Applications of Series Circuit

Series circuits have various applications, including:

• Lighting Circuits: The series circuit is present in the lighting boards, where the bulbs are connected in series. An event such as the burning out of one bulb will result in the electrical circuit, which will, in turn, interrupt the connection, and all bulbs will be turned off. This feature is often seen in older holiday light strings.
• Voltage Dividers: A series circuit is common where a voltage divider circuit is used, where the divider output voltage is a fraction of the input voltage. This technique is accomplished by building a series circuit with a couple of resistors, resulting in the voltage across one resistor.
• Temperature Sensors: A concrete example of a series circuit is temperature sensors, where the change in resistance of a resistor that changes with temperature (thermistor) is measured to determine the true value of temperature. There are two thermistors in the circuit. The thermistor is placed both in series with the fixed resistor and in the voltage divider circuit.
• Battery Packs: Series circuits are a tool to increase the battery’s total output voltage. The voltage gets steadily higher as you connect the batteries in series. This way, a high output voltage is achieved, resulting in many applications, including electric cars and mobile electronics.
• Electrical Safety Devices: Series circuits include fuses and circuit breakers. The latter are devices placed in the circuit that break it whenever a short circuit or overload is detected to protect the components.

A series circuit is one of the most important concepts of electrical and electronics courses. In a series circuit, all the components are sequentially arranged and connected with each other to form a single current path. The installed total resistance is the sum of all individual resistors’ resistances. Hence, the total voltage drop is also the sum of the individual voltage drops across the respective resistors. This article will cover the equations, simplifications, and uses of series circuit systems.