Practical number: RL, RC CIRCUITS AND OHM’S LAW

A practical report submitted for the partial fulfilment of the requirements for the
degree
BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING in
ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING SCIENCE
at the
UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG

___________________________________
Name: Nkosingiphile
Surname: Phiri
Student Number:222052168
Student, University of Johannesburg
Module: ETN1B
Date: 28 September 2023
Plagiarism Declaration
I, NKOSINGIPHILE PHIRI an Electrical and Electronic Engineering Student at the
University of Johannesburg, hereby declare that the content of this document is of my own
work. I understand what plagiarism constitutes, and that all unethical academic behaviour is
punishable by disciplinary action as deemed fit by the university.
Table of Contents

Table of Figures
 AIM
Part 1
To obtain the transient response and measure the time constant of a series
RL and RC circuit for a pulse waveform.
Part 2
To verify Ohm’s law for a given resistive network
OBJECTIVES
1. To explore the measurement of voltage & current in circuits
2. To see Ohm’s law in action for resistors
3. To explore the time dependent behaviour of RC and RL Circuits
INTRODUCTION
When a battery is connected to a circuit consisting of wires and other circuit
elements like resistors and capacitors, voltages can develop across those
elements and currents can flow through them. In this lab we will investigate
three types of circuits: those with only resistors in them and those with resistors
and either capacitors (RC circuits) or inductors (RL circuits). We will confirm
that there is a linear relationship between current through and potential
difference across resistors (Ohm’s law: V = IR). We will also measure the very
different relationship between current and voltage in a capacitor and an
inductor, and study the time dependent behaviour of RC and RL circuits.
LITERATURE
In class we derived expressions for the time-dependent charge on, voltage
across, and current through the capacitor, but even without solving differential
equations a little thought should allow us to get a good idea of what happens.
Initially the capacitor is uncharged and hence has no voltage drop across it (it
acts like a wire or “short circuit”). This means that the full voltage rise of the
battery is dropped across the resistor, and hence current must be flowing in the
circuit (VR = IR). As time goes on, this current will “charge up” the capacitor –
the charge on it and the voltage drop across it will increase, and hence the
voltage drop across the resistor and the current in the circuit will decrease.
After the capacitor is “fully charged,” with its voltage essentially equal to the
voltage of the battery, the capacitor acts like a break in the wire or “open
circuit,” and the current is essentially zero. Now we “shut off” the battery
(replace it with a wire). The capacitor will then release its charge, driving
current through the circuit. In this case, the voltage across the capacitor and
across the resistor are equal, and hence charge, voltage and current all do the
same thing, decreasing with time. As you saw in class, this decay is exponential,
characterized by a time constant t.
Inductors store energy in the form of an internal magnetic field, and find their
behaviour dominated by Faraday’s Law. In any circuit in which they are placed
they create an EMF ε proportional to the time rate of change of current I
through them: ε = L dI/dt. The constant of proportionality L is the inductance
(measured in Henries = Ohm s), and determines how strongly the inductor
reacts to current changes (and how large a self-energy it contains for a given
current). Typical circuit inductors range from nanohenries to hundreds of
millihenries. The direction of the induced EMF can be determined by Lenz’s
Law: it will always oppose the change (inductors try to keep the current
constant.
After the inductor is “fully charged,” with the current essentially constant, we
can shut off the battery (replace it with a wire). Without an inductor in the
circuit the current would instantly drop to zero, but the inductor does not want
this rapid change, and hence generates an EMF that will, for a moment, keep the
current exactly the same as it was before the battery was shut off. In this case,
the EMF generated by the inductor and voltage across the resistor are equal, and
hence EMF, voltage and current all do the same thing, decreasing exponentially
with time.
So far we have always assumed that circuit elements are ideal, for example, that
inductors only have inductance and not capacitance or resistance. This is
generally a decent assumption, but in reality no circuit element is truly ideal,
and today we will need to consider this. In particular, today’s “inductor” has
both inductance and resistance (real inductor = ideal inductor in series with
resistor). Although there is no way to physically separate the inductor from the
resistor in this circuit element, with a little thought (which you will do in the
pre-lab) you will be able to measure both the resistance and inductance.

Apparatus
Apparatus Required: RC and RL
Sl. No. Apparatus Range Quantity
1 Function Generator 800 Hz 1
2 Inductor 100 mH or 47 mH 1
3 Resistor 4 KΩ and 220 Ω/330Ω 2
4 Capacitor 1 nF 1
5 Bread Board & Wires -- Required
6 CRO 1

7 CRO Probes 2

Apparatus Required: Ohm’s Law

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

1. The components were connected as per the provided circuit diagram.

2. The signal generator was set to square wave mode with a frequency of
800 Hz.
3. The amplitude of the signal was adjusted to 2 volts peak to peak using the
CRO.
4. The input frequency was set as required.
5. The output waveform was observed and plotted on the CRO.
6. The time required by the output to reach 0.632 times the final value
(peak) was calculated.
7. This calculated time provided the practical time constant for the RL
circuit.
Experimental Results
RL Results
Theoretical Practical Simulation
Time Constant 0.24ms 0.18ms 0.21ms
5 x time constant 1.21ms 0.91ms 1.09ms

RC Results
Theoretical Practical Simulation

Time Constant 3.9µs 4.4µs 4.4µs

5 x time constant 19.5µs 22µs 22.5µs

Ohm’s Law Results

No Rheostat Resistor( Voltage Voltage Current(mA) Current(mA)
Ω) across across
Theoretical
Resistor(Ω
Rheostat Resistor
)
Theoretical
(V)
(V)
1 0 220 9.8 10 45 46

2 114 220 6.1 6.6 28.01 30

3 369 220 2.2 3.7 9.90 17

4 510 220 0.92 3.0 4.3 14

Conclusion

References

1. Electric Circuits" by James W. Nilsson and Susan A. Riedel

• This textbook covers fundamental concepts of electric circuits, including transient

analysis, RL and RC circuits, and time constants.

2. "Fundamentals of Electric Circuits" by Charles K. Alexander and Matthew N. O. Sadiku

• Another comprehensive textbook that provides insights into RL and RC circuits, time
constants, and their applications.

3. "Introduction to Electric Circuits" by Richard C. Dorf and James A. Svoboda

 • This book offers a fundamental understanding of electric circuits, including their
transient response and application of pulse waveforms.

4. "Electronic Principles" by Albert Paul Malvino and David J. Bates

• A valuable resource for understanding electronic principles, circuits, and time constants
in depth.

5. "Engineering Circuit Analysis" by William H. Hayt Jr., Jack E. Kemmerly, and Steven M. Durbin

• This book provides a theoretical foundation and practical understanding of circuit

analysis, including transient analysis.