Fundamentals of

Electrical Engineering
Electronic & Telecommunication Engineering
Danang University of Technology
Lecture 7
Response of First-Order
RL & RC Circuits
(chapter 7)
Preview
Be able to determine the natural response of both RL
& RC circuits
Be able to determine the step response of both RL &
RC circuits
Know how to analyze circuits with sequential switching
Be able to analyze op-amp circuits containing resistors
& a single capacitor
Problem & Methodology
Recall: both inductors and capacitors can store energy
How to determine the i(t) and v(t) that arise when energy is
either released or acquired by an L or a C in response to
an abrupt in a DC voltage or current source ?
Analysis on RL & RC circuits will be carried out in 3 phases:
Natural response: i(t) & v(t) that arise when stored energy
in L or C is suddenly released to a resistive network
Step response: i(t) & v(t) that arise when energy is being
acquired by L or C due to the sudden application of a DC
voltage or current source
Develop a general method that can be used to find the
response of RL & RC circuits to any abrupt changes
Def: circuit whose voltages and currents are described by
first-order differential equations.
Examples:
RL circuits: only sources, resistors (R), inductors (L)
RC circuits: only sources, resistors (R), capacitors (C)
RLC? chapter 8
First-order circuit
General Configurations
Natural Response of RL Circuit
Suppose the switch has been closed before t = 0 for a
long time, i.e., all currents and voltages had reached a
constant value (steady-state).
When the switch is opened at t = 0 we are interested in
the natural response of the RL circuit from t = 0.
Note that there is a discontinuity at t = 0. For example, the
current through the switch is I
s
for t < 0, and 0 for t > 0.
Often, we write in short i
s
(0

) = I
s
and i
s
(0
+
) = 0.
After opening the switch, we can simplify the circuit as
another circuit depicted on the left side
Now we want to find i(t) and v(t):
- Apply KVL: Ldi/dt + Ri = 0
- Ordinary first-order differential equation with constant
coefficients
Natural Response of RL Circuit
Solving
Initial condition
Define i(0) ?
We knew that i
L
(0

) = I
S
(current through inductor)
We also know that inductors do not allow instantaneous
changes in current. Therefore,
i
L
(0
+
) = i
L
(0

) = I
s
i(0) = I
s
= I
0
So, the natural response of the RL circuit is:
(since v(0
-
) <> v(0
+
), the voltage v(t) is
defined only for t > 0 )
Example
v(0
-
) <> v(0
+
)
Power & Energy
Significance of Time Constant
i(t) = I
0
e
R/Lt
is the natural response of RL circuit.
R/L determines the rate at which the current or voltage
approaches zero.
If R is big, then fast decay (energy dissipates more
quickly).
If L is big, then slow decay (L opposes change in
current, and a big inductor stores more energy).
Define Time Constant , thus
R L/ = t
Significance of Time Constant
One time constant after the inductor has begun to release its
stored energy to the resistor, the current has been reduced to
e
1
, or approximately 0.37 of its final value.
After 5 , the current is less than 1% of its initial value, which
practically reached their final value.
Thus, the existence of the current I
0
in the RL circuit above is a
momentary event and referred to as the transient response of
the circuit.
Consider the tangent of natural response at t = 0:
Now, if i(t) starts as I
0
and decreases at a constant rate,
the expression for i(t) becomes:
This leads to a simple way to measure time constant (fig.)
t /
0
) (
t
e I t i

=
t I I i ) / (
0 0
t =
Significance of Time Constant
Example
After a long time of closing, the switch is opened at t=0. Find
a. i
L
(t) for t 0
b. i
0
(t) for t 0
+
c. v
0
(t) for t 0
+
d. Percentage of total energy stored in the 2H inductor that is
dissipated in the 10 resistor
Example
The initial currents in inductors L
1
& L
2
have been established
by sources not shown. After opening the switch at t=0,
a. Find i
1
& i
2
and i
3
for t 0
b. Calculate the initial energy stored in the parallel inductors
c. Determine how much energy is stored in the inductors as t
infinity
d. Show that the total energy delivered to the resistive network
equals difference between the results obtained from b. & c.
*
**
Assessment Problem
a. Calculate the initial value of i(t)
b. Calculate the initial energy stored in the inductor
c. What is the time constant of the circuit for t > 0
d. What is the numerical expression for i(t) for t 0
e. What percentage of the initial energy stored has been
dissipated in the 2 resistor 5ms after the switch has
been opened?
Natural Response of RC Circuit
The analysis is very similar to the RL circuit.
At t = 0

