MNA fundamental and companion stamps

Rafael Escarela-Perez
June 12, 2014

1 Linear Stamps
The MNA stamps shown here are meant to be general, that is they apply for DC, AC and transient situations.
It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the building block construction of the MNA. The linear elements
are the resistance r, the inductance l and the capacitance c. The fundamental relationships of these elements
are:
vr = i r r

vl = l di
dt
l
(1)

ic = c dv
dt
c

If any of these elements are connected to nodes p and q within a circuit network, the element voltage can
be written as:

vx = vp − vq (2)
where x can be r, c or l.

1.1 Resistance
The voltage equation of a resistance r is governed by Ohm’s law such that equation 2 is given by:

vp − vq = ir (3)

The injection of current to nodes p and q from r is given by vp − vq /r and vq + vp /r. These currents, by KCL,
must be injected to nodes p and q. This is requirement is fulfilled by:
    
1/r −1/r vp 0
= (4)
−1/r 1/r vq 0

As a clear result, its building block can be established as shown in table 1.

1.2 Inductance
The linear inductor element is now considered by analyzing the transient case. It will be shown that the general
stamp corresponds to a voltage source in series with a equivalent impedance Leq . The DC case is first considered.
The inductor behaves as a short circuit (DC feed). As a result the branch equation of an inductor is given by:

vp − vq = 0 (5)

This is added as an extra equation and its current injected into nodes p and q. A matrix representation is
therefore:     
· · 1 vp  0
· · −1 vq = 0 (6)
1 −1 0 ia 0
   

with ia = il being the current circulating through the inductor. Subscript a stands for ”additional” since an
extra equation is added to the MNA system.

1
 The AC case is now considered. In this case the inductance voltage equation is given by (2) but voltages
and currents (∈ C) are complex numbers. The specific expression is:

vp − vq = jωlia (7)
As a result, it is now clear that     
· · 1 vp  0
· · −1  vq = 0 (8)
1 −1 −jωl ia 0
   

holds.
The transient case requires time discretization of the inductor voltage equation:
dia
vp − vq = l (9)
dt
Euler implicit and trapezoidal time discretization will be used to get the general stamp of an inductor. Euler
discretization transforms (9) into:
l n+1 l
vpn+1 − vqn+1 = n
ia − n ina (10)
h h
Alternatively, the trapezoidal rule leads to:
2l n+1 2l
vpn+1 − vqn+1 = n
ia − n ina − (vpn − vqn ) (11)
h h
The two previous equations can both be written as:

vln+1 = vpn+1 − vqn+1 = Leq in+1

Here n is the current time step and h is the time step. Thus, the inductor voltage can be represented with
n
non-ideal voltage source that has an impedance Leq and a feeding voltage Veq . Their explicit expressions can
be found by simple comparison of (11) and (10) with (12) and they are provided below.
The injection of current in+1
a into p and q as well as the addition of the inductance voltage equation to the
MNA system can now be written in matrix form as:
   n+1  n
· · 1  vp   0 
· · −1  vq = 0 (13)
1 −1 −Leq ia Veq
   

The stamp for the transient case is a result as given in table 1. Actually, it can be seen that this stamp is
valid for any study case, if the following substitutions are performed:

Leq = 0 ∈R DC

Leq = jωl ∈C AC
(14)
l
Leq = h ∈R Transient Euler

2l
Leq = h ∈R Transient Trapezoidal
and
Veq = 0 ∈R DC

Veq = 0 ∈C AC
(15)
Veq = − hl ia ∈R Transient Euler

Veq = − 2l
h ia − (vp − vq ) ∈R Transient Trapezoidal

2
1.3 Capacitance
The capacitor behaves as an open circuit and nothing has to be added to the MNA system in this case. However,
a stamp will be provided to keep generality.
The capacitor stamp are readily established for the DC, AC and transient cases. The AC case is first
considered by writing the capacitor current equation in the frequency domain:

ic = jωcvc = jωc(vp − vq ) (16)

where it is understood that all variables are complex numbers. The injection of the capacitor current into nodes
p and q is given by:     
jωc −jωc vp 0
= (17)
−jωc jωc vq 0
The transient case is set up by time discretization of the capacitor current:
c n+1 c
in+1
c = v − n vcn (18)
hn v h
Alternatively, the trapezoidal rule leads to:
2c n+1 2c n
in+1
c = v − n vc − inc (19)
hn c h
where vc = vp − vq . The last two equations can be represented with a non-ideal current source:

in+1
c = Ceq vcn+1 + Ieq (20)

where Ceq and Ieq are easily grasped from the three previous equations. Hence, it now easy to see that:
   n+1  n
Ceq −Ceq vp −Ieq
= (21)
−Ceq Ceq vq Ieq

This equation is valid for any study case, if the following substitutions are performed:

Ceq = 0 ∈R DC

Ceq = jωc ∈C AC
(22)
c
Ceq = h ∈R Transient Euler

2c
Ceq = h ∈R Transient Trapezoidal

and
Ieq = 0 ∈R DC

Ieq = 0 ∈C AC
(23)
Ieq = − hc (vp − vq ) ∈R Transient Euler

Ieq = − 2c
h (vp − vq ) − ic ∈R Transient Trapezoidal
The general stamp is shown in table 1

3
 Table 1: Circuit Contributions: Linear Elements
Circuit Element Stiffness Contribution Forcing Contribution

p q  
  0 p
1/r −1/r p
0 q
−1/r 1/r q

 p q a   
 0 p
· · 1 p
 · 0 q
· −1  q
Veq a
 
1 −1 −Leq a

p q  
  −Ieq p
Ceq −Ceq p
Ieq q
−Ceq Ceq q