Lecture 5

Capacitors And Inductors

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 Capacitors And Inductors
• There are 5 basic circuit elements:
1. Voltage sources
2. Current sources
3. Resistors
4. Inductors
5. Capacitors
• We defined the first three elements previously. We will
now introduce inductors or capacitors.
• the capacitor and the inductor. Unlike resistors, which
can only dissipate energy, these two elements can only
store energy, which can then be retrieved at a later time.

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 Capacitors And Inductors

1 Capacitors
2 Series and Parallel Capacitors
3 Inductors
4 Series and Parallel Inductors

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 Capacitors
• A capacitor is a passive element designed
to store energy in its electric field.

• A capacitor consists of two

conducting plates separated
by an insulator (or dielectric).

A
C
d
•Where  is the permittivity of the dielectric material between
the plates, A is the surface area of each plate, d is the
distance between the plates.

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 Capacitors
• Capacitance C is the ratio of the charge q on one plate of
a capacitor to the voltage difference v between the two
plates, measured in farads (F).

qC v
Unit:
F pF (10–12)
nF (10–9) F (10–6)

Although the capacitance C of a capacitor is the

ratio of the charge q per plate to the applied
voltage it does not depend on q or v, It depends
on the physical dimensions of the capacitor.

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 Capacitors
• The current-voltage relationship of capacitor
according to above convention is

dv 1

t
iC and v i dt  v (t0 )
dt C t0

• If i is flowing into the +ve terminal

of C
– It is charging
– Otherwise it is discharging

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 The stored energy in the capacitor
The instantaneous power delivered to the capacitor is

dv
p(t )  vi  Cv
dt
The energy stored in the capacitor is thus

dv
w   p(t )dt  C  v dt  C  vdv
t t

 dt 

1 2 1
w  Cv (t ) joules w Cv 2
2 2
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The capacitor has the following important properties:

1. When the voltage across a capacitor is constant (not changing

with time) the current through the capacitor:
i = C dv/dt = 0
Thus, a capacitor is an open circuit to dc. If, however, a dc
voltage is suddenly connected across a capacitor, the capacitor
begins to charge (store energy).

2. The voltage across a capacitor must be continuous, since a jump (a

discontinuity) change in the voltage would require an infinite
current, which is physically impossible. Thus, a capacitor resists
an abrupt change in the voltage across it, and the voltage across
a capacitor cannot change instantaneously, whereas, the
current can.
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 The capacitor has the following important properties:
3. The ideal capacitor does not dissipate energy. It takes power from
the circuit when storing energy and returns previously stored
energy when delivering power to the circuit.

4. A real, non-ideal, capacitor has a “leakage resistance” which is

modeled as shown below. The leakage resistance may be as high
as 100M, and can be neglected for most practical applications.

In this course we will always assume that the capacitors are ideal.

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 Example 1
The current through a 100-F capacitor is
i(t) = 50 sin(120  t) mA.
Calculate the voltage across it at t =1 ms and t = 5 ms. Take v(0) =0.

solution

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 Example 2
(a) Calculate the charge stored on a 3-pF capacitor with
20 V across it.
(b) Find the energy stored in the capacitor.

solution

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 Example 3
The voltage across a 5 F capacitor is: v(t) = 10 cos 6000t V.
Calculate the current through it.

solution

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 Example 4
Obtain the energy stored in each capacitor in Fig. under dc
steady state conditions.
solution

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 Parallel Capacitors
+ i1 i2 iN + i
i v C1 C2 CN i v Ceq
- -

dv dv dv
i1  C1 i2  C2 iN  CN
dt dt dt
dv dv
i  i1  i2    iN   C1  C2    CN   Ceq
dt dt
Thus, the equivalent capacitance
Ceq  C1  C2  ...  C N of N capacitors in parallel is the
sum of the individual capacitances.
Capacitors in parallel act like
resistors in series.
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 Series Capacitors
C1 C2 CN
+
i
+ v 1- + v2 - + vN - DC v Ceq
DC
v -
i
1

1 1 vN 
v1   idt
C1
v2 
C2  idt
CN
idt

 1 1 1  1
v  v1  v2    vN        idt   idt
 C1 C2 CN  Ceq

1 1 1 1 The equivalent capacitance of N

   ...  series connected capacitors is the
Ceq C1 C2 CN reciprocal of the sum of the
reciprocals of the individual
capacitors. Capacitors in series act
like resistors in parallel.
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 Example 5
Find the equivalent capacitance seen at the terminals of the
circuit in the circuit shown below:

Answer:
Ceq = 40F
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 Example 6
Find the voltage across each capacitor

solution
Series capacitors have the same charge

Charge on parallel capacitors are

distributed according to their capacitance

60 mF

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 Inductors
• An inductor is a passive element designed to store
energy in its magnetic field.

