ resistor is switched across a 61 V d.c. supply.

Using only the time constant, derive graphically, curves showing how the charging current and the
p.d. across the capacitor vary with time.

Answer:

T  CR  17  106  43  103  731  103 s = 0.731 s

V 61V −3
i= = =1.419 ×10 A
R 43 ×103

 1.419 mA
Question 2.

A 50 μF capacitor is charged from a 200 V supply. After being disconnected it is immediately

connected in parallel with a 30 μF capacitor which is initially uncharged. Find:
a. the p.d. across the combination;
b. the electrostatic energies before and after the capacitors are connected in parallel.

Answer:

Question 3.

The switch in the circuit shown in Figure 3.0 has been in position ‘a’ for a long time. At t = 0 the switch is
moved to position ‘b’.
a) What is the initial value of vc
b) What is the final value of vc
c) What is the time constant of the circuit when the switch is in position b?
d) What is the expression for vc(t) when t ≥ 0?
 e) What is the expression for i(t) when t ≥ 0?
f) How long after the switch is in position b does the capacitor voltage equal zero?
g) Plot vc(t) and i(t) versus t.

Figure 3.0
Answer:
a) The switch has been in position a for a long time, so the capacitor looks like an open circuit.
Therefore the voltage across the capacitor is the voltage across the 200kΩ resistor. From the voltage divider
rule, the voltage across the 200kΩ resistor is 33 X [200/(200 + 250)] = 14.6667 V. As the reference
for VQ is positive at the upper terminal of the capacitor, we have vc(0) =-14.6667 V.

b) After the switch has been in position b for a long time, the capacitor will look like an open circuit
in terms of the 110 V source. Thus the final value of the capacitor voltage is + 110 V.

c) The time constant is

3 −6 −3
τ =RC=100 x 10 x 17 x 10 =1700× 10 =1.70 s
d) Substituting the appropriate values for v(∞), v(0), and t into Eq. 7.60 yields

−t −0
1.7
v c ( t )=110+ (−14.6667−110 ) e ,t ≥0
−t −0
1.7
v c ( t )=110−124.667 e ,t≥0

e) Here the value for r doesn't change. Thus we need to find only the initial and final values for
the current in the capacitor. When obtaining the initial value, we must get the value of i(0+),
because the current in the capacitor can change instantaneously. This current is equal to the current
in the resistor, which from Ohm's law is [110 - (-14.667)]/(100 X 103) = 1.2467 mA. Note that when applying
Ohm's law we recognized that the capacitor voltage cannot changed instantaneously.
The final value of i(t) = 0, so
−t
i (t )=0+(1.2467−0) e 1.7
−t
i (t )=1.2467 e 1.7 , t ≥ 0

We could have obtained this solution by differentiating the solution in (d) and multiplying by
the capacitance. You may want to do so for yourself. Note that this alternative approach to finding
i{t) also predicts the discontinuity at t = 0.

f) To find how long the switch must be in position b before the capacitor voltage becomes zero, we
solve the equation derived in (d) for the time when vc{t) = 0:
 −t −0
1.7
v c ( t )=110−124.667 e
−t
1.7
0=110−124.667 e
−t
110=124.667 e 1.7
−t
110
=e 1.7
124.6667
−t
1.7
0.88235=e

t=−1.7 ln ( 0.88235 )=0.21278 s=212.78 ms

Note that when vc = 0, i = 1.100 mA and the voltage drop across the 400 kΩ resistor is 110 V.

g) Figure 7.26 shows the graphs of vc(t) and i(t)

versus t.

Question 4.

The switch in figure 04 has been at position ‘a’ for a long time before flipped to position ‘b’ at t = 0.
Write the expression for the capacitor voltage, v(t), for t ≥ 0.

Figure 04
Answer:
For t < 0:

V o =( 200 kΩǁ200 kΩ )( 0.33 A ) =33 000V

For t ≥ 0:

Which is:

Req =250 kΩ+ 200 kΩǁ200 kΩ=350 kΩ

3 −9 −6
τ =RC=350 x 10 x 50 x 10 =17500× 10 =0.017 s
−t −t
τ 0.017
v ( t )=V o e =33 kV e , t> 0

Question 5.
For the network shown in Figure 2.0, the switch is closed on to position 1 when t = 0 and then
moved to position 2 when t = 20 ms.

a. Simplify the circuit to simple (conventional) charging and discharging capacitor circuit
(without so many resistors).
b. Determine the voltage across the capacitor when T = 20 ms.
c. Determine the voltage across the capacitor when T = 30 ms.
Answer:

(a) Find the Thevenin equivalent circuit between points A & B:

To help in solving the circuit, use delta-star transformation:

Transformation is:
Substitute back into circuit:

Simplify the circuit:

Simplify further by finding equivalence between parallel resistors:

Use the constant-current generator transformation:

Simplify further:

Use the constant-current generator again:

Simplify:

Change the circuit using the constant-current generator:

Final answer is:

(b)
Find the time constant:
3 −6 −3
τ =RC=238.879 x 10 x 0.4 x 10 =95.5516 × 10 =0.09556 s
Determine the equation for voltage across capacitor;

−t −0
v c ( t )=810.04 k (1−e 0.09556 ) ,t ≥0
−0.02
v c ( 0.020 )=810.04 k (1−e 0.09556 ), t ≥ 0
−0.20929
v c ( 0.020 )=810.04 k (1−e ) ,t ≥ 0
v c ( 0.020 )=810.04 k (1−0.811158), t ≥ 0
v c ( 0.020 )=810.04 k ( 0.1888) , t ≥ 0
v c ( 0.020 )=152.9697 kV ,t ≥0

(c)
Voltage when t = 30ms
−0.03
0.09556
v c ( 0.020 )=152.9697 k (e ),t ≥ 0
−0.3139
v c ( 0.020 )=152.9697 k (e ), t ≥ 0
v c ( 0.020 )=152.9697 k (0.73056) ,t ≥0
v c ( 0.020 )=111.7535 kV ,t ≥ 0