Can an inductor be discharged directly without storing energy

How do inductors store and discharge energy?

In an inductor, the energy is stored in the magnetic field when there is current through the coil. A current creates an induced magnetic field along the axis of a coil, and you may remember from E&M that energy is stored in a magnetic field according to , where the integral is over space.

What if an inductor is connected to a source?

Suppose an inductor is connected to a source and then the source is disconnected. The inductor will have energy stored in the form of magnetic field. But there is no way/path to discharge this energy? Short answer: It will find a way/path to discharge this energy. Longer answer:

Can inductors store energy?

Yes, inductors can be used to store energy. That's the basis for many switching power supplies, just to mention one example. However, the problem with storing energy in a inductor is that the current has to be kept circulating. Our current technology makes that quite lossy for long term storage.

How do you store energy in an inductor?

For an inductor we store energy in a magnetic field and we can easily show E = 1 2L ⋅I2 E = 1 2 L ⋅ I 2 To store this energy having charged it we need to keep the current flowing so need to place a short across the inductor.

How does a pure inductor work?

This energy is actually stored in the magnetic field generated by the current flowing through the inductor. In a pure inductor, the energy is stored without loss, and is returned to the rest of the circuit when the current through the inductor is ramped down, and its associated magnetic field collapses. Consider a simple solenoid.

How does an inductor maintain a magnetic field?

When you send current through the inductor, the inductor will use the energy in that current to maintain a magnetic field. When the power source that was supplying the current through the inductor dissapears, the inductor tries to keep the current flowing through it the same and it does so using the energy stored in the magnetic field.