First order systems are, by definition, systems whose input-output relationship is a first order differential equation. A first order differential equation contains a first order derivative but no derivative higher than first order – the order of a differential equation is the order of the highest order derivative present in the equation.

First order systems contain a single energy storage element. In general, the order of the input-output differential equation will be the same as the number of independent energy storage elements in the system. Independent energy storage cannot be combined with other energy storage elements to form a single equivalent energy storage element. For example, we previously learned that two capacitors in parallel can be modeled as a single equivalent capacitor – therefore, a parallel combination of two capacitors forms a single independent energy storage element.

First order systems are an extremely important class of systems. Many practical systems are first order; for example, the mass-damper system and the mass heating examples from section 6.1 are both first order systems. Higher order systems can often be approximated as first order systems to a reasonable degree of accuracy if they have a dominant first order mode. (System modes will be discussed later in this text.) Understanding first order systems and their responses is an important aspect to design and analysis of systems in general.

First order electrical circuits are a special class of first order systems – they are first order systems which are composed of electrical components. Since the electrical components which store energy are capacitors and inductors, first order circuits will contain either one (equivalent) capacitor or one (equivalent) inductor.

In this textbook, we are really interested only in the analysis of electrical circuits, so the bulk of this chapter, of course, deals with analysis of first order electrical circuits. However, at this stage of your studies, you probably do not have an intuitive grasp of the mechanisms of energy storage in electrical circuits and the response of electrical circuits with energy storage elements. Therefore, this chapter begins in Section 7.1 with a general discussion of the response of first order systems, using a sliding mass as an example within which to frame the basic concepts. This provides a relatively gentle introduction to the nomenclature and mathematics which will be used throughout this chapter, in the context of an example for which the student should have some physical insight. Section 7.1 can be omitted, however, without loss of clarity of the remaining sections. Sections 7.2 and 7.3 present the natural response of RC and RL circuits, respectively (RC circuits have a capacitor as an energy storage element, while RL circuits contain an inductor). The natural response of a system corresponds to the system response to some initial condition, with no forcing function provided to the system. In section 7.4, we present the force response of first order circuits, and in section 7.5 we examine the response of first order circuits to a specific forcing function – a step input.

• Write the general form of the differential equation governing a first order system
• State, in physical terms, the significance of a differential equation’s homogeneous and particular solutions
• Define, from memory, the relationships between a system’s unforced response, zero-input response, natural response, and the homogeneous solution to the differential equation governing the system
• Define, from memory, the relationships between a system’s forced response, zero-state response, and the particular solution to the differential equation governing the system
• Determine the time constant of a first order system from the differential equation governing the system
• Write mathematical expressions from memory, giving the form of the natural and step responses of a first order system
• Sketch the natural response of a first order system from the differential equation governing the system and the system’s initial condition
• Sketch the step response of a first order system from the differential equation governing the system and the amplitude of the input step function
• Write the differential equation governing RC and RL circuits
• Determine the time constant of RC and RL circuits from their governing differential equations
• Determine the time constant of RC and RL circuits directly from the circuits themselves
• Determine initial conditions on arbitrary RC and RL circuits
• Write from memory the form of the natural responses of RC and RL circuits
• Determine the natural response of RC and RL circuits, given the governing differential equation and initial conditions
• Write the form of the differential equations governing forced first order electrical circuits
• Determine the time constant of a forced electrical circuit from the governing differential equation
• Write differential equations governing passive and active first order circuits
• Determine the differential equation governing the step response of a first order electrical circuit
• Write the form of the particular solution of a first order differential equation, to a step input
• Write the form of the step response of a first order electrical circuit
• Determine the final conditions (steady-state response) of a first order electrical circuit, to a step input
• Define DC gain for a circuit and relate it to the steady-state response to a step input
• Determine the step response of a first order electrical circuit from the governing differential equation, the initial conditions, and the final conditions

In this section, we introduce some basic nomenclature relative to first order system responses and illustrate these terms in the context of an example for which the reader may have an intuitive understanding: a mass sliding on a surface. This example, though not directly relevant to the study of electrical circuits, is intended to allow the reader to develop some physical insight into the terminology and concepts relative to the solution of first order differential equations. The concepts and results obtained with this example are then generalized to apply to any arbitrary first order system. These results are used in later sections to provide insight in the analysis of electrical circuits, for which the reader may not yet have an intuitive understanding.

