Thévenin's theorem.

March 11, 2014

Thévenin's theorem.

Thévenin's theorem:

Thévenin's theorem holds, to illustrate in DC circuit theory terms, that (see image):

· Any linear electrical network with voltage and current sources and only resistances can be replaced at terminals A-B by an equivalent voltage source Vth in series connection with an equivalent resistance Rth.
· This equivalent voltage Vth is the voltage obtained at terminals A-B of the network with terminals A-B open circuited.
· This equivalent resistance Rth is the resistance obtained at terminals A-B of the network with all its independent current sources open circuited and all its independent voltage sources short circuited.

For AC systems, the theorem can be applied to reactive impedances as well as resistances.

The theorem was independently derived in 1853 by the German scientist Hermann von Helmholtz and in 1883 by Léon Charles Thévenin (1857–1926), an electrical engineer with France's national Postes et Télégraphes telecommunications organization.

Thévenin's theorem and its dual, Norton's theorem, are widely used for circuit analysis simplification and to study circuit's initial-condition and steady-state response. Thévenin's theorem can be used to convert any circuit's sources and impedances to a Thévenin equivalent; use of the theorem may in some cases be more convenient than use of Kirchhoff's circuit laws.

Calculating the Thévenin equivalent:

To calculate the equivalent circuit, the resistance and voltage are needed, so two equations are required. These two equations are usually obtained by using the following steps, but any conditions placed on the terminals of the circuit should also work:

1. Calculate the output voltage, VAB, when in open circuit condition (no load resistor—meaning infinite resistance). This is VTh.
2. Calculate the output current, IAB, when the output terminals are short circuited (load resistance is 0). RTh equals VTh divided by this IAB.

The equivalent circuit is a voltage source with voltage VTh in series with a resistance RTh.

Step 2 could also be thought of as:

2a. Replace the independent voltage sources with short circuits, and independent current sources with open circuits.

2b. Calculate the resistance between terminals A and B. This is RTh.

The Thévenin-equivalent voltage is the voltage at the output terminals of the original circuit. When calculating a Thévenin-equivalent voltage, the voltage divider principle is often useful, by declaring one terminal to be Vout and the other terminal to be at the ground point.

The Thévenin-equivalent resistance is the resistance measured across points A and B "looking back" into the circuit. It is important to first replace all voltage- and current-sources with their internal resistances. For an ideal voltage source, this means replace the voltage source with a short circuit. For an ideal current source, this means replace the current source with an open circuit. Resistance can then be calculated across the terminals using the formulae for series and parallel circuits. This method is valid only for circuits with independent sources. If there are dependent sources in the circuit, another method must be used such as connecting a test source across A and B and calculating the voltage across or current through the test source.

Example:

Step 0: The original circuit:

Step 1: Calculating the equivalent output voltage:

Step 2: Calculating the equivalent resistance:

Step 3: The equivalent circuit:

In the example, calculating the equivalent voltage:

(notice that R1 is not taken into consideration, as above calculations are done in an open circuit condition between A and B, therefore no current flows through this part, which means there is no current through R1 and therefore no voltage drop along this part)

Calculating equivalent resistance: