TRANSIENTS AND RC TIME CONSTANTS

The capacitor has a wide range of applications in electronic circuits, some of which are energy
storage, dc blocking, filtering, and timing. Thus, it is important for engineering students to
understand capacitor operation. This experiment is designed to familiarize the student with the simple
transient response of two-element RC circuits, and the various methods for measuring and displaying
these responses.

Theory

RC Transients

In normal operation, a capacitor charges part of the time and discharges at other times.
These terms are described below in two parts: first, capacitor charging, and then discharging.

Consider the circuit shown in Fig. 9.1. For t < 0, switch S
2
is closed and S
1
is open. At t = 0,
switch S
1
is closed and S
2
is opened. If we assume that the circuit was in a dc steady state before the
switching occurred, there was no energy stored on the capacitor and therefore v
o
(0) = 0.


Fig. 9.1 Series RC circuit


Applying KCL at the upper capacitor node (for t > 0) yields

, 0 =

+
c
c
R
V v
t
v
C
s o o


or
,
RC
V
RC
v
t
v
s o o
= +
c
c

The solution is

) 1 ( ) (
RC
t
s o
e V t v

= , 0 > t (9.1)

This is the equations describing the capacitor voltage while charging.

A graph of the capacitor voltage is shown in Fig. 9.2. The voltage begins at zero, rises
rapidly, and approaches V
s
as t . For all practical purposes, v
o
(t) = V
s
when t = 5(RC). In Eq.
(9.1), RC is the time constant of the circuit. The quantity symbol for the time constant is t. Thus, for
this RC circuit, t = RC.


Fig. 9.2 Increasing exponential for the charging case

Now consider the discharging process. Suppose that the capacitor voltage has reached V
s
( t
>> t). Then, at t = t
1
, switch S
1
is suddenly opened and S
2
closed. KCL applied at the upper capacitor
node (for t > t
1
) yields

0 = +
c
c
RC
v
t
v
o o


the solution to which is


RC
t t
s o
e V t v
) (
1
) (

= ,
1
t t > (9.2)

Equation (9.2) describes the capacitor voltage while discharging.

A graph of Eq. (9.2) for (t - t
1
) > 0 is shown in Fig. 9.3. The voltage begins at V
s
, decays
exponentially, and approaches zero asymptotically as t . Again, v
o
(t) is considered to be zero
after 5 t, in which t = RC.


Fig. 9.3 Decaying exponential for the discharging case.

Suppose that the capacitor had a nonzero initial value or was not allowed to charge or
discharge fully, as shown in Fig. 9.4. In this case, for a single time-constant RC circuit with initial and
final values V
i
and V
f
, the solution can be written as


t
t
f i f o
e V V V t v

+ = ) ( ) ( , (9.3)

in which v
o
(t) is the capacitor voltage and V
i
and V
f
are the initial and final values, as shown in Figure
9.4.
Fig. 9.4 Typical capacitor voltage waveforms for (a) charging and (b) discharging.

Equation (9.3) applies also to the circuit shown in Fig. 9.5, in which the output voltage v
o
(t) is
taken across the resistor. V
i
and V
f
are resistor voltages.


Fig. 9.5 Another form of series RC circuit.

Prelab Question 1:

A 100 F capacitor is connected in series with a 10 kO resistor and a 10-V DC source for 2 seconds.
Then it is disconnected quickly and connected to a single resistor of 1 kO.

(a) Write the capacitor voltage, v
c
(t), for 0 < t < 2 s.

(b) Write the capacitor voltage, v
c
(t), for t > 0, where t = t - 2.

(c) How much voltage is on the capacitor at t = 17 s ?

Time Constants

A glance at Eqs. (9.1) and (9.2) reveals that RC, or t, has the units of seconds. Also, the time
constant is the time required for a charging or discharging quantity to come within 1/e of its final
value. Equivalently, it is the value of time for which the exponent in Eq. (9.3) has the value -1. This
occurs when t = t. When the exponent equals 2, two time constants have elapsed, and so on. At
one time constant, an evaluation of e
-1
shows that the charging curve has risen to 63.2% of the
maximum amplitude, as shown in Fig. 9.6(a). Also, at one time constant, the capacitor voltage as
shown in Fig. 9.6(b), has decreased to 36.8% of its initial amplitude.
Figure 9.6 Exponential curves for (a) charging and (b) discharging.

As previously stated, the curves have practically reached their final values after 5t, the
charging curve has risen to 99.3% of its final value, and the discharging curve has decreased to 0.67%
of its initial value.

If a curve of some unknown function of time is known to be exponential, a graphical
technique may be employed to determine the time constant, thus enabling one to write the
mathematical description of the curve. For the discharging case, consider the curve shown in Fig.9.7.
A tangent line is drawn at any arbitrary point y(t
o
) on the curve. The intercept of the tangent line
with the time axis yields a second point, t
b
. If the time axis units are known, the time constant can be
determined from t = t
b

- t
a
.

Figure 9.7 Graphical determination of the time constant t.

For a charging, or increasing, exponential curve, the tangent line intercepts the asymptote to
the curve. Projecting this intercept to the time axis establishes the time interval (t
a
- t
b
) and hence t.

RC Circuit Response to a Periodic Step-Voltage Excitation

With its inertia-less electron beam, the oscilloscope is particularly adapted for the display of
voltage waveforms that are repetitive. The oscilloscope can continuously display some portion of a
periodic input waveform. A transient waveform, however, occurs only once, and is therefore not
repetitive. It can be displayed conveniently only on an oscilloscope with memory. For the
oscilloscopes in the EEL 3303L laboratory, it is necessary to apply a repetitive step voltage to the
input of the RC circuit to display the transient response of the circuit. A good approximation of the
transient response may be obtained using a square-wave excitation since it is periodic and may be
regarded as a series of positive and negative step voltages.

For a periodic square wave with a reasonably long half-period (T/2 > 5 t), the exponential
growth and decay during a single half-period of the square wave will be practically complete. Thus,
the oscilloscope display of a periodic step voltage will appear very similar to that of a single step input
to the RC circuit, as is shown in Fig. 9.8.
Figure 9.8 Series RC circuit response to a zero-centered periodic step voltage input.


Simple RC Series Integration and Differentiation Circuits

Consider the circuit shown in Fig. 9.9(a). By KCL,

, 0 =

+
c
c
R
v v
t
v
C
in o o


If the time constant t = RC is large compared to T/2 so that v
o
is much less than v
in
during the
charging time of T/2, then

,
RC
v
t
v
in o
~
c
c


or

,
1
}
c ~ t v
RC
v
in o


Thus, the circuit is approximately an integrating circuit. Since the integral of a constant is a ramp
(straight line), the integration effect is that of the straight lines shown in Fig. 9.9(b).
Fig. 9.9 (a) RC integrating circuit with (b) input and output waveforms.

Within limits, for the circuit shown in Fig. 9.10(a), the output voltage v
o
is approximately equal to the
derivative of the input voltage v
in
. For this operation the time constant t = RC must be small
compared to half-period T/2. Then the circuit transforms a rectangular wave into a series of short
pulses, as shown in Fig. 9.10(b). Mathematically,

,
t
v
RC v
in
o
c
c
~

Fig. 9.10 (a) RC differentiating circuit with (b) input and output waveforms.



Fig. 9.11 Circuit for transient response.


Transient Response

Prelab Question 2:

For the circuit shown in Fig. 9.11, R = 1 MO, C = 1 nF, and v
in
is a periodic square-wave voltage of
10 V, peak-to-peak. Calculate t (Dont forget the 1-MO oscilloscope input resistance), and the
frequency necessary for a reasonable display of the charging and discharging transients. (Hint: Use
Thevenins equivalent circuit to calculate t.)

Procedure:

Connect the circuit as shown in Fig. 9.11 and adjust the input frequency to the calculated value.
Now, adjust the sweep of the oscilloscope to display 1) the growing exponential, then 2) the decaying
exponential. Graphically determine the time constant. Compare it with the calculated value. For the
function generator, use the FGEN tab.


Differentiating Circuit

1. Connect the circuit shown in Figure 9.10 (a) for R = 1kO and C = 1 nF. Apply a square wave
having a peak to peak voltage of 10 V and a frequency of 6 kHz.

2. Examine the output voltage relative to the source voltage. Repeat for C = 10 nF, C = 0.1 F, and
C = 1 F.


Integrating Circuit

1. Connect the circuit shown in Figure 9.11 and with C = 1 nF, examine the output relative to the
source for R = 1 kO, R = 120 kO, and R = 1 MO.

2. For the same circuit with R = 1 kO and C = 0.1 F, examine the output trace relative to the
source for 10 Hz, f = 100 Hz, f = 1 kHz, f = 6 kHz.