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RL and RC Circuits

Review of Capacitance and Inductance


Capacitance

A capacitor consists of two metal electrodes which can be given equal and opposite charges.
If the electrodes have charges Q and Q, then there is an electric field between them which
originates on Q and terminates on Q. There is also a potential difference between the
electrodes which is proportional to Q. The capacitance of the configuration is defined as



The capacitance is a measure of the capacity of the electrodes to hold charge for a given
potential difference.

The symbol of capacitance is shown below:







Combinations of Capacitors

Capacitors in parallel have the same electrical potential as the source. Thus, the charge on
the equivalent capacitor is the sum of the charges on C1 and C2.











For capacitors connected in series, the potential of the source is the sum of the potentials
across C1 and C2. This is a consequence of conservation of energy.





or


Inductance

Inductance is the property of a conductor by which a change in current in the conductor
"induces" (creates) a voltage (electromotive force) in both the conductor itself (self-
inductance) and in any nearby conductors (mutual inductance).

Symbol for inductance:

Inductance is measured in Henry (H).

The relationship between the self-inductance L of an electrical circuit (in henries), voltage v,
and current i is



Combinations of Inductors

Inductors connected in series are added normally





Example:






If inductors are connected in parallel, they add in reciprocal


Example:









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First Order Circuits







RC Circuit a circuit comprising a resistor and a capacitor
RL Circuit a circuit comprising a resistor and inductor
Capacitors and inductors are storage elements

Two ways to excite a first-order circuit:
Through initial conditions of the storage elements (source-free circuits)
Through the independent sources

Source-free circuits we assume that energy is initially stored in the capacitive or
inductive element.
Source-free circuits may have dependent sources, but do not have independent sources.

The Source-Free RC Circuit











The natural respond depends on the nature of the circuit alone, with no external sources. In
fact, the circuit has a response only because of the energy initially stored in the capacitor.
Voltage response of the RC circuit:












(unit in seconds)
In terms of the time constant,


















































The Source-Free RL Circuit
Consider the series connection of a resistor and an inductor as shown in the circuit below. Our
goal is to determine the circuit response, which we will assume to be the current i(t) through
the inductor. We select the inductor current as the response in order to take advantage of the
idea that the inductor has an initial current I
0
, or

()



As shown on the graph below, the natural response of the RL circuit is an exponential decay of
the initial current.









The time constant for the RL circuit is:


Thus, the current in terms of the time constant is:











When a circuit has a single inductor and several resistors and dependent sources, the Thevenin
equivalent can be found at the terminals of the inductor to form a simple RL circuit. Also,, one
can use Thevenins theorem when several inductors can be combined to form a single
equivalent inductor.

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