& t = 0
+
circuit can be simplified as shown above
We want to find v(t) and i(t). KVL: C dv/dt + v/R = 0.
Power and Energy
First-order circuits
Circuits with one capacitor or one inductor are called first
order circuits, because they give rise to first order linear
differential equations.
Engineers have a love/hate relationship with differential
equations. They describe the things we do engineering with,
like circuits, so we need to understand them and obtain
solutions. But we are not math majors! All we want is a
solution! We don't care that there are eight different ways to
solve a differential equation, we just want one way that works!
So what we'll do with first order circuits is first write the circuit
equations from the circuit. Then we'll solve them formally, just
once to prove we can do it. Then we'll develop a short cut so
that all we have to do is write the form of the solution and fill in
some numbers from looking at the circuit. And that's the
method you really use to solve first order circuits.
Example
After a long time in position x, the switch is
a) Find the value of R that enables the shown circuit to
deliver the maximum power to the terminals a & b
b) Calculate the maximum power transferred to R
Step Response for RC Circuit
Let's start by considering the circuit before t = 0. There is
clearly no current, but what about capacitor voltage?
Well, it could be anything, really, in this case, so the
problem has to specify this initial condition.
Let v(0
-
) = 0. Time just before t = 0 is denoted as t = 0
-
Now consider the circuit at instant after the switch
closes. (this would be t =0
+
).
Recall that: i(t) = C dv/dt
No time goes by from 0
-
to 0
+
, so any change in voltage
across the capacitor would require infinite current, which
is not possible. Therefore, capacitors cannot change
voltage instantaneously.
v(0
-
) = v(0
+
)
Step Response for RC Circuit
This means all the source voltage appears across the
resistor (by KVL). Then the current is
So the current did change instantaneously through the
capacitor. We could calculate the rate of change of
capacitor voltage as:
Step Response for RC Circuit
Apply KCL at the capacitor
Step Response for RC Circuit
We can find the value of B from considering the initial
condition
We can check this by considering what happens as t
goes to infinity. In steady state, with a constant source,
we expect the capacitor current to go to zero.
Recall:
Step Response for RC Circuit
General solution
ANY circuit with one capacitor and a resistor has a
solution of the form
( )
RC t
RC t
Be A t v
e v v v t v
/
/
) (
) ( ) 0 ( ) ( ) (

+
+ =
+ =
Calculating Procedure
1. Find the initial condition, v(0
+
), from v(0
-
).
2. Find the steady state solution, v(), using the fact that
the capacitor is an open circuit at t =
3. Find the value of RC. (This value is so useful it has a
special name, time constant)
4. Write the solution:
5. Plug the two voltage values into the solution to find A
and B. Use v() first!
6. Make sure you answered the question being asked!
RC t
Be A t v
/
) (

+ =
Example
Given v(0
-
) = 0V, Find i(t) for 0 < t <
Step Response for RL Circuit
Now let's look at a circuit with an inductor instead of a
capacitor. We'll start with the simplest possible circuit
When the initial energy in the inductor is zero:
L tR
s s
e
R
V
I
R
V
t i
/
0
) (

|
.
|

\
|
+ =
L tR
s s
e
R
V
R
V
t i
/
) (

|
.
|

\
|
+ =
Review of General Solution
Sequential Switching
More than one switching operation in sequence.
Time reference for all switchings can not be t = 0
Approach:
Treat each switching as a separate step response.
Derive v(t) & i(t) for a given position of switch or
switches and then use these solutions to determine the
initial conditions for the next switch positions
Remember that inductive currents and capacitive
voltages cannot change instantaneously
Example
Integrating Amplifier
For an ideal op amp, i
f
+ i
s
= 0 and v
n
= v
p
.
v
p
= 0, so i
s
= v
s
/R
s
and i
f
= C
f
dv
o
/dt
Thus dv
o
/dt = i
f
/C
f
= v
s
/R
s
C
f
Solution
Integrating Amplifier
In particular, if t
0
= 0 and at t
0
there is no energy stored
in C
f
:
Output v
o
(t) is the integral of the input signal, scaled by
-1/R
s
C
f
Unbounded Response
In particular, if t
0
= 0 and at t
0
there is no energy stored
in C
f
:
Output v
o
(t) is the integral of the input signal, scaled by
-1/R
s
C
f
Example
After a long time in position x, the switch is
a) Find the value of R that enables the shown circuit to
deliver the maximum power to the terminals a & b
b) Calculate the maximum power transferred to R
Abstable multivibrator
Monostable multivibrator