Development of an analog simulator for the transient analysis of electric circuits, with the aim of teaching circuit phenomena by simulating equations

Teaching electric circuit theory involves the use of Ohm´s and Kirchhoff´s laws; branch, mesh and node analysis, as well as AC analysis and transient analysis. The latter gives the most comprehensive insight into circuit behavior. When analytical transient circuit analysis is used, one needs to solve the differential equations that describe the circuit behavior. Electrical engineering students often find this difficult. Alternatives to the mathematical analysis are: a) the simulation of the given problem with a commercial circuit simulator, and b) building a physical circuit, the behavior of which can then be observed and analyzed. These approaches are most productive when optimizing the behavior of a circuit, but they can easily add their own noise to the circuit study. The presented approach for the effective transient analysis is by simulating equations. The circuit in question is analyzed using Kirchhoff´s laws with reference to specific time slices. The equations describing circuit components that store energy (capacitors, inductors) are then used to connect the consecutive time slices. The coding of equations for a given circuit allows students to gain a thorough understanding of the circuit´s workings. Test cases show that results match perfectly between the simulation of equations and the analytical results from different RLC example circuits. Keywords: electronics education, electrical circuit simulation, simulation of equations, time variant circuit, transient response