Overview

• This chapter will introduce two new linear circuit

elements:
– The capacitor
– The inductor
• Unlike resistors, these elements do not dissipate
energy
• They instead store energy
• We will also look at how to analyze them in a
circuit

1
 Capacitors
• A capacitor is a passive element
that stores energy in its electric
field
• It consists of two conducting plates
separated by an insulator (or
dielectric)
• The plates are typically aluminum
foil
• The dielectric is often air, ceramic,
paper, plastic, or mica

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 Capacitors II
• When a voltage source v is connected to the
capacitor, the source deposits a positive charge
q on one plate and a negative charge –q on the
other.
• The charges will be equal in magnitude
• The amount of charge is proportional to the
voltage:
q = Cv
• Where C is the capacitance
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 Capacitors III
• The unit of capacitance is the Farad (F)
• One Farad is 1 Coulomb/Volt
• Most capacitors are rated in picofarad (pF) and
microfarad (μF)
• Capacitance is determined by the geometery of the
capacitor:
– Proportional to the area of the plates (A)
– Inversely proportional to the space between them (d)
A
C=
d
•  is the permittivity of the dielectric
4
 A
C=
d
1. The surface area of the plates—the larger the area, the
greater the capacitance.

2. The spacing between the plates—the smaller the spacing, the

greater the capacitance.

3. The permittivity of the material—the higher the permittivity,

the greater the capacitance.

5
 Types of Capacitors
• The most common types of capacitors are film
capacitors with polyester, polystyrene, or mica.
• To save space, these are often rolled up before being
housed in metal or plastic films

6
 Applications for Capacitors
• Capacitors have a wide range of applications,
some of which are:
– Blocking DC
– Passing AC
– Shift phase
– Store energy
– Suppress noise
– Start motors

7
 Current Voltage Relationship
• Using the formula for the charge stored in a
capacitor, we can find the current voltage
relationship
• Take the first derivative with respect to time
gives:
dv
i=C
dt
• This assumes the passive sign convention

8
 Stored Charge
• Similarly, the voltage current relationship is:
t
1
v(t ) =  i ( ) d + v ( t0 )
C t0
• This shows the capacitor has a memory, which is often
exploited in circuits
• The instantaneous power delivered to the capacitor is
dv
p = vi = Cv
dt
• The energy stored in a capacitor is:

1 2
w = Cv
2
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 Properties of Capacitors
Ideal capacitors all have these characteristics:

• When the voltage is not changing, the current through the

cap is zero.
• This means that with DC applied to the terminals no
current will flow.
• Except, the voltage on the capacitor’s plates can’t change
instantaneously.
• An abrupt change in voltage would require an infinite
current!
• This means if the voltage on the cap does not equal the
applied voltage, charge will flow, and the voltage will
finally reach the applied voltage.
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 Properties of capacitors
• An ideal capacitor does not dissipate energy,
meaning stored energy may be retrieved later
• A real capacitor has a parallel-model leakage
resistance, leading to a slow loss of the stored
energy internally
• This resistance is typically very high, on the order
of 100 MΩ and thus can be ignored for many
circuit applications.

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 Parallel Capacitors
• We learned with resistors that
applying the equivalent series
and parallel combinations can
simply many circuits.
• Starting with N parallel
capacitors, one can note that
the voltages on all the caps
are the same
• Applying KCL:

i = i1 + i2 + i3 + + iN
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 Parallel Capacitors
• Taking into consideration the current voltage
relationship of each capacitor:
dv dv dv dv
i = C1 + C2 + C3 + + CN
dt dt dt dt
 N  dv dv
=   Ck  = Ceq
 k =1  dt dt
• Where,
Ceq = C1 + C2 + C3 + + CN
• From this we find that parallel capacitors combine
as the sum of all capacitance

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 Series Capacitors
• Turning our attention to a
series arrangement of
capacitors:
• Here each capacitor shares
the same current
• Applying KVL to the loop:

v = v1 + v2 + v3 + + vN
• Now apply the voltage
current relationship

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 Series Capacitors
t t t t
1 1 1 1
v =  i ( ) d + v1 ( t0 ) + ( ) ( ) i ( ) d + v3 ( t0 ) + i ( ) d + vN ( t0 )
C2 t0 C3 t0 C N t0
i  d + v2 0t + +
C1 t0
 1 1 1 1 
t
= + + + +   i ( ) d + v1 ( t0 ) + v2 ( t0 ) + v3 ( t0 ) + + v N ( t0 )
 C1 C2 C3 C N  t0
t
1
=  i ( ) d + v ( t0 )
Ceq t0

