EE287: Circuit theory

Lecture1: Course Information & Introduction

 Course Information
• Instructor: Dr. James Dzisi Gadze
• Phone: 020 689 1515
• E-mail: jdgadze@gmail.com
• Office: Room 319, FECE Building

• TA: Emmanuel Obeng Frimpong

• Phone: 024-587-7656
• E-mail: eofrimpong10@gmail.com
Quote for the Class
 Goal
• To offer
– transformational teaching and learning experience
• thus
– To provide
• a transformative and Co-Created Education
 Competency
• What is the meaning of
– Competency?
 Competency
• The combination of observable and measurable
– Knowledge
– Skills
– Abilities
– Personal attributes
that contribute to enhance employee performance and
ultimately result in organizational success

• Thus in your training you need the following to be

successful:
– Knowledge, Skills, and Attitude
 Competencies
• Team work
• Decision making
• Communication
• Leadership
• Trustworthiness & Ethics
• Problem solving skills
 Student Outcomes
• Upon completing the BSc Telecom degree,
students will be able to demonstrate:
1. An ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex
engineering problems by applying principles of
engineering, science and mathematics
2. An ability to apply engineering design to produce
solutions that meet specified needs with consideration
of public health, safety, global, cultural, social
environmental and economic factors
3. An ability to communicate effectively with range of
audiences
 Student Outcomes
• Upon completing the BSc Telecom degree, students
will be able to demonstrate:
4. An ability to recognize ethical and professional
responsibilities in engineering situations and make
informed judgments, which must consider the impact of
engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental,
and societal contexts
5. An ability to function effectively on a team whose
members together provide leadership, create a
collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals,
plan tasks, and meet objectives
 Student Outcomes
• Upon completing the BSc Telecom degree, students
will be able to demonstrate:
6. An ability to develop and conduct appropriate
experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use
engineering judgement to draw conclusions
7. An ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as
needed, using appropriate learning strategies
 Student Needs
• Identification of student needs
– Analyze where, and when and why you have difficulty
in easily arriving at successful solutions
• Is it mathematics or your understanding of theory?
• Do you take time to think about the problem and how you
should solve it?
– What works best for you?
Basic Principles of Problem Solving
• What is the process of solving Engineering problems?
Basic Principles of Problem Solving
1. Carefully define the problem
• You must do all you can to make sure you understand the
problem as thoroughly as the presenter of the problem
understands it
2. Present everything you know about the problem
3. Establish a set of alternative solution approaches or
paths and determine the one that promises the greatest
likelihood of success
• Almost every problem will have a number of possible paths that
can lead to a solution. It is highly desirable to identify as many of
those paths as possible
4. Attempt a problem solution
• Now is the time to actually begin solving the problem
Basic Principles of Problem Solving
5. Evaluate the solution and check for accuracy
• Decide if you have an acceptable solution, one that you want to
present to your team, boss, or lecturer
6. Has the problem been solved satisfactorily? If so
present the solution; if not, then return to step 3 and
continue through the process again
 Introduction
• Telecom engineering is built upon two fundamental
theories
• Electric circuit theory
• Electromagnetic theory
• Many aspects of Telecom engineering
– are based on circuit theory
• Therefore a basic electric circuit theory course is
– the most important course for Telecom engineering
students
 Introduction
• A telecom engineer
– usually performs diverse functions and is likely to
• use, design, or construct systems that incorporate some form
of electric/electronic circuits
• An electric/electronic circuit
– is an interconnection of circuit elements which
accomplish a specific task
• Can be
– Simple
– complicated
 Introduction
• A simple circuit is as shown below
– It consist of three basic elements
• A battery
• A lamp
• Connecting wires
 Complicated Circuit
• A complicated real circuit
 General Course Objective
• The main objective of this course is to
– introduce Telecom Engineering students to basic
electric circuit theory
• That is to
– learn various analytical techniques and computer
software applications for
• describing the behavior of circuits
• Focus will be on
– presenting the students with the most appropriate
analytical and computational tools to
• solve variety of electric circuit problems
 Specific Course Objectives
• At the end of this course, students will
– Understand fundamental elements of electric
circuits
– Understand basic circuit concepts and Laws
– Understand nodal and mesh analysis techniques for
dc and ac circuits
– Understand circuit theorems and source
transformation
– Understand two-port networks
– understand the use of Pspice and MATLAB in circuit
analysis
 Course Outline

• Basic Concepts
– Electric charge
– Current
– Voltage
– Power and energy
– Circuit elements
– Systems of units
 Course Outline
• Basic Laws
– Ohm’s law
– Kirchhoff’s law
– Series resistors and voltage division
– Parallel resistors and current division
 Course Outline
• Methods of Analysis
– Nodal Analysis
– Nodal Analysis with voltage sources
– Mesh Analysis
– Mesh Analysis with current sources
– Nodal and Mesh Analysis by inspection
– Circuit analysis with Pspice
– applications
 Course Outline
• Circuit Theorems
– Linearity property
– Superposition
– Source transformation
– Thevenin’s theorem
– Norton’s theorem
– Maximum power transfer
– Verifying circuit theorems with Pspice
– applications
 Analysis of AC Circuits

