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Electrical & Electronics Engineering vocabulary · Circuits and Components

Inductor

Meaning in electrical & electronics engineering, with examples

/ɪnˈdʌktər/nounCore term

In electrical & electronics engineering, inductor means: A component, usually a coil of wire, that stores energy in a magnetic field and resists changes in current. It is used in filters, switching power supplies and chokes.

In Turkish: bobin, endüktör, şok bobini

How it is used

Used mostly in power electronics and RF design. Engineers choose an inductor by its inductance, saturation current and DC resistance. A 'choke' is an inductor used to block high-frequency noise, and 'coil' is the everyday word.

Example sentences

  1. The inductor in the buck converter saturates above 3 A, so we need a bigger one.

  2. We added a small inductor on the supply line to filter out the switching noise.

Common collocations

  • power inductor
  • saturation current
  • common-mode choke
  • inductor value
  • inductanceThe property of a coil or conductor that opposes changes in the current through it by storing energy in a magnetic field. It is measured in henries (H), often in µH or mH.
  • capacitorA component that stores electrical energy in an electric field between two plates. It is used to smooth supply voltages, filter noise, block DC and set timing.
  • filterA circuit that lets some frequencies pass and blocks or weakens others. Common types are low-pass, high-pass, band-pass and notch filters.
  • transformerA device that transfers AC power from one winding to another through a shared magnetic core, usually to step the voltage up or down. It does not work with DC.

More terms: Circuits and Components

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