Basics of Electrical Circuits

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Lecture 4
 Nodal Analysis
Steps to Determine Node Voltages:
1. Specified the essential node (three or more circuit elements join).

2. Select an essential node as the reference node. Assign voltages v 1,v2 ....vn-1 to the
remaining n-1 essential nods . The voltages are referenced with respect to the
reference essential node.

3. Apply KCL to each of the n-1 nonreference essential nodes. Use Ohm’s law to
express the branch currents in terms of node voltages.

4. Solve the resulting simultaneous equations to obtain the unknown node voltages.

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1- Specified the essential node (three or more circuit elements join).

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2. Select an essential node as the reference node. Assign voltages v 1,v2 ....vn-1 to
the remaining n-1 essential nods. The voltages are referenced with respect to
the reference essential node.

The reference node is called the ground node.

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3. Apply KCL at node 1, 2, and 3.
500W 500W V3
V1 V2

20 mA 500W 500W
1kW

Apply KCL at node 1: algebric sum of current leaving the

node is 0.
V1 500W V2

500W

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 Apply KCL at node 2: algebric sum of current leaving the node is 0.

500W 500W
V1 V2 V3

500W 1kW 500W

V1 500W V2 500W V3

1kW

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 Apply KCL at node 3: algebric sum of current leaving the
node is 0.
500W 500W V3
V1 V2

500W 1kW 500W

V2 500W V3

500W

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Basic of Electrical Circuits 8
 Nodal Analysis with Current Source

The pervious example was nodal analysis with Current source

500W 500W

20 mA 500W 1kW 500W 10 mA

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 Nodal Analysis with voltage Source
I

R1 v1 v2
R3

E + R2 R4
_

V1  E V1 V1  V2
At V1: R1

R2

R3
I Eq 1

V2 V2  V
At V2:  1 I
R R Eq 2
4 3

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 Example 1
4  10 V v1
v2
_
 + 

6  10  5 A

V1 V1  10  V2
At v1:   5 Eq 1
10 4

V2 V2  10  V1
At v2:  0 Eq 2
6 4

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Basic of Electrical Circuits 12
 With Dependent Sources
Example
Consider the circuit below.
We desire to solve for the node voltages V1 and V2.
2
_
Vx +
v1 v2
 
10 
2A
4

10 V + 5
_
5 Vx

In this case we have a dependent source, 5V x, that must be reckoned

with. Actually, there is a constraint equation of
Vx  V2  V1 Eq 1

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 Example
2 
_
Vx +
v1 v2
 
10 
2 A
4 

10 V + 5 
_
5 Vx

V1  10 V1 V1  V2 Eq 2
At node V1   2
10 5 2

V2  V1 V2  5V x
At node V2   2 Eq 3
2 4

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 Example
Clearing the previous equations 1 and 2 and substituting
the constraint VX = V2 - V1 gives,
8V1  5V2  30

 7V1  8V2   8

which yields,

V1 = 6.9 V V2 = 5.03 V

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 Nodal Analysis (special cases)
With voltage source
We now consider how voltage
sources affect nodal analysis.

Consider the following two possibilities.

Case 1:
If a voltage source is connected between the
reference node and a nonreference node, we simply
set the voltage at the nonreference node equal to the
voltage of the voltage source. Thus, our analysis is
somewhat simplified by the knowledge of the
voltage at the node (v1 = 10 v).

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 Nodal Analysis (special cases)
With voltage source
We now consider how voltage
sources affect nodal analysis.

Consider the following two possibilities.

Case 2:
If the voltage source (dependent or independent) is
connected between two nonreference nodes, the two
nonreference nodes form a generalized node or
supernode ; we apply both KCL and KVL to determine the
node voltages.

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 Nodal Analysis (special cases)
With voltage source

A supernode is formed by enclosing a (dependent or

independent) voltage source connected between two
nonreference nodes and any elements connected in parallel
with it.

Note the following properties of a supernode:

1.The voltage source inside the supernode provides a constraint

equation needed to solve for the node voltages.
2.A supernode has no voltage of its own.
3.A supernode requires the application of both KCL and KVL.

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 Example Voltage super node

Given the following circuit. Solve for the indicated nodal voltages.

super node
2 
x
v1 v2 _ v3
x +
5  10 V
x x
6 A 4  10 

When a voltage source appears between two nodes, an easy way to handle this is to form a super node.
The super node encircles the voltage source and the tips of the branches connected to the nodes.

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 Example
2 
x
v1 v2 _ v3
x +
5  10 V
x x
6 A 4  10 

V3 – V2 = 10 Eq 1

At V1 V1  V2 V1  V3 Eq 2
 6
5 2

V2  V1 V2 V3 V3  V1
At super node    0 Eq 3
5 4 10 2

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 Example
Clearing Eq 1, 2, and 3:

7V1 – 2V2 – 5V3 = 60

-14V1 + 9V2 + 12V3 = 0

V3– V2 = 10

V1 = 30 V V2 = 14.29 V V3 = 24.29 V

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