3/19/2015

Circuit built on everycircuit.com

At the beginning of class we were asked to register for an application that allows us to build various circuit and gives an analysis on them. This app is called "everycircuit". We were then asked to build a specific circuit.

Pre-Lab

 The remainder of the day was spent on a new method of circuit analysis known as Thevenin's Theorem. The lab required the use of various resistance values and in order to make our circuit analysis much simpler we used Thevenin's Theory.

Thevenin Circuit Diagram

We then built a new circuit that resembled the Thevenin circuit diagram. The Thevenin resistance was made by using a potentiometer and the 0.45V was supplied from the Analog Discovery. We varied the resistance by using another potentiometer.

Results  

We measured the voltage difference at the load resistor with the Analog Discovery and the actual resistance resulting from the potentiometer with a multimeter. The goal of the lab was to find the maximum power dissipation by the load. 

Summary:

Today, we learned how to build circuits using "everycircuit". The primary use of this tool is to check our results from doing circuit analysis by hand. We also learned a new method for circuit analysis known as Thevenin's Theorem. Using Thevenin's Theorem, we are able to replace a linear two-terminal circuit with an equivalent circuit consisting of a voltage source in series with a resistor. The voltage source and resistor are of equivalent  value of the circuit that was replaced. Using this method allows us to add different loads to the circuit and simplify the calculations rather than using more method analysis techniques. The error in the lab was due to the actual resistance values of the resistors not being equivalent to the values used in the calculations.