ENS1253 TUTORIAL 1 - SOLUTIONS

ENS1253 Electrical Engineering 1B

Tutorial 1 - Solutions
Analysis of 1
st
Order Circuits


Ex 4.3. Find v
a
and i
a
for the circuit shown below for t >> 0.


Solution: After the switch has been opened for a long time, we expect the transient response to have
decayed to zero. This means the circuit is operating in DC steady-state conditions, thus we can
replace the inductor by a short circuit and the capacitor by an open circuit. The equivalent circuit is
shown below:

This resistive circuit is readily solved by simple application of Ohms law:
i
a
= 2 A
and
v
a
= Ri
a
= 50 V

P4.20. Explain why we replace capacitances with open circuits and inductances with short circuits in
DC steady-state analysis.

Solution: In DC steady state conditions, the voltages across the capacitors are constant. Therefore,
the currents through the capacitances, which are given by i
C
= C.dv/dt, are zero. Open circuits also
have zero current.
Similarly, the currents through the inductances are constant. Therefore, the voltages across
inductances, which are given by v
L
= L.di/dt, are zero. Short circuits also have zero voltage.

P4.7. An initially charged capacitance discharges through a resistance. At two time constants,
what percentage of the initial voltage remains? What percentage of the initial stored energy
remains?

Solution: We have v(t) = V
i
exp(t/) and the energy e(t) = Cv
2
(t) in which V
i
is the initial voltage. The
initial stored energy is E
i
= CV
i
2
. After two time constants, we have v() = V
i
exp(2/) = V
i
e
2
= 0
.135V
i
so that 13.5 percent of the initial voltage remains.

The energy is (2) = Cv
2
(2) = C(V
i
e
2
)
2
= CV
i
2
e
4
= E
i
e
4
= 0 .0183E
i
so only 1.83% of the initial
energy remains.
ENS1253 TUTORIAL 1 - SOLUTIONS
P4.2. The dielectric materials used in real capacitors are not perfect insulators. A resistance called
a leakage resistance in parallel with the capacitance can model this imperfection. A 100-F capacitor
is initially charged to 100 V. We want 90 percent of the initial energy to remain after one minute.
What is the limit on the leakage resistance for this capacitor?

Solution: The voltage across the capacitor is given by v(t) = Viexp(t/RC) in which V
i
= 100 V is the
initial voltage, C = 100 F is the capacitance, and R is the leakage resistance.
The energy stored in the capacitance is E = Cv
2
(t) = 0.5 x 100 x 100
2
exp(2t/100R), at t = 0 this is
0.5 x 100 x 100
2
= 0.5 J. Since we require the energy to be 90% of the initial value after one minute,
we can write:
0.9 x 0.5 0.5 x 100 x 100
2
exp(120/100R)
0.9 exp(120/100R)
R 11.39 M
Thus the leakage resistance must be greater than 11.39 M.

Ex 4.4. For the circuit below, assume that V
s
= 15 V, R
1
= 10 , R
2
= 100 , and L = 0.1 H.
a. What is the value of the time constant (after the switch opens)?
b. What is the maximum magnitude of v(t)?
c. How does the maximum magnitude of v(t) compare to the source voltage?
d. Find the time t at which v(t) is one-half of its value immediately after the switch opens given
that () =
()

for t > 0.



Solution:

(a) = L/R
2
= 0.1/100 = 1 ms.

(b) Just before the switch opens, the circuit is in DC steady state with an inductor current of
V
s
/ R
1
= 1.5 A. This current continues to flow in the inductor immediately after the switch opens so
we have i(0
+
) = 1.5 A. This current must flow (upward) through R
2
so the initial value of the voltage is
v(0
+
) = R
2
i(0
+
) = 150 V.

c) We see that the initial magnitude of v(t) is ten times larger than the source voltage.

(d) The voltage is given by () =
()

/
= 150
1000


Let us denote the time at which the voltage reaches half of its initial magnitude as t
H
. Then we have:
0.5 = exp(1000t
H
)

Solving and substituting values we obtain:
t
H
= 10
3
ln(0.5) = 0.693 ms.

ENS1253 TUTORIAL 1 - SOLUTIONS
Ex 4.6. Consider the circuit shown below. Assume that the switch has been closed for a very long
time prior to t = 0. Find expressions for i(t) and v(t).




Solution: Prior to t = 0, the circuit is in DC steady state and the equivalent circuit is:


Thus we have i(0

) = 100V / 100 = 1 A. However the current through the inductor cannot change
instantaneously so we also have i(0
+
) = 1 A. With the switch open, the two resistors are in series, and
we can write the KVL equation:
di(t)/dt + 200i(t) = 100

The solution to this equation is of the form:
i(t) = K
1
+ K
2
exp(t/)

in which the time constant is = L/R = 1/200 = 5 ms. In steady state with the switch open, we have
i() = K
1
= 100/200 = 0.5 A. Then using the initial current, we have i(0
+
) = 1 = K
1
+ K
2
, from which we
determine that K
2
= 0.5. Thus we have:
i(t) = 1 A for t < 0
= 0.5 + 0.5 exp(t/) for t > 0.

v(t) = Ldi(t)/dt
= 0 V for t < 0
= 100 exp(t/) for t > 0.


-- End of Solutions --