Talk:Inductor

Induction loop
I suspect that the new Induction loop article needs to be merged with another (this one?); it certianly needs a lot of work by someone who knows what they're doing. Mel Etitis ( &Mu;&epsilon;&lambda; &Epsilon;&tau;&eta;&tau;&eta;&sigmaf; ) 13:12, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * No kidding; Is there much in that article that's salvagable?


 * And shouldn't it be about the gadgets used to tap phones and detect cars at traffic signals?


 * Atlant 13:29, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Deletion of old history section
I had hopped to save some bandwidth but if I must: First, it is wrong. Stanley didn’t invent the first practical induction coil as stated. Inductions coils had been around for fifty years before that and Ruhmkorff was building excellent ones in 1850. What Stanley’s patent did cover was a version of an AC transformer that proved to be practical and similar to modern transformers. Since patents require titles and there was not yet a word for the device, he used whatever words were handy. The patent was titled “Induction Coil”. Mr. Stanley’s contribution is covered in transformer where it belongs. It has nothing to do with the Inductor article. This history section was left over here as a remnant of some confusion in terminology from a year ago. Let us recreate a history section only when we have something applicable to put into it. Meggar 05:58, 2005 Jun 8 (UTC)


 * Thank you for that explanation.


 * Atlant 11:47, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Parallels with Capacitor
In the Capacitor article, they have a lovely section about Impedance and phaser voltage. Could we add one here too? I came here to find out $$ Z_L = \frac{V_L}{I_L} = 2 \pi j f L = j \omega L = j X_L $$ because I couldn't remember it for my homework, but it isn't here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.200.130.99 (talk) 23:13, 14 October 2008‎ (UTC)

Purpose of an inductor?
Is the purpose of an inductor to slow or dampen the rate of change in a voltage or current? Or is its purpose something else?

The article starts with "An inductor, also called a coil, choke, or reactor, is a passive two-terminal electrical component that stores energy in a magnetic field when electric current flows through it".

But there's no word on why that would be useful, and we quickly get into technical terms and equations. That's fine, but a statement of purpose would help. 73.127.147.187 (talk) 05:40, 21 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Yes, that’s its purpose. And I agree the lead sentence (and entire lead paragraph) is not very useful for general readers; it is more a description of how an inductor works than what it is ‘’for’’.  The lead sentence might give the erroneous impression that inductors are energy storage devices. Readers have to go to the end of the introduction before they find out what it is used for.


 * Maybe the lead could be rewritten to include a brief description of what it does in a circuit.--ChetvornoTALK 07:18, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

Proximity effect
It two wires are adjacent to each other and carrying current in the opposite direction. Then the current density tends to concentrate beneath the adjacent surfaces. But in a coil the currents on adjacent wires are in the same direction.

Visualizing a tightly wound coil, a wire somewhere in the middle is being touched by six other wires carry current in the same direction. The result is that the current densities are pushed away from the points where the wires touch and towards the place where there are gaps. So, six regions of low density and six regions of high density as you go around the wire.

I will take my shot at improving the text. Constant314 (talk) 22:37, 20 June 2024 (UTC)


 * That's if the coil has multiple layers of tightly spaced windings in which the wires are parallel. Most high frequency coils either have single layer windings with the turns spaced apart, interleaved windings, or basket weave windings where the wires in succeeding layers are at angles to each other, to reduce proximity effect losses. They may also use litz wire. See the pictures in the article. --ChetvornoTALK 04:12, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Yes. I'm just trying to get said in a sentence or two. Constant314 (talk) 05:16, 21 June 2024 (UTC)