Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

1. Use basic AC concepts to analyze circuits.

2. Build and simulate AC electrical circuits and perform measurements with electronic test equipment.

3. Write technical reports using collected experiment data.

Lecture and discussion are the instructional methods used. Weekly homework is assigned. Laboratory activity includes building circuits on solder-less breadboards, making circuit measurements using test equipment, analyzing test data, and comparing to predictions using theory.

Lab exercises involve using a PC with spreadsheet, word processor, and circuit simulation software. The student is expected to learn the following in the lab:

Use the DMM (digital multi-meter) to measure AC voltage, and current.

Use the Oscilloscope to measure AC waveforms in the time domain.

Use the oscilloscope to measure phase angles between two AC waveforms.

Use the function generator to generate sinusoidal waveforms of specific frequency and amplitude.

Build circuits on a solder-less breadboard.

Use the DC power supply

Use the spreadsheet and word processor to process lab data and to write lab reports.

Use circuit simulation software to simulate circuits built in the lab.

Evaluation is by exams, homework, and lab work.

1. Inductors

            a) Inductance and the magnetic field.

            b) Induced voltage.

            c) RL circuit transient response.

            d) Inductors in series and parallel.

            e) Energy storage in an inductor.

2. Sinusoidal waveforms

            a) Graphical and mathematical representation of a sinusoid.

            b) Frequency spectrum.

            c) Phase relationships, average values, rms values.

            d) AC measurements

3. Phasors and circuit elements in the phasor domain

            a) R, L, and C response to sinusoidal voltages and currents.

            b) Frequency response of R, L, and C circuit elements.

            c) Complex numbers, rectangular and polar forms.

            d) Conversion between polar and rectangular forms.

            d) Complex number math and use of calculator.

4. Series, parallel, and Series-Parallel AC Circuits

            a) Reactance and Susceptance.

            b) Impedance, Admittance, and the phasor diagram.

            c) Series circuit, voltage divider.

            d) Frequency response of series circuits.

            e) Parallel circuit, current divider.

            f) Frequency response of parallel circuits.

            g) Series and parallel equivalent circuits.

            h) Example by combining series and parallel concepts.

5. Analysis Methods and Theorems

            a) Sources and source conversions.

            b) Node voltage and mesh current methods.

            c) Bridge networks.

            d) Delta-wye and wye-delta circuits and conversions.

            e) Superposition Theorem.

            f) Thevenin’s and Norton’s Theorem.

            g) Maximum power transfer theorem.

6. Capacitors

            a) Electric field and capacitance.

            b) Capacitors.

            c) Charging and discharging capacitors through a resistance.

            d) RC time constant and the exponential function.

            e) Capacitors in series and parallel.

            e) Energy storage.

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