Linear Circuit Analysis (EE-111)

Lecture-24
First-Order Circuits

Dr. Imtiaz Hussain

Assistant Professor (Control Systems),
Department of Electronic and Power Engineering
PNEC-NUST, Karachi, Pakistan
email: imtiaz.hussain@pnec.nust.edu.pk
URL :http://imtiazhussainkalwar.weebly.com/

Fall 2021
1st Semester

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 Lecture Outline
• Introduction
• Source Free RC Circuits
• RC Time Constant
• Power and energy
• Example Problems
• Exercise Problems

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 Introduction
• We will now examine RC and RL circuits.

• We carry out the analysis of RC and RL circuits by applying

Kirchhoff’s laws, as we did for resistive circuits.

• The only difference is that applying Kirchhoff’s laws to purely

resistive circuits results in algebraic equations, while applying the
laws to RC and RL circuits produces differential equations.

• The differential equations resulting from analyzing RC and RL

circuits are of the first order. Hence, the circuits are collectively
known as first-order circuits.

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 Introduction
• There are two ways to excite the RC and RL circuits.

1. By initial conditions of the storage elements in the circuits.

2. By independent sources.

• We will consider dc sources only.

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 Source-Free RC Circuits
• A source-free RC circuit occurs when its dc source is suddenly
disconnected. The energy already stored in the capacitor is released
to the resistors.

• Consider a series combination of a resistor and an

initially charged capacitor.

• Our objective is to determine the circuit response. We assume is

the voltage across the capacitor.

• Since the capacitor is initially charged, we can assume that at

time , the initial voltage is

𝑣 ( 0)=𝑉 𝑜
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 Source-Free RC Circuits
• Apply KCL at top node of the circuit

𝑖𝐶 +𝑖 𝑅 =0

• By definition
𝑑𝑣 𝑣
𝑖𝐶 =𝐶 𝑖𝑅=
𝑑𝑡 𝑅
• Therefore,
𝑑𝑣 𝑣
𝐶 + =0
𝑑𝑡 𝑅
• This is a first-order differential equation, since only the first derivative
of is involved.

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 Source-Free RC Circuits 𝑑𝑣 𝑣
𝐶 + =0
• To solve it, we rearrange the terms as 𝑑𝑡 𝑅
𝑑𝑣 1
=− 𝑑𝑡
𝑣 𝑅𝐶
• Integrating both sides we get
𝑡
ln 𝑣=− + ln 𝐴
𝑅𝐶
𝑡
ln 𝑣 − ln 𝐴=−
𝑅𝐶
𝑣 𝑡
ln =−
𝐴 𝑅𝐶
𝑡
−
𝑅𝐶
𝑣 (𝑡 )= 𝐴 𝑒
• But from the initial conditions,
𝑡
−
𝑅𝐶
𝑣 (𝑡 )=𝑉 𝑜 𝑒
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 Source-Free RC Circuits
𝑡
−
𝑅𝐶
𝑣 (𝑡 )=𝑉 𝑜 𝑒
• This shows that the voltage response of the RC circuit is an
exponential decay of the initial voltage.
• It is called the natural response of the circuit

• The rate at which the voltage

decreases is expressed in terms of
the time constant denoted by .

𝜏= 𝑅𝐶

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 Source-Free RC Circuits
• It is evident from the table that the voltage is less than 1% of after
(five time constants).

• The capacitor is fully discharged (or charged) after five time constants.

• It takes for the circuit to reach its final state or steady state when
no changes take place with time.

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 Source-Free RC Circuits
• Time constant is the initial rate of decay, or the time taken for to
decay from unity to zero, assuming a constant rate of decay. .

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 Power Dissipation & Energy
• The power dissipated in the resistor is

• The energy absorbed by the resistor up to time t is

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 Working with Source-Free RC Circuits
• The key to working with a source-Free RC Circuit is Finding:

1. The initial voltage across the capacitor

2. The time constant

• With these two items, we obtain the response as the

capacitor voltage .

• Once the capacitor voltage is first obtained, other variables

(capacitor current , resistor voltage and resistor current ) can be
determined.

• In finding the time constant , is often the Thevenin equivalent

resistance at the terminals of the capacitor; that is, we take out
the capacitor and find at its terminals.
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 Example 24.1
• Let in circuit of following figure. Find , and for .

• Solution: We first need to make the above circuit conform with the standard
circuit.
• We find the equivalent resistance or the Thevenin resistance at capacitor
terminals.

• The and resistors in series can be combined to give a resistor. This resistor in
parallel with the resistor can be combined so that the equivalent resistance
is

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 Example 24.1
• Time constant is

𝜏= 𝑅𝑒𝑞 𝐶=4 × 0.1

𝜏 = 0.4 𝑠𝑒𝑐
• Thus, 𝑡 𝑡
− −
𝜏 0.4
𝑣 𝑐 ( 𝑡 )= 𝑣 ( 0 ) 𝑒 =15 𝑒
− 2 .5 𝑡
𝑣 𝑐 ( 𝑡 )= 15 𝑒 𝑉
• We can use voltage division to get
12 − 2.5 𝑡
𝑣 𝑥= 15 𝑒
12+ 8
−2.5 𝑡
𝑣 𝑥 =9 𝑒
• Finally,
𝑣 𝑥 9 𝑒− 2.5 𝑡
𝑖 𝑥= =
12 12
−2.5 𝑡
𝑖 𝑥 =0.75 𝑒
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 Example 24.2
• The switch in the circuit has been closed for a long time, and it is
opened at . Find for Calculate the initial energy stored in the capacitor.

• Solution: For the switch is closed; the capacitor is an open circuit as shown
below.

• Using voltage division

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• 𝑣 𝑐 ( 𝑡 )= ( 20 ) = 15 𝑉 , 𝑡 < 0
Since the3voltage
+9 across a capacitor cannot change instantaneously, the voltage
across the capacitor at is the same at or

𝑣 𝑐 ( 0 ) =𝑉 𝑜=15 𝑉
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 Example 24.2
• For , the switch is opened; and we have the RC circuit as shown below.

• and resistors are connected in series

𝑅 𝑒𝑞=1+ 9=10 Ω
• The time constant is
𝜏= 𝑅𝑒𝑞 𝐶=10 × 0.02
𝜏 = 0.2 𝑠
• Thus, the voltage across the capacitor for is
𝑡 𝑡
− −
𝜏 0. 2
𝑣 𝑐 ( 𝑡 )= 𝑣 ( 0 ) 𝑒 =15 𝑒
− 5𝑡
𝑣 𝑐 ( 𝑡 ) = 15 𝑒 𝑉
• The initial energy stored in the capacitor is
1 2
𝑤𝑐 ( 0 )= 𝐶 𝑉 𝑜
2
1
𝑤𝑐 ( 0 )= ( 20× 10 ) ( 15 ) = 2.25 𝐽
−3 2
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2
 Exercise Problems
1. Let in circuit of following figure. Find , and for .

2. If the switch in figure below opens at , find for and .

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END OF LECTURE-24

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