FUNDAMENTALS OF ELECTRIC CIRCUITS

Part 1: DC CIRCUITS

Chapter 1: Basic concepts

I. Introduction.

II. Systems of units.

III. Charge and current.

IV. Voltage.

V. Power and Energy.

VI. Circuit elements.

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I. Introduction.
 Electric circuit theory and electromagnetic theory are the two fundamental
theories upon which all branches of electrical engineering are built, such as:
 Power  Control  Communications
 Electric machines  Electronics  Instrumentation
 etc.
 The basic electric engineering theory course is:
 The most important course for an electrical engineering student.
 Excellent starting point for a beginning student in electrical engineering
education.
 Valuable to students specializing in other branches of the physical sciences.

 An electric circuit is an interconnection of electrical elements.

Ex1: A simple electric circuit consists of 4 basic components:
 A battery.  A contact.
 A lamp.  Connecting wires.
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I. Introduction.
 Electric circuit are used in many electrical systems to accomplish different task.

 Objective in this course:

 Not the study of various uses and applications of circuits.
 The analysis of the circuits:
 How does it respond to a give input ?
 How do the interconnected elements and devices in the circuit interact?
 Study commence by defining some basic concepts:
 Charge
 Current
 Voltage
 Circuit element.
 Power
 Energy
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II. Systems of units.

 An international measurement language is the International System of Unit (SI),
adopt by the General Conference on Weight and Measures in 1960.

 In SI, there are six principal units:

Quantity Basic unit Symbol
 From which the units of all
other physical quantities can Length Meter m
be derived. Mass Kilogram Kg

 Use prefixes base on the Time Second s

power of 10 to relate larger Electric current Ampere A
and smaller unit to the basic Thermodynamic temperature Kelvin K
unit.
Luminous intensity Candela cd

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III. Charge and current.

 The concept of electric charge is the underlying principle for explainning all
electrical phenomena.
 Charge is an electrical property of the atomic particles of which matter consists,
measured in coulombs (C)
 In atom physic, each atom consists of electrons, protons and neutrons:
 Electron charge e: -1.602 x 10-19 C
 Proton charge: 1.602 x 10-19 C

 Notes:

 1C = 6.24 x 1018 electrons  pC, nC, μC

 Only charges occuring in nature are integral multiples of the electronic

charge e = -1.602 x 10-19 C.
 Law of conservation of charge: Charge can neither be created nor
destroyed, only transferred.
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III. Charge and current. current

 Electric charge is mobile:

 Can be transferred from one place to another

 Can be converted to another form of energy.

 When a conducting wire is connected to a battery: battery

 Positive charges move in one directions creat an

 Negative charges move in the opposite direction electric current

 It it conventional to take the current flow as the movement of positive charge,

opposite to the flow of negative charges (the current in metallic conductors is
due to negatively charged electrons).

 Electric current is the time rate of change of charge, measured in amperes (A)
dq [ C]
i ; [ A] 
dt [ s]
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III. Charge and current.

 There are two common types of current:
 A direct current (DC) is a current that remains constant with time (I).
 An alternating current (AC) is a current that varies sinusoidally with time (i).
I i

t t
0

2A 2A

a current of 2A may be represented

positively or negatively
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IV. Voltage.
 In order to move the electron in a conductor in a particular direction requires
some work or energy transfer (external electromotive force, emf, as known as
voltage or potential difference).
 Voltage (or potential difference) is the energy required to move a unit charge
through an element, measured in volts (V). + a
dw [ J ] [ Nm]
vab  ; [ V]   vab
dq [ C] [ C]
 The vab can be interpreted in two ways: b
-
 Point a is at a potential of vab volts higher than point b.
 vab  vba
 The potential at point a with respect to point b is vab.
There are two common types of voltage:

 DC voltage: produced by a battery, represented by V

 AC voltage: produced by an electric generator, represented by V

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V. Power and energy.

 Although current and voltage are the two basic variables in an electric circuit,
they are not sufficient by themselves.
 In fact:
 Need to know how much power an electric device can handle ?
 The EVN’s bills are paid for the electric energy consumed over a certain
period of time.
 power and energy calculations are important in circuit analysis.
 Power is the time rate of expending or absorbing energy, measured in watts (W)
dw dw dq p: the instantaneous power
i p  .  vi i
dt dq dt
b a Passive sign convension is satisfied b a
- v - v

+
when the current enters through the
+

p = -vi positive terminal of an element, and p p = vi

power is being supplied
= vi. If the current enters through the power is being delivered
by the element to the element
negative terminal, p = -vi
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V. Power and energy.

 Law of conservation of energy:

p0
 Energy is the capacity to do work, measured in Joules (J)
t t
   pdt   vidt
t0 t0

 The electric power utility companies measure energy in Watt-hours (Wh)

1 Wh = 3,600 J

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VI. Circuit elements.

 An element is the basic building block of a circuit.

 An electric circuit is simply an interconnection of the elements.

 Circuit analysis is the process of determining voltages across (or the currents
through) the element of the circuit.

 Types of circuit elements:

 Passive elements: Not be able to generate energy.
Ex. : Resistors, capacitors, inductors, …
 Active elements: To be able to generate energy.
Ex. : Generators, batteries, operational amplifiers, voltage sources, current
sources …

 Two kinds of sources:

 Independent sources.
 Dependent sources.
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VI. Circuit elements.

 An ideal independent source is an active element that provides a specified
voltage or current that is completely independent of other circuit variables.

 An ideal independent voltage source delivers to the circuit whatever current

is necessary to maintain its terminal voltage.
v

v
DC or time varying independent DC independent voltage
voltage source source

 An ideal independent current source is an active

element that provides a specified current completely i
independent of the voltage across the source (the Independent current
arrow indicates the direction of current i) source

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VI. Circuit elements.

 An ideal dependent (or controlled) source is an active element in which the
source quantity is controlled by another voltage or current.

 There are 4 possible types of dependent sources:

 A voltage-controlled voltage source (VCVS) i
 A current-controlled voltage source (CCVS)
Dependent current
 A voltage-controlled current source (VCCS) source
 A current-controlled current source (CCCS)
- +
 Dependent sources are useful in modeling elements:
v
 Transistors.
Dependent voltage
 Operational amplifier. source
 Integrated circuits.
 …

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