Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, BUET
EEE 102: Electrical Circuits I Laboratory (Hardware Part)
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Experiment No: 5
Transient Behavior of Electrical Circuits with DC Excitation
Introduction:
A dc voltage applied across a capacitor charges the capacitor to the value of impressed voltage by a
time determined by the resistance of the path of charging and the value of capacitor. Similarly an
inductor current reaches a constant steady state value after a time determined by the resistance of the
path and the inductance and the inductance value. This experiment is intended to observe the time
response of R-C and R-L circuits with dc step input to them.
Part I: R-C Charging Circuit: Initially capacitor C has no charge.
R
1 2
Ch1
220 C
15Vdc
2
V1 47uF
0
Osc ref
1
100 Rcur
Charging RC Ch2 Inv Ext
Circuit In
reference
Rcur should be as low as possible
so that magnitude of current does not
change significantly
Fig. 1: R-C Charging circuit
For Rcur = 0 in the circuit of Fig 1, when switch 1 is closed and switch 2 is opened at t = 0+sec.,
1
∫ 𝑖𝑑𝑡 + 𝑅𝑖 = 𝑉𝑑𝑐 = 15 𝑉
𝐶
1 𝑑𝑖
or, 𝐶 𝑖 + 𝑅 𝑑𝑡 = 0
𝑑𝑖
or, 𝑖 = −𝑅𝐶 𝑑𝑡
1 𝑑𝑖
or, − 𝑑𝑡=
𝑅𝐶 𝑖
1
− 𝑡
The solution of which is, 𝑖 =𝐴𝑒 𝑅𝐶
𝑉𝑑𝑐
At t = 0+, 𝑖 = 𝑅
𝑉𝑑𝑐
yielding, 𝐴 = 𝑅
Therefore the solution for i is,
1
𝑉𝑑𝑐
𝑖= 𝑒 −𝑅𝐶𝑡 (1)
𝑅
Again,
𝑉𝑑𝑐 − 𝑣𝐶 𝑉𝑑𝑐 − 1 𝑡
=𝑖= 𝑒 𝑅𝐶
𝑅 𝑅
𝑉𝑑𝑐 𝑣𝐶 𝑉𝑑𝑐 − 1 𝑡
or, − = 𝑒 𝑅𝐶
𝑅 𝑅 𝑅
1
or. 𝑣𝐶 = 𝑉𝑑𝑐 (1 − 𝑒 −𝑅𝐶𝑡 ) (2)
EEE 102: Exp. 5 Page: 1/5
R-C discharging Circuit: Initially capacitor C has Vdc.= 15 V voltage
R
1 2
0
Ch1
220 C
15Vdc
2
V1 47uF
Osc ref
1
100 Rcur
Disharging Ch2 Inv Ext
RC Circuit In
reference
Rcur should be as low as possible
so that magnitude of current does not
change significantly
Fig. 2: R-C Discharging circuit
For Rcur = 0 in the circuit of Fig 2, when switch 1 is opened and switch 2 is closed at t = 0+sec.,
1
∫ 𝑖𝑑𝑡 + 𝑅𝑖 = 𝑉𝑑𝑐 = 0 𝑉
𝐶
1 𝑑𝑖
or, 𝐶 𝑖 + 𝑅 𝑑𝑡 = 0
𝑑𝑖
or, 𝑖 = −𝑅𝐶 𝑑𝑡
1 𝑑𝑖
or, − 𝑑𝑡=
𝑅𝐶 𝑖
The solution of which is,
1
𝑖 = 𝐴 𝑒 −𝑅𝐶𝑡
𝑉
At t = 0+, 𝑖 = 𝑅𝑑𝑐
𝑉𝑑𝑐
yielding, 𝐴 = 𝑅
Therefore the solution for i is,
1
𝑉𝑑𝑐
𝑖= 𝑒 −𝑅𝐶𝑡 (3)
𝑅
Again,
𝑉𝑐 − 0 𝑉𝑑𝑐 − 1 𝑡
=𝑖= 𝑒 𝑅𝐶
𝑅 𝑅 1
𝑣𝐶 𝑉
or, = 𝑅𝑑𝑐 𝑒 −𝑅𝐶𝑡
𝑅
1
or. 𝑣𝐶 = 𝑉𝑑𝑐 𝑒 −𝑅𝐶𝑡 (4)
EEE 102: Exp. 5 Page: 2/5
15V
10V
5V
SEL>>
0V
V(C1:+,C1:-)
150uA
100uA
50uA
0A
0s
-I(Rcur) 5s 10s 15s 20s 25s 30s 35s 40s 45s 50s
Time
Charging circuit curves R = 100k, C = 47uF, Rcur = 100, Vdc = 15V
15V
10V
5V
SEL>>
0V
V(C1:+,C1:-)
150uA
100uA
50uA
0A
0s
-I(Rcur) 5s 10s 15s 20s 25s 30s 35s 40s 45s 50s
Time
Discharging circuit R = 100k, C = 47uF, Rcur = 100, Vdc = 15V
Fig. 3: Typical charging and discharging shapes of capacitor voltage vc and capacitor current ic
of the R-C circuits of Figs. 1 and 2
RC Charging Table
Time Percentage of Maximum
RC Value
Constant Voltage Current
0.5 time constant 0.5T = 0.5RC 39.3% 60.7%
0.7 time constant 0.7T = 0.7RC 50.3% 49.7%
1.0 time constant 1T = 1RC 63.2% 36.8%
2.0 time constants 2T = 2RC 86.5% 13.5%
3.0 time constants 3T = 3RC 95.0% 5.0%
4.0 time constants 4T = 4RC 98.2% 1.8%
5.0 time constants 5T = 5RC 99.3% 0.7%
EEE 102: Exp. 5 Page: 3/5
Part II: R-L Circuit Response to DC step response
Initially the current through L is zero at the switch is closed at t = 0+ sec, the KVL equation of the
circuit of R-L circuit with dc input of Fig. 4 is,
𝑑𝑖
𝐿 + 𝑅𝑖 = 𝑉𝑑𝑐 = 15 𝑉
𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑖 𝑅 𝑉𝑑𝑐
+ =
𝑑𝑡 𝐿 𝐿
the solution of the first order differential equation is,
𝑖 = 𝑖𝑠𝑠 + 𝑖𝑡𝑟 ( 𝑜𝑟 𝑖 = 𝑖𝑝𝑖 + 𝑖𝑐𝑓 )
𝑉𝑑𝑐 𝑅
𝑖= + 𝐴 𝑒−𝐿 𝑡
𝑅
at t = 0, i = 0,
𝑉𝑑𝑐
0= + 𝐴
𝑅
𝑉
or, A = − 𝑅𝑑𝑐
The complete solution thus stands as,
𝑅
𝑉𝑑𝑐
𝑖= ( 1 − 𝑒 −𝐿𝑡)
𝑅
0.22H or choke coil
R
1 2
1
10k
15Vdc
V1
L
2
Ch1
Rcur 100 Ext
In
Osc ref
RL with Step dc
Circuit
reference
Rcur should be as low as possible
so that magnitude of current does not
change significantly
Fig. 4: R-L first order Circuit with dc step input
40mA
30mA
20mA
10mA
0A
0s
-I(Rcur) 0.5ms 1.0ms 1.5ms 2.0ms 2.5ms 3.0ms 3.5ms 4.0ms 4.5ms 5.0ms
Time
R-L circuits i for R = 220, L=0.22H and Rcur = 220, Vdc =15V
Fig. 5: Typical Current shape of the circuit of Fig. 4 with dc step input.
EEE 102: Exp. 5 Page: 4/5
Experimental Procedure:
1. Construct the circuit of Fig. 1 or 2 (R-C circuit with an additional resistance in series with R-C,
the voltage of which is to be measured to trace the current of the circuit). In place of the
oscilloscope, multimeter in voltage scale has to be used for reading the capacitor voltage and
Rcur voltage with time. In case of availability of the single sweep storage oscilloscope, the two
traces can be recorded by the oscilloscope. With non storage oscilloscope, the path of charging
and discharging of voltage and current can be observed if triggered by capacitor voltage at the
external trigger input but the oscilloscope will not retain the result as shown in R-L circuit with
available digital storage oscilloscopes. For this part of the experiment carefully read and record
capacitor voltage and Rcur voltage with time for charging and discharging by operating the
switches as indicated. Use the circuit parameters of Figs. 1 and 2 for the experiment (use mobile
phone stop watch or any other watch to record the time of charging or discharging).
Repeat 1 with charging resistance value to 320 (220+100).
2. Construct the circuit of Fig. 3 (R-L circuit with an additional resistance in series with R-L, the
voltage of which is to be measured to trace the current of the circuit). The oscilloscope is a digital
storage oscilloscope which has the facility to store, record and display any voltage variation that
has taken place only once (single sweep mode). The voltage of Rcur is connected to channel 1 of
the oscilloscope for observing and storing the voltage shape from the moment of triggering the
display. To initiate the triggering the oscilloscope at the same time as the switch is closed, the
Rcur voltage is also fed to the external trigger input of the oscilloscope. The oscilloscope is now
not in auto mode which keeps the reading repeat (refresh) after each sweep. The analog/digital
storage oscilloscope is now set to acquire and single sweep mode. As the switch is closed the
single sweep display will change its display and if the trigger is right the R-L time response will
be displayed and stored on the screen. For getting the display correct, the trigger level may be
required to be adjusted in several attempts.
EEE 102: Exp. 5 Page: 5/5