Before discussing first-order electrical systems specifically, we will introduce the response of general first order systems. A general first order system is governed by a differential equation of the form:

$$a_1 \frac{dy(t)}{dt} + a_0 y(t) = f(t), t>t_0 (Eq. 7.1)$$

Where $f(t)$ is the (known) input to the system and $y(t)$ is the response of the system. $a_1$ and $a_0$ are constants specific to the system being analyzed. We assume in equation (7.1) that the input function is applied only for times $t>t_0$. Thus, from equation (7.1), we can only determine the response of the system for times $t>t_0$.

In order to find the solution to equation (7.1), we require knowledge of the system’s initial condition:

$$y(t=t_0) = y_0 (Eq. 7.2)$$

The initial condition, $y_0$, defines the state of the system at time $t=t_0$. Since equation (7.1) describes a system which stores energy, the effect of the initial condition is to provide information as to the amount of energy stored in the system at time $t=t_0$.

The system described by equations (7.1) and (7.2) can be illustrated in block diagram form as shown in Figure 7.1. The output of the system depends upon the initial condition, $y_0$, and the input function $f(t)$. The initial condition provides information relative to the energy stored in the system prior to application of the input function. The input function provides information relative to the energy being applied to the system from external sources. The input-output equation describes how the system transfers the energy initially present in the system and the energy added to the system to the system output.

The solution to equation (7.1) consists of two parts – the homogeneous solution, $y_h (t)$, and the particular solution, $y_p (t)$, as shown below:

$$y(t) = y_h(t) + y_p(t) (Eq. 7.3)$$

The homogeneous solution is due to the properties of the system and the initial conditions applied to the system; it describes the response of the system if no input is applied to the system, so $f(t) = 0$. The homogeneous solution is sometimes called the systems natural response, the unforced response, or the zero input response. Since all physical systems dissipate energy (according to the second law of Thermodynamics) the homogeneous solution must die out with time; thus, $y_h(t) \rightarrow 0$ as $t \rightarrow \infty$.

The particular solution describes the systems response to the particular forcing function applied to the system; the form of the particular solution is dictated by the form of the forcing function applied to the system. The particular solution is also called the forced response or the zero state response.

Since we are concerned only with linear systems, superposition principles are applicable, and the overall system response is the sum of the homogeneous and particular solutions. Thus, equation (7.3) provides the system’s overall response to both initial conditions and the particular forcing function being applied to the system.

The previous concepts are rather abstract, so we provide below an example of the application of the above concepts to a system for whose response the students should have some intuitive expectations. This example is intended to provide some physical insight into the concepts presented above prior to applying these concepts to electrical systems.

As an example of a system which includes energy storage elements we revisit the mass-damper system of section 6.1. The system under consideration is shown in Figure 7.2. The applied force $F(t)$ pushes the mass to the right. The mass’s velocity is $v(t)$. The mass slides on a surface with sliding coefficient of friction $b$, which induces a force which opposes the mass’s motion. The mass will have some initial velocity:

$$v(t=0)=v_0 (Eq. 7.4)$$

Consistent with section 6.1, we consider the applied force to be the input to our system and the mass’s velocity to be the output. Figure 7.3 illustrates the system input-output relationship and initial conditions in block diagram form.

The governing equation for the system was determined in section 4.1 to be the first order differential equation:

$$m \frac{dv(t)}{dt} + bv(t) = F(t) (Eq. 7.5)$$

We consider two cases of specific forcing functions in the following cases. In the first case, the forcing function is zero, and we determine the system’s natural response or the homogeneous solution to equation (7.5) above. In the second case, the forcing function is a constant nonzero force applied to the mass with zero initial velocity.

Let us consider first the case in which the mass has some initial velocity but no external force is applied to the mass. Intuitively, we expect that the velocity of the mass will decrease until the mass comes to rest. In this example, we will determine the solution of the differential equation (7.5) and compare this solution with our expectations.

With no applied forcing function, the differential equation governing the system is:

$$m\frac{dv(t)}{dt} + bv(t) = 0 (Eq. 7.6)$$

The initial condition is given by equation (7.4) above, repeated here for convenience:

$$v(t=0) = v_0$$

Equation (7.6) is a homogeneous differential equation, since there is no forcing function applied to the system. Thus, the particular solution in this case is $y_p(t) = 0$ and our overall solution is simply the homogeneous solution, $y(t) = y_h(t)$.

To solve the above differential equation, we rearrange equation (7.6) to give:

$$\frac{m}{b} \cdot \frac{dv(t)}{dt} = -v(t) (Eq. 7.7)$$

Separating variables in equation (7.7) results in: