Lecture #1

Response of First-Order
RL and RC Circuits
Chapter #7

Text book: Electric Circuits

James W. Nilsson & Susan A. Riedel
9th Edition.

link: http://blackboard.hcmiu.edu.vn/

to download materials

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Survival Skills

❖ Try to attend every lecture. Supplements might be

provided during class.
❖ Raise your questions if you don’t understand.
❖ It’s not that you just get a ‘pass’. Try to have fun while
learning and practicing.
❖ Take pride in yourself. Never cheat (you don’t need that).

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Objectives

 Be able to determine the natural response of both RL and RC

circuits.

 Be able to determine the step response of both RL and RC circuits.

 Know how to analyze circuits with sequential switching.

Outlines
 The natural response of an RL circuit & an RC
circuit

 The step response of RL & RC circuits

 Sequential switching

 Unbounded response

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General Concepts

The natural response:

The response that arise when stored energy in an inductor or
capacitor is suddenly released.

The step response:

The response that arise when energy is being acquired by an
inductor or capacitor due to sudden application of a dc voltage or
current source.

First order circuits (RL or RC circuits):

Circuits where voltages and currents are described by first-order
differential equations.

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Four possible first order circuits

L or C connected to a
Thevenin equivalent

L or C connected to a
Norton equivalent

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The natural response of an RL circuit

The switch is closed for a long time and opened at t = 0

t≤0
di
=0 v=0 (short circuit)
dt
All the source current I0 appears in the inductive branch

t≥0 Apply KVL:

di
L + Ri = 0 (first order differential equation)
dt

the current cannot change instantaneously in a inductor

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The natural response of an RL circuit

Since the current cannot change instantaneously in an inductor

( ) ( )
i 0− = i 0+ = I 0
i(t ) = I 0 e −( R / L )t t≥0

The voltage across the resistor using Ohm’s law The energy delivered to the resistor
during any interval of time after the
v = iR = I 0 Re − ( R / L )t t  0+ switch has been opened
( )
v 0− = 0 ( )
v 0+ = I 0 R
The power dissipated in the resistor

p = iv = I 02 Re−2(R / L )t t  0+

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The time constant ()

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The time constant ()

Interpretation of the time constant of the RL circuit

Summary:
1) Find the initial current, I0 , through the inductor
2) Find the time constant of the circuit,  = L/R
3) Use I0e- /t , to generate i(t) from I0 and .

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Example 1

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Example 1 - Solution

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Example 1 – Solution (cont)

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Example 1 – Solution (cont)

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Example 2

a) Find i1 , i2 and i3 .
b) Calculate the initial energy stored in the parallel inductors.
c) Calculate the energy stored in the inductor as t → ∞
d) Show that the total energy delivered to the resistive network equals
to the difference between the result obtained in (b) and (c).

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Example 2 – Solution

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Example 2 – Solution (cont)

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Example 2 – Solution (cont)

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The natural response of an RC circuit

Assume the switch has been in position a for a long time:

t≤0
dv
=0 i=0 (open circuit)
dt
vC = Vg

t≥0 Apply node voltage technique:

v(t ) = V0 e −t /  t 0
the voltage cannot change instantaneously in a capacitor
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The natural response of an RC circuit

The current goes through the resistor

v(t ) V0 −(t /  )
i(t ) = = e t  0+
R R

The power dissipated in the resistor

V02 − 2(t / )
p = vi = e t  0+
R
The energy delivered to the resistor

( )
t t
V02 − 2(t /  ) 1
w =  pdt =  e dt = CV02 1 − e − 2(t /  ) t0
0 0
R 2

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Example 3
Find:

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Example 3 (cont)

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Example 4

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Example 4 (cont)
b) Calculate the initial energy stored in the capacitor C1 and C2

c) Calculate how much energy is stored in the Capacitors as t → ∞

d) Show that the total energy delivered to the 250 kΩ resistor is the difference
between the results obtained in (b) and (c)

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The step response of an RL circuit

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The step response of an RL circuit

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The step response of an RL circuit

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Example 5

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Example 5 (cont)

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The step response of an RC circuit SEEE

Apply KCL:

dv vC
C + = Is
dt R

vC (t ) = I s R + (V0 − I s R)e −t / RC , t 0

dvC  − 1  −t / RC
i(t ) = C = C (V0 − I s R ) e
dt  RC 

 V  −t / RC
i(t ) =  I s − 0 e , t  0+
 R 

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Example 6

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Example 6 (cont)

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Example 6 (cont)

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A general solution for natural & step responses

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A general solution for natural & step responses

 t −t0 

 
− 
x(t ) = x f + x(t 0 ) − x f e   

x(t) the unknown variable as a function of time

xf the final value of the variable
x(t0) the initial value of the variable
t0 time of switching
Τ time constant
Procedure:

1) Identify the variable of interest of the circuit. For RC circuits, it is best to

choose vC ; for RL circuit, it is best to choose iL.
2) Determine the initial value of the variable.(vc(t0) in case of RC circuit and
iL(t0) in case of RL circuits)
3) Calculate the final value of the variable (value at t = ∞)
4) Calculate the time constant for the circuit.
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Sequential Switching SEEE

⚫ Switching occurs more than once in a circuit.

⚫ The time reference for switching cannot be t = 0.

Procedure for sequential switching problem

(1) Obtain the initial value x(t0)
(2) Apply the techniques described previously to find current and
voltage value.
(3) Redraw the circuit that pertains to each time interval and repeat
step (1).

Note: Since inductive current IL and capacitive voltage VC cannot

change instantaneously at the time of switching, these value
should be solved first for sequential switching problem.

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Example 8

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Example 8 (cont)

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Example 8 (cont)

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Example 8 (cont)

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Unbounded Response SEEE

A circuit response may grow, rather than decay, exponentially

with time.
This type of response is called an unbounded response.
It may happen when the circuit contains dependent source.
In this case, the Thevenin equivalent with respect to the
terminals of either an inductor or a capacitor may be
negative, which resulting in a negative time constant.
To solve the circuit which have unbounded response, we
need to derive the differential equation that describes the
circuit containing the negative Rth.

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Example 9

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