Lab 2 Report

Coy Coburn & Kevin Bradshaw

ECEN 214, Section 506
TA: Amir Tofighi Zavareh
Due date: February 11, 2014

Procedure
Task 1 Non-Ideal Source Measurements

At the beginning of the lab, a 12 Volt battery was used in a circuit to power an AC Fan.
The true voltage of the battery is given in Table 1. The circuit was made by using an
inverter, which switches direct current to alternating current. The circuit constructed
included a hand held Multimeter in series to measure the current, the HP Digital
Multimeter (DMM) in parallel to measure the voltage, and an AC fan rated at 120 Volts.
The voltage and current in the circuit was measured in four ratings:
o Fan OFF
o Fan Low
o Fan Medium
o Fan High
These voltages and currents were recorded in Table 2. After these measurements, a lamp
was connected to the circuit in place of the fan, after it was disconnected safely. Voltage
and current were measured for the lamp when it was on and off.
From all the measurements, these aspects of the circuits were calculated:
o Power Delivered to Load
o Calculated Resistance Load
o Calculated Internal Resistance
o Calculated Power Dissipated
o Efficiency
These calculated values are recorded in Table 2.

Task 2 Ideal Source Measurements

Then, instead of the 12 Volt battery, the Xantrex power supply was connected and the
same measurements were done for each rating. Both the fan and the lamp were used in
the measurements for the ideal source. These values are recorded in Table 3.
The same calculations from Task 1 were also calculated for the ideal source and recorded
in Table 3.

Task 3 Voltage and Current Measured Through a Solar Panel

For this task, a 300 mA solar panel, was used to measure voltage and current at different
variations of light. This circuit consisted of the panel being placed in series with a
handheld Multimeter, into a 1k resistor in parallel with the HP DMM, and back into the
solar panel. Measurements of voltage and current were recorded for the lights in the room
on and off. These are recorded in Table 4.
A small lamp was then used directly over the solar panel at about 5 inches to again
measure voltage and current through the panel. Then, this measurement was repeated

with a different resistor, a 100 resistor and a 10 resistor. These values were also
recorded in Table 4.
Lastly, the maximum power in the resistor was determined by the voltage and currents
measured. These power values are recorded in Table 4.

Data Tables
Table 1: Battery Measurements
Open Circuit Voltage (VL)
12.742 V

Open Circuit Current (IL)

0

Table 2: V Ideal Source Measurements

Fan
Calculated
Calculated
Speed
VL
IL
Power
Calculated Calculated
Power
Efficiency
or
Measured Measured Delivered
RL
RS
Dissipated
Lamp
to Load
in RS
Fan Off
Fan
Low
Fan
Medium
Fan
High
Lamp
Off
Lamp
On

12.570 V

0.30 A

3.77 W

41.90

0.57

0.05 W

98.6 %

11.765 V

2.79 A

32.82 W

4.22

0.29

2.25 W

93.5 %

11.650 V

3.29 A

38.33 W

3.54

0.28

3.02 W

92.6 %

11.540 V

3.82 A

44.08 W

3.02

0.27

3.94 W

91.7 %

12.482 V

0.29 A

3.61 W

43.04

0.90

0.08 W

97.6 %

11.565 V

3.66 A

42.33 W

3.16

0.25

3.36 W

92.6 %

Table 3: Non-Ideal Source Measurements

Fan
Calculated
Calculated
Speed
VL
IL
Power
Calculated Calculated
Power
Efficiency
or
Measured Measured Delivered
RL
RS
Dissipated
Lamp
to Load
in RS
Fan Off 12.168 V
0.29 A
3.53 W
41.96
0
0W
100 %
Fan
Low
Fan
Medium
Fan
High
Lamp
Off
Lamp
On

