Training Center Classroom
Welcome to this installment of EE Classroom on Inductors
Electrical circuits just can’t do their thing without them. Used alone as a low-pass filter, with capacitors and resistors to create filters, or to store electromagnetic energy in the magnetic and electric field, inductors enjoy applications in multiple areas from consumer electronics to automotive to healthcare. Within these and many other sectors, this simple coil of wire wound around a central core plays a major role in the critical power management functions. Design engineers have choices — lots of them — so carefully weighing quality, price, support, and a design “best-fit” is time well spent.
In this classroom, we’ve curated resources to help you make the most of that time. Are you choosing inductors for energy efficient power applications or other filtering? We’ve got some basics for that. What’s are the causes and solutions to differential and common-mode noise? We’ve asked and answered that for you, too. And has it been a while since you touched base with Maxwell’s equations? Skip the dense math and read about what the equations really mean. Finally, four additional resources guide you through inductor specifications, application frequencies, voltage ranges and ratings.
No need to take notes — we’ve got you covered.
Editor in Chief, EE World Online
Choosing inductors or ferrite beads for power supply filtering
Stray current and parasitic capacitance in circuits at RF
Choosing inductors for energy efficient power applications
When inductors self resonate
Inductors only behave like inductors below because of what's called their self resonant frequency.
Strange things can happen at high frequencies. It begins with stray current in your printed circuit board (PCB)
Simply adding some inductance to clean up a switching regulator seems like a good idea but it isn't that straightforward.
Energy efficiency in power supplies can be as much about the inductors as about the circuit topology.
Maxwell’s equations: An intuitive view for engineers
Power supply designers take a hard look at soft magnetics
What is differential mode noise?
Electrical engineers tend to dislike hearing about Maxwell’s equations. It bring up some frustrating memories to everyone.
The fundamental parameters that describe magnetic materials and their energy storage capacity.
Two noise sources which are not as obvious to many engineers as noise that results from the switching action of the power supply.
The Basics
Basic Electronics – Reading inductor packages
Basic Electronics: How to select an inductor
Basic Electronics – Magnetism, Electromagnetism and Inductance
Key considerations when selecting from solenoidal coils, toroids, or pot cores inductors.
Inductor packages have specific numerical and color-coding systems to indicate nominal value and tolerance.
To understand inductance, it is important first to understand magnetism and electromagnetism.
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