University of M’hamad Bougara Boumerdes

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

I.G.E.E

LABORATORY EXPERIMENT #6

AC THEVENIN’S THEOREM AND MAXIMUM

POWER TRANSFER

EE203-LAB
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING II

Prepared by:
SYLIA KEMOUN

RIMANE BOUDHAR

DAHBIA MESSAOUDI

PROMOTION: L03/GROUP: 09

Under supervision of:

Dr. METIDJI R

Date the lab was conducted:

January 22, 2020

1
Introduction:
Thevenin’s theorem states that any two terminal circuit can be
replaced with an equivalent circuit consisting of a voltage source and
an impedance in series.

The maximum average power transfer theorem states that maximum

power is delivered to the load if the load impedance is the complex
conjugate of the thevenin’s impedance across terminals where the
load is connected.

Objectives:
The purpose of this lab experiment is to:

- Get familiar with the Thevenin’s equivalent circuit and the

maximum power transfer theorem.
- Find the experimental Thevenin’s equivalent circuit and
compared to the theoretical Thevenin’s equivalent circuit.

2
 - - find the condition under which maximum power is transferred
to some load.

Apparatus:
- Resistors of 330 Ω, 470 Ω, 510 Ω, 1 kΩ, 1.5 kΩ, 1.8 kΩ, 2.2 kΩ,
3.3 kΩ
- Capacitors of 100 nF, 220 nF, 330 nF, 470 nF, 1 μF
- Inductor of 68 mH

FG/The scope

BNC Adaptor Bread Board

3
 BANANA to BANANA cables

T BNC connector Multimeter

Procedures:
⇒ We set the function generator to 20 V peak to peak and 1 KHz,
then we connected the circuit shown in Fig. 1 with:

R1 = 470 Ω

R2 = 1 KΩ

C = 100 nF

4
 L = 68 mH

⇒ We measured the voltage at a-b (this is the Thevenin’s voltage).

We got: Vth(peak) = 6.4 V
6.4
Vth (RMS) = √2
=4.53V

⇒ We displayed the voltage at a-b and the input voltage.

The phase relationship between the two waveforms is:

we have :θ=360 °∗f ∗Δt / Where Δt is delay (exp)

We got: Δt (exp) = 65 μs

so: θ(exp)=360 °∗1∗10 3∗65∗10−6 = 23.4°

⇒ We replaced the resistor R2 by a short circuit as shown in Fig. 2

and measured the current through the inductor (this is the short
circuit current).

We got: Isc (RMS) = 13.70 mA (using the multimeter)

5
⇒ We computed the ratio between the voltage at a-b and the
current through the inductor with R2 shorted.
V th (RMS) 4.53
We got: = =330.66 Ω (this the absolute value of the
I sc ( RMS) 13.70∗10−3
Thevenin’s impedance).
⇒ The experimental Thevenin’s equivalent circuit is shown in Fig.
3 bellow:

⇒ The theoretical Thevenin’s equivalent circuit takes the form in

Fig. 4.

We found the values of Vth , Rth and Xth using:

We have:
ZR1 = 470 Ω
ZR2 = 1000 Ω
1 1 1
ZC = -j =− j =− j =− j1591.55 Ω
ωC 2∗π∗f∗C 2∗π∗1000∗100∗10−9

ZL = jωL= j∗2∗π∗f ∗L= j∗2∗π∗1000∗68∗10−3= j 427.26 Ω

6
Vth =?

KCL:
V −10 V V
+ + =0
ZR1 Z C Z R 2 +Z L

V = (7.1 - j0.64) V = 7.13 ⌊-5.15° V

VDR:
ZR2
Vth = Z R 2+ Z L
∗V =¿ (5.77 - j3.12) V = 6.56 ⌊-28.4° V

6.56
Vth (RMS) = =4.64 V
√2

Zth =?

Zth = {[( Z R 1/ / ZC ¿ + Z L] / / Z R 2 } = (331.09 + j139.92) Ω

= 359.44 ⌊22.91° Ω

So:

Rth = 331.09 Ω
7
Xth = 139.92 Ω
The nature of the Thevenin’s impedance is inductive
Because:
Xth = 139.92 Ω > 0
Θth = 22.91° > 0
6 .56−6 . 4
%Deviation (|Vth |) = ∗100=2 . 44 %
6 .56

359. 44−330 . 66
%Deviation (|Zth |) = ∗100=8 . 01 %
359 . 44

28 . 4−23 . 4
%Deviation (|θ|) = ∗100=17 . 61%
28 . 4

Where: θ is the phase relationship between the Thevenin’ voltage

ant the input voltage

⇒ The circuit in Fig. 5 shows a load that is connected to the

Thevenin’s equivalent circuit of a linear circuit.

