The property of an inductor to get the voltage induced by the change of current flow, is defined as Inductance. Inductance is the ratio of voltage to the rate of change of current.
The rate of change of current produces change in the magnetic field, which induces an EMF in opposite direction to the voltage source. This property of induction of EMF is called as the Inductance.The formula for inductance is
Inductance = voltage / rate of change of current
Units −
- The unit of Inductance is Henry. It is indicated by L.
- The inductors are mostly available in mH milliHenrymilliHenry and μH microHenrymicroHenry.
A coil is said to have an inductance of one Henry when an EMF of one volt is self-induced in the coil where the current flowing changed at a rate of one ampere per second.
Self-Inductance
If a coil is considered in which some current flows, it has some magnetic field, perpendicular to the current flow. When this current keeps on varying, the magnetic field also changes and this changing magnetic field, induces an EMF, opposite to the source voltage. This opposing EMF produced is the self-induced voltage and this method is called as self-inductance.
The current is in the figure indicate the source current while iind indicates the induced current. The flux represents the magnetic flux created around the coil. With the application of voltage, the current is flows and flux gets created. When the current is varies, the flux gets varied producing iind.
This induced EMF across the coil is proportional to the rate of change in current. The higher the rate of change in current the higher the value of EMF induced.
We can write the above equation as
E α dI / dt
E = L dI / dt
Where,
- E is the EMF produced
- dI/dt indicates the rate of change of current
- L indicates the co-efficient of inductance.
Self-inductance or Co-efficient of Self-inductance can be termed as
L = E / dI /dt
The actual equation is written as
E = −L dI / dt
The minus in the above equation indicates that the EMF is induced in opposite direction to the voltage source according to Lenz’s law.
Mutual Inductance
As the current carrying coil produces some magnetic field around it, if another coil is brought near this coil, such that it is in the magnetic flux region of the primary, then the varying magnetic flux induces an EMF in the second coil. If this first coil is called as Primary coil, the second one can be called as a Secondary coil.
When the EMF is induced in the secondary coil due to the varying magnetic field of the primary coil, then such phenomenon is called as the Mutual Inductance.
The current is in the figure indicate the source current while iind indicates the induced current. The flux represents the magnetic flux created around the coil. This spreads to the secondary coil also.
With the application of voltage, the current is flows and flux gets created. When the current is varies, the flux gets varied producing iind in the secondary coil, due to the Mutual inductance property.
The change took place like this.
Vp Ip → B → Vs Is
Where,
- Vp ip Indicate the Voltage and current in Primary coil respectively
- B Indicates Magnetic flux
- Vs is Indicate the Voltage and current in Secondary coil respectively
Mutual inductance M of the two circuits describes the amount of the voltage in the secondary induced by the changes in the current of the primary.
V(Secondary) = − M ΔI / Δt
Where ΔI / Δt the rate of change of current with time and M is the co-efficient of Mutual inductance. The minus sign indicates the direction of current being opposite to the source.
Units − = Henry(H)
Depending upon the number of turns of the primary and the secondary coils, the magnetic flux linkage and the amount of induced EMF varies. The number of turns in primary is denoted by N1 and secondary by N2. The co-efficient of coupling is the term that specifies the mutual inductance of the two coils.
Factors affecting Inductance
There are a few factors that affect the performance of an inductor. The major ones are discussed below.
Length of the coil
The length of the inductor coil is inversely proportional to the inductance of the coil. If the length of the coil is more, the inductance offered by that inductor gets less and vice versa.
Cross sectional area of the coil
The cross sectional area of the coil is directly proportional to the inductance of the coil. The higher the area of the coil, the higher the inductance will be.
Number of turns
With the number of turns, the coil affects the inductance directly. The value of inductance gets square to the number of turns the coil has. Hence the higher the number of turns, square of it will be the value of inductance of the coil.
Permeability of the core
The permeability μμ of the core material of inductor indicates the support the core provides for the formation of a magnetic field within itself. The higher the permeability of the core material, the higher will be the inductance.
Applications of Inductors
There are many applications of Inductors, such as −
- Inductors are used in filter circuits to sense high-frequency components and suppress noise signals
- To isolate the circuit from unwanted HF signals.
- Inductors are used in electrical circuits to form a transformer and isolate the circuits from spikes.
- Inductors are also used in motors.