Tellegens Theorem

Circuit:
v
0
v
1
v
2
v
3
v
4
v
5
+
+

0
i
4
i
5
i
1
i
0
i
2
i
3

1

2

3

v
0
=
0

3
, v
1
=
1

0
, v
2
=
0

2
,
v
3
=
3

2
, v
4
=
1

3
, v
5
=
3

2
.
Incidence Matrix:
= A
node: 0 1 2 3
element: 0
1
2
3
4
5
+1 0 0 1
1 +1 0 0
+1 0 1 0
0 +1 1 0
0 +1 0 1
0 0 1 +1
= A
T
element: 0 1 2 3 4 5
node: 0
1
2
3
+1 1 +1 0 0 0
0 +1 0 +1 +1 0
0 0 1 1 0 1
1 0 0 0 1 +1

Potential, Voltage, and Current Vectors

3
=
v =
v
0
v
1
v
2
v
3
v
4
v
5
i =
i
0
i
1
i
2
i
3
i
4
i
5

Then,
v =A, iA = iv =
5
0
n n
n
i v
=

.
Also, by KCL
A
T
i =
0
0
0
0






, A
T
i =0.
But
iA A
T
i,
leading to Tellegens Theorem
5
0
n n
n
i v
=

=0.

The only requirement is that all the i
n
be for one set a of elements in the circuit so that KCL
holds, and all the v
n
be for another set b of elements in the circuit so that KVL holds (a set of
potentials can be assigned). When set a is the same as set b, the result is simply the
conservation of power. But Tellegens Theorem is more general and leads to many other results
such as reciprocity theorems. See Tellegen's Theorem and Electrical Networks (MIT research
monograph no. 58) by Paul Penfield, Robert Spencer, S. Duinker.

Example of Using Tellegens Theorem

Consider two networks with the same topology and, inside their respective two-port boxes, the
same set of elementspassive complex impedances z
n
(s). The outside elements differan open
circuit at port 0 and a source at port 1 in one case, and a source at port 0 and a short circuit at
port 1 in the other case.
+

z
n
(s)
n = 2 ... N
v
a0
v
a1
i
a0
i
a1
+

z
n
(s)
n = 2 ... N
v
b0
v
b1
i
b0
i
b1
+

i
b0
+

Choosing the currents from network a and the voltages from network b for Tellegens Theorem,
0 0 1 1 0 1
0 2 2 2
2
0 0 0
( ).
N N N N
an bn a b a b an bn b a an bn an bn
n n n n
N
an bn n
n
i v i v i v i v v i i v i v
i i z s
= = = =
=
= = + + = + + =
=

Choosing the voltages from network a and the currents from network b for Tellegens Theorem,
0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1
0 2 2 2
0 0 1 1
0 ( ) ( )
.
N N N N
an bn a b a b an bn a b a b an n bn a b a b an bn n
n n n n
a b a b
v i v i v i v i v i v i i z s i v i v i i i z s
v i v i
= = = =
= = + + = + + = + +
= +



Therefore we have a reciprocity of the reverse open-circuit voltage transfer equaling the forward
short-circuit current transfer:
0 1
1 0
.
a b
a b
v i
v i
=