Abstract

The validation of the Thevenin theorem is presented in this paper. The Thevenin theorem was used to simplify the analysis of a complicated, resistive circuit driving a resistive load. A resistive circuit was analyzed, simulated in P-Spice, and built in the laboratory for verification of the Thevenin theorem. Comparing the results from the analysis and laboratory measurements, the Thevenin theorem was verified with minimal percent error.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The amount of voltage or current delivered to a load (a load can be a machine or another electrical network) connected to a complex, resistive circuit was a large interest of engineers who were determining how much power the load can handle. Before calculating the voltage going through the load, engineers had to calculate the voltages or currents going through the circuit that was powering the load. One method that the engineers used was a circuit reduction method known as the Thevenin theorem. The Thevenin theorem states that a complex circuit consisting of several resistors and voltage sources can be replaced by an equivalent circuit containing a single independent voltage source in series with a resistor. In this paper, the validation of the Thevenin theorem is discussed. The symbolic analysis of the Thevenin theorem is included in Section 2.0. Section 3.0 contains the analysis of the circuit built in the laboratory, while Section 4.0 includes the P-Spice simulation. The results of the lab measurements are shown in Section 5.0 succeeded by the discussion of the results in Section 6.0. Finally, concluding remarks are made in Section 7.0.

2.0 CIRCUIT ANALYSIS USING THEVENIN THEOREM

When determining the amount of voltage or current delivered to a load attached between two nodes of a complicated, resistive circuit, it is desirable to reduce the circuit to its simplest equivalent. The Thevenin theorem states that a complex circuit can be replaced by an equivalent circuit that consists of one independent source in series with a resistor [1]. Figure 2.1 shows a simple, three-resistor circuit that will be used to demonstrate the Thevenin theorem.

Figure 2.1

A three-resistor circuit with a resistive load connected at nodes A and B shown

Thevenin resistance is determined by removing the resistive load RL and deactivating the voltage source VS, as shown in Figure 2.2.

Figure 2.2

The circuit shown with the load resistor removed and voltage source deactivated 2

Resistors R1 and R2 are connected in parallel and the equivalent resistance are shown in Equation (2.1).

Req1 =

R1 * R2 R1 + R3

(2.1)

Resistors Req1 and R3 are connected in series. The Thevenin equivalent resistance, RT, which is the resistance that is equivalent to all of the combined resistors when the source voltage is deactivated, is shown in Eq. (2.2).

RT = Req1 + R3 =

R1 * R2 + R3 R1 + R2

(2.2)

With the source voltage reactivated, the voltage across resistor R2 is equivalent to the open circuit voltage VOC, which is the Thevenin voltage. A voltage divider was applied at R2 and is shown in Eq. (2.3).

VOC = VT =

R2 * VS R1 + R2

(2.3)

3.0 ANALYSIS OF THE LAB CIRCUIT

Figure 3.1 shows the resistive circuit built in lab using nominal resistance values. The 10V voltage source was deactivated to determine the Thevenin equivalent resistance. From Figure 3.1, the 1.0k and 4.7k resistors connected in parallel are in series with the 2.2k

resistor, giving the Thevenin resistance of

RT =

4700 * 1000 + 2200 = 824.56 + 2200 = 3024.56 1000 + 4700

(3.1)

Figure 3.1

Schematic of the circuit used in the laboratory

The Thevenin voltage was then calculated with the 10V source activated. Applying voltage divider to the 1.0 k resistors determines VT.

VT =

1000 * 10 = 1.754V 1000 + 4700

(3.2)

An alternative method used to determine the Thevenin resistance was to replace the source voltage with a short circuit and activate the circuit with an external voltage source Vx. Figure 3.2 shows the new schematic.

Figure 3.2

Circuit shown with Vs deactivated and powered by external voltage source Vx.

The Thevenin resistance can be calculated from

RT =

Vx ix

(3.3)

To find current ix, the node voltage method was used. Applying KCL to node C yields Eq. (3.4).

i x = i1 + i 2

(3.4)

Equation (3.5) was the result of the application of Ohms law to Eq. (3.4), which gives the currents in terms of the unknown node voltage VC.

1 VC V V = C + C 2200 1000 4700

(3.5)

Solving for VC and substituting the result back into ix yields Eqs. (3.6)-(3.7).

