Hi there
I am wanting to write a program that, given a network, can calculate current, voltage, etc over all components and branches in the network. At the moment, I am just concentrating on linear DC networks that have nothing but voltage and/or current sources, and resistors. I'm ignoring capacitive and inductive components for the time being
In a circuit analysis textbook I've got, it says that branch current analysis can solve any linear DC network, so this is the algorithm I have chosen for the program. With voltage sources and resistors this seems to be no problem, as you are using KVL around each independant loop of the circuit, plus a couple of KCL equations, then you solve them simulataneously.
I get stuck with current sources though. for example the following:
-----R1------------------ | | | | | | V C R2 | | | | | | ---------------------------
Lets say V is a 6V battery, R1 is 2 ohms, C is a 2A current source and R2 is a 5 ohm resistor
With branch analysis, there should be two KVL eqns and one KCL eqn. But how can you do KVL around a loop with current sources in? I know that you could convert C into a voltage source through source conversion, but what if you cannot do a source conversion, such as when there is not a convenient parallel resistor. i suppose what im asking for is a surefire algorithm that can be used in a computer program (ie generic and doesn't rely on human intuition) that will solve any network. Any hints or open source programs that can be of help are appreciated...
cheers Michael