MAXIMUM POWER TRANSFER

THEOREM

In many electrical and electronic applications, we

are interested in the amount of power received by a
particular load (speaker, electric motor, antenna)
Electric systems are a source of power and a load
connected to that source
Sources Amplifiers, generators, power supplies
All linearly constructed sources can be reduced to
their Thevenin equivalent
In DC circuits, the load can be represented by a
resistance RL

Maximum Power 1
Transfer The
 POWER DELIVERED TO LOAD
T h e v e n in e q u iv a le n t R T H IL
c ir c u it

+
E T H
V L R L

-
L o ad
So urce

The source develops a voltage VL across the load

and enables current IL to flow into it

PL VL I L I L2 RL VL2 RL

The power delivered to the load resistance (RL)

depends on the value of RL

Maximum Power 2
Transfer The
 MAXIMUM POWER, CURRENT
AND VOLTAGE CONDITIONS

Maximum current IL occurs when RL = 0 (shorted

terminals)
The maximum voltage VL occurs when RL = (open
circuited terminals)
Yet load power PL = 0 for both cases
PL is maximum when RL equals the Thevenin
equivalent resistance of the source, I.e. when RL =
RTH
The maximum power transfer theorem is thus:
Maximum power is developed in a load when the
load resistance equals the Thevenin resistance
of the source to which it is connected
Maximum power is delivered when VL = ETH/2
Thus
VL2 2
ETH
PL (max)
RL 4 RTH

Maximum Power 3
Transfer The