Electronic Symbols

In order to easily plot circuits, engineers use diagrams. These diagrams makes it easier to
do plans and adhere to the design during the construction of the actual circuit. Since plans
do circulate in the industry, it is important to standardize the symbols. It will be very
confusing if no centralized body is used to formally recognize notation, nomenclature, and
symbols. Electronics is a sophisticated body of science and technology, therefore it is
expected that practitioners of this field are going to follow guidelines and standards. The
two prevailing standards that we will use in this module for symbols shall be based on the
International Electrotechnical Commission and the American National Standards Institute.
Being familiar with the symbols from these two standards will make you understand
majority of the circuit diagrams you will encounter.

GROUND

POWER SOURCE
RESISTOR

RHEOSTAT SYMBOL ALSO USED FOR VARIABLE RESISTOR.

CAPACITOR

INDUCTOR

DIODE

The symbols of the diodes

here are based on the ANSI
symbols. The IEC symbols
are similar in appearance
albeit the triangle having no
black fill and some-times
with a line going through.
SWITCH

TRANSFORMER TRANSISTOR

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JFET stands for Junction Gate Field-Effect transistor. MOSFET stands for Metal-Oxide-
Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor. BJT stands for Bipolar Junction Transistor. Pay
attention to the direction of the arrows in the symbols. The circle is optional for some
schematics do not include the circle
RELAY

ANALOG

LOGOC GATES
MISCELLANEOUS

The use of symbol is not enough to convey all the information that a schematic requires.
Values are also written together with the symbol. Each component unless otherwise not
necessary must be drawn in the schematic using a symbol with their appropriate value. It is
not recommended to put too many values like the manufacturer and the likes for this will
just clutter the schematics unless otherwise really necessary. An example of such case is
the one pictured below.

As you can see from the example above. The resistor is cluttered with
too much details. It includes the model, manufacturer, function, and
other details. A more practical way (at least for beginners level) of
expressing this would be like the picture on the right.

As you look at symbols, sometimes parts of the symbols doesn’t make

senses. This is perhaps because you haven’t studied yet what this
values represent. A good example would be the symbol beside.

At this point, we know that this is a symbol of the AC source, but what does Vrms stands
for? and if this is an AC source why is there a value for the frequency and the degree?
These details will be known to you as you study further in electronics. So for the meantime
what is important is that you recognize the symbols at least. You will eventually encounter
symbols that modify their original form. This is meant for components with different types
like in the case of inductors.

You will learn more about the rest of the symbols and their values as you study electronics.