Source Free RL Circuit

Now let’s consider the RL circuit shown on Figure 5.

R t=0 i
b
+ vR - a
+
L vL
-

Figure 5

Initially the switch is at position a and there is a current I 0 circulating in the loop
containing the “ideal” inductor. This is the initial equilibrium state of the circuit and its
schematic is shown on Figure 6(a). At time t=0 the switch is moved from position a to
position b. Now the resistor R is incorporated in the circuit and the current I 0 begins to
flow through it as shown Figure 6(b).
Io R i(t)
b
a + vR -
+ +
L vL L vL
- -

(a) (b)

Figure 6

Our goal is to determine the form of the current i(t).

We start by deriving the equation that describes the behavior of the circuit for t>0. KVL
around the mesh of the circuit on Figure 6(b) gives.

vR (t ) + vL (t ) = 0 (0.11)

Using the current voltage relationship of the resistor and the inductor, Equation (0.11)
becomes

L di (t )
+ i (t ) = 0 (0.12)
R dt

6.071/22.071 Spring 2006, Chaniotakis and Cory 4

 L
The ratio has the units of time as can be seen by simple dimensional analysis.
R

By assuming a solution of the form,

i (t ) = Be st (0.13)

Equation (0.12) becomes after substitution

⎛L ⎞ st
⎜ s + 1⎟ Be = 0 (0.14)
⎝R ⎠

The non-trivial solution of Equation (0.14) is

R
s=− (0.15)
L

And the solution becomes

−t
i (t ) = Be L / R (0.16)

The constant B may now be determined by considering the initial condition of the circuit
it =0 = I 0 , which gives B = I 0 . And the completed solution is
−t
i (t ) = I 0 e L / R (0.17)
L
The ratio is the characteristic time constant of the RL circuit. Figure 7 shows the
R
normalized plot of i(t).

Figure 7

6.071/22.071 Spring 2006, Chaniotakis and Cory 5

RC and RL circuits with multiple resistors.

The capacitor of the circuit on Figure 8 is initially charged to a voltage Vo. At time t=0
the switch is closed and current flows in the circuit. The capacitor sees a Thevenin
equivalent resistance which is

( R 2 + R3) R1
R eq = (0.18)
R1 + R 2 + R3

R2 t=0 i

+
R3 R1 C vc
-

Figure 8

Therefore once the switch is closed, the equivalent circuit becomes

Req

+
C vc
-

Figure 9
The characteristic time is now given by

τ = Req C (0.19)
And the evolution of the voltage vc is

−t
Req C
vc(t ) = V0 e (0.20)

6.071/22.071 Spring 2006, Chaniotakis and Cory 6

RL Circuit with multiple resistors and inductors.

Let’s consider the circuit shown on Figure 10 which contains multiple inductors and
resistors. Initially the switch is closed and has been closed for a long time. At time t=0
the switch opens and we would like to obtain the transient behavior of the circuit for t>0.
In particular we are interested in determining the current i(t) as indicated on the circuit of
Figure 11

4R L Io 0.5R

t<0

2R + 2L L
Vs 2R
-

Figure 10

4R L i(t) 0.5R

t>0

2R + 2L L
Vs 2R
-

Figure 11

In order to find the initial ( t = 0+ ) current flowing in the circuit we consider the circuit on
Figure 10. The circuit may be simplified by combining the resistors and taking into
account the operational characteristics of the inductor at equilibrium. Since under DC
conditions the inductors act as short circuits the corresponding circuit becomes
4R Io 0.5R

t<0

2R +
Vs 2R
-
Figure 12

6.071/22.071 Spring 2006, Chaniotakis and Cory 7

 Vs
And thus the current Io = 2 . Therefore at the moment that the switch is opened, the
R
current is known. This is the initial condition for our problem.

After the switch is opened, the circuit becomes

4R L i(t) 0.5R

2R 2L L
2R

Figure 13

By combining the resistors and the inductors the circuit reduces to

2R 5L/3 i(t)

Figure 14

Vs
With the initial condition for the current it =0 = I 0 = 2 the solution for the current i(t)
R
becomes

Vs −56LR t
i (t ) = 2 e (0.21)
R

For this example we have been able to combine the inductances into an equivalent
inductance and thus derive the first order differential equation for the behavior of the
circuit.
However, this reduction is not possible in general. If after the reduction more than one
reactive element remains in the circuit the order of the system differential equation is
equal to the number of reactive elements. We will discuss the transient behavior of these
higher order systems next class.

6.071/22.071 Spring 2006, Chaniotakis and Cory 8

Forced Response of RC Circuits

For the circuit shown on Figure 15 the switch is closed at t=0. This corresponds to a step
function for the source voltage Vs as shown on Figure 16.We would like to obtain the
capacitor voltage vc as a function of time. The voltage across the capacitor at t=0 (the
initial voltage) is Vo.

R i

t=0 + vR - +
+
Vs C vc
-
-

Figure 15

Vs

t
Figure 16

The equation that describes the system is obtained by applying KVL around the mesh.

vR(t ) + vc (t ) = Vs (0.22)

Which by using the current-voltage relationships becomes

dvc (t )
RC + vc (t ) = Vs (0.23)
dt

By setting τ = RC , the time constant of the circuit, Equation (0.23) becomes

dvc (t )
τ + vc (t ) = Vs (0.24)
dt

The solution of this equation is the combination (superposition) of the homogeneous

solution vch (t ) and the particular solution vcp (t ) .

vc = vch + vcp (0.25)

6.071/22.071 Spring 2006, Chaniotakis and Cory 9

The homogeneous solution satisfies the equation

dvch (t )
τ + vch (t ) = 0 (0.26)
dt

And the particular solution the equation

dvcp (t )
τ + vcp (t ) = Vs (0.27)
dt
The homogeneous equation corresponds to the source free problem already investigated
and its solution is
−t
vch (t ) = Ae τ (0.28)

The constant A is undefined at this point but any value will satisfy the differential
equation.

The particular solution is found by inspection to be

vcp = Vs (0.29)
And thus the total solution becomes
−t
vc (t ) = Vs + Ae τ (0.30)

The constant A may now be determined by considering the initial condition of the
capacitor voltage. The initial capacitor voltage is Vo and thus A=Vo-Vs.

And the complete solution is

t
−
vc (t ) = Vs + (Vo − Vs ) e τ (0.31)

Figure 17 shows the plot of vc(t) for Vo=1 Volt, Vs=5 Volt as a function of the
normalized quantity t / τ . Note that after 5 time constants the voltage vc is within 99% of
the voltage Vs.

6.071/22.071 Spring 2006, Chaniotakis and Cory 10

 Figure 17

Now let’s consider the RC circuit shown on Figure 18. The switch has been at position a
for a log time and thus there is no voltage across the capacitor plates at time t=0. At time
t=0 the witch is moved from position a to position b where it stays for time t1 and
subsequently returned to position a. This switch action corresponds to the rectangular
pulse shown on Figure 19.

b R
a
+ vR - +
+
Vs C vc
-
-

Figure 18

Vs

0 t1 t
Figure 19

6.071/22.071 Spring 2006, Chaniotakis and Cory 11

We would like to obtain the voltage vc(t).

First we know that the initial condition is vct =0 = 0 . We also know that after a long time
(t>>t1) the voltage will go back to zero. The solution of the system will tell us the
evolution of the voltage vc from time t=0 to t=t1 and for t>t1.

The solution for t1>t>0 is

t
−
vc (t ) = Vs (1 − e τ ) (0.32)

For t>t1 the solution is determined by considering as the initial condition, the voltage
across the capacitor at t=t1.

t1
−
vc (t1) = Vs (1 − e τ ) (0.33)

And the solution for t>t1 is

t1 t
− −
vc (t ) = Vs (1 − e τ )e τ
(0.34)

Figure 20 shows the complete evolution of the voltage vc where we have taken t1=2τ.

Figure 20

6.071/22.071 Spring 2006, Chaniotakis and Cory 12