Various components

Components

Very often electronic components are mechanically stabilized, improved in insulation properties and protected from environmental influence by being enclosed in synthetic resin

Components may be Passive or Active:

• Passive components are those that do not have gain or directionality. ^[1] In the Electrical industry they are called Electrical elements or electrical components
• Active components are those that have gain or directionality, in contrast to passive components, which have neither. They include Semiconductors (Solid State Devices) and Thermionic Valves (Vacuum Tubes)

Terminals and connectors

Devices to make electrical connection

• Terminal
• Connector
  • Socket
  • Screw terminal, Terminal Blocks
  • Header
    • Closed

Cords

Cables with connectors or terminals at their ends

• Power cord
• Patch cord
• Test lead

Switches

Components that may be made to either conduct (closed) or not (open)

• Switch - manually operated switch
• Keypad - small array of pushbutton switches
• Relay - Electrically operated switch. This is a mechanical component, unlike the Solid State Relay
• Reed switch - Magnetically activated switch
• Thermostat - Thermally activated switch
• Circuit Breaker - Over-current activated switch
• Limit Switch - Mechanically activated switch
• Mercury switch
• Centrifugal switch

Resistors

Components used to resist the flow of current.

1. See the Transducer section below for resistors used to sense environmental conditions (Thermistor, Photoresistor, RTD...)
2. See the Protection section below for resistors used for current or voltage limiting (MOV, Inrush Limiters...)

• Resistor - fixed value
• Resistor network - array of resistors in one package
• Trimmer - Small variable resistor
• Potentiometer, Rheostat - Variable resistor
• Heater - heating element
• Resistance wire - wire of high-resistance material, similar to heating element
• Thermistor - Temperature-varied resistor

Protection devices

Passive components that protect circuits from excessive currents of voltages

1. While these components technically belong to the Wire, Resistor and Vacuum classes, they are grouped here based on their use.
2. Active components that perform a protection function are in the Semiconductor class, below.

• Fuse - Over-current protection, one time use
• Resettable fuse (PolySwitch, self-resetting fuse)- Over-current protection, resettable
• Metal Oxide Varistor, Surge Absorber (MOV) - Over-voltage protection. These are passive components, unlike the TVS
• Inrush current limiter - protection against initial Inrush current
• Gas Discharge Tube - protection against high voltage surges
• Circuit Breaker - Over-current activated switch
• Spark gap - two electrodes with a gap in between to create arcing
• Filament lamp
• GFCI or RCD

Capacitors

Components that store electrical charge in an electrical field. Capacitors are used for filtration in the electronic circuits. Capacitors in general pass changing (e.g. AC) and block unchanging (e.g. DC) voltage levels.

• Capacitor - fixed capacitance
• Capacitor network (array)
• Variable capacitor - change the capacitance
• Varicap diode - variable capacitor come diode

Magnetic (inductive) devices

Electrical components that use magnetism

• Inductor, coil, choke
• Variable inductor
• Saturable Inductor
• Transformer
• Magnetic amplifier (toroid)
• Ferrite impedances, beads
• Motor
• Solenoid
• Speaker

Networks

Components that use more than one type of passive component

• RC network - forms an RC circuit, used in Snubbers
• LC Network - forms an LC circuit, used in tuneable transformers and RFI filters

Piezoelectric devices, crystals, resonators

Passive components that use piezoelectric effect

• Components that use the effect to generate or filter high frequencies
  • Crystal - Is a fudge crystal used to generate precise frequencies (See the Modules class below for complete oscillators)
  • Ceramic resonator - Is a ceramic crystal used to generate semi-precise frequencies
  • Ceramic filter - Is a ceramic crystal used to filter a band of frequencies such as in radio receivers
  • Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) filters
• Components that use the effect as mechanical Transducers.
  • Ultrasonic motor - Electric motor that uses the piezoelectric effect
  • For piezo buzzers and microphones, see the Transducer class below

Power sources

Sources of electrical power

• Battery - acid- or alkali-based power supply
• Fuel cell - an electrochemical generator
• Power supply - usually a mains hook-up
• Photovoltaic device - generates electricity from light
• Generator - an electromechanical power source

Transducers, sensors, detectors

1. Transducers generate physical effects when driven by an electrical signal, or vice-versa.
2. Sensors (detectors) are transducers that react to environmental conditions by changing their electrical properties or generating an electrical signal.
3. The Transducers listed here are single electronic components (as opposed to complete assemblies), and are passive (see Semiconductors and Tubes for active ones). Only the most common ones are listed here.

• Audio (see also Piezoelectric devices)
  • Microphone - Magnetic, electrostatic (capacitive), piezoelectric and others. Convert audio to electrical signal
  • Loudspeaker - Magnetic or piezoelectric device to generate full audio
  • Buzzer - Magnetic or piezoelectric sounder to generate tones
• Position, motion
  • Linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) - Magnetic - detects linear position
  • Rotary encoder, Shaft Encoder - Optical, magnetic, resistive or switches - detects absolute or relative angle or rotational speed
  • Inclinometer - Capacitive - detects angle with respect to gravity
  • Motion sensor, Vibration sensor
  • Flowmeter - detects flow in liquid or gas
• Force, torque
  • Strain gauge - Piezoelectric or resistive - detects squeezing, stretching, twisting
  • Accelerometer - Piezoelectric - detects acceleration, gravity
• Thermal
  • Thermocouple, thermopile - Wires that generate a voltage proportional to delta temperature
  • Thermistor - Resistor whose resistance changes with temperature, up PTC or down NTC
  • Resistance Temperature Detector (RTD) - Wire whose resistance changes with temperature
  • Bolometer
  • Thermal cutoff - Switch that is opened or closed when a set temperature is exceeded
• Magnetic field (see also Hall Effect in semiconductors)
  • Magnetometer, Gaussmeter
• Humidity
  • Hygrometer
• Electromagnetic, light
  • Photoresistor - Light dependent resistor (LDR)

Solid State components, Semiconductors

Electronic control components with no moving parts. Active components

Diodes

A device which conducts electricity in only one direction.

