Electrical Basics Course Prof.

Aldo Canova

Electrical Basic Course

Exercise 1
Resistive network solution by
Constitutive and KVL and KCL
Equations
Electrical Basics Course Prof. Aldo Canova

Solution of circuit by KVL, KCL and constitutive equations

•Given a circuit with L branches and N nodes

•The solution of a circuit means the calculation of the unknowns: current and
voltage of each branch.
•The number of unknowns is equal to 2*L and so the number of equations has
to be write is equal to 2*L
•Each branch implies a constitutive equation: L equations of the system comes
from constitutive equations
•The other L equations depends from the topology of the circuit which implies
constraints on currents and voltages
•The constraint equations are KCL and KVL
•The maximum number of independent linear equations can be write using
the KCL is equal to N-1
•The maximum number of independent linear equations can be write using
the KVL is equal to L-N+1
•The sum is equal to: N-1 + L-N+1 = L
•L equation are obtained from constitutive equations
•L equation are obtained from KVL and KCL
Electrical Basics Course Prof. Aldo Canova

Solution of circuit by KVL, KCL and constitutive equations

Example 1
B

R1

ig
A R2

C
Electrical Basics Course Prof. Aldo Canova

Solution of circuit by KVL, KCL and constitutive equations

The circuit has 4 branches and three nodes (assuming for each component a
branch).
For each branch we assume as unknown the current and the voltage (the
orientation is arbitrary) B
L=4 2*L=8

v2 2 v1
i3 i4 v2
v3
i2 v4
3 v3 4 i1
A v4
i2
i1 i3
i4
v1 1
L=4 eq. cost
N-1=3-1=2 KCL
C L-N+1=4-3+1=2 KVL
Electrical Basics Course Prof. Aldo Canova

Solution of circuit by KVL, KCL and constitutive equations

Constitutive equations

i1 Source Conv. v2 2 Load Conv.

e R1
v1 1 v1=e i2 v2=R1 i2

i3
i4
Load Conv. Source Conv.

3 v3 ig R2
i3= - ig 4 v4 v4= - R2 i4
Electrical Basics Course Prof. Aldo Canova

Solution of circuit by KVL, KCL and constitutive equations

KCL and KVL

B
i1-i2=0
KCL
i2-i3-i4=0
v2 2
i3 i4
v1-v2-v3=0 KVL i2
v3+v4=0
A 3 4 v4
i1 v3

v1 1

C
Electrical Basics Course Prof. Aldo Canova

Solution of circuit by KVL, KCL and constitutive equations

Linear system in matrix form

0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  i1   e 
0 − R
 1 0 0 0 1 0 0  i2   0 
0 0 −1 0 0 0 0 0  i3  ig 
    
0 0 0 R2 0 0 0 1  i4   0 
=
1 − 1 0 0 0 0 0 0  v1   0 
    
0 1 −1 −1 0 0 0 0  v2   0 
0 0 0 0 1 − 1 − 1 0 v3   0 
    
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 v4   0 
Electrical Basics Course Prof. Aldo Canova

Solution of circuit by KVL, KCL and constitutive equations

•The reduction of the matrix dimension can be obtained by substituting the

constitutive equations inside the KCL and KVL equations
•In the case of resistors one have to chose if the voltage or the current will be the
unknown

i1 − i2 = 0 The unknowns are:

i − (− i ) − i = 0
1. The currents in the
resistor and voltage i1 , i2 , i4
2 g 4 sources

e − R1i2 − v3 = 0 2. The voltages of the
current sources
v3
v + (− R i ) = 0
 3 4 2
Electrical Basics Course Prof. Aldo Canova

Solution of circuit by KVL, KCL and constitutive equations

The compacted linear system in the matrix form is:

1 − 1 0 0  i1   0 
0 1
 −1 0  i2  − i g 
=
0 R1 0 1  i4   e 
    
0 0 − R2 1 v3   0 
Electrical Basics Course Prof. Aldo Canova

Solution of circuit by KVL, KCL and constitutive equations

The system can be further reduced considering that the KCL equation on the node
A is quite obvious and a unique current can be assumed as unknown:

i1 = i2 = i
Substituting this equation:

i − (− i g ) − i4 = 0

e − R1i − v3 = 0
v + (− R i ) = 0
 3 2 4
Electrical Basics Course Prof. Aldo Canova

Solution of circuit by KVL, KCL and constitutive equations

Example 2

C D

R1

E R3 R5 ig

e1
R4

A B
R2 e2
F
Electrical Basics Course Prof. Aldo Canova

Solution of circuit by KVL, KCL and constitutive equations

C D

R1

E R3 R5 ig

e1
R4

A B
R2 e2
F
Electrical Basics Course Prof. Aldo Canova

Solution of circuit by KVL, KCL and constitutive equations

C D

R1

R3 R5 ig

e1
R4

A B
R2 e2 N= N-1= KCL
L= L-N+1= KVL
Electrical Basics Course Prof. Aldo Canova

Solution of circuit by KVL, KCL and constitutive equations

C i6 D

i3 i5
R1

i1 R3 R5 ig VDB

e1
R4
i4

A B
R2 e2
i2
Electrical Basics Course Prof. Aldo Canova

Solution of circuit by KVL, KCL and constitutive equations

Advantage of the proposed method:
•It is systematic
•It allow the calculation of all the electrical quantities
Drawbacks
•It requires the solution of a system even if only an electrical quantity is required
•If the circuit is complex the system solution requires the use of a computer

?
We need a method which allows
the synthesis of parts of the circuit