Inductors & Capacitors

Dr O. Matsebe

Topic Objectives
At the end, students should be able:
to use the equations for voltage, current,
power, and energy in an inductor & capacitor
to combine inductors in series and in parallel
to form a single equivalent inductor
to combine capacitors in series and in parallel
to form a single equivalent capacitor

The Inductor
An inductor
electrical component that opposes any change in electrical
current
composed of a coil of wire wound around a supporting core
whose material may be magnetic or nonmagnetic
The behavior of inductors is based on phenomena associated
with magnetic fields
The source of the magnetic field is charge in motion (current)
The circuit parameter of inductance relates the induced
voltage to the current

The Inductor
Voltage across terminals of an inductor
is proportional to time rate of
change of current
If current is constant / dc current,
voltage across ideal inductor is zero
Hence inductor behaves as a short
circuit

Current cannot change

instantaneously in an inductor;
That is, current cannot change by a
finite amount in zero time
This change would require an infinite
voltage, and infinite voltages are not
possible

The Inductor
The inductor v - i equation

The Inductor
Current (i) as function of the
voltage (v) across the Inductor

The Inductor
Power and Energy in the Inductor
power and energy relationships for an
inductor can be derived directly from
current and voltage relationships

The Capacitor
Capacitor
Consists of two conductors separated by
an insulator or dielectric material
The only device other than a battery that
can store electrical charge
The behavior of capacitors is based on
phenomena associated with electric fields

The Capacitor
Voltage cannot change instantaneously across
terminals of a capacitor
such a change would produce infinite current, a physical
impossibility

If voltage across the terminals is constant:

Capacitor current is zero
The reason is that a conduction current cannot be established
in the dielectric material of the capacitor.
Only a time-varying voltage can produce a displacement
current.

Thus a capacitor behaves as an open circuit in the

presence of a constant voltage

Series-Parallel Combinations
of Inductance and Capacitance
Just as series-parallel combinations
of resistors can be reduced to a
single equivalent resistor, seriesparallel combinations of inductors or
capacitors can be reduced to a single
inductor or capacitor.