Block Diagram Representation of Electrical Systems
Similarly, you can draw the block diagram of any electrical circuit or
system just by following this simple procedure.
Convert the time domain electrical circuit into an s-domain
electrical circuit by applying Laplace transform.
Write down the equations for the current passing through all series
branch elements and voltage across all shunt branches.
Draw the block diagrams for all the above equations individually.
Combine all these block diagrams properly in order to get the
overall block diagram of the electrical circuit (s-domain)
In this section, let us represent an electrical system with a block diagram.
Electrical systems contain mainly three basic elements — resistor,
inductor and capacitor.
Consider a series of RLC circuit as shown in the following figure. Where,
Vi(t) and Vo(t) are the input and output voltages. Let i(t) be the current
passing through the circuit. This circuit is in time domain.
Signal Flow Graph
Signal flow graph is a graphical representation of algebraic equations. In this chapter,
let us discuss the basic concepts related signal flow graph and also learn how to draw
signal flow graphs
. Basic Elements of Signal Flow Graph
Nodes and branches are the basic elements of signal flow graph.
Node
Node is a point which represents either a variable or a signal. There are three types of
nodes — input node, output node and mixed node.
Input Node − It is a node, which has only outgoing branches.
Output Node − It is a node, which has only incoming branches.
Mixed Node − It is a node, which has both incoming and outgoing branches
Example Let us consider the following signal flow graph to identify these nodes
Branch
Branch is a line segment which joins two nodes. It has both gain and direction. For
example, there are four branches in the above signal flow graph. These branches have
gains of a, b, c and -d.
Construction of Signal Flow Graph Let us construct a signal flow graph by
considering the following algebraic equations –
Conversion of Block Diagrams into Signal Flow Graphs
Follow these steps for converting a block diagram into its equivalent signal flow
graph.
Represent all the signals, variables, summing points and take-off points of block
diagram as nodes in signal flow graph.
Represent the blocks of block diagram as branches in signal flow graph.
Represent the transfer functions inside the blocks of block diagram as gains of the
branches in signal flow graph.
Connect the nodes as per the block diagram. If there is connection between two
nodes (but there is no block in between), then represent the gain of the branch as one.
For example, between summing points, between summing point and takeoff point,
between input and summing point, between take-off point and output.
Example
Let us convert the following block diagram into its equivalent signal flow graph
Represent the input signal R(s) and output signal C(s) of block diagram as input node
R(s) and output node C(s) of signal flow graph. Just for reference, the remaining
nodes (y1 to y9) are labeled in the block diagram. There are nine nodes other than
input and output nodes. That is four nodes for four summing points, four nodes for
four take-off points and one node for the variable between blocks G1and G2.
The following figure shows the equivalent signal flow graph:
Let us now discuss the Mason’s Gain Formula. Suppose there are ‘N’ forward paths
in a signal flow graph. The gain between the input and the output nodes of a signal
flow graph is nothing but the transfer function of the system. It can be calculated by
using Mason’s gain formula.
Mason’s gain formula is
Consider the following signal flow graph in order to understand the basic terminology
involved here.
Calculation of Transfer Function using Mason’s Gain Formula
Let us consider the same signal flow graph for finding transfer function.