Relationship Between Voltage and Current: Section One: Reading Comprehension
Relationship Between Voltage and Current: Section One: Reading Comprehension
IR
Unit 1
Section One: Reading Comprehension
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commonly used ones are rated at 1 4 or 1 2 watt and by other parameters such
as tolerance (accuracy), temperature coefficient, noise, voltage coefficient (the
extent to which R depends on applied V ) , stability with time, inductance, etc.
Capacitors (Figure 6-2) are devices that might be considered simply
frequency-dependent resistors. They allow you to make frequency-dependent
voltage dividers, for instance. For some applications (bypass, coupling) this is
almost all you need to know, but for other applications (filtering, energy
storage, resonant circuits) a deeper understanding is needed. For example,
capacitors cannot dissipate power,
even though current can flow
through them, because the voltage
and current are 90° out of phase.
A capacitor ( the old-fashioned
name was condenser) is a device that has two wires sticking out of it and has
the property
Q = CV
A capacitor of C farads with V volts across its terminals will contain Q coulombs of
stored charge.
Taking the derivative, you get
dV
I= C
dt
Capacitors come in an amazing variety of shapes and sizes. The basic construction is
simply two conductors near each other; in fact, the simplest capacitors are just that. For
greater capacitance, you need more area and closer spacing; the usual approach is to
plate some conductor onto a thin insulating material (called a dielectric), for instance,
aluminized Mylar film rolled up into a small cylindrical configuration. Other popular
types are thin ceramic wafers, metal foils with oxide insulators (electrolytics), and metallized
mica. Each of these types has unique properties. In general, ceramic and Mylar types
are used for most noncritical circuit applications; tantalum capacitors are used where
greater capacitance is needed, and electrolytics are used for power supply filtering.
Inductors (Figure 6-3) are
closely related to capacitors; the
rate of current change in an
inductor depends on the voltage
applie across it, whereas the rate
of voltage change in a capacitor depends on the current through it. The
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dI
V L
dt
where L is called the inductance and is measured in henrys (or mH , H, etc.). Putting
a voltage across an inductor causes the current to rise as a ramp (for a capacitor,
supplying a constant current causes the voltage to rise as a ramp).
The symbol for an inductor looks like a coil of wire; that is because, in its simplest
form, that is all it is. Variations include coils wound on various core materials, the most
popular being iron (or iron alloys, laminations, or powder) and ferrite, a black,
nonconductive, brittle magnetic material. These are all ploys to multiply the inductance
of a given coil by the ‘permeability’ of the core material. The core may be in the shape
of a rod, a toroid (doughnut), or even more bizarre shapes, such as a ‘pot core’ (which
has to be seen to be understood; the best description we can think of is a doughnut mold
split in half, if doughnuts were made in molds).
Inductors find heavy use in radio frequency (RF) circuits, serving as RF ‘chokes’
and as parts of tuned circuits. A pair of closely coupled inductors form the interesting
object known as a transformer.
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6. We may deduce from the text that 1 volt across 1 henry produces a
curent that .......... .
a. decreases at 1 amp per second b. increases at 1 amp per second
c. is constant up to a critical point d. is zero up to a critical point
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B. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate form of the words given.
1. Recognize
a. Electrical signal such as voltages exist throughout a digital system in. either one of
two ........... values and represent a binary variable equal
to 1 or 0.
b. Each digital logic family is ........... by its basic NOR or NAND.
2. Rate
a. Rated accuracy is the limit that errors will not exceed when an instrument is
used under any combination of .......... operating
conditions.
b. Rate-of-rise suppressors are devices used to control the .......... of rise
of current and/or voltage to the semiconductor devices in a semicon- ductor power
converter.
c. The .......... of electric apparatus in general is expressed in volt- amperes,
horsepower, kilowatts, or other appropriate units.
3. Resist
a. A resistor introduces .......... into an electric circuit.
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employed in such proportions as to give the correct resistance value in the finished
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product.
The need often arises to vary the resistance of a resistor while it is
permanently connected in a circuit. Components which enable this to be done
are known as variable resistors, and their main element is a mechanical slider
or arm which slides over the resistance element included in the circuit. A
variable resistor with only two terminals is known as a rheostat while one with three is
known as a potentiometer.
