Lecturer: Maria Evelina Mognaschi  

Course name: Circuit and Field Theory
Course code: 500547
Degree course: Ingegneria Meccatronica
Disciplinary field of science: ING-IND/31
University credits: CFU 9
Course website: http://www.unipv.it/electric/cad

Specific course objectives

Knowledge of electrical quantities and units involved in the study of circuits; knowledge of linear one-port systems and their energy properties; knowledge of circuit laws and their numerical implementation; ability to solve simple circuit problems in DC, low and high frequency, in resonance or transient conditions. Knowledge of electric and magnetic fields in static and quasi-static conditions. Ability to solve a field problem in simple case studies. Knowledge of field laws and their numerical use.

Course programme

DC circuits
Basic electrical quantities. One-port systems and their voltage-current characteristic. Ohm’s law. Power balance. Electric circuits. Nodes and loops. Kirchhoff’s laws. Linear circuit analysis. Circuit theorems.

AC circuits
Capacitor. Inductor. Signals in the time-domain and their representation. Circuit analysis in the frequency domain. Phasors. Impedance and admittance. Real, imaginary and complex power. Frequency response of a passive one-port system. Resonance. Two-port systems.

Circuit analysis in the time-domain
Analysis of a linear circuit of the n-th order. Natural frequencies, initial values, transient state and steady-state. Linear circuits of the first order. Linear circuits of the second order.

Power circuits
Three-phase systems: definitions and basic properties. Symmetric and balanced systems. Three-phase generators and loads. Power in three-phase systems and its measurements.

From circuits to fields
Maxwell’s equations for static fields. Representation of static fields. Conductors, dielectric and magnetic materials. Constitutive laws.

Static field in dielectric media
Electric field and charge density in dielectric media. Gauss’ theorem. Coulomb’s law. Transmission conditions for electrostatic field. Electric potential. Calculation of the equivalent capacitance of a distributed system.

Static field in magnetic media
Magnetic field and flux density in magnetic media. Ampère’s theorem. Biot-Savart’s law. Continuity laws for magnetostatic field. Magnetic circuits; Hopkinson’s law. Calculation of the equivalent inductance of a distributed system.

Electromagnetic field in low frequency
Electromagnetic induction Faraday-Neumann-Lenz's law. Induced current in solid conductors; skin effect. Applications: linear coupled inductors, energy and power of coupled inductors, transformer.

Course entry requirements

Linear algebra, complex numbers, derivatives and integrals.

Course structure and teaching

Lectures (hours/year in lecture theatre): 56
Practical class (hours/year in lecture theatre): 25
Practicals / Workshops (hours/year in lecture theatre): 0

Suggested reading materials

M. Guarnieri, A. Stella. Principi e Applicazioni di Elettrotecnica. Edizioni Progetto, Padova.

Testing and exams

The final examination consists of a written test and an interview.