Wire Wound Power Resistors: A Guide
The technology is advancing and there are so many electronic applications and instruments being used by the populaces today. Some of these applications are computers, telecommunication devices and even audio and video equipments. All these demand or rather necessitate power resistors and the best power resistors for these applications are the wirewound resistors. This article will orient you on what a wirewound resistor is, how it's constructed, the types and the benefits.
What is a wirewound resistor? This is the very first question that you need to start asking yourself. A wire wound resistor is a passive component through which metal wires are zigzagged and used to reduce or rather restrict electric current from flowing to certain levels. Make sure to check current shunt resistors now.
The wire wound resistor is constructed using winding or zigzagging metal wires that are made from either manganin or Nichrome materials. These zigzagging metal wires are wounded on the metal core. The metal core is the non-conductive material and in most cases the materials used are plastics, fiberglass or ceramic. The metal wires are the resistance materials and the reason why Nichrome and manganin are the most preferred is due to their high and indisputable resistance to high electric current. At the same time, these two materials are ideal or rather perform tremendously even on high temperatures.
There is need for the zigzagged metal wire to be insulated as a way of dispensing or rather blocking external or outside heat from penetrating to the wire. In most cases, vitreous enamel is the insulation material used and where outside heat is prevented or blocked, the resistor tends to gain a high level of stability and it performs tremendously even in high temperatures.
These wirewound resistors are categorized into two; power and precision wire wound resistors. The power resistor is normally used where there are high temperatures. The precision resistors are ideal for applications that demand a lot of accuracy and where the temperatures are low.
There are multiple and worthwhile benefits or advantages of using the wire wound resistors. Affordability is key as these power resistors are overly affordable. Apart from low cost, they are overly accurate and stable. In most cases, electronic instruments and applications benefit or tend to work tremendously where the power resistor is immensely stable and where accuracy is at the peak. There is need for you to note that wire wound resistors are only ideal for low frequencies and they tend to misbehave where the applications have high frequencies. When used in high frequencies, the wire wound resistors tend to act as an inductor. Therefore, where one needs to use the resistor in high frequencies, they should ensure to use a non-inductive wounded wire.