11.607 V

2.82 A

32.73 W

4.12

0.20

1.57 W

95.4 %

11.490 V

3.28 A

37.69 W

3.50

0.21

2.22 W

94.4 %

11.450 V

3.79 A

43.40 W

3.02

0.19

2.71 W

94.5 %

12.175 V

0.28 A

3.41 W

43.48

0W

100 %

11.430 V

3.77 A

43.10 W

3.03

0.21

2.80 W

93.9%

Table 4: Voltage and Current Measured Through a Solar Panel

Light Level
Voltage
Current
0.630 V
0.13 A
Lights Off 1 k
0.132 mV
0.0 A
Lights On 1 k
0.548 mV
0.55 A
Lamp 1 k
0.490 V
4.91 A
Lamp 100
0.427 V
42.8 A
Lamp 10

Power
0.082 W
0.0 W
0.301 W
2.406 W
18.275 W

Calculations
Both the prelab and the lab included Kirchhoffs Voltage Law (KVL), the Voltage Divider Rule
(VDR), Ohms Law, and the calculation of power. In the lab, by using the voltage measured and
the current measured, the power could be calculated by using: Power = Voltage * Current. After
this, the load resistance was measured by using Ohms Law: Resistance = Voltage / Current.
Using KVL, the internal resistance of the power supply was calculated by using the open circuit
voltage (VOC), the closed circuit voltage (VL), the circuit current (IL), and the load resistance
(RL):
KVL: -VOC + VL + ILRL = 0
ILRS = (VOC ILRL)
RS = (VOC ILRL) / IL
Once the internal resistance was calculated, the power dissipated through the internal resistance
was determined by using:
Power = (Current of the Load)2 * Internal Resistance. Then finally, the efficiency of the power
supply was calculated by dividing the Power Delivered by the sum of the Power Delivered and
the Power Lost.
Discussion
Task 1 - Non-Ideal Source Measurements

In Task 1 voltage and current readings were taken of the system along with differing
states of the fan and lamp that were powered by the said current. These readings revealed
how real power sources were limiting in readings and data compared to ideal and
constant power sources.

Voltage V (V)

12.8
12.6
12.4
12.2
12
11.8
11.6
11.4
11.2
11
0.3

2.79

3.29

3.82

0.29

3.66

0.29

3.66

0.29

3.66

Current I (A)

Graph 1: VL vs IL Table 2
1

Voltage V

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0.3

2.79

3.29

3.82

Current I

Graph 2: VL vs IL Table 3

Resistance (Ohms)

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0.3

2.79

3.29

3.82

Current (A)

Graph 3: RS vs IL Table 2

0.25

Resistance (Ohms)

0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0.29

2.82

3.28

3.79

0.28

3.77

Current (A)

Graph 4: RS vs IL Table 3

Task 2 - Ideal Source Measurements

Task involved measuring and recording voltage and current readings from the same
circuit used in Task 1, but now utilizing the Xantrex power supply instead of the battery.
Comparing data from the earlier Task 1, it reveals that efficiency is much higher for the
ideal power sources compared to the real power source. Rs cannot be calculated due to an
ideal source not possessing an internal resistance, and therefore cannot be utilized in
calculations. It seems that power delivered by the battery is less than the power delivered
by the ideal power source due to the internal resistance of the battery. From our data, it
seems that the Rl is very similar over the two sources, with Rl being higher for ideals
when the fan/lamp is off, and then lower when the fan/lamp is on and running.

Task 3 - Voltage and Current Measured Through a Solar Panel

The amount of light determines the amount of current that will flow through the 1 k
resistor. It seems that the 10 resistor dissipates the most power due to having the lowest
resistance and allowing more current. The lowest valued resistor should be used, in this
case, the 10 .

Conclusion
This lab taught of the limitations of real power sources compared to ideal power sources
available in the lab experiments. From the data given, it has revealed that internal battery
resistances play a role in efficiency as well as power dissipation in the circuit. It can be clearly
seen that Xantrex and other sources will be much more useful to researchers compared to its
inefficient counterpart.