BEng Electronic Engineering with Industrial Experience / Course details

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Circuit Analysis

Course unit fact file
Unit code EEEN10121
Credit rating 10
Unit level Level 1
Teaching period(s) Semester 1
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

This unit will cover the following:

  • Electrical quantities and circuit variables: charge, current, voltage, resistance, power, energy and associated units.
  • Basics of circuit modelling: ideal voltage and current sources, basic circuit elements, resistors, Ohm’s Law and Kirchoff’s Current and Voltage Laws.
  • Circuit reduction techniques: combining resistors in series and parallel, application of voltage divider and current divider rules, source transformation.
  • Circuit analysis techniques: mesh current method and node voltage method.
  • Circuit theorems: Superposition, Thevenin/Norton, Maximum Power Transfer.
  • Energy storage circuit elements: characteristics of inductance and capacitance.
  • Transients: natural and forced responses of RL, RC and RLC circuits.
  • AC circuits: sinusoidal waveforms, phase, RMS values.
  • AC circuits: phasors and phasor diagrams, reactance and impedance, susceptance and admittance, Kirchoff’s laws.
  • AC circuits: complex power, real and reactive power, power factor.

    Aims

    This course unit detail provides the framework for delivery in the current academic year and may be subject to change due to any additional Covid-19 impact.  Please see Blackboard / course unit related emails for any further updates.

    The course unit aims to:

    • Introduce the fundamental theorems and analysis techniques for problem-solving in electrical circuit theory.
    • Provide students with the knowledge and intellectual skills necessary to model and analyse electrical and electronic systems using circuit theory.

     

    Learning outcomes

    On the successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

    Developed

    Assessed

    ILO 1

    • Apply Ohm’s Law, Kirchoff’s Current Law and Kirchoff’s Voltage Law to electrical circuits.

    X

    X

    ILO 2

    • Simplify and analyse complex circuits using transformation and combination techniques.

    X

    X

    ILO 3

    • Apply Mesh Current and Node Voltage methods to analyse DC and AC circuits.

    X

    X

    ILO 4

    • Apply Superposition and Thevenin/Norton theorems to analyse DC and AC circuits.

    X

    X

    ILO 5

    • Explain and analyse simple transient behaviour in RLC circuits.

    X

    X

    ILO 6

    • Employ concepts of phasor and impedance to solve AC circuits and draw corresponding phasor diagrams.

    X

    X

    ILO 7

    • Calculate complex power and associated power factor in AC circuits.

    X

    X

     

    Teaching and learning methods

    This unit is taught in the standard style with 2-hour lectures taking place every week and with two 3-hour practical lab sessions taking place during the semester.

    There are 8 non-assessed online quizzes (Blackboard-based) that students are encouraged to complete as part of their revision.

    There is a video lecture on the transient analysis (available on YouTube) that supports the taught material.

     

    Assessment methods

    Method Weight
    Other 30%
    Written exam 70%

    DC Circuits 

    How and when is feedback provided: Online submission in Blackboard, individual performance feedback is provided once all students submit their answers.

    Weighting: 6%

    “Home Network” Coursework Assignment

    Length: Up to 8 hours self-study

    How and when is feedback provided: Online submission in Blackboard, individual performance feedback is provided once all students submit their answers.

    Weighting: 8%

    AC Circuits 

    How and when is feedback provided: Online submission in Blackboard, individual performance feedback is provided once all students submit their answers.

    Weighting: 6%

    Tutorial questions

    Length: Weekly activity delivered as part of Personal Tutorials

    How and when is feedback provided: Weekly submission to Personal Tutor, feedback provided 1 week later by Personal Tutor.

    Weighting: 10%

     

    Feedback methods

    .

    Recommended reading

    “Electric Circuits”, James W. Nilsson and Susan Riedel.

    “Introduction to Electric Circuits”, Richard C. Dorf, James A. Svoboda

     

    Study hours

    Scheduled activity hours
    Lectures 20
    Practical classes & workshops 6
    Tutorials 4
    Independent study hours
    Independent study 70

    Teaching staff

    Staff member Role
    Ognjen Marjanovic Unit coordinator
    Qi Li Unit coordinator

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