EE215

Class Problems, Week 5

Solutions
All questions are initially listed in black. After class, those that were covered in class using Top Hat
(as class activities) will be highlighted in blue. Questions remaining in black (after class) may be
used for additional review. Solutions are noted in italics.
Week 5, Q1
Find the Norton Equivalent with respect to the load resistance in the following circuit:

Solution:
Source transformations will work to reduce this circuit to the Thevenin Equivalent. Converting all the
voltage sources in series with resistors to current sources in parallel with those resistors gives:

Combining current sources in parallel and resistors in parallel gives the Norton Equivalent:

Week 5, Q2
Part A
Find the Thevenin Equivalent of the following circuit with respect to the terminals a and b.

Solution:
It is possible to do one source transformation in this circuit on the 20V source (converting it from a
20V source in series with a 100 ohm resistor to a 20/100 or 200 mA source in parallel with a 100 ohm
resistor). After the transformation the 100 ohm resistor is in parallel with another 100 ohm resistor
and can be combined into a 50 ohm resistor.

No more source transformations are productive for reducing the circuit to its Thevenin Equivalent.
Thus, we need to choose another method for finding the Thevenin Equivalent. Due to the number of
sources in the circuit, we choose the hybrid method (Method 3 from the Lecture Notes) where first all
the sources are de-activated and the Thevenin resistance found:



The Thevenin resistance with respect to the terminals a and b is:
(100 + 50) || 100 = 60 Ohms

Now, we can either find the open circuit voltage or the short circuit current associated with the
terminals a and b. We choose to find the open circuit voltage (equal to the Thevenin voltage):

There is one junction point voltage to be found in this circuit (that on top of the 50 ohm source). The
equation is:

(60 - Va)/200 + 20 mA = Va/50 + 200mA


Solving for Va gives:
Va = 4.8V

and the open circuit voltage is: (60 - Va) * 0.5 + Va = 32.4V
Thus, the Thevenin Equivalent circuit is:



Part B
What value of load resistance can we attach to this circuit to achieve maximum power delivered to
that load resistance?

Solution:
Maximum power transfer occurs when the load resistance = thevenin resistance
RL = 60 ohms

Part C
What is the maximum power that can be transferred to the load?

Solution:
Power = VLoad2/RL = (0.5*32.4)2/60 = 4.37 Watts

Part D
What are the values of load resistance that result in half the maximum power being delivered to this
circuit?

Solution:
1/2 Power = 2.185W = VLoad2/RL

2.185 = [32.4* (RL /(60+ RL) ]2 / RL

R = 351 ohms or 10 ohms

Week 5, Q3

Part A
What is the maximum power that can be provided by a 12.6V car battery?
The internal resistance of a lead acid car battery is .01 ohms.

Solution:
Maximum power is transferred to the load on the car battery when the load resistance is equal to the
internal resistance of the battery. In this case, the voltage across the load is 0.5*12.6 = 6.3V

And the maximum power is: 3,969 or about 4,000 Watts

Part B
What is the maximum power that can be provided by a 9V alkaline battery?
The internal resistance of an alkaline battery is .15 ohms.

Solution:
Maximum power provided by the alkaline battery = 4.52/0.15 = 135W


Week 5, Q4
Upon finding an unknown circuit on the lab bench, you measure its output voltage with your
multimeter (with no load attached) and find the voltage to be 20.5V. Concerned that you might
blow the circuit up, you then connect a 150 ohm resistor across the output of the circuit and
measure the voltage again. It reads 18V.


Part A
What is the Thevenin Voltage of this circuit with respect to the output terminals?

Solution:
Vthevenin = Voc = 20.5V

Part B
What is the Norton Current of this circuit with respect to the output terminals?

Solution
In your second measurement, you have created the following situation/circuit:

The measured voltage in this situation was 18V (measured across the 150 ohm resistor). By voltage
divider:

18 =20.5* (150/(150 + Rth))

Solving for Rth gives:
Rth = 20.8 Ohms

And the Norton Current is: 20.5/20.8 = 0.99A


Week 5, Q5
Find the Thevenin equivalent of the following circuit with respect to the 400 Ohm resistor

Solution:
Since this circuit contains dependent sources, we cannot use source transformations to find the
Thevenin Equivalent. We will use Method #2 (find the open circuit voltage and the short circuit
current).

The Open Circuit Voltage:

Nodal analysis on the right hand circuit gives:
(5-Va)/100 + 0.1v = Va/200

By observation: v = 5-Va

Substituting:
(5-Va)/100 + 0.1(5-Va) = Va/200

Solving:
Va = 4.78 V and v = 0.22V and ix = 4.78/200 = 0.024A

By observation:
Voc = 82.6 ix = 1.98V

The Short Circuit Current:

Nodal analysis on the right hand circuit gives:

(5-Va)/100 + 0.1v = Va/200

By observation: v = 5-Va

Substituting:
(5-Va)/100 + 0.1(5-Va) = Va/200

Solving:
Va = 4.78 V and v = 0.22V and ix = 4.78/200 = 0.024A

On the left hand side of the circuit
82.6 ix = 100isc = 1.98V

isc = 19.8mA

And the Thevenin Resistance is:

Voc/isc = 100 Ohms

The Thevenin Equivalent is: