1-23
What is a practical solution to this problem? The answer is simple. Make either the capacitor or the
inductor variable. Remember, changing either L or C changes the resonant frequency.
Now you know what has been happening all of these years when you "pushed" the button or "turned"
the dial. You have been changing the L or C in the tuned circuits by the amount necessary to adjust the
tuner to resonate at the desired frequency. No matter how complex a unit, if it has LC tuners, the tuners
obey these basic laws.
Q-9. What is the term for the number of times per second that tank circuit energy is either stored in the
inductor or capacitor?
Q-10. In a parallel-resonant circuit, what is the relationship between impedance and current?
Q-11. When is line current minimum in a parallel-LC circuit?
RESONANT CIRCUITS AS FILTER CIRCUITS
The principle of series- or parallel-resonant circuits have many applications in radio, television,
communications, and the various other electronic fields throughout the Navy. As you have seen, by
making the capacitance or inductance variable, the frequency at which a circuit will resonate can be
controlled.
In addition to station selecting or tuning, resonant circuits can separate currents of certain
frequencies from those of other frequencies.
Circuits in which resonant circuits are used to do this are called FILTER CIRCUITS.
If we can select the proper values of resistors, inductors, or capacitors, a FILTER NETWORK, or
"frequency selector," can be produced which offers little opposition to one frequency, while BLOCKING
or ATTENUATING other frequencies. A filter network can also be designed that will "pass" a band of
frequencies and "reject" all other frequencies.
Most electronic circuits require the use of filters in one form or another. You have already studied
several in modules 6, 7, and 8 of the NEETS.
One example of a filter being applied is in a rectifier circuit. As you know, an alternating voltage is
changed by the rectifier to a direct current. However, the d.c. voltage is not pure; it is still pulsating and
fluctuating. In other words, the signal still has an a.c. component in addition to the d.c. voltage. By
feeding the signal through simple filter networks, the a.c. component is reduced. The remaining d.c. is as
pure as the designers require.
Bypass capacitors, which you have already studied, are part of filter networks that, in effect, bypass,
or shunt, unwanted a.c. components to ground.
THE IDEA OF "Q"
Several times in this chapter, we have discussed "ideal" or theoretically perfect circuits. In each case,
you found that resistance kept our circuits from being perfect. You also found that low resistance in tuners
was better than high resistance. Now you will learn about a factor that, in effect, measures just how close
to perfect a tuner or tuner component can be. This same factor affects BANDWIDTH and
SELECTIVITY. It can be used in figuring voltage across a coil or capacitor in a series-resonant circuit
and the amount of circulating (tank) current in a parallel-resonant circuit. This factor is very important
