Power Distribution and

Circuit Analysis (ELEC-252)

Introduction to Transients
R-C DC Series Circuit- Switch ON
 Learning Outcomes
 Behaviour of capacitor in DC circuits
 Voltage stored by capacitor
 Time constant in R-C circuit
 Behaviour of R-C circuit when connected to DC source
 Understanding and calculating current in the circuit and voltage across components
Circuit Elements
Capacitor
 A capacitor is a passive device that stores energy in its Magnetic Field and returns energy to the
circuit whenever required.
 A capacitor’s ability to store charge is referred to as its capacitance, measured in farads (F).
 A capacitor's ability to store energy as a function of voltage (potential difference between the
two leads) results in a tendency to try to maintain voltage at a constant level. In other words,
capacitors tend to resist changes in voltage drop.
 When voltage across a capacitor is increased or decreased, the capacitor "resists" the change by
drawing current from or supplying current to the source of the voltage change, in opposition to
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
the change. 𝑖𝑖 = 𝐶𝐶
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
 Capacitor opposes sudden changes in voltage.
1
 The voltage stored across capacitor is given by 𝑉𝑉𝑐𝑐 = ∫ 𝑖𝑖 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
𝐶𝐶
Capacitors

VVSS Dielec tric

The charging ++
−+++
−
−−
process… Leads +++− +−+
−+++ −−− Plates
++ −
+++ +−
− +
− − −++
Initially uncharged ++
+
+−
−
−
− −
−
−
Charging +
+
−++− −
−−
−
−+ − Elec trons

Fully charged − +
AA +
A
+ +−−− B
BB
−

− − − + − − − −
Source removed

A capacitor with stored charge can act as a temporary battery.

 Capacitor in DC circuits
 As capacitor does not allow voltage across it to change instantaneously, a fully discharged capacitor (no
magnetic field), having zero voltage across it, will initially act as an short -circuit when attached to a source of
voltage (as it tries to maintain zero voltage), therefore initial current would be maximum and also known as
charging current.

 When circuit reaches steady state(s.s.), the capacitor is fully charged and had stored same voltage as source
voltage across its terminals and does not change any more. So with capacitor fully charged, current becomes
zero as there is no potential difference between capacitor and source, the capacitor acts as a open circuit in
steady state(s.s.)

 𝐼𝐼𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 would depend upon source voltage and capacitor internal resistance
Charging of Capacitor
R-C DC Series Circuits
 At the instant the switch is closed, the capacitor will prevent an instantaneous change in voltage across
capacitor.
 Before the switch was closed, capacitor was initially uncharged. So when switch is closed, as capacitor
would keep initial voltage as zero and behave as short circuit. So initially at t=0, when switch is just
closed, circuit behave like a pure resistive circuit where current would be maximum and its value
would be dependent upon circuit resistance

𝑬𝑬
𝐢𝐢 𝟎𝟎 = 𝑰𝑰𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎 =
𝑹𝑹 𝐢𝐢 𝒔𝒔. 𝒔𝒔. = 𝟎𝟎
𝑽𝑽𝑪𝑪 = 𝟎𝟎 𝑽𝑽𝑪𝑪 = 𝐄𝐄 E
𝑽𝑽𝑹𝑹 = 𝑬𝑬 𝑽𝑽𝑹𝑹 = 𝟎𝟎

 In steady state, capacitor would be fully charged, so current would become zero and hence voltage drop
across resistor would be zero as well.
Mathematical Analysis of R-C DC Series circuit
 As per KVL, sum of voltage drop  ln 𝑖𝑖 𝑡𝑡 = −1 × 𝑡𝑡 + 𝐴𝐴
𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅
across elements would be same as
source voltage. Using initial condition to determine constant A
 𝑉𝑉𝑅𝑅 + 𝑉𝑉𝐶𝐶 = 𝐸𝐸 At t=0 , 𝑖𝑖 0 = 𝐼𝐼𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚
1 −1
 𝑖𝑖 𝑡𝑡 × 𝑅𝑅 + ∫ 𝑖𝑖 (𝑡𝑡)𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 = 𝐸𝐸  ln 𝑖𝑖 0 = × 0 + 𝐴𝐴
𝐶𝐶 𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅

Differentiating w.r.t time  ln 𝐼𝐼𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 = 𝐴𝐴

 𝑅𝑅
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑(𝑡𝑡) 1
+ 𝑖𝑖 𝑡𝑡 = 0 Substituting constant in equation
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝐶𝐶 −1
𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑖 𝑡𝑡 1  ln 𝑖𝑖 𝑡𝑡 = × 𝑡𝑡 + ln(𝐼𝐼𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 )
 𝑅𝑅 = − 𝑖𝑖 𝑡𝑡 𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝐶𝐶 −1
 ln 𝑖𝑖 𝑡𝑡 − ln 𝐼𝐼𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 = × 𝑡𝑡
 Rearranging 𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅

𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑖 𝑡𝑡 1 𝑖𝑖(𝑡𝑡) −𝑡𝑡

 = − 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑  ln =
𝑖𝑖(𝑡𝑡) 𝑅𝑅𝐶𝐶 𝐼𝐼𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅
−𝒕𝒕
Integrating both sides 𝑖𝑖(𝑡𝑡) −𝑡𝑡
𝒊𝒊 𝒕𝒕 = 𝑰𝑰𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎 𝒆𝒆 𝝉𝝉
 = 𝑒𝑒 𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅
𝐼𝐼𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚
𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑖 𝑡𝑡 1
 ∫ = ∫− 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
𝑖𝑖(𝑡𝑡) 𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅
Current in R-L DC series circuit
−𝒕𝒕
 The function of current , also known as charging current is given by 𝒊𝒊 𝒕𝒕 = 𝑰𝑰𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎 × 𝒆𝒆 𝝉𝝉

𝑬𝑬
where 𝑰𝑰𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎 = 𝒊𝒊𝒊𝒊 𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎 𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄 𝒊𝒊𝒊𝒊 𝒕𝒕𝒕𝒕𝒕𝒕 𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄 and 𝝉𝝉 = 𝒕𝒕𝒕𝒕𝒕𝒕𝒕𝒕 𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄 = 𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹
𝑹𝑹
 𝝉𝝉 𝒕𝒕𝒕𝒕𝒕𝒕 - Time constant is defined by time taken by current in circuit to decrease to 36.8% of its initial
maximum value. Unit- seconds
 For more than one resistor in circuit,
𝝉𝝉 𝒕𝒕𝒕𝒕𝒕𝒕𝒕𝒕 𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄𝒄 = 𝑹𝑹𝑻𝑻 × 𝑪𝑪
Where 𝑹𝑹𝑻𝑻 is resultant of series resistors
−𝟏𝟏𝝉𝝉
 𝒊𝒊 𝒕𝒕@𝟏𝟏𝝉𝝉 = 𝑰𝑰𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎 𝒆𝒆 𝝉𝝉

= 𝑰𝑰𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎 𝒆𝒆−𝟏𝟏 = 𝟎𝟎. 𝟑𝟑𝟑𝟑𝟑𝟑𝑰𝑰𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎

 Current would almost reach its final max steady state value in time equal to 𝟓𝟓 × 𝝉𝝉 and in steady
state, charging current would be zero.
Voltage stored by capacitor and Voltage drop across resistor
−𝑡𝑡
 𝑖𝑖 𝑡𝑡 = 𝐼𝐼𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑒𝑒 𝜏𝜏

−𝑡𝑡 −𝑡𝑡 −𝑡𝑡

𝐸𝐸
 Using ohm’s law, 𝑉𝑉𝑅𝑅 𝑡𝑡 = 𝑖𝑖 𝑡𝑡 × 𝑅𝑅 = 𝐼𝐼𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑒𝑒 𝜏𝜏 × 𝑅𝑅 = 𝑒𝑒 𝜏𝜏 × 𝑅𝑅 = 𝐸𝐸 𝑒𝑒 𝜏𝜏
𝑅𝑅
−𝑡𝑡
 Note: 𝑉𝑉𝑅𝑅 𝑡𝑡 = 𝐸𝐸 𝑒𝑒 𝜏𝜏 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜.
 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑚𝑚′ 𝑠𝑠 𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙 to calculate voltage drop across resistor
−𝑡𝑡 −𝑡𝑡 −𝑡𝑡
 𝑉𝑉𝑐𝑐 𝑡𝑡 = 𝐸𝐸 − 𝑉𝑉𝑅𝑅 𝑡𝑡 = 𝐸𝐸 − 𝐸𝐸 𝑒𝑒 𝜏𝜏 = 𝐸𝐸 − 𝐸𝐸 𝑒𝑒 𝜏𝜏 = 𝐸𝐸 1 − 𝑒𝑒 𝜏𝜏

−𝑡𝑡
 𝑉𝑉𝑅𝑅 𝑡𝑡 = 𝑖𝑖 𝑡𝑡 × 𝑅𝑅 and 𝑉𝑉𝑐𝑐 𝑡𝑡 = 𝐸𝐸 1 − 𝑒𝑒 𝜏𝜏 * 𝑉𝑉𝑅𝑅 𝑡𝑡 +𝑉𝑉𝑐𝑐 𝑡𝑡 = 𝐸𝐸 , 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤 𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠

𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻 𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺 𝒔𝒔𝒔𝒔𝒔𝒔𝒔𝒔𝒔𝒔

Voltage stored by Capacitor
−𝑡𝑡
 𝑉𝑉𝑐𝑐 𝑡𝑡 = 𝐸𝐸 1 − 𝑒𝑒 𝜏𝜏

 Capacitor would be storing voltage across it and voltage increases exponentially not instantaneously.
 Capacitor would be fully charged in time equal to 𝟓𝟓 × 𝝉𝝉 and would have voltage same as source across it.
 In one time constant, capacitor voltage would be 63.2% of source voltage
100.00 95.02 98.17 99.33 99.75 99.91 99.97 99.99 100.00