• Nodal Analysis
• Mesh Analysis
• Superposition Theorem
• Source Transformation
• Thevenin and Norton Equivalent Circuits
• AC Analysis using Pspice
• applications
 Two-Port Networks
• Impedance Parameters
• Admittance Parameters
• Hybrid Parameters
• Transmission Parameters
• Computing Two-Port Parameters using Pspice
• applications
 Course Information
• Reference textbook:
– Fundamentals of Electric Circuit Analysis,
• by Charles K. Alexander and Mathew N. O. Sadiku, McGraw-
Hill, Boston
EE287: Circuit theory

Revision: Basic Concepts

 Lecture Objectives
• Learn about the concepts of charge, current, and voltage
• Learn about power and energy
• Identify the principal elements of electrical circuits
• Understand the concepts of nodes, branches, and loops
• Understand the basic SI units and SI prefixes
 Electric Charge
• The concept of electric charge is the
– underlying principle in explaining all electrical
phenomena
• Charge is
– an electrical property of the atomic particles of which
matter consists

– the most basic quantity in an electric circuit

• and is measured in coulombs (C)
 Electric Charge
• From elementary physics we know that all
– matter is made of atoms
• Each atom consists of
– Electrons
– protons
– neutrons
– The smallest amount of charge (elementary charge) that
exists is the
• charge carried by an electron, equal to
qe  1.602 x 10 19 C
– The proton is assigned a plus sign

q p  1.602 x 10 19 C
 Example 1.1
• How much charge is represented by 4,600
electrons?
• Solution:
– Each electron has
 1.602 x 10 19 C

– Hence 4,600 electrons will have

(1.602 x 10 19 ) x (4600)   7.369 x 10 16 C

 Electric Current
• Electric current is defined as the
– time rate of change of charge passing through a
predetermined area
• electric current
dq
i 
dt
• Current is the movement of charge

– If the current passing a terminal is i

• the charge transferred between time t0 and t is
t
Q   i dt
t0
 Example 1.2
• Determine the total charge entering a terminal between
t = 1s and t = 2s if the current passing the terminal is
 
i  3t 2  t A
 Solution
• Analysis
2 2
Q   i dt   3t 2
 
 t dt
t 1 1
2
 3 t  2
 1

 t  
  8  2   1    5.5 C
 2 1  2
 Electric Current
• If the current does not change with time, but remains constant, we
call it direct current (dc)

• A time varying current is known as alternating current (ac)

 Voltage
• To move a charge between
– two points in a circuit requires some work or energy
transfer
The voltage (or potential difference) vab between two
points in a circuit indicates the energy required to move a
unit charge from one point to the other
 Power and Energy
• Need to know
– how much power an electric device can handle
• The electric power
– absorbed or supplied by an element is the
• product of the voltage across the element and the current
flowing through it

p vi
• The energy absorbed or supplied by an element
from time t0 to time t is
t t
w   p dt   vi dt
t0 t0
 Passive Sign Convention
• Passive sign convention is satisfied
– when the current enters through
• the positive terminal of an element and p = + v i.
– power absorbed by the element
• the negative terminal, p = -vi
– power supply by the element
 Passive Sign Convention
• What is the sign of the power computed ?

• What is the sign of the power computed ?

 Circuit Elements
• An element is the
– basic building block of a circuit
• An electric/electronic circuit is simply
– an interconnection of circuit elements which
• accomplish a specific tasks
• Circuit analysis
– is the process of determining voltages across (or
current through) the element of the circuit
 Circuit Elements
• There are two types of elements found in
electric/electronic circuits
– Passive elements (not capable of generating energy)
• Resistors, capacitors and inductors
 Circuit Elements
• There are two types of elements found in
electric/electronic circuits

– Active elements (capable of generating energy)

• Generators, batteries, operational amplifiers
 Circuit Elements
• The most important active elements are
– voltage and current sources
• that generally deliver power to the circuit connected to them
– There are two kinds of sources
• Independent source
• Dependent source

