ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we expand our knowledge of electrical circuits acquired in Chapter 3 by looking at energy storage elements, that is, capacitors (storage of electrical energy) and inductors (storage of magnetic energy). When they are used in circuits, the response includes a transitory component, which leads to the concept of time constant. The magnetic field concept is used to study the basics of two electromechanical devices, that is, electrical generators and motors. We start our study of AC circuits using both sinusoidal functions and phasor diagrams. The chapter concludes with circuits to convert AC to DC and between various levels of DC voltage. Fundamentals are given in basic circuit analysis textbooks [1-3] and reviews geared toward renewable power systems are given in Masters [4] and Hemami [5].
