• We study first-order RC and RL circuits

• Understand the concepts of transient and steady-state response

• Time constant of the circuit

The circuits that contain sources, switches, resistances, inductances, and

capacitances.

The time-varying currents and voltages resulting from the sudden application
of sources, usually due to switching, are called transients.

The current–voltage relationships for inductances and capacitances involve

integrals and derivatives, we obtain integrodifferential equations.

These equations can be converted to pure differential equations by

differentiating with respect to time. Thus, the study of transients requires us to
solve differential equations.
FIRST-ORDER RC CIRCUITS Transients in circuits that contain independent dc
sources, resistances, and a single capacitance.

Prior to t = 0, the capacitor is charged to an initial

voltage Vi. Then, at t = 0, the switch closes and
current flows through the resistor, discharging the
capacitor.

Writing a current equation at the top node of the

circuit after the switch is closed

The Differential Equation indicates that the solution for vc(t) must be a function that
has the same form as its first derivative. The function with this property is an
exponential.

we anticipate that the solution is of the form

in which K and s are constants to be determined.

Solving for s,

Substituting this into Equation, we see that the solution is

Because the current is finite, the voltage across the capacitor cannot change
instantaneously when the switch closes.

The current through the capacitance is iC(t) = CdvC/dt. In order for the voltage to
change instantaneously, the current would have to be infinite.

Since the voltage is finite, the current in the resistance must be finite, and we
conclude that the voltage across the capacitor must be continuous.

in which vC(0+) represents the voltage immediately after the

switch closes. Substituting

We conclude that the constant K equals the initial voltage across the capacitor.
Finally, the solution for the voltage is
A plot of the voltage is shown in Figure. Notice that the capacitor voltage
decays exponentially to zero. The time interval is called the time
constant of the circuit.

In one time constant, the voltage decays by the factor e−1 ∼= 0.368. After
about five time constants, the voltage remaining on the capacitor is negligible
compared with the initial value.
Charging a Capacitance from a DC Source through a Resistance

The source voltage Vs is constant—in other words, we have a dc source. The source
is connected to the RC circuit by a switch that closes at t = 0.

We assume that the initial voltage across the capacitor just before the switch closes
is
vC(0−) = 0. Let us solve for the voltage across the capacitor as a function of time.
writing a current equation at the node that joins the
resistor and the capacitor. This yields

we have obtained a linear first-order differential equation with constant coefficients.

As in the previous circuit, the voltage across the capacitance cannot change
instantaneously because the voltages are finite, and thus, the current through the
resistance (and therefore through the capacitance) is finite.

Infinite current is required to change the voltage across a capacitance in an instant.

Thus, we have
Thus, we are led to try the solution
in which K1, K2, and s are constants to be determined.

from which we find K2 = −Vs. Finally, substituting into Equation

The second term on the right-hand side is called the transient response, which
eventually decays to negligible values. The first term on the right-hand side is the
steady-state response, also called the forced response, which persists after the
transient has decayed.

Here again, the product of the resistance and capacitance has units of seconds
and is called the time constant τ = RC. Thus, the solution can be written as
 A plot of vC(t) is shown in Figure. Notice
that vC(t) starts at 0 and approaches the
final value Vs asymptotically as t becomes
large.

After one time constant, vC(t) has reached

63.2 percent of its final value. For practical
purposes, vC(t) is equal to its final value Vs
after about five time constants. Then, we
say that the circuit has reached steady
state.
It can be shown that if the initial slope of vc is extended, it intersects the final
value at one time constant as shown.

In this section that several time constants are needed to charge or discharge a
capacitance. This is the main limitation on the speed at which digital computers can
process data.

It is impossible to build circuits that do not have some capacitance that is charged or
discharged when voltages change in value.

Furthermore, the circuits always have nonzero resistances that limit the currents
available for charging or discharging the capacitances. Therefore, a nonzero time
constant is associated with each circuit in the computer, limiting its speed.
DC STEADY STATE
The transient terms in the expressions for currents and voltages in RLC circuits
decay to zero with time. (An exception is LC circuits having no resistance.)

For dc sources, the steady-state currents and voltages are also constant.

Consider the equation for current through a capacitance:

If the voltage vC(t) is constant, the current is zero. In other words, the capacitance
behaves as an open circuit.
Thus, we conclude that for steady-state conditions with dc sources, capacitances
behave as open circuits.

Similarly, for an inductance, we have

When the current is constant, the voltage is zero. Thus, we conclude that for steady-
state conditions with dc sources, inductances behave as short circuits.

To finding the steady-state solutions to circuit equations for RLC circuits with constant
sources. First, we replace the capacitors by open circuits and the inductors by short
circuits. The circuit then consists of dc sources and resistances. Finally, we solve the
equivalent circuit for the steady state currents and voltages.
Steady-State DC Analysis
After the switch has been closed a long time, we expect the transient response to
have decayed to zero. Then the circuit is operating in dc steady-state conditions.

We start our analysis by replacing the inductor by a short circuit and the capacitor by
an open circuit. The equivalent circuit is shown in Figure

This resistive circuit is readily solved. The resistances R1 and R2 are in series.
Thus, we have
Sometimes, we are only interested in the
steady-state operation of circuits with dc
sources. For example, in analyzing the
headlight circuits in an automobile, we
are concerned primarily with steady state.
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