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NonlinearelementWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Nonlinearelement
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Inanelectriccircuit,anonlinearelementornonlineardeviceisanelectricalelementwhichdoesnothave
alinearrelationshipbetweencurrentandvoltage.Adiodeisasimpleexample.ThecurrentIthrougha
diodeisanonlinearfunctionofthevoltageVacrossitsterminals:

Nonlinearelementsareavoidedinsomeelectroniccircuits,calledlinearcircuits,becausetheyhavethe
potentialtodistortelectricalsignals.
Otherexamplesofnonlinearelementsaretransistorsandothersemiconductordevices,vacuumtubes,and
ironcoreinductorsandtransformerswhenoperatedabovetheirsaturationcurrent.Examplesoflinear
elementsareresistors,capacitors,andaircoreinductors.
Manycircuitelementsthatoperatelinearlyatlowsignallevelswillshownonlinearityathighersignal
levels.Anexampleofthiscanbeseeninmanyaudiosystemsbyturningupthevolume.Atahighenough
volumelevel,thetransistorsorotheramplifyingelementswillbegintooperatenonlinearlyanddistortthe
sound.Conversely,nonlinearelementscanbemadetooperatelinearlyifthesignalinthemislimitedtoa
lowlevel.Iftheinputofanonlineardevicesuchasatransistoronlyvariesinasmallrangearoundafixed
value,thentheinput/outputrelationislinearizedaroundthisfixedvalue(usuallycalledthequiescentpoint,
Qpoint,orBiaspoint).Thisiscalledasmallsignalmodel.

Seealso
Linearelement

Externallinks
UnderstandingElectronicComponents(http://www.mikroe.com/en/books/keu/01.htm)
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