Implicit Linear Algebra and Basic Circuit Theory

TL;DR

This paper introduces Implicit Linear Algebra (ILA), a unified framework that simplifies and generalizes basic circuit theory results, including Thevenin-Norton and maximum power transfer theorems, through linking and duality operations.

Contribution

It develops the ILA framework for circuit analysis, providing new proofs and generalizations of classical theorems using linking and duality operations.

Findings

ILA simplifies circuit analysis proofs.

Generalizes Thevenin-Norton theorem using ILA.

Extends maximum power transfer theorem.

Abstract

In this paper we derive some basic results of circuit theory using `Implicit Linear Algebra' (ILA). This approach has the advantage of simplicity and generality. Implicit linear algebra is outlined in [1]. We denote the space of all vectors on $S$ by $\mathcal{F}_S$ and the space containing only the zero vector on $S$ by $\mathbf{0}_S.$ The dual $\mathcal{V}_S^{\perp}$ of a vector space $\mathcal{V}_S$ is the collection of all vectors whose dot product with vectors in $\mathcal{V}_S$ is zero. The basic operation of ILA is a linking operation ('matched composition`) between vector spaces $\mathcal{V}_{SP},\mathcal{V}_{PQ}$ (regarded as collections of row vectors on column sets $S\cup P, P\cup Q,$ respectively with $S,P,Q$ disjoint) defined by $\mathcal{V}_{SP}\leftrightarrow \mathcal{V}_{PQ}\equiv \{(f_S,h_Q):((f_S,g_P)\in \mathcal{V}_{SP}, (g_P,h_Q) \in \mathcal{V}_{PQ}\},$ and another ('skewed composition`) defined by $\mathcal{V}_{SP}\rightleftharpoons \mathcal{V}_{PQ}\equiv \{(f_S,h_Q):((f_S,g_P)\in \mathcal{V}_{SP}, (-g_P,h_Q) \in \mathcal{V}_{PQ}\}.$ The basic results of ILA are the Implicit Inversion Theorem (which states that $\mathcal{V}_{SP}\leftrightarrow(\mathcal{V}_{SP}\leftrightarrow \mathcal{V}_S)= \mathcal{V}_S,$ iff $\mathcal{V}_{SP}\leftrightarrow \mathbf{0}_P\subseteq \mathcal{V}_S\subseteq \mathcal{V}_{SP}\leftrightarrow\mathcal{F}_S$) and Implicit Duality Theorem (which states that $(\mathcal{V}_{SP}\leftrightarrow \mathcal{V}_{PQ})^{\perp}= (\mathcal{V}_{SP}^{\perp}\rightleftharpoons \mathcal{V}_{PQ}^{\perp}$). We show that the operations and results of ILA are useful in understanding basic circuit theory. We illustrate this by using ILA to present a generalization of Thevenin-Norton theorem where we compute multiport behaviour using adjoint multiport termination through a gyrator and a very general version of maximum power transfer theorem, which states that the port conditions that appear, during adjoint multiport termination through an ideal transformer, correspond to maximum power transfer.