N 2 A
L
l

 : is the permeability
of core material

• An inductor consists of a coil of conducting wire.

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 Inductors
• Inductance is the property whereby an inductor exhibits
opposition to the change of current flowing through it,
measured in Henrys (H).

di
vL
dt

• The unit of inductors is Henry (H),

mH (10–3) and H (10–6).

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 Inductors
• The current-voltage relationship of an inductor:

1 t
i
L  v (t ) d t  i ( t )
t0
0

• The power stored by an inductor:

1 2
w Li
2

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An inductor has the following important properties:

1. An inductor acts like a short circuit to dc, since from

di(t )
v(t )  L
dt
v = 0 when i = a constant.

2. The current through an inductor cannot change

instantaneously, since an instantaneous change in current would
require an infinite voltage, which is not physically possible.

3. Like the ideal capacitor, the ideal inductor does not dissipate
energy.
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 Example 7
Find the current through a 5-H inductor if the voltage across it is

Also, find the energy stored at t = 5 s.

solution

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 Example 8
Example 5
The terminal voltage of a 2-H inductor is
v = 10(1-t) V

Find the current flowing through it at t = 4 s and the energy

stored in it within 0 < t < 4 s.

Assume i(0) = 2 A.
Answer:
i(4s) = -18V
w(4s) = 320J

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 Example 9
Consider the circuit in Fig. Under dc
steady state conditions, find:
(a)i, vc and iL
(b) The energy stored in the capacitor
and inductor.
solution

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 Example 10

Determine vc, iL, and the energy stored in the

capacitor and inductor in the circuit of circuit
shown below under dc conditions.

Answer:
iL = 3A
vC = 3V
wL = 1.125J
wC = 9J

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 Series Inductors
L1 L2 LN

+
i
+ v 1- + v2 - + vN -
DC v DC v Leq
-
i
di di di
v1  L1 v2  L2 vN  LN
dt dt dt
di di
v  v1  v2    vN   L1  L2    LN   Leq
dt dt

Leq  L1  L2  ...  LN The equivalent inductance of

series connected inductors is
the sum of the individual
inductances. Thus, inductances
in series combine in the same
way as resistors in series.
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 Series Inductors
+ i1 i2 iN + i
i v L1 L2 LN i v Leq
- -

1

1 1 iN 
i1   vdt i2   vdt vdt
L1 L2 LN
1 1 1  1
i  i1  i2    iN         vdt   vdt
 L1 L2 LN  Leq

1 1 1 1 The equivalent inductance of

   ... 
Leq L1 L2 LN parallel connected inductors is
the reciprocal of the sum of the
reciprocals of the individual
inductances.
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 Example 11

Calculate the equivalent inductance for the inductive

ladder network in the circuit shown below:

Answer:
Leq = 25mH
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Important characteristics of the basic elements

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 Capacitor and Inductor
 They both store electrical energy.
 The capacitor stores its energy in an electric field, whereas an
inductor stores its energy in a magnetic filed.
 They both oppose changes in a variable in a circuit. The
capacitor opposes changes in voltage, whereas the inductor
opposes changes in current.
 In other words, the inductor likes to maintain a constant current;
whereas the capacitor likes to maintain a constant voltage.
 A capacitor behaves as a voltage source, whereas an inductor
behaves as a current source.
 The voltage across a capacitor can not change abruptly, whereas
the current through an inductor cannot change abruptly.
 There must be the continuity in the capacitor voltage; there must
be the continuity in the inductor current
 Resistor, Capacitor, and Inductor

 Resistance: the ability to resist the flow of

electric current through it.

 Capacitance: the ability to oppose the change

of voltage across it.

 Inductance: the ability to oppose the change

of current flowing through it.
 Resistor, Capacitor, and Inductor Effects
In DC Circuits

 Resistor: resist the current.

 Capacitor: Try to maintain the voltage constant.

Slow down the increasing or decreasing of the
voltage.

 Inductor: Try to maintain the current constant. Slow

down the increasing or decreasing of the current