Answer to Question #206554 in Electrical Engineering for Ehhre

Question

Q and A.

Between superposition, nortons and thevenin's theorem, between the 3 theorem, which do you think is most beneficial and which theorem is super hard to apply or to the point that it's not applicable anymore? Give an example and state why?

Answer 1

All the three network theorems are quite useful. However, the Thevenin's theorem is the most beneficial as it finds the equivalent voltage and resistance for two given points in any type of circuits (even with more than a source) which is the most widely used parameters for simple and complex circuit analysis.

Norton's theorem can be used either too when one needs to know the current. Noteworthy, the two theorems can be converted interchangeably. On the other hand, Superposition can only be used in a network of circuit with more than a source of energy. This make it less useful. Also, one need to calculate a required parameters of each source and add the result up to get the resultant parameter value. This whole process is cumbersome.

Example.

Supposed I need to get the current for a whole power system network with three power source. One would need to switch on each power source and get the parameter for that power source. Alternatively, switch other power sources sequentially and get the corresponding value. The total calculated value is the actual parameter value.

Norton or Thevenin can be used straight up without switching any power source.