Electronic components with appreciable inductance are called inductors. They
consist of many adjacent turns of wire wound on the same support. large inductances
for use at low frequencies are obtained by winding many hundreds of turns of wire on a
core of a ferromagnetic material such as iron. When iron cores are used they are
laminated in order to reduce eddy currents. Ferrite cores, made of high resistivity
ferromagnetic materials, are used at high frequencies because their high resistance
makes eddy currents negligible. They are not used at low frequencies, however, because
their magnetic properties are not so favourable as those of iron. At very high
frequencies, air-core inductors are employed. Despite the fact that variable inductances
can be obtained by moving one portion of the winding with respect to the other, such
components are not widely used.
The third major component we may consider is the capacitor. Capacitors may be
variable or fixed. Variable capacitors most often use an air dielectric but sometimes the
dielectric can be compressed gas or a liquid. Capacitance adjustment in variable
capacitors is usually obtained by varying the effective plate area. Variable capacitors
are also termed tuning capacitors and are generally used for varying the resonance
frequency of a tuned circuit.
Fixed capacitors employ a wide range of dielectric materials and new types are
continually finding valuable applications. Among the important types are those with
solid dielectrics such as mica, plastic films, certain ceramics, paper and electrolytic
films.
In a circuit composed of a capacitor and an inductor connected in series
with a source of alternating current in which the frequency can be varied over range, at
low frequencies the capacitive reactance of the circuit is large and the inductive
reactance is small, while at high frequencies the inductive reactance is large and the
capacitive reactance is small. Between these two extremes there is a frequency called
the resonant frequency at which the capacitive and inductive reactances are exactly
equal. As a result they completely cancel each other out and the current flow is
determined wholly by the resistance of the circuit. Under these conditions the circuit
is termed a
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Series resonant circuit. At the resonant frequency the current has its largest
Value, assuming the source voltage to be constant regardless of frequency.
The principle of resonance finds its most extensive application in radio
frequency circuits, The value of the reactance of either the inductor or th e capacitor
at the resonant frequency of a series resonant circuit divided by the series resistance in
the circuit (which is always present) is termed the quality factor, or more usually the Q
factor or merely the Q of the circuit. In particular, for a given value of inductance, a
circuit having a higher Q will have a smaller resistance and consequently will have a
higher resonant current in comparison with the off-resonance current. Consequently
(the curve of current versus frequency will be more sharply peaked and the circuit is
said to be more sharply tuned.
A parallel circuit consisting of an inductor in parallel with a capacitor is termed a
parallel resonant or parallel tuned circuit when the resultant current taken from the
supply is at its minimum value. When a variable frequency source of constant voltage
is applied to this parallel circuit there is a resonant effect similar to that in a series
circuit, although in this case the source current is smallest at the frequency for which
the inductive and capacitive reactances are equal.
A filter is a network that will permit the passage of electrical signals of a particular
frequency or band of frequencies, while offering a much greater impedance to signals
of higher or lower frequencies. Such a network may therefore be employed either to
accept or reject signals of given frequencies. It consists of an arrangement of
resistors and inductive and capacitive elements. There are three main types of
filters; low-pass, high-pass, and band-pass. A low-pass filter is one that will permit
all frequencies below a specified one-the cut-off frequency-to be transmitted with
little or no loss, it will, however, attenuate all frequencies above the cut-off
frequency. A high-pass filter is one with a cut-off frequency above which there is little
or no loss in transmission, whereas below which there is considerable attenuation. A
band-pass filter, on the other hand, will transmit a selected band of
frequencies, attenuating all those either higher or lower than the desired band.
Comprehension Exercises
A. Choose s, b, c, or d which best completes each item.
1. The first three paragraphs mainly discuss .......... wire-wound, thin-film,
and composition resistors.
a. a kind of material identical in
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5. Why are ferrite cores for inductors not used at low frequencies?
6. Why are iron cores in inductors laminated?
7. What are some important types of dielectric materials that fixed capaci-
tors use?
8. What is the advantage of the resonant frequency?
9. What is the Q of a circuit?
10. What are filter networks used for?
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