Version | 1.3 |
Unit Name | Electrical Circuit Theory and Analysis |
Unit Code | BSC102 |
Unit Duration | 1 Semester |
Award |
Bachelor of Science (Engineering) Duration 3 years |
Year Level | One |
Unit Creator / Reviewer | N/A |
Core/Elective: | Core |
Pre/Co-requisites | Nil |
Credit Points |
3 Total Course Credit Points 81 (27 x 3) |
Mode of Delivery | Online or on-campus. |
Unit Workload | (Total student workload including “contact hours” = 10 hours per study week) Pre-recordings / Lecture – 1.5 hours Tutorial – 1.5 hours Guided labs / Group work / Assessments – 2 hours Personal Study recommended – 5 hours |
Unit Description and General Aims
The objective of this unit is to familiarise the students with the various elements of electrical circuits and the behaviour of circuits when connected to a power source. Information covered in this unit will include: the fundamentals of DC and AC circuits; the measurement of voltage, current, power, resistance; and, other basic electrical concepts. Additionally, the various circuit combinations, mathematical methods for resolving DC and AC circuits, calculations for AC circuits involving the use of complex numbers in Cartesian and polar forms, the use of various circuit theorems, the maximum power transfer theorem, and the basics of resonance and harmonics in complex waveforms, will also be discussed.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this Unit, students are expected to be able to:
- Explain the different passive components found in electrical circuits and their behaviour.
Bloom’s Level 3 - Perform calculations involving simple circuits in DC networks including the behaviour under sudden voltage change
conditions.
Bloom’s Level 3 - Explain the behaviour of passive components in AC circuits powered by single phase AC supply.
Bloom’s Level 3 - Perform calculations in AC circuits using polar and Cartesian systems (involving complex numbers) and applying
various circuit theorems to solve complex networks.
Bloom’s Level 3 - Explain the analysis of complex waveforms and analyse the frequency components in commonly encountered
non-sinusoidal waveforms using numerical methods.
Bloom’s Level 3 - Discuss the principles of measurement of electrical parameters using electrical instruments, bridges, and
applications of electromagnetism.
Bloom’s Level 3
Student Assessment
Assessment Type | When assessed | Weighting (% of total unit marks) | Learning Outcomes Assessed |
Assessment 1 Type: Multi-choice test - Invigilated Topics: 1 to 3 Description: Students will need to complete multiple-choice quiz questions to demonstrate a good understanding of the fundamental concepts. |
After Topic 3 | 15% | 1, 2 |
Assessment 2 Type: Test - Short answer questions - Invigilated Topis: 1 to 6 Description: Students may be asked to provide solutions to simple problems on various topics |
After Topic 6 | 20% | 3 and 4 |
Assessment 3 Type: Practical assessment, Simulation software Topis: 1 to 9 Description: Students will need to complete this practical project. |
After Topic 9 | 20% | 6 |
Assessment 4 Type: Examination Topis: All Description: An examination with a mix of descriptive questions and numerical problems to be completed within 3 hours. |
Final Week | 40% | All |
Homework Type: Multi-choice test Description: Multiple choice questions following Topics 1-10. |
Topics 1-10 | 5% | All |
Overall Requirements: Students must achieve a result of 50% or above in the exam itself to pass the exam and must pass the exam to be able to pass the unit. An overall final unit score of 50% or above must be achieved to pass the unit once all assessment, including the exam, has been completed.
