EE332 Electrical Engineering Principles and Applications Lab
Experiment # 05 STUDY OF RC SERIES CIRCUIT
PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES:
Upon completion of this laboratory experiment, the student will be able to:
1. Verify the performance of Resistor and Capacitorr (RC) circuit .
EQUIPMENT:
1. LT Spice software
DISCUSSION:
When an ac voltage is applied to a resistor and a capacitor in series, as shown in Fig. 1,
the capacitor will constantly charge and discharge as the input voltage (V in) is constantly
changing.
A capacitor C is formed whenever two conductors are separated by an insulating
material. Consider the simple example of two parallel conducting plates separated by a
small gap that is filled with an insulating material (vacuum, air, glass, or another
dielectric). If a potential difference exists between the two plates, then an electric field
exists between them, and opposite electric charges will be attracted to the two plates. The
ability to store that electric charge is a fundamental property of capacitors. The larger the
plates, the more charge can be stored. The closer the plates, the more charge can be
stored…at least until the charges leap the gap and the dielectric breaks down. If a voltage
source is connected across a capacitor, a charge will flow in the external circuit until the
voltage across the capacitor is equal to the applied voltage. The charge that flows is
proportional to the size of the capacitor its “capacitance” and to the applied voltage. The
relationship is given by the equation
𝑄 = 𝐶𝑉 (1)
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EE332 Electrical Engineering Principles and Applications Lab
Experiment # 05 STUDY OF RC SERIES CIRCUIT
Where Q is the charge in coulombs, C is the capacitance in farads, and V is the applied
voltage in volts.
In an RC circuit, the capacitive impedance Xc decreases as the frequency of the input
voltage increases, and current I flow through the circuit is proportionally increased. i.e.,
as that frequency increases, the capacitor will act as a short circuit to the high-frequency
current in its path. At low frequencies, the capacitor tends to block current flow. However,
the change of the input frequency will not change the value of the resistor R.
Figure 1: Schematic diagram illustrate an RC circuit connected in series
Reactance is a characteristic exhibited by capacitors and inductors in circuits with time-
varying voltages and currents, such as common sinusoidal AC circuits. Like resistance,
reactance opposes the flow of electric current and is measured in ohms. Capacitive
1
reactance XC can be found by the equation:
𝑋𝐶 =
2𝜋𝑓𝐶
(2)
Where f is the frequency of the applied voltage or current and C is the capacitance in
𝑉𝐶
farads. As with resistance, the capacitor reactance obeys Ohm’s law:
𝑉=𝐼 𝑋 𝑜𝑟 𝑋 =
𝐼𝐶
𝐶 𝐶 𝐶 𝐶
(3, 4)
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EE332 Electrical Engineering Principles and Applications Lab
Experiment # 05 STUDY OF RC SERIES CIRCUIT
If a sinusoidal voltage is applied across a purely resistive circuit, it produces a sine wave
(sinusoidal) current. Both waveforms attain their peak values at the same time, and pass
through zero at the same time. Voltage and current, in a purely resistive circuit, are
therefore said to be "IN PHASE" with each other.
Figure 2: illustrate that the voltage and current wave are in phase in purely resistive load
In a purely capacitive circuit, the voltage and current waveforms are not in phase.
Capacitance has the property of delaying changes in voltage. The applied voltage reaches
steady state only after a time dictated by the time constant. In AC circuits voltage and
current are changing continuously, and in a purely capacitive AC circuit, the peak value
of the voltage waveform occurs a quarter of a cycle after the peak value of the current.
Therefore, a phase shift is occurring in the capacitor, the amount of phase shift between
voltage and current is +90° for a purely capacitive circuit, with the current LEADING the
voltage as shown in Fig. 3. The opposite phase shift to an inductive circuit.
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EE332 Electrical Engineering Principles and Applications Lab
Experiment # 05 STUDY OF RC SERIES CIRCUIT
Figure 3: illustrate the voltage and current phase shift in a purely capacitive load
In an RC circuit, a phase shift occurs as well between the voltage across the capacitor VC
and the current I. As the circuit is a resistive-capacitive load, the current leads the
voltage, as shown in Fig. 4. The phase shift can be calculated using equation 5.
−𝑉𝐶
Figure 4: illustrate the voltage and current phase shift of a resistive-capacitive load.
𝜃 = tan−1
𝑉
(5)
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EE332 Electrical Engineering Principles and Applications Lab
Experiment # 05 STUDY OF RC SERIES CIRCUIT
Table 1, shows important equations required to theoretically calculate VR, VC, Vs, R, XC,
and Z.
Table 1: Improtant equations
𝑅 = |𝑍 | ×
For voltages For impedance
|𝑉𝑅 | = |𝑉𝑆| ×
cos(𝜃) cos(𝜃)
|𝑉𝐶 | = |𝑉𝑆| × | 𝑋 𝐶| = | 𝑍 | ×
sin(𝜃) sin(𝜃)
|𝑉𝑠 | = √|𝑉𝑅 |2 + |𝑍| = √𝑅2 +
|𝑉𝐶 |2 | 𝑋 𝐶| 2
PROCEDURE:
Task 1
1- Use LT Spice software and simulate t the circuit shown in Fig. 1 using a 1kΩ
resistor and a 0.1 µF capacitor.
2- Set the input voltage at 5V and frequency at 1 kHz.
3- Using the Osclliscope, read the voltage across the 1kΩ resistor and the 0.1µF
capacitor.
4- Change the input voltage from 5 to 10, 15, and 20 volts.
5- Repeat step 3, measuring the voltage across the 1kΩ resistor and the 0.1 µF capacitor.
6- Based on the experimental measurement, calculate the phase shift (𝜃) between VR and
VC theoretically using equation 5.
7- Write down all the measured and calculated values.
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EE332 Electrical Engineering Principles and Applications Lab
Experiment # 05 STUDY OF RC SERIES CIRCUIT
Observation Table
Voltage VR VC Z CosǾ
5V
10 V
15 V
20V
Task 2
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EE332 Electrical Engineering Principles and Applications Lab
Experiment # 05 STUDY OF RC SERIES CIRCUIT
Task 3
Figure 6
1. Use LT Spice software and create the circuit as shown in figure 6.
2 Apply signal of maximum amplitude to the circuit from the signal generator
with 100 ohm Resistor and 10 micro farad capacitor .
3 Note the readings on ammeter by changing the resistor values as 150 ohm , 200 ohm and 300 ohm .
4 Draw the locus for current as Resistance is varied.
R-L Series Circuit: L = 50mH
S.NO. Variable R I(mA) Ѳ= tan−1(XC/R)
1 100
2 150
3 200
4 300
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EE332 Electrical Engineering Principles and Applications Lab
Experiment # 05 STUDY OF RC SERIES CIRCUIT
Figure 7 Locus for current in RC circuit
REVIEW QUESTIONS:
1. What is a capacitor and what consist of inside?
2. What are the applications of the RC circuit?
3. Why there is a phase shift (𝜃) between the measured voltage VC and current I?
4. If we increase the input frequency from 1kHz to 5 kHz, what is the phase shift
(𝜃) between the voltage VC and current I?
FINAL CHECKLIST
1 Submit your answers to the review questions along with your technical report to your instructor
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EE332 Electrical Engineering Principles and Applications Lab
Experiment # 05 STUDY OF RC SERIES CIRCUIT
before the next laboratory session.
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