• Where,
1 1 1 1 1
= + + + +
Ceq C1 C2 C3 CN
• From this we see that the series combination
of capacitors resembles the parallel
combination of resistors.
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 Series and Parallel Caps
• Another way to think about the combinations of
capacitors is this:
• Combining capacitors in parallel is equivalent to
increasing the surface area of the capacitors:
• This would lead to an increased overall capacitance (as
is observed)
• A series combination can be seen as increasing the total
plate separation
• This would result in a decrease in capacitance (as is
observed)

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 Inductors
• An inductor is a passive element
that stores energy in its magnetic
field
• They have applications in power
supplies, transformers, radios,
TVs, radars, and electric motors.
• Any conductor has inductance,
but the effect is typically
enhanced by coiling the wire up.

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 Inductors
• If a current is passed through an inductor, the
voltage across it is directly proportional to the
time rate of change in current
di
v=L
dt
• Where, L, is the unit of inductance, measured in
Henries, H.
• On Henry is 1 volt-second per ampere.
• The voltage developed tends to oppose a
changing flow of current.
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 Inductors
• Calculating the inductance
depends on the geometry:
• For example, for a solenoid the
inductance is:
N 2 A
L=
l
• Where N is the number of turns
of the wire around the core of
cross-sectional area A and
length l.
• The material used for the core
has a magnetic property called
the permeability, μ.
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 Current in an Inductor
• The current voltage relationship for an inductor is:
t
1
I =  v ( )d + i ( t0 )
L t0
• The power delivered to the inductor is:
 di 
p = vi =  L  i
 dt 
• The energy stored is:
1 2
w = Li
2
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 Properties of Inductors
• If the current through an inductor is constant, the
voltage across it is zero
• Thus, an inductor acts like a short for DC
• The current through an inductor cannot change
instantaneously
• If this did happen, the voltage across the
inductor would be infinity!
• This is an important consideration if an inductor
is to be turned off abruptly; it will produce a high
voltage

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 Properties of Inductors
• Like the ideal capacitor, the ideal inductor does not
dissipate energy stored in it.
• Energy stored will be returned to the circuit later
• In reality, inductors do have internal resistance due to the
wiring used to make them.
• A real inductor thus has a winding resistance in series with
it.
• There is also a small winding capacitance due to the
closeness of the windings
• These two characteristics are typically small, though at
high frequencies, the capacitance may matter.

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 Series Inductors
• We now need to extend the
series parallel
combinations to inductors
• First, let’s consider a series
combination of inductors
• Applying KVL to the loop:

v = v1 + v2 + v3 + + vN

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 Series Inductors
• Factoring in the voltage current relationship
di di di di
v = L1 + L2 + L3 + + LN
dt dt dt dt
 N  di di
=   Lk  = Leq
 k =1  dt dt
• Where Leq = L1 + L2 + L3 + + LN

• Here we can see that the inductors have the

same behavior as resistors

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 Parallel Inductors

• Now consider a parallel

combination of inductors:
• Applying KCL to the circuit:
i = i1 + i2 + i3 + + iN
• When the current voltage
relationship is considered,
we have:

 N 1  t N
1
i =     vdt +  ik ( t0 ) = vdt + i ( t0 )
t

 k =1 Lk 
t0
k =1 Leq 
t0

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 Parallel Inductors
• The equivalent inductance is thus:
1 1 1 1 1
= + + + +
Leq L1 L2 L3 LN
• Once again, the parallel combination
resembles that of resistors
• On a related note, the Delta-Wye
transformation can also be applied to
inductors and capacitors in a similar
manner, as long as all elements are the
same type. 26
Summary of Capacitors and
Inductors

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 Integrator
• Capacitors, in combination with
op-amps can be made to
perform advanced mathematical
functions
• One such function is the
integrator.
• By replacing the feedback
resistor with a capacitor, the
output voltage from the op-amp
is:
1 t
v0 = −  vi ( ) d
RC 0

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 Differentiator
• The previous circuit functions as
an integrator with time.
• If the capacitor is used in place
of the input resistor instead of
the feedback resistor, there will
only be current flowing if the
voltage is changing
• The output voltage in this case
will be:
dvi
vo = − RC
dt
• From this it is clear this circuit
performs differentiation with time

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