Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Wirewound Resistors: Discovering More About Them


riedon.com/resistors/view/precision-shunt-resistor-usr-unr-4-3425-4020

The wirewound resistors are an electrical passive component that has been limiting current. It is done through the wire material featuring high resistivity. Their resistive elements exist out of the metallic wire insulated that has been winded around the non-conductive material core.The resistive elements are existing out of metal wire that is insulated and winded around a non-conductive core material. Such resistors have been typically composed of copper-nickel-managese called as the “Manganin” or Nichrome materials (nickel-chromium). These kinds of resistors have been composed of manganese, nickel and copper. It also includes nickel-chromium or Nichrome materials. The wire wound resistors have been the oldest resistors kinds that have been manufactured in the present. These may be produced very accurate and has excellent properties of low resistance values and high power rating. 

The construction of a wire wound resistor varies to certain factors which involve the choice and manufacturing of material used depends on how the resistor is used in the circuit. The resistance value varies on the resistivity of the wire including its length and even the cross section. For higher tolerance measurement, resistance value must be measured. This is to identify the accurate cut for the wire length. In order to obtain a higher resistance, the wire diameter must become small enough and the length should be quite long. 


The wirewound resistors are naturally providing inductance and capacitance which affect the flow of current in the alternative current circuits. Because of the design principles of a wire wound resistor, this obtain poor frequency properties in all resistor types. There have been various ways of applying the winding and they depend on the resistor application. Through the DC current, there will only be a few problems in terms of winding compared to the AC current due to the self induction and parasitic capacity. To get rid of effects, there were several types of winding that are existing which include flat former winding, bifilar winding, and Ayrton-Pertty winding. 

Types of winding are usually associated measurement devices as well as decade banks. However, the downside is more on difficult process of manufacturing. There have been various types of wirewound resistors that have been categorized into precision and power types. These are being modified for distinct ranges of applications in temperature sensors, potentiometers and current. 


A wire resistor is usually found in a circuit breaker or as a fuse. In order to provide fusible resistors, their manufacturers must associated small springs in one end of resistors. Whenever the current and the heat through a resistor gets high enough, the solders will melt while springs are popping up when the circuit opened. 

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

What are Resistors and What are their Types?


High Voltage Resistors

A resistor is determining the flow of current in an electrical circuit. Whenever there is a high circuit resistance, there is a small current flow. When there is a low resistance, there is a large current flow. The voltage, current and resistance were connected to electrical circuits. This takes place through the Ohm’s Law.

The resistors are used for regulation of current and these resist the current flow with the extent of performing with the use of ohms measurement. It can also be found in most electronic circuits available and it is also very small to obtain numbers printed on it.


There are several resistor types used in an electronic circuit. Each one has different property which is usually dependent upon its construction as well as manufacturer. For this reason, they got various resistors that have been designed for a certain application. For the past years, resistor types have been utilized in the mass production of electronics but these are now undergoing changes. 

Fixed and Variable Resistors 

They have been the main categories of resistors. They fit into two different types of fixed and variable resistors. Fixed resistors are one of them and this has been regarded as a common kind of resistors. These have been utilized in an electronic circuit for setting the proper conditions in the circuits. The values of a fixed resistor can be determine on the design phase of the circuit. However, they must never be transformed for circuit adjustment.
The variable resistors have been the resistor types that re composed of slides and elements of fixed resistors where the main resistor elements tap into. They are providing 3 connections to a component in which two of them are integrated to a fixed element and one distinguishes the slider.


The other resistor type category has been the fixed resistor type which has numerous types available. Carbon composition is one and this is actually a very well known type. But the truth is that this has been seldom used. Carbon film is another type. This is usually formed as the hydrocarbon on a ceramic former is cracked. There is also a metal oxide/metal film which is now widely used resistor form as the metal film is being deposited into the ceramic rod.

The other type of resistor is the wire wound and thin film which has specific uses. The last resistor category is leaded and non leaded resistors which have surface mount and leaded resistors.

Friday, January 2, 2015

The Basics of Shunt Resistors


Shunt Resistors

Shunt resistors are usually associated a parallel position along with an instrument or the component. This is done to divert an electrical current. These types of resistors provide alternative current paths in case there have been problems or failure and these are used for complete reduction of input sensitivity from the input lines through the ground.Current shunt resistors were generally low in resistance and passive electronic devices used to measure AC (alternating current) and DC (direct current) going through the voltage drop in which currents created throughout resistance. 

The electrical specifications of the shunt resistors involve resistance tolerance, power rating, resistance power coefficient, resistance temperature coefficient, ohms, and current rating. Ohms measure the material opposition into an electric flow of circuit while temperature coefficient of resistance (or TCR) refers to the change in resistance along with change in temperature. 


PCR or the power coefficient of resistance is referring to a temperature. This temperature rises because of self-heating. For the current-sensing shunts, the resistance usually ranges from 100 µO up to 500 mO. A shunt resistor can be applied in current conversion. This is the aspect in which high precision has been required. 

The physical specifications for the shunt resistors involve resistor materials and lead type. A shunt resistor can be surface mounted, chassis mounted, through-hole mounted, and bolted. THT or the through-hole technology and SMT or the surface mount technology are both other popular and common mounting styles. The other kinds of lead are screw terminals, J-leads, and tab terminals. There are also gull-wing leads, radial leads, and axial leads available. 

Shunt resistors without leads are also available and they can be wire wound, metal film, metal oxide, carbon film, ceramic, metal alloy, thin film, and thick film. The carbon shunt resistor has been comprised of high temperature, resistive, solid and ceramic materials that have been bonded by the metal contacts. 


Metal allow shunt resistors have 2 or more elements while a wirewound shunt resistor has thin wire winding in a ceramic rod. Each shunt resistor becomes unique in the area of packing because of passive electronic components that were packed in tape reel assemblies. This includes carrier tape which had embossed cavities for individual component storage. Others have been packed in trays (or trails) and they had been made up of carbon-power and fiber materials as they molded in rectangular outlines containing uniformly spaced matrices of pockets. Some of them have been packed in a tray (trail) and were comprised of both fiber and carbon-power materials. At the same time, these are molded in a rectangular form that has numerous pockets which were uniformly spaced.