Inductances of Automotive Electromagnetic Devices
H. S. Silvus, Robert E. White · SAE technical papers on CD-ROM/SAE technical paper series · 2002
A quantitative relationship between inductances and operating currents of automotive electromagnetic devices was necessary for experimentally assessing the nature of the spark that occurs when a current-carrying conductor in an automobile electrical system is broken. Various automotive electromagnetic devices were obtained, and their inductances and dc operating currents were measured. A plot of the data showed, as expected, that an inverse relationship existed, and regression analysis showed that the relationship could be expressed as where L is inductance in millihenries, and I is current in amperes. This formula, which provided sufficient accuracy for the intended experiments, may be used for estimating the inductance of an automotive electromagnetic device if the current drawn by the device is known.