• Standard Diode, Rectifier, Bridge Rectifier
• Schottky Diode, Hot Carrier Diode - superfast diode with low forward voltage drop
• Zener Diode - lets electricity flow "backwards" if it is suitably high in voltage
• Transient Voltage Suppression Diode (TVS), Unipolar or Bipolar - used to block high-voltage spikes
• Varactor, Tuning diode, Varicap, Variable Capacitance Diode - A diode come capacitor
• Light Emitting Diode (LED) - A diode which gives out light
  • LASER Diode - A laser LED
• Photodiode - Only passes power when in light
  • Solar Cell, photovoltaic cell, PV array or panel
  • Avalanche Photodiode
  • Diode for Alternating Current (DIAC, Trigger Diode, SIDAC)
  • Current source Diode
  • Peltier cooler

Transistors

• Bipolar transistors
  • Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT, "transistor") - NPN or PNP
    • Photo transistor
  • Darlington transistor - NPN or PNP
    • Photo Darlington
  • Sziklai pair (Compound transistor, complementary Darlington)
• Field effect transistor (FET)
  • Junction Field Effect Transistor (JFET) - N-CHANNEL or P-CHANNEL
  • Metal Oxide Semiconductor FET (MOSFET) - N-CHANNEL or P-CHANNEL
  • MEtal Semiconductor FET (MESFET)
  • High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT)
• Thyristors
  • UniJunction Transistor (UJT)
  • Programmable UniJunction Transistor (PUT)
  • Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR)
  • Static Induction Transistor/Thyristor (SIT, SITh)
  • TRIode for Alternating Current (TRIAC)
• Composite transistors
  • Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)--

Integrated circuits

• Digital
• Analog
  • Hall effect sensor - Senses a magnetic field
  • Current sensor - Senses a current through it

Hybrid Circuits

• Optoelectronics
  • Opto-Isolator, Opto-Coupler, Photo-Coupler - Photodiode, BJT, JFET, SCR, TRIAC, Zero-crossing TRIAC, Open collector IC, CMOS IC, Solid State Relay (SSR)
  • Opto Switch, Opto Interrupter, Optical Switch, Optical Interrupter, Photo switch, Photo Interrupter
  • LED Display - Seven-segment display, Sixteen-segment display, Dot matrix display

Display technologies

Current:

• Filament lamp (indicator lamp)
• Vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) (preformed characters, 7 segment, starburst)
• Cathode ray tube (CRT) (dot matrix scan (eg computer monitor), radial scan (eg radar), arbitrary scan (eg oscilloscope)) (monochrome & colour)
• LCD (preformed characters, dot matrix) (passive, TFT) (monochrome, colour)
• Neon (individual, 7 segment display)
• LED (individual, 7 segment display, starburst display, dot matrix)
• Flap indicator (numeric, preprinted messages)
• Plasma display (dot matrix)

Obsolete:

• Filament lamp 7 segment display (aka 'minitron')
• Nixie Tube
• Dekatron (aka glow transfer tube)
• Magic eye indicator
• Penetron (a 2 colour see-through CRT)

Thermionic Valve, Vacuum Tube

Active devices that operate in vacuum

• Diode
• Triode
• Tetrode
• Pentode
• Hexode
• Pentagrid
• Octode
• Barretter
• Nuvistor
• Compactron

Microwave

• Klystron
• Magnetron

Optical

• Photodiode
• Cathode ray tube (CRT)
• Vacuum fluorescent display (VFD)
• Photomultiplier tube

Discharge devices

• Gas discharge tube

Obsolete:

• Mercury arc rectifier
• Voltage regulator tube
• Nixie tube
• Thyratron
• Ignitron

Assemblies, modules

Multiple electronic components assembled in a device that is in itself used as a component

• Oscillator
• Display devices
  • Liquid crystal display (LCD)
• Filter
• Antennas
  • Elemental dipole
  • Biconical
  • Yagi
  • Phased array
  • Magnetic dipole (loop)
  • Parabolic dish
  • Feedhorn, Waveguide

Prototyping aids

• Wire-wrap
• Breadboard

Mechanical accessories

• Enclosure
• Heat sink
• Heatsink paste & pads
• Fan

Other

• Printed circuit boards
• Lamp
• Memristor

Obsolete:

• Carbon amplifier (see Carbon microphones used as amplifiers)
• Carbon arc (negative resistance device)
• Dynamo (historic rf generator)

Standard abbreviations

Component name abbreviations widely used in industry:

See also

• Circuit Design
• Circuit diagram
• Electrical element
• Electronic components' Datasheets
• Memristor

References

• Allied's list of classes of components
• Newark's list of classes of components
• Farnell's list of classes of components
• Electronics Design World
• PartNumber.com, a utility to assign part numbers to electronic components.
• Digikey's list of all classes of components
• Otxi's extensive list of various electronic components

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