Component Selection: Coilcraft Correction

I had a marketing associate from Coilcraft comment politely on my post about Coilcraft inductors.  He pointed out that samples are available to everyone, not just working professionals, specifically university students.  They are currently trying to market to a younger engineering crowd and are looking for suggestions.

As of now, college kids, simply go online and request samples.  This is a great tool to use for those senior projects.  I remember trying to get parts and it was a pain.  So now you have a venue to get some inductors.  They are very helpful and want to see you use their products.

Anyways, this was really just a correction post about their inductors.  I hope it's helpful.

P.S. No they're not paying me...I wish...

------------------------
Justin Coulston
justin.coulston@gmail.com

Component Selection: Samples are the Key

Today I found out what was important in a manufacturing company: samples.

I have been trying to get samples for about a week from a company producing a candidate LNA for a project of mine.  But for some reason I just can't get a sample.  I've tried everything.  It's not like the part is $250.  These are $10 parts.  But when I tried to get samples from ATC and Coilcraft they gave them to me joyfully!  And I mean joyfully.  They told me, that anything I needed, they'll get it to me.  Isn't that something?!  I've come to realize that a relationship with a company is really more important than the products.  Why? Because those that will give you samples are willing to make their components better for the sake of sales.  They are willing to have upfront losses for future business.  That's why I judge a company by whether or not they give me samples.

So as a suggestion, if you work in industry (not a student, or hobbyist) judge a company on whether or not they'll give you samples.  Now note, they don't have to give all the samples you want to be good, just one or two to test for yourself.  If they do this, they are good enough to buy from.  I promise...

------------------
Justin Coulston
justin.coulston@gmail.com

Component Selection: Best Inductors on the Market

When it comes to quality, there is only one place to buy inductors: Coilcraft. Coilcraft has a wide selection of inductors and when you get to high frequencies, very good Q Factors.  But you can't just take my word for it, you need to try them for yourself, and Coilcraft makes it easy by allowing you to order samples.  All you have to do is find the coils you like and click request samples.  Then they'll send you the samples within a few days.  They pride themselves on satisfying the customer and quickly.

I use (in particular) the Mini Spring Air Core Inductors.  These have a small footprint and have "ok" tolerances (2%,5%,10% for many values).  Since a lot of High-Frequency designs require minimal inductors, it's very easy to design around these 10 values.  But let's say that you need a little more precision and different values.  You can always use the smaller Micro Spring Air Core Inductors.  They have precision to 2-digits.

So go out and sample some of these inductors.  They are the best Inductor company in customer satisfaction. They have quality parts that are used in the most strenuous military applications.  They guarantee quality and deliver it.

If you are needing Inductor equations, here you are:

Eq 1: Reactance Equation

Eq 2: Frequency to Angular Frequency

Eq 3: Voltage Differential Equation

Eq 4: Quality Factor

[R]: parasitic resistance of Inductor (Ohm)

Eq 5: Stored Energy in inductor L

[L] inductor (H)

[I] current through inductor (A)

Eq 6: Air Core Inductor Measurement

[r] outer radius of inductor (in)

[N] number of turns

[l] length of inductor coil (in)

[L] Inductance (uH)