Given that:
CLoad= 100 nF

L = 68 mH

R = 1.5 kΩ

8
 Finding the values of RLoad and the supply frequency that will
ensure maximum power transfer to the load made of RLoad and CLoad
:

At MPT, we have:

- RLoad = Rth = R = 1.5 kΩ

- XLoad = - Xth
- ZLoad is the complex conjugate of Zth

| XLoad |= | Xth |
1 1
So: ω C Load
=ωL ⇒ ω= √ L C Load

ω 1
We have: ω=2∗π∗f ⇒ f = 2∗π = 2∗π∗√ L C Load = 1.9 kHz

⇒ We connected the circuit shown in Fig. 5 with:

CLoad= 100 nF

L = 68 mH

R = 1.5 kΩ

We set the supply frequency at 1.5 kHz and 20 V peak to peak

. We varied the value of the resistance RLoad and recorded the voltage
across the load

. We deduced the load power at each value and recorded in Table 1

. Finding the theoretical voltage across the load:

Using voltage divider rule (VDR), we have:

Z RL + Z CL
VLoad = Z R +Z L + Z RL + ZCL (Vin)

Where:

9
Vin = 10 V

ZRL = RLoad

ZCL = -j1061 Ω

ZR = R = 1.5 kΩ

ZL = j641 Ω

. Computing the experimental load power using:

We have:
V Load
PLoad (exp) = 2 Z Load

Where:

ZLoad = RLoad + ZCL = RLoad - j1061

RLoad (Ω) VLoad (V) theory VLoad (V) exp PLoad (W) exp
330 5.92 ⌊-59.75° 6.1 16.75 mW
470 5.76 ⌊-54.10° 6 15.34 mW
510 5.73 ⌊-52.5° 5.8 14.39 mW
1k 5.74 ⌊-37.15° 5.9 8.69
1.5 k 6.06 ⌊-27.28° 6.2 6.04
1.8 k 6.28 ⌊-23.26° 6.4 4.98
2.2 k 6.56 ⌊-19.24° 6.6 3.87
3.3 k 7.19 ⌊-12.86° 7.3 2.35
Table 1

⇒ We fixed the resistance RLoad at 1.5 kΩ then varied the capacitance

values of CLoad and measured the voltage across the load.

. We deduced the power at each value and recorded in Table 2

10
We set the supply frequency at 1 kHz and 20 V peak to peak.

. Finding the theoretical voltage across the load:

Using voltage divider rule (VDR), we have:

Z RL + Z CL
VLoad = Z R +Z L + Z RL + ZCL
(Vin)

Where:

Vin = 10 V

ZRL = RLoad = 1.5 kΩ

1
ZCL = -j ωC

ZR = R = 1.5 kΩ

ZL = j427 Ω

CLoad ZCL (Ω)

100 nF -j1592
220 nF -j732
330 nF -j 482
470 nF -j339
1 μF -j159

. Computing the experimental load power using:

We have:
V Load
PLoad (exp) = 2 Z Load

11
Where:

ZLoad = RLoad + ZCL = 1.5*103 + ZCL

CLoad VLoad theory (V) VLoad exp (V) PLoad exp (W)
100 nF 6.79 ⌊-25.3° 7 8.15
220 nF 5.5 ⌊-20.2° 5.8 4.42
330 nF 5.25 ⌊-16.71° 5.5 2.94
470 nF 5.12 ⌊-14.47° 5.3 2.01
1 μF 5.00 ⌊-11.18° 5.1 9.1
Table 2

⇒ The right load to be used for maximum power transfer

1. Experimental

From Table 1: for f = 1.5 kHz

RLoad = 1 kΩ

CLoad= 100 nF

ZLoad = RLoad + ZCL = 1000 - j1061 Ω = 1458 ⌊-46.7° Ω

From Table 2: for f = 1 kHz

RLoad = 1.5 kΩ

CLoad= 1 μF

ZLoad = RLoad + ZCL = 1500 - j159 Ω = 1508 ⌊-6.01° Ω

2. Theoretical

We have:

12
. For f = 1.5 kHz

Zth = Rth + Xth = 1500 + j641 Ω

So: ZLoad = 1500 - j641 Ω = 1631 ⌊-23.14° Ω

. For f = 1 kHz

Zth = Rth + Xth = 1500 + j427 Ω

So: ZLoad = 1500 - j427 Ω = 1559.6 ⌊-15.9° Ω

|ZLoad| |ZLoad |
% Deviation
(theoretical) (experimental)

1.5 kHz 1631 Ω 1458 Ω 10.61 %

1 khZ 1560 Ω 1508 Ω 3.33 %

⇒ No, it is not always possible to find the required load for

maximum power transfer.
⇒ Achieving maximum load power does not mean achieving
maximum efficiency.
The efficiency is only 50% when maximum power transfer is
achieved.
The efficiency approaches 100% if the load resistance approaches
infinity or the source resistance approaches 0.

Notice: We did not use the impedance meter, so we worked directly

with the theoretical value.

13
Discussion:
In this lab experiment we observe that there is a difference between
the theoretical and the measured values.
This difference is because of errors which can be made by apparatus
and human (based on our technique: personal error).
The errors can be due to the bad connection between the components
of the circuit (resistor, capacitor and inductor), the bread board,
adaptors, connectors, cables, FG and the scope.
But after all we can say that our calculated results were pretty close
from the observed one, we had small errors.

Conclusion:
In this experiment we learnt how to find the experimental Thevenin’s
equivalent circuit and the theoretical Thevenin’s equivalent circuit,
and find the condition under which maximum power is transferred to
some load.

When applying Thevenin’s theorem in AC circuits we have found that

the same rules are applied, just using the phasors to simplify the
calculations.

The Thevenin equivalent circuit will be changed if the source

frequency was changed. The reason for this is because the reactance
of capacitors and inductors vary with frequency as we have seen in
the previous experiments.

At maximum power transfer ZLoad is the complex conjugate of Zth

14
After performing this lab experiment we can saу that we achieved
our objectives.

15