BASIC ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

Chapter 1 A

Prepared by Dr. MANJUNATHA.Y.R. Professor Elecl. Engg. UVCE, Bangalore 01.

 BASIC ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

DC CIRCUITS

Ohm's Law: Ohm’s Law deals with the relationship between voltage and current in a
conductor. It states that, “At constant temperature, the current flowing through a conductor is directly
proportional to the applied voltage.”
OR
“The potential difference (voltage) across an ideal conductor is proportional to the current through it.”
ie. V .I or V  IR , Where, R is the proportionality constant called “resistance” ‘R’.
OR
“In a conductor, the ratio of voltage to current is a constant.” This constant is called resistance.
V
ie.  R . ‘R’ is called resistance.
I
Material that obeys Ohm's Law is called "ohmic" or "linear" because the potential difference
across it varies linearly with the current. Because of the electrostatic force, which tries to move a positive
charge from a higher to a lower potential, there must be another 'force' to move charge from a lower
potential to a higher inside the battery. This force is called the electromotive force, or emf. The SI unit for
the emf is a volt. The letter ‘E’ represents it.

Where, V=Applied voltage in volts.

R= Resistance in ohms.
I= Current flowing in the circuit.
V  IR
V V
or I  , R .
R I
Limitations of Ohm’s Law:
1. Ohm’s law is not applicable to semiconductors.
2. Temperature of the conductor should be maintained constant.
3. Ohm’s law is not applicable for the negative temperature co-efficient materials.

Example: An emf source of 6.0V is connected to a purely resistive lamp and a current of
2.0 amperes flows. All the wires are resistance-free. What is the resistance of the lamp?
Solution. I=2.0Amps, V=6.0volts,

V 6 .0
From ohm’s law, R    3 .
I 2 .0

Resistances in series.
A SERIES CIRCUIT is defined as a
circuit that contains only ONE PATH for current flow.

Prepared by Dr. MANJUNATHA.Y.R. Professor Elecl. Engg. UVCE, Bangalore 01.

 BASIC ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

Rtotal  R1  R2  R3 And V1  IR1 , V2  IR2 , V3  IR3

The power dissipated in resistance, R1  IV1 , R2  IV2 , R3  IV3 watts. And total power
P  P1  P2  P3 watts.

If number of resistances are connected in series, then the total resistance is the sum of all resistances
connected in series.
ie. If resistances R1 , R2 , R3 ,..........Rn are connected in series, then the total resistance
Rtotal  R1  R2  R3  .............  Rn ohms.

Example: In the figure shown a series circuit consisting of three resistors: one of 10 ohms, one of 15 ohms,
and one of 30 ohms, is shown. A voltage source provides 110 volts. What is the total resistance?

Req  R1  R2  R3

Req  10  15  30  55

V 110
IT    2 Amps
Req 55

V1  IR1  2  10  20volts . V2  IR 2  2  15  30volts . V3  IR3  2  30  60

Prepared by Dr. MANJUNATHA.Y.R. Professor Elecl. Engg. UVCE, Bangalore 01.

 BASIC ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

Resistances In Parallel:

Let two resistances R1 and R2 are connected in parallel

1 1 1 R  R1
as shown, then    2
R R1 R2 R1 R2
RR
. R 1 2
R1  R2

If three resistances R1, R2 , R3 are connected in parallel

1 1 1 1
as shown, then   
R R1 R2 R3

1 1 1 1 1
   .....
R R1 R2 R3 Rn

V V V V
I1  , I2  , I3  …… I n 
R1 R2 R3 Rn
and the total current I  I 1  I 2  I 3  .......I n .
Power dissipated in R1 is P1  VI 1 watts , P2  VI 2 watts , P3  VI 3 watts …….. Pn  VI n watts .
Total power Ptotal  P1  P2  P3  .......Pn watts.

Prepared by Dr. MANJUNATHA.Y.R. Professor Elecl. Engg. UVCE, Bangalore 01.

 BASIC ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

Example: A parallel circuit consists of five resistors. The value of each resistor is known and the current
through R1 is known. You are asked to calculate the value for total resistance, total power, total current,
source voltage, the power used by each resistor, and the current through resistors R2, R3, R4, and R5.
Given: R1  20 , R2  30 , R3  18 , R4  18 , R5  18 and I 1  9 Amps

Find: Total resistance RT, Source voltage

V,Total current IT ,Total power dissipated PT,
Current through each resistor, and power
dissipated in each resistance.

