How would I find the inverse laplace transform

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around finding the inverse Laplace transform of a function related to an LR series electrical circuit. Participants explore various methods to derive the time-domain function i(t) from the given Laplace domain representation, including convolution and partial fractions, while dealing with the complexities introduced by a square-wave function as the input.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Mathematical reasoning
  • Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • One participant presents the Laplace transform I(s) and expresses uncertainty about using convolution due to the infinite terms in the geometric progression.
  • Another participant mentions reliance on Mathematica for solving the inverse transform but notes that it cannot provide a solution for this case.
  • A participant clarifies that the original question involves solving a differential equation for i(t) in an LR circuit, with E(t) defined as a square wave function.
  • One participant proposes using convolution to find i(t) and provides an integral expression for it.
  • Another participant questions the necessity of evaluating the integral to find i(t) and expresses difficulty in using partial fractions due to the exponential in the denominator.
  • Further exploration of the integral is presented, with specific evaluations for the intervals [0,1] and [1,2] based on the square-wave function.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express various methods and approaches to tackle the problem, but there is no consensus on a definitive solution or method to evaluate the integral. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the best approach to find i(t).

Contextual Notes

Participants acknowledge limitations in their methods, particularly regarding the evaluation of integrals and the application of partial fractions in the presence of an exponential term.

mathwurkz
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Hi How would I find the inverse laplace transform of this?

[tex]I(s) = \left( \frac{1}{s(1+e^{-s})}\right) \left( \frac{1}{Ls+R}\right)[/tex]
[tex]i(t)=?[/tex]

L, R are constants. I recognize the first term to be a geometric progression (square-wave function). With an infinite number of terms in that progression I don't think I could use convolution here. I could also try partial fractions but don't know how to do it with that exponential in the denominator. Someone please help.
 
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mathwurkz said:
Hi How would I find the inverse laplace transform of this?

[tex]I(s) = \left( \frac{1}{s(1+e^{-s})}\right) \left( \frac{1}{Ls+R}\right)[/tex]
[tex]i(t)=?[/tex]

L, R are constants. I recognize the first term to be a geometric progression (square-wave function). With an infinite number of terms in that progression I don't think I could use convolution here. I could also try partial fractions but don't know how to do it with that exponential in the denominator. Someone please help.

Well I don't know if I've become too reliant on Mathematica but what I would do would be first to see what it reports, then work backward to see how it was figured out. But Mathematica can't solve it; suppose I could review all the techniques I can think of but well, curious if it's a simple matter that just the math jocks at Wolfram can't.:smile:
 
The original question was to solve a differential equation for i(t) for LR series electrical circuit...

[tex]L \frac{di(t)}{dt} + Ri(t) = E(t)[/tex]

Given the condition i(0) = 0 and E(t) is the square wave function.

So I looked up the square wave function and got E(t) = 1 - H(t-1) + H(t-2) - H(t-3)... where H(t) is the heavisdie function.And taking the LT of that, I get [tex]\frac{1}{s(1+e^{-s})}[/tex]

So when I take the LT of the differential equation I got what I wrote above in post 1.

Ya just the trouble is now getting i(t).

I don't have any of the math programs so it's all lecture notes, pencil and paper i have to work with.
 
And so why not a convolution? When I convolve them, I get:

[tex]i(t)=\frac{1}{L}\int_0^t E(\beta)e^{-R/L(t-\beta)}d\beta[/tex]
 
But doesn't that integral have to be evaluated to get the answer? That's what I can't evaluate. Hence, I went looking to try partial fractions which I can't get either.
 
mathwurkz said:
But doesn't that integral have to be evaluated to get the answer? That's what I can't evaluate. Hence, I went looking to try partial fractions which I can't get either.

So we got:

[tex]i(t)=\frac{1}{L}\int_0^t E(\beta)e^{-R/L(t-\beta)}d\beta[/tex]

with E(t) being a square-wave.

For now, let's just let L and R both be 1:

What is i(t) in the interval [0,1]? Wouldn't that just be:

[tex]i(t)=\int_0^t e^{-(t-\beta)}d\beta\quad\text{for}\quad t\in[0,1][/tex]

What about in the interval [1,2]? So that would be:

[tex]i(t)=\int_0^1 E(\beta)e^{-(t-\beta)}d\beta+\int_1^t E(\beta)e^{-(t-\beta)}d\beta[/tex]

but the second integral is zero because E(t) is zero in that region so:

[tex]i(t)=\int_0^1 e^{-(t-\beta)}d\beta\quad\text{for}\quad t\in[1,2][/tex]

Can you figure out what i(t) would be for the next interval?
 
Last edited:

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