Lecture 10

Thevenin and Norton Equivalent

Circuits

ECE 205
Prof. Ali Keyhani

Equivalent Circuits
• A two terminal interface:

• Interface is the connection

between circuits

Thevenin equivalent circuit:

Norton equivalent circuit:

Conditions for Existence of the Equivalent Circuits:

• Theorem: If the source circuit in a two terminal

interface is linear, then if the source circuit is replaced
by the its Thevenin or Norton equivalent the interface
signals i and v will not change

• Thevenin and Norton circuits have the same i-v

characteristics:

– The two circuits can be replaced by each other

– The equivalency conditions should be derived

Equivalency Conditions
• In order to find the equivalency conditions the i-v
relationship of two circuits should be compared

• Thevenin Circuit:
KVL : v = vT − iRT

• Norton Circuit:
v
KCL : i = iN −
RN
→ v = iN RN − iRN
 Equivalency Conditions
• Norton and Thevenin circuits have the same i-v
relationship, therefore:

R N = RT
i N R N = vT

• Once one of the circuits is found the other can

be determined by source transformation

• Parameters of the Norton and Thevenin circuits can be

found by calculating the open-circuit voltage and short-
circuit current

vT = vOC
i N = i SC
vOC
R N = RT =
i SC
 Example 1
Find the load resistance to have a load voltage
of 3V.

Example 1
Solution: The Thevenin equivalent circuit is found to simplify the
circuit at the interface.

10
voltage division : vT = vOC = × 15 = 10 V
10 + 5

To find the short circuit current first the equivalent resistance of the circuit is
found to be able to calculate the input current.

1
R EQ = 5 + = 11Ω
1 1
+
10 15
15 10
ix = = 1.36 A i N = i SC = × i x = 0.545 A
11 10 + 15
v
RT = OC = 18.3Ω
i SC
 Example 1
The resulting Thevenin equivalent circuit:

Voltage division is used to find the load resistance:

RL RL
× vT = × 10 = 3 V ⇒ RL = 7.84 Ω
RL + RT RL + 18.3

Example 2

Find the Norton equivalent of the circuit to

the left of the interface.