Solution:
Source voltage V  I 1 R1
V  9  20  180volts

V 180
I1    9 Amps
R1 20

V 180 V 180
I2    6 Amps . I3    10 Amps
R2 30 R3 18

V 180 V 180
I4    10 Amps I5    10 Amps
R4 18 R5 10

Power dissipated in each resistor is,

P1  VI 1  180  9  1620watts , P2  VI 2  180  6  1080 watts ,
P3  P4  P5  VI 3  180  10  1800 watts ,
Total power Ptotal  1620  1080  1800  1800  1800  8.1Kwatts.

Example:
Figure 1 shows part of a circuit. It consists of resistors combined in both parallel and
series configurations. Find the equivalent resistance.

Prepared by Dr. MANJUNATHA.Y.R. Professor Elecl. Engg. UVCE, Bangalore 01.

 BASIC ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

1 1 1 1
RAB = R1 + R2. R EF  R4  R5   
Requi R AB RCD R EF
1 1 1 1
RAB = 1.0 + 2.0 . REF  4  5   
Requi 3 3 9
R AB  3.0 . REF  9 Requi  1.28

Resistances In series Parallel:

1. Here, we will combine series circuits and parallel circuits. These are known
as combination circuits. No new equations will be learned here.
2. We can imagine a branch in a parallel circuit, but which contains two resistors in
series.
Example:

Requi  R3
Requi  R1  R2 . Rtotal  .
Requi  R3

Example: For the circuit shown calculate the equivalent resistance,

40
R AB   2.86
14

8
RCD   0.89
9

Hence the circuit can be redrawn as,

R Equi  R AB  R BC  RCD
R Equi  2.86  3.0  0.89  6.75

Example: Calculate the equivalent resistance for the circuits shown below.

Prepared by Dr. MANJUNATHA.Y.R. Professor Elecl. Engg. UVCE, Bangalore 01.

 BASIC ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

20  30
Req.1   12 . Req  R1  Req1  8  12  20
20  30

ES 60
Total current I   3 Amps , Voltage across R1 is, VR1  IR1  3  8  24volts
Req 20
V AB 36 V 36
V AB  IReq1  3  12  36volts , I R 2    1.8 Amps . I R 3  AB   1.2 Amps .
R2 20 R3 30
Total power dissipated in the circuit, Ptotal  E S  I  60  3  180 watts
Power dissipated in R1 is PR1  V R1  I  24  3  72 watts ,
PR 2  V AB I R 2  36  1.8  64.8watts
PR 3  V AB I R 3  36  1.2  43.2 watts .

Prepared by Dr. MANJUNATHA.Y.R. Professor Elecl. Engg. UVCE, Bangalore 01.

 BASIC ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

Kirchhoff's Current Law:

Statement: The algebraic sum of currents meeting at a
junction/node is zero.
I  I1  I 2  I 3  0
This can be generalized as, I  0
OR
At the junction sum of incoming currents are equal to sum of out
going currents.

I  I1  I 2  I 3

Then, the sum of all the currents is zero. This can be generalized as
follows

1) Example.

I1  I 2  I 3  I 4  I 5  0

Kirchhoff's Voltage Law:.

It states that, "The algebraic sum of the voltage drops in any closed path in a circuit and the electromotive
forces in that path is equal to zero."
OR
In a closed loop the sum of voltage drops are equal to the sum of voltage
sources

In Figure the total voltage around loop 1 should sum to zero, as does the
total voltage in loop2. Furthermore, the loop which consists of the outer part
of the circuit (the path ABCD) should also sum to zero.

Prepared by Dr. MANJUNATHA.Y.R. Professor Elecl. Engg. UVCE, Bangalore 01.

 BASIC ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

To state Kirchhoff's law another way, the voltage drops and voltage sources in a circuit are equal
at any given moment in time. If the voltage sources are assumed to have one sign (positive or negative) at
that instant and the voltage drops are assumed to have the opposite sign, the result of adding the voltage
sources and voltage drops will be zero.

Prepared by Dr. MANJUNATHA.Y.R. Professor Elecl. Engg. UVCE, Bangalore 01.