LAB 6 - THEVENIN EQUIVALENTS

Goal: To determine the smallest equivalent load resistance that can be successfully used given the minimum acceptable voltage. The maximum power delivered to the load would also be calculated.

Step 1A: determining open circuit voltage in the following circuit using nodal analysis given Rc1=100 ohms, Rc2=Rc3=39 ohms, RL1=680 ohms, and Vs1=Vs2=9 V.

Step 1B: determining Vy, Isc, and Rth from in the following circuit

Step 1C: determining smallest permissible RL2 using voltage divider, Isc using Ohm's Law, and Voc by inspection

Step 2A: Build the following circuit and collect some measurements. Although Vth was determined to be 8.64V, 9V was used instead. I was determined to be 0.0097 A using Ohm's law. Using this value of I, the theoretical voltage across load 2 can be easily calculated using the Ohm's Law.

Step 2B:

Step 3: Calculate Pmax and verify by experiment

Theoretical Pmax = (Vth^2)/4Rth = 0.3068 W

Conclusion:  The maximum load for load 2 was calculated to be 825 ohms with about 8 V delivered to the load. The amount of power decreases when we set R = 0.5 Rth and 2 Rth. The values agree with the fact that the maximum power happens when RL2 = Rth.