VC = 0.2726V ix = 1 0.2726 = 3.306 x10 3 A 2200

(3.6) (3.7)

Substituting the result from Eq. (3.7) into Eq. (3.3) yields Eq. (3.8), the Thevenin resistance.

RT =

1 = 3024.80 3.306 x10 3

(3.8)

4.0 P-SPICE SIMULATION

P-Spice was used to simulate the circuits with the external voltage and a specified load resistor connected at nodes A and B. Figure 4.1 shows the simulation of the former circuit. The simulation for the circuit with a specified load resistor is shown in Figure 4.2. From Figure 4.1, the voltage at node C is identical to the result of the nodal analysis in Section 3.0. The current flowing out of the voltage source was also identical to the results found in the analysis section.

Figure 4.1

P-Spice simulation of the circuit with a 1-V external voltage source connected

Figure 4.2 below shows the circuit with a 4.7-k

load resistor connected at nodes A and B. The

purpose of the simulation of this circuit was to verify the validity of the Thevenin theorem.

Figure 4.2

P-Spice simulation of the circuit with a 4.7k load resistor attached at nodes A and B

5.0 LABORATORY PROCEDURE AND RESULTS

Table 5.1 shows the list of equipment used to conduct the laboratory measurements. The resistors used in previous analyses were collected and measured to observe the actual resistances.

List of equipment used in the laboratory experiment with model numbers and serial numbers Equipment Model number Serial number Tenma Universal Test Center 72-5085 MB00015067 Four 0.25-W resistors N/A N/A Circuit board N/A N/A Potentiometer N/A N/A Dell PC

Table 5.1

With the voltage supply measured to 10 V and resistors measured, the circuit was built according to the layout shown in Figure 5.1.

Figure 5.1

Schematic of the circuit built on the board with an open circuit at nodes A and B

The open circuit voltage, VOC, was then measured, resulting in a voltage value of

VOC = 1.764 V

Next, the voltage source was deactivated and the circuit was powered by an external 1-V source. Figure 5.2 shows the layout of the circuit board.

Figure 5.2

Circuit shown with an external voltage source Vx connected to nodes A and B

The current ix was indirectly measured by measuring the voltage at node C and applying Ohms law. The indirectly measured current was 3.33 mA, which closely agrees with the calculated result in the analysis section. To verify the Thevenin theorem, a load resistor of 4.7k nominal was connected to nodes A and B and the voltage across that resistor was measured. Figure 5.3 shows the circuit as built on the breadboard. The voltage across the load resistor was 1.079 V.

Figure 5.3

Schematic of the circuit built on the breadboard with a load resistor attached at nodes A and B

Finally, a potentiometer was used to simulate the Thevenin resistance calculated from the analysis section. Figure 5.4 shows the new circuit with the Thevenin resistance, Thevenin voltage, and load connected. The Thevenin voltage used was also obtained from the analysis section. The measured voltage across the load resistor was 1.048 V.

Figure 5.4

Schematic of circuit shown with the Thevenin resistance and voltage connected with the resistive load

6.0 DISCUSSION

The results of Thevenin resistance and voltage values from the analysis, simulation, and lab results section are shown in Table 6.1 with percent error calculated. Percent error between the calculated and measured voltages was determined using Eq. (6.1)

Vcalc Vmeas * 100% Vmeas

(6.1)

As Table 6.1 shows, the percent error between the values obtained from the analysis and measurement sections were less than 1%. The slight discrepancy between the values can be attributed to the use of nominal resistor values as compared to measured values. Finally, to further verify the validity of the Thevenin theorem, the percent error between the measured

voltage across the load between the original circuit and the Thevenin equivalent circuit was 2.96%.

Thevenin voltage and resistance values from analysis, simulation, and measurement with error analysis Calculated Simulation Measured % error 1.754 N/A 1.764 0.567 Thevenin voltage (V) 3024.56 3024.56 3003.00 0.718 Thevenin resistance ( )

Table 6.1

7.0 CONCLUSION

By reducing a complex, resistive circuit to its simplest equivalence using the Thevenin theorem, the analysis of the circuit driving a load was simplified. This was shown by

constructing and measuring both the original and Thevenin equivalence circuits and attaching a load resistor to each circuit. Through the use of the analysis, simulation, and measurement of the circuit and its Thevenin equivalent, the Thevenin theorem was verified with a small percent error.

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