INDUCTOR

An inductor is a passive electrical device employed in electrical circuits

for its property of inductance. An inductor can take many forms.

• The voltage across it varies as

• Thus, if the current is constant, the voltage across an ideal

inductor is zero (as expected since it is just a coil of wire)

• Real inductors will always exhibit some resistance, unless we

use superconducting wire (need very low temperatures

Ideal Inductors

• Real inductors always exhibit significant resistance unlike capacitors which can
be manufactured with negligible resistance.

• If we wish to represent a real inductor, we just model it by a lumped circuit model

consisting of an ideal lossless inductor in series with a resistor.

• Lumped circuit models work well in most practical applications until you get up to
microwave frequencies and beyond

Inductor Basics

In a circuit diagram, an inductor is shown like this:

To understand how an inductor can work in a circuit, this figure is helpful:

What you see here is a battery, a light bulb, a coil of wire around a piece of iron and a
switch. The coil of wire is an inductor. The inductor is an electromagnet.

If you were to take the inductor out of this circuit, what you would have is a normal
flashlight. You close the switch and the bulb lights up. With the inductor in the circuit as shown,
the behavior is completely different.

The light bulb is a resistor. The wire in the coil has much lower resistance (it's just wire),
so what you would expect when you turn on the switch is for the bulb to glow very dimly. Most
of the current should follow the low-resistance path through the loop. What happens instead is
that when you close the switch, the bulb burns brightly and then gets dimmer. When you open
the switch, the bulb burns very brightly and then quickly goes out.

The reason for this strange behavior is the inductor. When current first starts flowing in
the coil, the coil wants to build up a magnetic field. While the field is building, the coil inhibits
the flow of current.

Once the field is built, current can flow normally through the wire. When the switch gets
opened, the magnetic field around the coil keeps current flowing in the coil until the field
collapses. This current keeps the bulb lit for a period of time even though the switch is open. In
other words, an inductor can store energy in its magnetic field, and an inductor tends to resist
any change in the amount of current flowing through it.
OHM’S LAW

Ohm's law states that the current through a conductor between two points is directly
proportional to the potential difference or voltage across the two points, and inversely
proportional to the resistance between them.

V
I
R

It is also expressed by the following equation: V=I X R

In this equation

V represents the potential difference between one end of the conductor and the
other (that is, the voltage applied to the conductor).

I is the current flowing through the conductor.

R is called the resistance of the conductor. If V is given in volts and I is given in

amperes, R will be in ohms.

The law offers a simple method of calculating the voltage, current, or resistance in a
conductor when two of these three quantities are known.

Ohm's Law is valid for metallic conductors (for example, copper and tungsten) in direct-
current circuits as long as the current is relatively low. High currents will heat a metallic
conductor and cause its resistance to change, so that the ratio of voltage to current in
the conductor will also change.

Ohm's Law holds for a complete direct-current circuit as well as for any part of the
circuit, provided that l is the total current flowing between the points across which the
voltage, V, is measured.

In alternating-current circuits, Ohm's Law seldom is valid because the current flow is
affected not only by resistance but also by factors known as inductance and
capacitance.
KIRCHHOFF'S CURRENT LAW

Kirchhoff's Current Law, also known as Kirchhoff's Junction Law and Kirchhoff's First Law,
defines the way that electrical current is distributed when it crosses through a junction - a point
where three or more conductors meet. Specifically, the law states that:

The algebraic sum of current into any junction is zero.

Since current is the flow of electrons through a conductor, it cannot build up at a junction,
meaning that current is conserved: what comes in must come out. When performing
calculations, current flowing into and out of the junction typically have opposite signs. This
allows Kirchhoff's Current Law to be restated as:

The sum of current into a junction equals the sum of current out of the junction.

Kirchhoff's Current Law in action

In the picture to the right, a junction of four conductors (i.e. wires) is shown. The currents i2 and
i3 are flowing into the junction, while i1 and i4 flow out of it. In this example, Kirchhoff's Junction
Rule yields the following equation:

i2 + i3 = i1 + i4
KIRCHHOFF'S VOLTAGE LAW
Kirchhoff's Voltage Law describes the distribution of voltage within a loop, or closed conducting
path, of an electrical circuit. Specifically, Kirchhoff's Voltage Law states that:

The algebraic sum of the voltage (potential) differences in any loop must equal zero.

The voltage differences include those associated with electromagnetic fields (emfs) and
resistive elements, such as resistors, power sources (i.e. batteries) or devices (i.e. lamps,
televisions, blenders, etc.) plugged into the circuit.

Kirchhoff's Voltage Law comes about because the electrostatic field within an electric circuit is a
conservative force field. As you go around a loop, when you arrive at the starting point has the
same potential as it did when you began, so any increases and decreases along the loop have to
cancel out for a total change of 0. If it didn't, then the potential at the start/end point would
have two different values.

Positive and Negative Signs in Kirchhoff's Voltage Law

Using the Voltage Rule requires some sign conventions, which aren't necessarily as clear as
those in the Current Rule. You choose a direction (clockwise or counter-clockwise) to go along
the loop.

When travelling from positive to negative (+ to -) in an emf (power source) the voltage drops, so
the value is negative. When going from negative to positive (- to +) the voltage goes up, so the
value is positive.

When crossing a resistor, the voltage change is determined by the formula I*R, where I is the
value of the current and R is the resistance of the resistor. Crossing in the same direction as the
current means the voltage goes down, so its value is negative. When crossing a resistor in the
direction opposite the current, the voltage value is positive (the voltage is increasing).

Kirchhoff's Voltage Law in action

If you click on the picture to the right, you can advance to a second
picture that depicts a loop abcd. If you begin at a and advance
clockwise along the interior loop, the Voltage Law yields the equation:

v1 + v2 + v3 + v4 = 0