Prescribed and Recommended readings
Suggested Textbook
- J. Bird, Electric Circuit Theory and Technology, Newnes (Elsevier Science), ISBN 978-0415662864, 2013
Reference Materials
- Circuit Theory, 2013, wikibooks.org (download link: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Circuit_Theory.pdf)
- Peer reviewed Journals: Knovel library
- IDC Technologies publications
- Other material and online collections as advised during the lectures
Unit Content
Topic 1
Electrical quantities, resistance in DC circuits
- Units of electrical measurements
- Introduction to circuits
- Electric current and Ohm’s law
- Conductors and insulators
- Resistance and its variation with temperature
- Different types of resistances and their comparison
- Solving combinations of series and parallel circuits
- Voltage and current division in series/parallel circuits
Topic 2
Electromagnetism and Inductance
- Magnetic fields, flux and flux density
- Magnetomotive force and magnetic field strength
- Permeability and B-H curves
- Reluctance in a magnetic core
- Hysteresis and Hysteresis Loss
- The relation between current, flux, and force on a conductor
- The principle of flux linkage inducing a voltage in a coil
- Inductance of a coil
- Construction of an inductor
- Mutual Inductance
- Behaviour of inductances for step variations in DC voltage
- Energy storage in inductive components
- Fleming’s rules
- Application in electrical machines and transformers
Topic 3
Capacitance and capacitors
- Electrostatic field and field strength
- Capacitance
- Electric flux density
- Permittivity
- Parallel plate capacitor
- Series and parallel connection of capacitors
- Dielectric strength
- Energy stored in capacitive components
- Construction of a practical capacitor and capacitance marking
- Charging and discharging of capacitors
Topic 4
AC Voltages and Currents
- The AC generator
- AC waveform characteristics and mathematical expression (amplitude/time relationship)
- Combination of waveforms.
- Peak and RMS values and calculation of crest (peak) factor and form factor for pure sine waves
- Pure resistive circuits: voltage/current relationships
- Pure inductive circuits: voltage/current relationships and reactance
- Pure capacitive circuits: voltage/current relationships and reactance
- Introduction to phasors, Cartesian and polar coordinates
- Use of Cartesian and polar coordinates to express voltage and current in AC circuits
- Introduction to complex algebra and the operator ‘j’
Topic 5
Single Phase Series AC circuits
- Impedance
- R-L series ac circuits
- R-C series ac circuits
- R-L-C series ac circuits
- Series resonance
- Q-factor
- Bandwidth and selectivity
- Voltage magnification
- Power in AC circuits and the concept of power factor to calculate useful power
- Power Triangle
Topic 6
Single Phase Parallel AC circuits
- Admittance, conductance and susceptance
- R-L parallel ac circuits
- R-C parallel ac circuits
- L-C parallel ac circuits
- LR-C parallel ac circuits
- Dielectric loss and loss angle in a capacitor
- Parallel resonance
- Q-factor
- Current magnification
- Power factor improvement
Topic 7
Circuit theorems applied to AC and DC circuits - I
- Kirchhoff’s Laws
- The Superposition Theorem
- Constant voltage source
- Constant current source
Topic 8
Circuit theorems applied to AC and DC circuits - II
- Thevenin’s Theorem
- Norton’s Theorem
- Thevenin and Norton equivalent networks
- Maximum Power Transfer Theorem
- Impedance matching
Topic 9
Electrical measurements
- Measurement using instruments-Basic galvanometer principle
- Analogue instruments using moving coil/moving iron principle
- Use of shunts and multipliers
- Ohm meters and power meters
- Digital instruments and their principle
- Loading effect of instruments and errors introduced
- Potentiometers
- Oscilloscope as measuring device
- Bridges and their use in measurements
Topic 10
Circuit theorems applied to AC and DC circuits - III
- Delta-star transformation for circuit reduction
- Mesh current analysis in AC circuits
- Nodal analysis
Topic 11
Complex waveforms and harmonics
- General equation for a complex waveform
- Harmonic synthesis
- Fourier Series of periodic and non-periodic function
- RMS, Mean and form factor for complex waveforms
- Power associated with harmonic components
- Sources of harmonics
- Resonance due to harmonics
Topic 12
Unit Review
In the final week, students will have an opportunity to review the contents covered so far. Opportunity will be provided for a review of student work and to clarify any outstanding issues. Instructors/facilitators may choose to cover a specialized topic if applicable to that cohort.
Software/Hardware Used
Software
- Software: National Instruments ELVISmx Instrument Launcher (on Remote Lab); National Instruments Multisim (on Remote Lab)
- LTSpice - free SPICE simulator software
- Version: N/A
- Instructions: N/A
- Additional resources or files: N/A
Hardware
- National Instruments MyDAQ (on Remote Lab)