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High Power Heater Resistor Design

A high power heater resistor is often used in where the designer needs to apply a highly controlled level of heat to a small area such as in medical and laboratory fluid heating applications. They may also be used in more general applications such as condensation management, and anti-freezing in electronic equipment.

Custom Resistor Networks For Specialist Applications.

Network resistors may be used in a wide variety of applications to increase component density, reduce part count and increase factory throughput. They are regularly used in pull up/pull down resistor and terminating resistor applications with a wide range of variants available from several major manufacturers.

Resistor Networks In Resistor Ladder Applications

When a basic digital to analog conversion is required a resistor ladder is the perfect choice. In this post we discuss how to build a resistor ladder, application limitations and how resistor networks can mitigate the impact of those limitations.

Circuit Operation

High Surge Capability Thick Film Resistor Design

When surge or pulse conditions occur in electronic equipment resistors are often used to suppress the pulse and prevent damage to sensitive electronic components. Traditionally wire wound resistors were the technology of choice but today thick film surge resistor technology provides a cheaper, non-inductive, solution with a significantly smaller footprint.

Thick Film High Power Resistor Cooling Considerations

Thermal issues have a direct impact on the operational life of any thick film high power resistor hence resistor cooling is always a key issue to consider. In this post we consider air and liquid cooling and the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

Key Power Resistor Application Considerations

When choosing a power resistor for any application it is important to consider more than the resistance value, power rating and tolerance. There any many factors that can affect the performance of the resistor, and the system as a whole, including thermal and mechanical issues and operational life.

Thermal Issues In Power Resistor Applications

Thermal performance has a direct impact on both mechanical issues and operational life and should, therefore, be the first issue to consider.

High Performance Resistor Networks Design and Applications

High performance resistor networks offer a number of advantages over discrete devices including higher density component packaging, improved system reliability, performance improvements and lower cost. In this post, we consider common applications for network resistors and key design issues.

Applications

Common applications for resistor networks include:

• Pull up / pull down resistors.
• Current limiting resistors.
• Termination resistors.
• Digital to analogue or analogue to digital converters.

Snubber Resistors In Power Electronic Applications

Snubber resistors are used in a variety of power electronic applications as circuit protection elements. In its most simple form, a snubber circuit consists of a resistor and a capacitor or, in the case of a turn off snubber circuit, a resistor, capacitor and diode. Long term reliability of the snubber circuit is vital in many applications. In this post, we consider the key resistor construction issues that should be considered.

Thick Film Heater Elements In Medical Applications

Thick film heater element are used in a wide variety of applications including incubation of cultures, to heat fluids before injection, DNA analysis and diagnostic equipment. These applications require controllable heat to be delivered to a specific area, often over an extended period of time, with a uniform steady state.

Power Resistor Derating For High Temperature

In complex electronic systems, the issue of power resistor derating for high temperature can often be overlooked. The system designer may have many design issues to consider and passive components, like an application specific power resistor, are often the last to be evaluated, if at all. It can, therefore, be quite late in the design phase that the designer realises that a standard resistor will not suffice and an application specific power resistor is required.

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