ELE 2051 - Circuit Theory for Mechanical Engineering

3 lecture hours 0 lab hours 3 credits

Course Description
This lower-division course establishes a foundation in the theory of electric circuits and initiates application of those concepts in electrical and electronic applications. The main topics include DC, AC, fundamental electric circuit laws, electrical components, the ideal operational amplifier, analysis of circuits containing equivalent circuits, models of sensors and actuators, and a brief introduction to digital signals.
Prereq: High school physics
Coreq: MTH 1110
Note: ELE 2051 is satisfied by successful completion of or transfer for ELE 2001. Conversely, ELE 2001 is not satisfied by ELE 2501 because it does not have a laboratory component.
This course meets the following Raider Core CLO Requirement: None

Course Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

Demonstrate knowledge of electrical quantities in a steady-state DC context: voltage, current, resistance, power, and energy, including SI units and prefixes
Identify sources and loads in an energy conversion context, shorts and opens
Relate symbols and circuit schematics to physical components and circuit boards
Identify common circuit configurations: series, parallel, series-parallel, and standard ideal op-amp configurations
Analyze DC series and parallel circuits through application of Kirchhoff's voltage and current laws
Analyze DC series-parallel circuits, including use of the voltage and current divider rules, of linear circuit elements and the passive sign convention with consequent implications for sources and loads (note: generally limited to five passive components)
Analyze DC circuits using nodal analysis and mathematical software for the calculations (note: mesh circuit analysis is explicitly excluded)
Analyze DC circuits using circuit simulation software
Mathematically represent the time domain and the phasor forms of AC sinusoidal steady-state signals
Demonstrate knowledge of capacitance, inductance, and the following items for capacitors and inductors: i-v relationships, reactance, DC behavior, and AC behavior
Analyze AC circuits using series-parallel and nodal circuit techniques using mathematical software for the calculations (notes: generally limited to five passive components; use of software as opposed to manual methods is intentional)
Analyze AC circuits using circuit simulation software
Recognize when the linearity condition for superposition in a circuit is valid
Compute real AC power in circuits that contain reactance at one frequency
Distinguish real power from apparent power in simple series and parallel AC circuits
Analyze ideal op-amp circuits in standard configurations
Analytically determine Thevenin and Norton equivalent circuits of DC circuits using the open circuit - short circuit approach and graphically using voltage-current (i-v) plots (note: limited-size DC circuits are intended)
Identify lowpass, highpass, bandpass, and bandstop (bandreject) filter types in frequency response plots
Identify the 20 dB/decade slope and the break frequency in the magnitude frequency response plots of two-component series RL and RC circuits (note: transfer functions, phase response plots,and Bode plots are topics in Electric Circuits II)
Distinguish analog and digital signals

Prerequisites by Topic

Algebra and trigonometry through precalculus
Concept of electric charges
Power and energy concepts

Course Topics

Electrical quantities in a steady-state DC context: voltage, current resistance, power, and energy; units and prefixes; sources and loads in an energy conversion context; shorts and opens; symbols, circuit schematics, relationship to physical components and circuit boards
DC series and parallel circuit analysis, Kirchhoff's voltage and current laws
DC series-parallel circuit analysis; voltage and current divider rules of linear circuit elements, passive sign convention and implication for sources and loads
Nodal analysis, including use of mathematical software and circuit simulation software
AC sinusoidal steady state signal: time domain and phasor mathematical representations
Capacitance, inductance, reactance; DC and AC in inductors and capacitors
Impedance, complex numbers, and use of complex numbers in AC calculation; two-component RL and RC series circuits
AC series-parallel and nodal circuit analysis
Superposition, including linearity condition for applicability of superposition
Real AC power for same and different frequencies; apparent power distinction
Ideal op-amps and standard configurations circuit analysis
Model concept and using models; Thevenin/Norton equivalent circuits; models of example devices, such as motors, batteries, pH probes, solar cell, and so forth
Analytic determination of Thevenin and Norton equivalent circuits of limited-size DC circuits using the open circuit - short circuit approach and graphically using voltage-current (i-v) plots
Variable frequency circuit analysis and semilogarithmic plots: two-component series RL and RC circuits; the filtering concept; simulations; the 20 dB/decade slope and break frequency concepts; mathematical software, log scales, and the dB (note: the transfer function is a topic in Electric Circuits II)
Overview of signal types: analog versus digital

Coordinator
Dr. Brian Faulkner

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