Course 15 | Core
Electrical Circuits and Sensors
Understand circuits, sensors, calibration, signals, and actuator interfaces.
Course snapshot
- Purpose
- Circuits and sensors support measurements, mechatronics, control, embedded systems, and physical automation.
- Next in the guided sequence
- Used in Career Directions
How to study this course
- Draw the circuit
- Identify knowns and unknowns
- Apply Ohm's law, KCL, KVL, or divider logic
- Estimate the signal
- Check units and physical plausibility
- Connect circuit behavior to sensor measurement
How this course is designed
Circuit first, measurement second
The first seven modules build the circuit vocabulary: resistance, capacitance, inductance, phasors, power, and amplification. The last three apply that vocabulary to sensors, signal conditioning, and data capture.
Worked numbers throughout
Every module includes two fully worked examples with verified arithmetic. The habit of checking units and rounding sensibly is built in from the start, not added at the end.
Designed for mechanical engineers
The examples are chosen for their relevance to mechanical measurement: strain gauges, thermistors, RTDs, Wheatstone bridges, and analogue-to-digital converters appear in context, not in isolation.
The 10 modules
01 | Module
Circuit Fundamentals and Ohm's Law
Charge, current, voltage, power, and the linear relationship between voltage and current.
02 | Module
Kirchhoff's Laws and Resistive Networks
KVL and KCL applied to series, parallel, and combined resistive circuits.
03 | Module
Nodal, Mesh, and Thevenin Analysis
Systematic analysis methods and the Thevenin and Norton equivalents.
04 | Module
Capacitors, Inductors, and Transient Response
Energy storage elements, the time constant, and first-order transient circuits.
05 | Module
AC Circuits and Phasors
Sinusoidal sources, impedance, and the phasor method for AC steady state.
06 | Module
AC Power, Power Factor, and Resonance
Real and reactive power, the power triangle, and series LC resonance.
07 | Module
Operational Amplifiers
The ideal op-amp, inverting and non-inverting configurations, and voltage gain.
08 | Module
Sensors and Transducers
Strain gauges, RTDs, thermocouples, and the measurement of physical quantities.
09 | Module
Signal Conditioning and the Wheatstone Bridge
The Wheatstone bridge, low-pass filters, and amplification for sensor signals.
10 | Module
Data Acquisition and Measurement Systems
ADC resolution, quantisation error, and the chain from sensor to digital record.