UNIT-II

Transient Analysis

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 Overview
• This chapter examines RC and LC circuits’
reaction to switched sources.
• The circuits are referred to as first order
circuits.
• Three special functions, the unit step, unit
impulse, and unit ramp function are also
introduced.
• Both source free and switched sources are
examined.

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 First Order Circuits
• A first order circuit is characterized by a first
order differential equation.
• There are two types of first order circuits:
• Resistive capacitive, called RC
• Resistive inductive, called RL
• There are also two ways to excite the
circuits:
• Initial conditions
• Independent sources

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 Source Free RC Circuit
• A source free RC circuit
occurs when its dc source is
suddenly disconnected.
• The energy stored in the
capacitor is released to the
resistors.
• Consider a series
combination of a resistor
and a initially charged
capacitor as shown:

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 Source Free RC Circuit
• Since the capacitor was initially charged, we
can assume at t=0 the initial voltages is:
v  0   V0
• Applying KCL at the top node:
iC  iR  0

• Or
dv v
 0
dt RC

• This is a first order differential equation.

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 Source Free RC Circuit
• Rearranging the equation and solving both
sides yields:
t
ln v    ln A
RC

• Where A is the integration constant

• Taking powers of e produces
v  t   Aet / RC
• With the initial conditions:
v  t   V0et / RC

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 Natural Response
• The result shows that the
voltage response of the RC
circuit is an exponential
decay of the initial voltage.
• Since this is the response
of the circuit without any
external applied voltage or
current, the response is
called the natural
response.

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 Time Constant
• The speed at which the voltage decays can
be characterized by how long it takes the
voltage to drop to 1/e of the initial voltage.
• This is called the time constant and is
represented by .
• By selecting 1/e as the reference voltage:
  RC
• The voltage can thus be expressed as:
v  t   V0et /

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 Time Constant II
• After five time constants
the voltage on the capacitor
is less than one percent.
• After five time constants a
capacitor is considered to
be either fully discharged
or charged
• A circuit with a small time
constant has a fast
response and vice versa.

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 RC Discharge
• With the voltage known, we can find the
current:
V
iR  t   0 e  t /
R
• The power dissipated in the resistor is:
V02 2t /
p t   e
R

• The energy absorbed by the resistor is:

1

wR  t   CV02 1  e 2t /
2


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Example 1
Refer to the circuit below, determine vC, vx, and io
for t ≥ 0.
Assume that vC(0) = 30 V.

Answer: vC = 30e–0.25t V ; vx = 10e–0.25t ; io = –2.5e–0.25t A

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12
 Source Free RC Circuit
Summary
• The key to working with this type of situation
is:
• Start with the initial voltage across the
capacitor and the time constant.
• With these two items, the voltage as a
function of time can be known.
• From the voltage, the current can be known
by using the resistance and Ohm’s law.
• The resistance of the circuit is often the
Thevenin equivalent resistance.
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Example 2
The switch in circuit below is opened at t = 0, find
v(t) for t ≥ 0.

• Please refer to lecture or textbook for more detail elaboration.

Answer: V(t) = 8e–2t V
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 Source Free RL Circuit
• Now lets consider the series connection of a
resistor and inductor.
• In this case, the value of interest is the
current through the inductor.
• Since the current cannot change
instantaneously, we can determine its value
as a function of time.
• Once again, we will start with an initial
current passing through the inductor.

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 Source Free RL Circuit
• We will take the initial current
to be:
i  0  I0
• Applying KVL around the
loop:
vL  vR  0
• Or:
di
L  Ri  0
dt

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 Source Free RL Circuit
• After integration:
i  t   I 0e Rt / L

• Once again, the natural response is an

exponentially decaying current.
• The time constant in this case is:
L

R

• The same principles as the RC circuit apply

here.

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 Comparison between a RL and RC circuit

A RL source-free circuit A RC source-free circuit

L
i (t )  I 0 e t / 
where   v(t )  V0 e  t / where   RC
R

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Example 3
Find i and vx in the circuit.
Assume that i(0) = 5 A.

Answer: i(t) = 5e–53t A 20

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Figure 7.15
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Figure 7.18
 Singularity Functions
• Before we consider the response of a circuit
to an external voltage, we need to cover
some important mathematical functions.
• Singularity functions serve as good
approximations to switching on or off a
voltage.
• The three most common singularity
functions are the unit step, unit impulse, and
unit ramp.

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 The Unit Step
• A step function is one that
maintains a constant value
before a certain time and
then changes to another
constant afterwards.
• The prototypical form is zero
before t=0 and one
afterwards.
• See the graph for an
illustration.

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 The Unit Step
• Mathematically, the unit step is expressed
as:
0, t  0
u t   
1, t  0
• The switching time may be shifted to t=t0 by:
0, t  t0
u  t  t0   
1, t  t0
• Note that this results in a delay in the switch.
• The unit step function is written as u(t)

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• The unit step function u(t) is 0 for negative values
of t and 1 for positive values of t.

 0, t0
u(t )  
1, t0

 0, t  to
u (t  to )  
1, t  to

 0, t   to
u (t  to )  
1, t   to
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 Equivalent Circuit
• The unit step
function has an
equivalent circuit to
represent when it is
used to switch on a
source.
• The equivalent
circuits for a
voltage and current
source are shown.

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 The Unit Impulse Function
• The derivative of the unit
step function is the unit
impulse function.
• This is expressed as:
 0 t0

  t    Undefined t  0
 t 0
 0

• Voltages of this form can

occur during switching
operations.
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 The Unit Ramp Function
• Integration of the unit step
function results in the unit
ramp function:
0, t  0
r t   
 t, t  0

• Much like the other

functions, the onset of the
ramp may be adjusted.

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Figure 7.33
Figure 7.34
Figure 7.39
 Step Response of RC Circuit
• When a DC source is
suddenly applied to a RC
circuit, the source can be
modeled as a step function.
• The circuit response is
known as the step response.
• Let’s consider the circuit
shown here.
• We can find the voltage on
the capacitor as a function of
time.
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 Step Response of RC Circuit
• We assume an initial voltage of V0 on the
capacitor.
• Applying KCL:
dv v V
  s u t 
dt RC RC
• For t>0 this becomes:
dv v V
  s
dt RC RC
• Integrating both sides and introducing initial
conditions finally yields:
 V0 , t 0
v t   
Vs  V0  Vs  e
 t /
t 0

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 Step Response of RC Circuit
• This is known as the complete
response, or total response.
• We can consider the response
to be broken into two separate
responses:
• The natural response of the
capacitor or inductor due to
the energy stored in it.
• The second part is the forced
response
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 Forced Response
• The complete response can be written as:
v  vn  v f
• Where the nature response is:
vn  V0 e  t /

• And the forced response is:


v f  Vs 1  et / 
• Note that the eventual response of the circuit
is to reach Vs after the natural response
decays to zero.

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 Another Perspective
• Another way to look at the response is to
break it up into the transient response and
the steady state response:
v  vt  vss
• Where the transient is:
vt  V0  Vs  et /
• And the steady state is:
vss  Vs

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 Step Response of RL Circuit
• Now we can look at the step
response of a RL circuit.
• We will use the transient and
steady state response
approach.
• We know that the transient
response will be an
exponential:
it  Ae t /

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 Step Response of RL Circuit
• After a sufficiently long time, the current will
reach he steady state:
Vs
iss 
R
• This yields an overall response of:
Vs
i  Ae t / 
R
• To determine the value of A we need to keep
in mind that the current cannot change
instantaneously.
   
i 0  i 0  I 0

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 Step Response of RL Circuit
• Thus we can use the t=0 time to establish A
Vs
A  I0 
R
• The complete response of the circuit is thus:
Vs  V 
i t     I 0  s  e  t /
R  R
• Without an initial current, the circuit
response is shown here.

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