Capacitors and Inductors

EEU 104
 Introduction
•Capacitor and inductor are important
passive linear circuit elements.
•Unlike resistor, which dissipate energy,
capacitors and inductors do not
dissipate but store energy, which can be
retrieved at a later time.
•Hence, capacitors and inductors are
called storage elements.
 Capacitor
• A capacitor is a passive element designed to store
energy .
• Capacitors are used extensively in electronics,
communications, computers, and power systems.
• A capacitor consists of two conducting plates
separated by an insulator(or dielectric) as shown in
Figure 1.
• In many practical applications, the plates may be
aluminium foil while the dielectric may be air,
ceramic, paper, or mica A typical capacitor
 Cont..
• When a voltage source is connected to the
capacitor, as shown in Figure 2, the source
deposits a positive charge q on one plate and a
negative charge on the other.
• The capacitor is said to store the electric charge.
• The amount of charge stored, represented by q, is
directly proportional to the applied voltage.
• The unit of capacitance is the farad (F), in honor of A capacitor with applied voltage
the English physicist Michael Faraday (1791–
1867).
• Capacitance is the ratio of the charge on one plate
of a capacitor to the voltage difference between
the two plates, measured in farads (F).
 Cont..
• for the parallel-plate capacitor, the capacitance is given by

• where A is the surface area of each plate, d is the distance between

the plates, and is the permittivity of the dielectric material between
the plates.
• In general, three factors determine the value of the capacitance:
• The surface area of the plates—the larger the area, the greater the
capacitance.
• The spacing between the plates—the smaller the spacing, the greater
the capacitance.
• The permittivity of the material—the higher the permittivity, the
greater the capacitance.
 Cont..

Fixed Capacitor

Circuit symbol for capacitor: a : fixed capacitor

b: variable capacitor
Variable capacitor

Variable capacitors are used in radio receivers allowing one to tune to various
stations. In addition, capacitors are used to block dc, pass ac, shift phase, store
energy, start motors, and suppress noise.
 Cont..
• The current-voltage relationship of the capacitor
as below:

Current-voltage relationship for

a linear capacitor
• Capacitors that satisfy the above equation are said
to be linear.
• For a nonlinear capacitor, the plot of the current-
voltage relationship is not a straight line.
• Although some capacitors are nonlinear, most are
linear. We will assume linear capacitors in this
course.
Cont..
• The voltage-current relation of the capacitor:

• Where
• is the voltage across the capacitor at time
• Equation shows that capacitor voltage depends on the past history.
• The instantaneous power delivered to the capacitor is:

Because the capacitor was uncharged at

 Cont..
• Thus

Important properties of capacitor:

• when the voltage across a capacitor is not changing with time (i.e., dc
voltage), the current through the capacitor is zero. Thus a capacitor is
an open circuit to dc.
• The voltage on the capacitor must be continuous. The voltage on a
capacitor cannot change abruptly.
• The ideal capacitor does not dissipate energy..
Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Exercise 3
Exercise 4
Exercise 5
Parallel Capacitor
• Parallel Capacitor: The equivalent capacitance of N parallel-connected
capacitors is the sum of the individual capacitances.
 Series Capacitor
• Series capacitor: The equivalent capacitance of series-connected capacitors
is the reciprocal of the sum of the reciprocals of the individual
capacitances.

For 2 capacitors in series:

Exercise 6
Exercise 7
• For the circuit below, find the voltage across each capacitor.
Inductor
• An inductor is a passive element to store energy in its magnetic field.
• Application of Inductors are in power supplies, transformers, radios,
TVs, radars, and electric motors.
• An inductor consists of a coil of conducting wire.
• If current is allowed to pass through an inductor, it is found that the
voltage across the inductor is directly proportional to the time rate of
change of the current.

where L is the constant of proportionality called the inductance of the

inductor. The unit of inductance is the henry (H).
 Cont..
• The inductance of an inductor depends on its physical dimension and
construction.
• For example, for the inductor, (solenoid) is shown below:

where N is the number of turns, is the length, A is the cross-

sectional area, and is the permeability of the core.
• Typical practical inductors have inductance values ranging from a few
microhenrys, as in communication systems, to tens of henrys (H) as in
power systems.
 Cont..
• The current-voltage relationship as below:

• where is the total current for

• The power delivered:

• The energy stored:

Important properties of inductor:
• The voltage across inductor is zero when current is constant. Thus an
inductor acts like a short circuit to dc.
• The current through an inductor cannot change instantaneously.
The current through an inductor may take the form shown in Fig. (a),
whereas the inductor current cannot take the form shown in Fig. (b).
However, the voltage across an inductor can change abruptly.
Example 1
• Question:

• Solution:
Example 2
• Question

• Solution
 Example 3
• Question:
Consider the following circuit. Under dc conditions, find: (a) i, VCand IL (b) the
energy stored in the capacitor and inductor.

• Solution:
 Series and Parallel Inductor
• Consider a series connection of N inductors, as shown in a. The
equivalent circuit is shown in b.

Applying KVL to the loop,

The equivalent inductance of series-connected inductors is

the sum of the individual inductances.
 Cont..
• Consider a parallel connection of N inductors, as shown below. The
inductors have the same voltage across them. Using KCL,

The equivalent inductance of parallel inductors is the

reciprocal of the sum of the reciprocals of the individual
inductances.
 Example 1
• Question: Calculate the equivalent inductance for the inductive
ladder network as shown below.

• Solution:
Example 2
• Question:
 Cont..
• Solution
Cont..