• An ideal independent source is

– an active element that provides a
specified voltage or current that is
independent of other circuit elements
 Circuit Elements
• An ideal dependent (controlled) source is
– an active element in which the source quantity is
controlled by another voltage or current
• There are four possible types of dependent sources, namely
– A voltage-controlled voltage source (VCVS)
– A current-controlled voltage source (CCVS)
– A voltage-controlled current source (VCCS)
– A current-controlled current source (CCCS)
 Branch
• A branch is any portion of a circuit with two terminals
connected to it
 Node
• A node is the junction of two or more branches
• A supernode is obtained by
– defining a region that encloses more than one node
 Loop
• A loop is any closed connection of branches
 Mesh
• A mesh is a loop that does not contain other loops
• Loops1 and 2 are meshes but loop3 is not a mesh
 System of Units
• As Engineers,
– we deal with measurable quantities
• Our measurements, however,
– must be communicated in a standard language
• Such an International standard language is the
– International system of Units (SI)
• In this system there are six principle units
 System of Units
• SI units are based on six fundamental quantities

Quantity Unit Symbol

Length meter m
Mass kilogram kg
Time second s
Electric current Ampere A
Temperature Kelvin K
Luminous Intensity Candela cd
 System of Units
Prefixes based on the power of 10 are used to relate larger
and smaller units to the basic unit

Decimal multiples and

submultiples of SI units
Revision Basic Laws
 Lecture Objectives
• Learn about
– Ohm's law
– Kirchhoff's current and voltage laws
 Introduction

• To determine the values of

– current, voltage and power in a circuit requires that
• we understand some fundamental laws that govern electric
circuits
 Resistance
• Materials in general have a
– characteristic of resisting the flow of electric charge
• This ability to resist current is known as RESISTANCE and is
– represented by the symbol R
• The resistance of any material with uniform cross-sectional
area A and length l is given by
l
R
A
– where ρ is known as the resistivity of the material
 Ohm’s Law
• The relationship between current and voltage for
– a resistor is known as Ohm’s law
 Ohm’s Law
• Ohm’s law states that
– the voltage v across a resistor is directly proportional to
the current i flowing through the resistor

vi
• Mathematically Ohm’s Law is:
v  iR
• where R is the resistance
 Ohm’s Law
• There are two extreme possible values of R:
– 0 (zero)
–  (infinite)
– related to two basic circuit concepts:
• short circuit and open circuit.
 Ohm’s Law
• An element with R = 0 is called a short circuit
– For a short circuit
v i R 0
– showing the voltage is zero but the current could be
anything
 Ohm’s Law
• Similarly an element with R = ∞ is known as an
open circuit
– For an open circuit
v
i  lim 0
R R

• indicating that the current is zero though the voltage could be

anything
 Ohms Law
• Conductance
– is the ability of an element to conduct electric current; it is the
reciprocal of resistance R and is measured in mhos or siemens

1 i
G  
R v

• The power dissipated by a resistor:

2
v
p  vi  i 2 R 
R
 Ohms Law
• Conductance
– is the ability of an element to conduct electric current; it is the
reciprocal of resistance R and is measured in mhos or siemens

1 i
G  
R v

• The power dissipated by a resistor:

2
v
p  vi  i 2 R 
R
 Problem
• In the circuit shown below, calculate the current i, the
conductance G, and the power p
 Solution
• The voltage across the resistor is
– the same as the source voltage (30V)
• Hence the current is
v 30
i    6 mA
R 5 x 10 3
• The conductance is
1 1
G    mS
R 5 x 10 3

• The power is
 
p  v i  30 6 x 10 3  180 mW
• or


p  i 2 R  6 x 10 3  5 x10   180 mW
2 3
 Kirchhoff’s Laws
• Ohm’s law by
– itself is not sufficient to analyze circuits
• However, when it is coupled with
– Kirchhoff’s two laws, we have a sufficient, powerful
set of tools for analyzing variety of electric circuits
• Kirchhoff’s Current Law (KCL)
• Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law (KVL)
 Kirchhoff’s Laws
• Kirchhoff’s Current Law (KCL)
– states that the algebraic sum of currents entering a
node (or a closed boundary) is zero
 Kirchhoff’s Current Law
• Mathematically, KCL implies that

i
n 1
n 0

– where N is the number of branches connected to the node

– in is the nth current entering or leaving the node
• Current entering a node may be regarded as positive
• Current leaving a node as negative
 Kirchhoff’s Current Law
• Consider the node in the figure below

• Applying KCL we have:

 Kirchhoff’s Current Law
• Consider the node in the figure below

• Applying KCL gives

i1   i 2   i3  i 4   i5   0
• Rearranging the terms we get
i1  i3  i 4  i 2  i5
• Thus
– the sum of currents entering a node is equal to the sum of the
currents leaving the node
 Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law
• Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law (KVL)
– states that the algebraic sum of all voltages around a
closed path (or loop) is zero
• Mathematically, KVL states that

v
m 1
m 0

– where M is the number of voltages in the loop and vm

is the mth voltage
 Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law
• To illustrate KVL, consider the circuit below

• The sign on
– each voltage is the polarity of the terminal encountered
first as we travel along the loop

 v1 ,  v 2 ,  v3 ,  v 4 , and  v5 