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Thvenin and Norton - MITX 6.002x Wiki - Wiki MITx 6.002x

Thvenin and Norton

Thvenin's Method
When you have a complex circuit which is (between two terminals A and B) connected to a load (load resistor RL for example) and you are not really interested in the circuit itself but more in what is the effect on the load (Voltage over it, current through it, Power) it is better to calculate the Thvenin or Norton equivalent. Here you can see a (relatively) complex circuit and you want to calculate (yourself and not simulate) what the voltage drop across the load resistor will be.

So we start calculating the Thvenin equivalent (between A and B as seen by the load). To do that we have to determine two things: step 1: The open-circuit voltage V0 step 2: The total resistance Rth between A and B. Step 1: Calculate the open-circuit voltage. Remove the load and calculate the voltage between A and B. In this case, because we have 2 sources, it is best to use superposition. You can do this yourself. The answer in the example is (as the simulator will show you): V0 = 2 volts. Try moving the position of the ground node to the negative output terminal to read V0 directly.
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ground node to the negative output terminal to read V0 directly.

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note: Because we replaced the load with an open-circuit, it is impossible for a current to flow through the connecting resistors R1 and R2. Because of this there can't be a voltage over those resistors and the open-circuit voltage V0 can be measured between nodes C and D.

Step 2: Calculate the total resistance Rth between A and B. To do this, you just have to remove the sources and simplify the circuit (replace parallel resistors with equivalent one, ...) until you just got the one resistor between A and B. This is Rth.

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If you do this you will find that Rth equals 4 ohm. So the Thvenin equivalent circuit is shown below:

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Thvenin and Norton - MITX 6.002x Wiki - Wiki MITx 6.002x

And you can check the circuit now. Below we have placed the original load between A and B. Simulate this and the very first circuit and you will see that the voltage over the load will be identical. (Remember: the voltage difference between point A and point B).

Just as in the original circuit, you will find a voltage of 1 Volts over the load.

Norton's Method
Calculating the Norton equivalent isn't https://6002x.mitx.mit.edu/wiki/view/ThveninandNorton/ very different:
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Thvenin and Norton - MITX 6.002x Wiki - Wiki MITx 6.002x

Calculating the Norton equivalent isn't very different: step 1: The short-circuit current Ishort. step 2: The total resistance Rth between A and B. This is exactly the Rth as in Thvenin. Step 1: Calculate Isc Calculate the short-circuit current going from A to B (or B to A, you just have to place your equivalent current source in the right direction. See the circuit below:

The short circuit current Ishort equals 500mA (from A downwards). You can calculate this yourself. Press DC to let the simulator give you the result. Step 2: Calculate Rn = Rth Is exactly the same as step 2 for Thvenin. We get: Rth = 4 ohm. So the equivalent Norton circuit becomes:

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And we can insert the load resistance again and we see that the voltage over the load again equals 1Volt.

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Also: note that because we have calculated the current from A to B, the Ishort in the equivalent circuit is pointing up. Otherwise it have pointed down.

Converting from Thvenin to Norton

This is extremely easy. You just have to know 1 thing:
V 0 = Rth

I short .

So when you have the Thvenin equivalent, you know V0 and Rth, so you can calculate Ishort. When you have the Norton equivalent, you know Ishort and Rth, so you can calculate V0. When Rth = 0, you can only have a Thvenin equivalent, the circuit is an ideal voltage source. This doesn't exist in reality. When Rth = infinity, you can only have a Norton equivalent, the circuit is an ideal current source. This also doesn't exist in the real world.

Impedance Matching
It is no coincidence that Rth
= RL

. When the impedance of the source equals (i.e. matches) the impedance of the

load, the power delivered to the load is maximized. Alternatively, you can consider the losses to be minimized when the impedances are matched. The circuit given has been carefully designed to have matching impedances.
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When dealing with AC circuits and complex impedances, say Zth and ZL for the Thvenin and load impedances

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When dealing with AC circuits and complex impedances, say Zth and ZL for the Thvenin and load impedances respectively, the rule for maximum (average) power transfer is that Zth and ZL must be complex conjugates, that is:
Re {Zth } = Re {ZL }

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and
I m{Zth } =

I m{ZL }

This issue will be raised when we will talk about sinusoidal analysis in linear reactive circuits.

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