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9/13/2015 SolvingCircuitswithKirchoffLaws

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SolvingCircuitswithKirchoffLaws
Example1:Findthethreeunknowncurrents( )andthreeunknownvoltages( )inthecircuitbelow:

Note:Thedirectionofacurrentandthepolarityofavoltagesourcecanbeassumedarbitrarily.Todeterminetheactualdirectionandpolarity,
thesignofthevaluesalsoshouldbeconsidered.Forexample,acurrentlabeledinlefttorightdirectionwithanegativevalueisactually
flowingrighttoleft.

Allvoltagesandcurrentsinthecircuitcanbefoundbyeitherofthefollowingtwomethods,basedoneithertheKVLorKCL.

TheloopcurrentmethodbasedonKVL:
1. Foreachofthe independentloopsinthecircuit,definealoopcurrentaroundtheloopinclockwise(orcounterclockwise)
direction.These loopcurrentsaretheunknownvariablestobeobtained.
2. ApplyKVLaroundeachoftheloopsinthesameclockwisedirectiontoobtain equations.Whilecalculatingthevoltagedrop
acrosseachresistorsharedbytwoloops,bothloopcurrents(inoppositepositions)shouldbeconsidered.
3. Solvetheequationsystemwith equationsforthe unknownloopcurrents.

Findcurrents fromatob, fromctob,and frombtod.

Assumetwoloopcurrents and aroundloopsabdaandbcdbandapplytheKVLtothem:

Werewritetheseas:

andthenget , ,and .Havingfound and ,wecaneasilyfindall

voltagesinthecircuit.
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WecouldalsoapplyKVLaroundthethirdloopofabcdatogetanadditionalequation:

However,thisequationissimplythesumoftheprevioustwoequations,i.e.,itisnotindependent.Substituting and

fromthefirsttwoequationsintothisequationweget .Ingeneral,ifallbranchesinthecircuithavebeencovered,

noadditionalloopcurrentswillbeneeded.

Alternatively,considerthetwoloopcurrents and aroundloopsabdaandbcdb:

i.e.,

andweget and ,inconsistentwiththepreviousresults.

ThenodevoltagemethodbasedonKCL:

1. Assumethereare nodesinthecircuit.Selectoneofthemastheground,thereferencepointforallvoltagesofthecircuit.The
voltageateachoftheremaining nodesisanunknowntobeobtained.

2. ApplyKCLtoeachofthe nodestoobtain equations.

3. Solvetheequationsystemwith equationsforthe unknownnodevoltages.

Inthesamecircuitconsideredpreviously,thereareonly2nodes and (note and arenotnodes).Weassumenode isthe


ground,andconsiderjustvoltage atnode astheonlyunknownintheproblem.ApplyKCLtonode ,wehave

where

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Substituting , ,and intotheequation,weget

Solvingthisweget ,andallothercurrentsandvoltagescanbefoundsubsequently.

WecouldalsoapplyKCLtonoded,buttheresultingequationisexactlythesameas simplybecause
thisnodedisnotindependent.

Asspecialcaseofthenodevoltagemethodwithonlytwonodes,wehavethefollowingtheorem:

Millman'stheorem

Iftherearemultipleparallelbranchesbetweentwonodes and ,thenthevoltage atnode canbefoundasshownbelowifthe


othernode istreatedasthereferencepoint.

Assumetherearethreetypesofbranches:

currentbrancheswith (independentofresistorsinseries).Thedirectionofeach istowardnodea.

resistorbrancheswith .

ApplyingKCLtonode ,wehave:

Solvingfor ,weget

wherethereciprocaloftheresistance iscalledtheconductance.

Insummary,

Loopcurrentmethod:eachequationisforoneoftheindependentloops.
Nodevoltagemethod:eachequationisforoneoftheindependentnodes.

Example2:Solvethefollowingcircuit:

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Loopcurrentmethod:Letthethreeloopcurrentsintheexampleabovebe , and forloops1(topleftbacb),2(toprightadca),

and3(bottombcdb),respectively,andapplyingKVLtothethreeloops,weget

Wecanthensolvethese3loopequationstofindthe3loopcurrents.

Nodevoltagemethod:Ifwechoosenodedasground,wecanapplyKCLtotheremaining3nodesata,b,andc,andget(assumingall
currentsleaveeachnode):

Wecanthensolvethese3nodeequationstofindthe3nodevoltages.

Weseethateitheroftheloopcurrentandnodevoltagemethodsrequirestosolvealinearsystemof3equationswith3unknowns.

Example3:Solvethefollowingcircuitwith , , , , , .Thiscircuithas3

independentloopsand3independentnodes.

Loopcurrentmethod:

Assumethreeloopcurrents (left), (right), (top)allinclockwisedirection.Wehave

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Wecanalsogetthethreenodevoltageswithrespecttothebottomnodeasground: (right),

(middle),and (left).

Nodevoltagemethod:

Assumethethreenodevoltageswithrespecttothebottomnodeasgroundtobe (left), (middle), (right).

ApplyingKCLtothefirsttwonodes,weget

Thevoltagesarethesameasbefore.

Intheproblem,wehavetakenadvantageofeitherthegivencurrentsourcetreatedasaloopcurrent,orthegivenvoltagesourcewhenoneend
ofitisassumedtobeground,sothatineithermethod,oneofthethreeunknownsreadilyavailable,weonlyneedtosolvea2equationsystem
fortheremainingtwounknowns.

Example4:(Homework)Findallnodevoltageswithrespecttothetopleftcornertreatedasreferencenode:

, , , , , .

Answer

Note:Whileusingnodevoltageandloopcurrentmethodstosolveagivencircuit,tosimplifytheanalysis,itispreferableto

chooseindependentloopstoavoidcurrentsourcesharedbytwoloops,
choosegroundnodesothatthevoltagesourceisconnectedtoground.

Example5:Thetwocircuitsshownbelowareequivalent,butyoumaywanttochoosewiselyintermsofwhichiseasiertoanalyze.Solvethis
circuitusingbothnodevoltageandloopcurrentmethods.Assume , , , , ,and

Answer


Next:NetworkTheoremsUp:Chapter2:CircuitPrinciplesPrevious:Chapter2:CircuitPrinciples
RuyeWang20150628

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