Origin of name "tank circuit"

[Stefan Heinzmann]

Hi all,

does anyone happen to know what the origin of the term "tank circuit"
is? You know, the inductor and capacitor wired in parallel.

Is it because - drawn horizontally - the inductor looks like the chain
of a (military) tank? Or am I on the wrong trail?

Cheers
Stefan

 

[cledus]

I think it has to do with the analogy of electrical energy storage with
water storage in a water tank. Electrical energy is stored in the magnetic
or electrostatic field of the capacitor and inductor.

Cheers,
C.

 

[R.Legg]

Hi all,

does anyone happen to know what the origin of the term "tank circuit"
is? You know, the inductor and capacitor wired in parallel.

Is it because - drawn horizontally - the inductor looks like the chain
of a (military) tank? Or am I on the wrong trail?

I believe it comes from early days of radio, where the tuned circuit
was considered as a reservoir that stored energy from a
lower-frequency 'exciter' at the higher radio frequency of choice,
without undue 'quenching'.

RL

 

[Le Chaud Lapin]

Hi all,

does anyone happen to know what the origin of the term "tank circuit"
is? You know, the inductor and capacitor wired in parallel.

Is it because - drawn horizontally - the inductor looks like the chain
of a (military) tank? Or am I on the wrong trail?

Cheers
Stefan

Hi Stefan,

I could be wrong, but I remember reading long ago that it has to do
with the fact that the energy in the circuit "sloshes" back and forth
between the capacitor and the inductor like water sloshes back and
forth in a tank.

-Chaud Lapin- (BTW, Ich bin jaibuduvin)

 

[Reg Edwards]

Tank = Reservoir (of electrical energy). A spinning flywheel.

 

[Paul Burridge]

Hi Stefan,

I could be wrong, but I remember reading long ago that it has to do
with the fact that the energy in the circuit "sloshes" back and forth
between the capacitor and the inductor like water sloshes back and
forth in a tank.

Storage is correct. The energy is interchanged between the coil (where
it's stored as a magnetic field) and the capacitor (where it's stored
as an electric field). There is a constant flow back and forth.