90.00 86.47

80.00
Voltage across capacitor

70.00 63.21
𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺 𝒔𝒔𝒔𝒔𝒔𝒔𝒔𝒔𝒔𝒔
60.00
𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻𝑻 Capacitor fully
50.00 Capacitor charging charged
40.00 and and
30.00
Vc increasing exponentially Vc = Source
voltage
20.00

10.00
0.00
0.00
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Time
Voltage stored by Capacitor
Voltage stored by Capacitor
Example- Class Exercise Que 1
 For the circuit given below if switch is closed at t =0 sec, Calculate the following values:
a) Time Constant
𝑅𝑅𝑇𝑇 = 𝑅𝑅1 + 𝑅𝑅2 = 8 𝑘𝑘Ω + 4𝑘𝑘Ω = 12𝑘𝑘Ω
𝜏𝜏 𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 = 𝑅𝑅𝑇𝑇 × 𝐶𝐶 = 12 × 103 × 0.125 × 10−6 = 1.5 𝑚𝑚𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠
b) Calculate maximum current
𝐸𝐸 120 10.0010.00
𝐼𝐼𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 = = = 10 𝑚𝑚𝐴𝐴 9.00
𝑅𝑅 12𝑘𝑘Ω 8.00

c) Write as a function of time, current through the capacitor.

7.00

Current in mA
6.00 5.13
5.00
Also calculate instantaneous current at 4msec. 4.00
−𝑡𝑡 −𝑡𝑡 −𝑡𝑡 3.00
2.64

𝑖𝑖 𝑡𝑡 = 𝐼𝐼𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑒𝑒 𝜏𝜏 = 10 𝑒𝑒 1.5𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑚𝑚𝐴𝐴 = 0.01 𝑒𝑒 1.5𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 A 2.00 1.35

0.69
−4𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 −4 1.00 0.36 0.18 0.09 0.05 0.02
𝑖𝑖 𝑡𝑡@4𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 = 10 𝑒𝑒 1.5𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 = 10 × 𝑒𝑒 1.5 = 0.695𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 0.00
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Time in ms
c) Write voltage drop across 8 kΩ resistor as a function of time .
Also calculate instantaneous voltage across 8 kΩ resistor at 1 msec
−𝑡𝑡 −𝑡𝑡
𝑉𝑉𝑅𝑅1 𝑡𝑡 = 𝑖𝑖 𝑡𝑡 × 𝑅𝑅1 = 0.01 𝑒𝑒 1.5𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝐴𝐴 × 8000Ω = 80 𝑒𝑒 1.5𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑉𝑉
−1𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 −1
𝑉𝑉𝑅𝑅𝑅 𝑡𝑡@1𝑚𝑚𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 = 80 𝑒𝑒 1.5𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 = 80 × 𝑒𝑒 1.5 = 41.07 𝑉𝑉
e) Write voltage drop across 4 kΩ resistor as a function of time. Also calculate how long would it
take voltage drop across 4 kΩ resistor to drop to 10 V.
−𝑡𝑡 −𝑡𝑡
𝑉𝑉𝑅𝑅2 𝑡𝑡 = 𝑖𝑖 𝑡𝑡 × 𝑅𝑅2 = 0.01 𝑒𝑒 1.5𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝐴𝐴 × 4000Ω = 40 𝑒𝑒 1.5𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑉𝑉
𝑉𝑉𝑅𝑅𝑅 𝑡𝑡𝑡? = 10𝑉𝑉 40.0040.00

−𝑡𝑡 35.00
40 𝑒𝑒 1.5𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 = 10 30.00
−𝑡𝑡 10

Voltage across R2 in Volts

𝑒𝑒 1.5𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 = 25.00
20.54
40 20.00

−𝑡𝑡 15.00
1 10.54
𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙 𝑒𝑒 =
1.5𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 ln( ) (*Note- ln 𝑒𝑒 𝑎𝑎 = 𝑎𝑎) 10.00
4 5.41
−𝑡𝑡 5.00 2.78
1.43 0.73 0.38
= −1.386 0.19 0.10

1.5 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 0.00

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
𝑡𝑡 = 2.08 𝑚𝑚𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 Time in ms

f) Write the equation of voltage stored by capacitor as a function of time. Also determine how long
would it take capacitor to get fully charged.
−𝑡𝑡 −𝑡𝑡
𝑉𝑉𝑐𝑐 𝑡𝑡 = 𝐸𝐸 1 − 𝑒𝑒 𝜏𝜏 = 120 1 − 𝑒𝑒 1.5𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 𝑉𝑉
Time taken by capacitor to get fully charged = 5 × 𝜏𝜏 = 5 × 1.5𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 = 7.5𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