This site is hosted at WebWizards.Net for better value.
Don't leave this valuable site without visiting my book shop to see my recommendations. This helps keep this site FREE for everyone.
LAST MODIFIED:
Monday, 27-Aug-2001 22:39:47 EDT
YOU ARE HERE: HOME > BASICS > INDUCTANCE
The property of inductance might be described as "when any piece of wire is wound into a coil form it forms an inductance which is the property of opposing any change in current". Alternatively it could be said "inductance is the property of a circuit by which energy is stored in the form of an electromagnetic field".
We said a piece of wire wound into a coil form has the ability to produce a counter emf (opposing current flow) and therefore has a value of inductance. The standard value of inductance is the Henry, a large value which like the Farad for capacitance is rarely encountered in electronics today. Typical values of units encountered are milli-henries mH, one thousandth of a henry or the micro-henry uH, one millionth of a henry.
A small straight piece of wire exhibits inductance (probably a fraction of a uH) although not of any major significance until we reach UHF frequencies.
The value of an inductance varies in proportion to the number of turns squared. If a coil was of one turn its value might be one unit. Having two turns the value would be four units while three turns would produce nine units although the length of the coil also enters into the equation.
The standard inductance formula for close approximation - imperial and metric is:
It has been found that the optimum dimensions for a high "Q" air core inductor is where the length of the coil is the same as the diameter of the coil. A simplified formula for inductance has been derived to establish the required number of turns for a given inductance value.
Coils wound on a former (with or without a core) may have multilayers of windings which are called solenoid windings.
All coils also exhibit a degree of self-capacitance caused by minute capacitances building up around and between adjacent windings.
Depending upon the application this may be of considerable concern. This self-capacitance combined with the natural inductance will form a resonant circuit (self-resonant frequency) limiting the useful upper frequency of the coil. There are special winding techniques to to use on occassion to minimise this self capacitance.
If the coil is wound on an iron core the inductance is greatly increased and the magnetic lines of force increase proportionally. This is the basis of electro-magnets used in solenoid valves and relays.
When the coil is wound on special iron laminations or cores and a second winding is placed on the core a "transformer" results. This is the basis of all power transformers although only alternating current (a.c.) can be transformed. The voltage relationship in transformers is proportional to the turns. For example a power transformer might have 2,500 turns on the primary side and the secondary side might have 126 turns. Such a relationship is 250 : 12.6 and if the primary were connected to 250V a.c. the secondary would produce a voltage of 12.6V a.c.
Interesting, if the core size and the wire diameter on the primary supported a primary current of 100 mA, the the primary power available would be 250V X 100 mA or 250 X 0.1 = 25 watts. Ignoring core and copper losses we could say that 25 watts is now available on the secondary side at 12.6V which is 25W / 12.6V = 1.98 amps. In practice we don't get that kind of efficiency however it would pay to remember that most power transformers are designed to function most efficient at or near full design load.
In many radio applications the coil is wound on a ferrite or powdered iron core. Typical examples are the ferrite rod receiving antenna used in cheap transistor radios or the i.f. transformers enclosed in metal cans in those radios - red, yellow, black, green cores. The core is manufactured to be optimum for the frequency range of interest and greatly enhances the inductance for a specific number of turns. If we wound a coil on a blank former we might get an inductance of say 10 uH, adding a specific core might increase the inductance to 47 uH. By using screw in / screw out cores (as in the metal cans) we can vary the inductance over a fair range of interest.
NEW! - How to link directly to this page
Copy and paste the following code for a text link:
and it should appear like this:
This site is hosted at WebWizards.Net for better value.
As you would imagine maintaining this site costs me considerable sums of money in many, many ways. If you believe this site is a valuable and FREE educational resource and, YOU want to keep it that way, then here's how YOU can demonstrate your very practical support for this site..
Thanks to these fine folks making voluntary donations, ensuring this site and our Newsletter remains FREE. Could YOU be listed here for your small contribution in return for your FREE education?. Our grateful thanks.
Please send me your valuable comments and suggestions! Tell your friends, tell a news group, tell your favourite magazine, heck tell the world!
Absolutely essential to keeping abreast of new and updated electronics tutorials is our comments or subscribe to our highly regarded FREE monthly newsletter form. Unsubscribe any time you like. You can view immediate past issues here to see if it is to your liking.
the author Ian C. Purdie, VK2TIP of www.electronics-tutorials.com asserts the moral right to
be identified as the author of this web site and all contents herein. Copyright © 2000, all rights reserved. See copying and links.
These electronic tutorials are provided for individual private use and the author assumes no liability whatsoever for the application, use, misuse, of any of these projects or electronics tutorials that may result in the direct or indirect damage or loss that comes from these projects or tutorials. All materials are provided for free private and public use.
Copyright © 2000, all rights reserved. URL - www.electronics-tutorials.com/basics/inductance.htm
What is inductance?
Inductance formula
L = r2 X N2 / ( 9r + 10len )
where:
L = inductance in uH
r = coil radius in inches
N = number of turns
len = length of the coil in inches
metric measurements
L = 0.394r2 X N2 / ( 9r + 10len )
where:
L = inductance in uH
r = coil radius in centimetres
N = number of turns
len = length of the coil in centimetres
High "Q" Inductance formula
N = SQRT [( 29 * L ) / (0.394r)]
where:
L = inductance in uH
r = coil radius in centimetres
N = number of turns
Solenoid Inductors
Self Resonant Frequency of an Inductance
Iron Cores
Power Transformers
R.F. Transformers
Link to this page
Want to create a page link to me from your site? It couldn't be easier. No HTML knowledge required; even the technophobes can do it. All you need to do is copy and paste, the following code. All links are greatly appreciated; I sincerely thank you for your support.
<a href="http://www.electronics-tutorials.com/basics/inductance.htm" target="_top">visit Ian Purdie VK2TIP's "Inductance" Page</a>
visit Ian Purdie VK2TIP's "Inductance" Page
CARE TO BE A PRACTICAL SUPPORTER OF THIS SITE?
Related topics on inductance
1. audio transformers
2. chokes
3. coil formers and cores
4. inductive reactance
5. mobius winding techniques
6. power supply transformers
7. toroid cores
8. wide band rf transformers
Commercial use prohibited without prior written permission from www.electronics-tutorials.com.
Updated 15th May, 2000
webmaster@electronics-tutorials.com