EE383: Electrical Engineering - Laboratory First Semester, AY 2023-2024

EE 383
Electrical Engineering Laboratory

EXPERIMENT NO. 2

Name: __________________________
Year and Section: __________________________

Instructor: Engr. Anatole T. Estorco II

EE383: Electrical Engineering - Laboratory First Semester, AY 2023-2024

I. TITLE: SUPERPOSITION METHOD AND MILLMAN'S THEOREM

II. OBJECTIVE: To verify Superposition method and Millman's theorem and be able to
apply them in a two-source circuit

III. THEORY:
A. Superposition Method and its Effects
Superposition method can be applied only to physical systems having a linear behavior. A
physical system has a linear behavior when there is proportionality bond between cause and
effect.
Consider a trolley being pushed by hand. When the force used in pushing the trolley is
doubled (cause), the distance that the trolley will cover doubles as well (effect). Hence, this is a
linear system. In the same way, an electrical circuit is considered linear when doubling its source
voltage will cause the current to double in effect. The theorem can be expressed in the following
way: in an electrical network having more than one source or generator, the current in an arm or
the voltage at its terminals can be calculated by summing up algebraically the currents or
voltages produced by each source or generator acting separately. This theorem can be illustrated
in the following example.
Consider the circuit in Figure 4.1. Determine the current 13.

The circuit in Figure 4.1 can be divided into elementary circuits, each having just one generator
or source. This can be done by considering one voltage source while removing the rest of the
voltage sources from the circuit and short-circuiting the terminals where they were previously
connected. Therefore, the circuit in Figure 4.1 can be divided into two elementary circuits as
shown in Figure 4.2.

Calculation of currents in each of the elementary circuits in Figure 4.2:

EE383: Electrical Engineering - Laboratory First Semester, AY 2023-2024

If the directions of these currents are the same, they are added. If not, they are subtracted and the
resulting current will take the direction of the current which is greater in value. In the example,
l'3 is greater in value than I"3 and they take directions opposite to each other. Hence, I"3 will be
subtracted from I’3 and the resulting current will take the direction of I’3.
I’3 = I’3 – I’’3 = 1.36 – 0.29 = 1.07 mA
B. Millman's Theorem
When a complex network of linear behavior is composed of only two nodes (i.e, it is
composed of more than one arm in parallel), the voltage and current in each arm can be
calculated by applying Millman's theorem.
Consider the circuit in Figure 6.1.

Applying Millman's theorem, the voltage between nodes A and B can be expressed by the
following relationship:
V1
∑ R1
VAB =
1
∑ R1
V, and R, are the generator voltage and resistance of each arm, respectively. V, will take a
positive sign if it is in agreement with VAB, otherwise, it is negative. In case an arm doesn't
contain a voltage source or generator, voltage V, is equal to zero. Applying Millman's theorem in
the example, the following relationship is obtained:
V1 V2
+
R1 R2
VAB =
1 1 1
+ +
R1 R2 R3
If the known values are substituted, VAB = 2.36 V. It would now be easy to solve for the currents
in each arm.
V 1−VAB V 2−VAB VAB
I1 = = 2.64 mA I2 = = 1.56 I3 = = 1.07 mA
R1 R2 R3
EE383: Electrical Engineering - Laboratory First Semester, AY 2023-2024

IV. INSTRUMENTS AND COMPONENTS:

2 Digital multimeters
1
R1 = 360 Ω - W
4
1
R2 = 510 Ω - W
4
1
R3 = 1 k Ω - W
4

V. ELECTRICAL DIAGRAMS:
EE383: Electrical Engineering - Laboratory First Semester, AY 2023-2024

VI. TOPOGRAPHICAL DIAGRAMS:

VII. PROCEDURE:

1. Insert the Module E02 in the console and set the main switch to ON.
2. Adjust the voltage drops +V and -V to 10 V by turning the potentiometers +V and -V on
the console. Record the values in Table 5.2a.
3. Connect the circuit as shown in Figure 5.2a using a +10V generator.
4. Connect two multimeters in the circuit of Figure 5.2a using one as a dc voltmeter and the
other a milliammeter.
5. Take the current and voltage readings of the milliammeter and dc voltmeter.
6. Record the values in Table 5.2a.
7. Connect the circuit as shown in Figure 5.2b using a -10V generator.
EE383: Electrical Engineering - Laboratory First Semester, AY 2023-2024

8. Take the current and voltage readings of the milliammeter and dc voltmeter.
9. Record the values in Table 5.2a.
10. Connect the circuit as shown in Figure 5.2c using +10V and -10V generators.
11. Take the current and voltage readings of the milliammeter and dc voltmeter.
12. Record the values in Table 5.2.
13. Verify that the algebraic sum of the values read by the instruments with a single generator
connected one after the other corresponds to the values read by the instruments when
both generators are connected at the same time.
14. Calculate the current 13 and the voltage VAB by applying Superposition method. Record
the results in Table 5.2b.
15. Calculate the current 13 and the voltage VAB by applying Millman's theorem. Record the
results in Table 5.2b.
16. Compare the measured value with the calculated value.
17. Comment on the results.
18. Remove all connections.

VIII. TABULATED DATA AND RESULTS:

Ve1 (+V) Ve2 (-V) V’AB I’3 V’’AB I’’3 VAB I3
[V] [V] [V] [mA] [V] [mA] [V] [mA]
Measured value

Table 5.2a

IX. COMPUTATIONS:
EE383: Electrical Engineering - Laboratory First Semester, AY 2023-2024

X. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION