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What I've got so far

Question

Basically, I've discovered the "total" resistance, being 6/11 Ohms. Same resistance would be found in Norton's circuit.

Now, I know that the sum of all voltages should be zero. I was thinking to go with 2.2-1*I+11-1.2*I=0 and get I=6A (1.2 is the total resistance of the resistors of 2Ohm and 3 Ohm which are in parallel). But if I do get I to be 6 A I can't find Vth to be 10.2V. Could you help me?

PS: This is NOT Homework

Couto
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  • You're applying KVL wrong because 2- and 3-ohm resistors are not simply in parallel but separated by a voltage source. – Fizz Oct 28 '15 at 19:33
  • Hint: the easiest way to solve this problem is to apply the method of [source transform](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_transformation). – Fizz Oct 28 '15 at 19:35
  • How would you get rid of the 2- and 3-ohm resistors? – Couto Oct 28 '15 at 19:36
  • apply source transformation to your voltage sources which will change them to current sources. – user65652 Oct 28 '15 at 19:41
  • I=V/R Do I sum the voltages (11+2.2) and divide by the total resistance (6/11)? Or do I divide 2.2 by 6/11 and then 11 by 6/11? – Couto Oct 28 '15 at 19:47

1 Answers1

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The 2.2V & 1-ohm source is equivalent to a 2.2A source and 1-ohm. Then this resistor is in parallel with the 2ohm one, so it becomes a 2/3 ohm resistor.

Then transform it back to voltage source of 4.4/3 V (and 2/3 ohm resistor).

To calculate the Norton current the output is shorted so the 3-ohm resistor goes away.

Then you add the voltage sources as 11+(4.4/3) = 37.4/3 V. And this divided by 2/3 ohms gives exactly 18.7A Norton current.


If the direct calculation of the Norton current confuses you, and for verification purposes, we can also calculate the Thévenin voltage basically using the same approach [of source transformations].

We can reuse our previous transformation of the left-most voltage source and of the two resistors next to it into a 4.4/3 V source with a [series] 2/3 ohm resistor.

But after that, for the Thévenin voltage the output is left open-circuit. So now we do have that 3 ohm resistor in the circuit, and we need to calculate the voltage drop across it, which will be the Thévenin voltage we're looking for.

Now the 4.4/3 V source in series the 11V one is again 37.4/3 V, but this voltage goes through a voltage divider formed by a 2/3 ohm and a 3ohm resistor, and we want to find the voltage drop across the latter:

$$ V_{th} = \frac{37.4}{3}V\times \frac{3}{3+\frac{2}{3}} = 37.4V\times \frac {3}{11} = \frac{112.2}{11}V = 10.2V$$

As you probably know, the Thévenin voltage is related to the Norton current by the Thévenin/Norton resistance (which you have correctly found as 6/11 ohms): \$10.2V = 18.7A \times \frac{6}{11}\Omega\$.


The last part of your problem, calculating the current through the 16/11 ohm load is much more trivial, e.g. using the Thévenin source we have 10.2V going through (6+16)/11 ohms, i.e. trough 2 ohms, so the load current is 5.1A.

With that load added, a Norton source of 18.7A sees a resistance of (6/11)||(16/11) ohms. Furthermore, this is a current divisor, i.e. we want to know the current [only] through the 16/11 ohms load. The current through the load is thus

$$ 18.7A \times \frac{\frac{11}{16}}{\frac{11}{6} + \frac{11}{16}} = 18.7A \times \frac{3}{11} = 5.1A$$

So, it's the same load current as we got with the Thévenin source, as expected.

Fizz
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  • Thank you! Just a few questions: Why does the 3-ohm resistor goes away? When should I ignore other resistors/voltage/current sources? – Couto Oct 28 '15 at 20:13
  • Because it's in parallel with a zero-ohm resistor when you short the output, which is what you do when you calculate the Norton current. – Fizz Oct 28 '15 at 20:13
  • Sorry, what do you mean with "it's in parallel with a zero-ohm resistor"? Where did it come from? Also, why did you consider the 2-ohm resistor to be in series with the 1-ohm? Whenever you have two voltage sources you just consider two circuits separately? Once again, thank you – Couto Oct 28 '15 at 20:19
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    I think you need to watch some lecture on these to understand what I did and why did it. I suggest these two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyPMMtW-2dc and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-3NWNrAQRQ – Fizz Oct 28 '15 at 20:23
  • Thank you for your detailed explanation! I'm going to watch the videos and if I still get confused with something I'll let you know. Again, thank you :) – Couto Oct 30 '15 at 11:32
  • Hi again! I've watched the videos and I think I've understood it! Thank you! I'll do the same exercise again tomorrow and I'll look for others online. @Respawned I would only like to ask you if I got this general formula right. When I need to calculate a Voltage across a resistor, I do V=V0*(R0/RT), being V0 the Voltage Source, R0 the resistor I'm considering and RT the total resistance (if in Series, R0+R1+R2... if in Parallel, 1/R0+1/R1+1/R2, etc). If I'm considering a current, same thing, but I0 instead of I and I get the current across the resistor. Correct? – Couto Oct 30 '15 at 19:23
  • @Alex Couto: Yes, for a [voltage divider](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltage_divider) the voltage drop across each resistor is proportional to the resistance (of that resistor). For a [current divider](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_divider), the current through each resistor [is proportional](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_divider#Using_Admittance) with the [conductance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_resistance_and_conductance) of the resistor (i.e. the inverse of the resistance). That's what I did in the last calculation. – Fizz Oct 30 '15 at 21:22
  • Ok, thank you! You were really helpful, @RespawnedFluff! – Couto Oct 31 '15 at 19:49
  • @Alex Couto: For just two resistors, it's actually possible to [have simpler formula for the current divider](http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/94888/current-divider-rule-calculation-issue/198235#198235), but I'm a bit rusty. – Fizz Oct 31 '15 at 19:58