Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
-1
INTRODUCTION
1. INTRODUCTION
A gravity light is a light (one or more LEDs) that is powered for a useful amount of time by a
slowly falling object, or mass. In the photo below, my mass consists of containers of water, and
I'm using LEDs as a reading lights. Once the object has fallen all the way, you simply lift it back
up and the light is lit again.
This was invented by two fellows now working on it through a foundation called the GravityLight
Foundation (formerly through Deciwatt) for selling cheaply to remote villages to use instead of
kerosene lamps.
As shown in the diagram below, the whole idea is to have the masses fall as slowly as possible,
taking as long as possible, while still causing the generator to turn fast enough to power the
LED light. With the system below, even though the small sprocket is turning slowly, the outer
edge of the large pulley/wheel that it's attached to is turning fast and that's passed on to the
generator.
t's in the use of the pulley system, along with that particular motor as a
generator, that the conversion from slow to fast is done.
The generator I'm using is a motor from a microwave oven, the one that
slowly turns the tray inside the oven (see the motor in the photos and the
generator in the diagram.) If you turn the shaft of a motor manually then the
motor acts as a generator and produces power. This motor has a lot of gears
inside it, which make it such that turning the motor shaft slowly results in the
magnets inside turning very fast, producing a useful amount of power. These
motors are synchronous motors and normally run at 120 volts AC. All the
ones I've seen are rated for 3 watts but their RPM varies from 2.5 RPM to 6
RPM.
These are calculations done for the latest version of my gravity light, version
2, to get some idea of the efficiency.
Voltage: 24 volts
Note that the LEDs are rated at 10 watts, but the power available from the
gravity light was nowhere near enough to run them at full power.
The diagram above has Ar, Br and Cr added to it. These are the:
rotational speed Cr of the small sprocket C that's attached to the large pulley.
I started with a generator, in this case actually a motor taken from a microwave oven.
When you turn the shaft of a motor, the motor acts like a generator, producing electricity.
I knew how fast I could turn it without damaging it and that it would be enough to light
my LED. I had to turn it 1/2 turn each second.
I had a small pulley that I could attach to the generator shaft and its diameter is 1 inch,
which is 25.4 mm (millimeters). To get the circumference of the pulley you simply
multiply the diameter by the mathematical constant pi, which is 3.14159.
As I said above, I needed to turn it only 1/2 turn each second. That's a distance of 1/2
the circumference, so 1/2 of 80 mm is 40 mm. And I needed to turn it that distance
every 1 second. That gives me the desired rotational speed of Ar as 40 mm/second.
Now that I knew I needed a rotational speed for the small pulley of 40 mm/second (Ar), I
needed to find some combination of large pulley with attached small pulley (or sprocket
in this case), and possibly more than one of them that would cause a mass to fall at a
reasonably slow speed for long enough to light the LED for a reasonably long time.
I had a bicycle wheel and made measurements of it to see if it would work. The bicycle
wheel, which is my large pulley (B), is connected by belt to the small pulley (A). If the
circumference of the small pulley is moving at a speed of 40 mm/second then the
circumference of the large pulley is also moving at 40 mm/second. So Br is 40
mm/second.
The small sprocket (C) is pysically connected to the large pulley (B). A single turn of the
large pulley results in a single turn of the small sprocket.
The circumference of the large pulley is 2010 mm and the circumference of the small
sprocket is 157 mm. Since one turn of the large pulley means one turn of the small
sprocket, that means when the large pulley goes 2010 mm, the small sprocket goes
only 157 mm. The ratio of those two lengths is 0.078.
Since the rotational speed of the large pulley is 40 mm/second (Br), the rotational speed
speed of the small sprocket is 3.1 mm/second, i.e. Cr is 3.1 mm/second.
That means that the mass will be falling at 3.1 mm/second. If the distance it has to fall is
1 meter, 1000 mm, then that will take 5.4 minutes.
That means the calculated run time is 5.4 minutes, not taking into account losses, and
assuming a reasonably sized mass can do it. As you'll see in the second video below on
making the gravity light, I achieved an actual run time of 4 minutes using the bicycle
wheel, 8 kilograms of mass and a 710 gram counterweight hanging from the other end
of the chain.
Here is a gallery of gravity light's made by others. Click on the images for larger
versions.
If you'd like your homemade gravity light included here? Send me an email with a photo
and how you want your name to be written, if at all, and I'll include it here. Also let me
know any other details you want included such as why you made it (school project, for
fun, for lighting something, ...), how long it runs for, how much weight you use, ...
CHAPTER NO.-2
Fundamentals Of Dynamo
Before we can examine the function of a drive, we must
understand the basic operation of the motor. It is used to convert
the electrical energy, supplied by the controller, to mechanical
energy to move the load. There are really two types of motors, AC
and DC. The basic principles are alike for both. Magnetism is the
basis for all electric motor operation. It produces the force
required to run the motor. There are two types of magnets the
permanent magnet and the electro magnet. Electro magnets have
the advantage over permanent magnet in that the magnetic field
can be made stronger. Also the polarity of the electro magnet can
easily be reversed. The construction of an electro magnet is
simple. When a current passes through a coil of wire, a magnetic
field is produced.
AC Motor
The AC motor operates on the same principle of the OC motor
(interaction between magnetic lines of flux). One major difference
is the OC motor requires DC current and the AC motor requires AC
current. There are basically two types of AC
motors: synchronous and induction. The basic principle for
synchronous motors can be shown using two electro
magnets and a permanent magnet.
We can pass current through the coils in a direction so the north
and south poles are aligned with the permanent
magnet. The permanent magnet is free to rotate and is therefore
called the rotor. The electro magnets are stationary and are
therefore called the stator. Initially if the north and south poles
are aligned in the motor and, because like poles repel and unlike
poles attract, the rotor will be pushed by the magnetic force of
the like poles. As it rotates, it will be pulled by the magnetic force
of the unlike poles.
Once the rotors north and south poles line up with the stators
south and north poles the stator current is reversed, thus
changing the south and north pole orientation in the stator and
the rotor is pushed again. This process repeats until the current in
the stator stops alternating or stops flowing. In a three phase (30)
motor, the stator flux (magnetic force) does not just alternate
back and forth but it actually rotates around the motor and the
rotator actually follows this rotating
magnetic field. This type of motor is called a synchronous motor
because it always runs at synchronous speed (rotor and magnetic
field of stator are rotating at exactly the same speed). Maximum
torque is achieved when the stator flux vector
and the rotor flux vector are 90 apart.
The induction motor operates much the same way that the
synchronous motor does It uses the same magnetic principles to
couple the stator and the rotor.However, one major difference is
the synchronous motor uses a permanent magnet rotor and the
induction motor uses iron bars arranged to resemble a squirrel
cage.
As the stator magnetic field rotates in the motor, the lines of flux
produced will cut the iron bars and induce a voltage in the
rotor. This induced voltage will cause a current to flow in the rotor
and will generate a magnetic field. This magnetic field will
interact with the stator magnetic field and will produce torque to
rotate the motor shaft; which is connected to the rotor. The
torque available at the motor shaft is determined by the magnetic
force (flux) acting on the rotor and the distance from the center of
rotation that force is.
The flux is determined by the current flowing through the stator
windings. Another factor determining torque and another
difference between the induction motor and the synchronous
motor is slip. Slip is the difference between the stator magnetic
field speed and the rotor speed. As implied earlier, in order for a
voltage to be induced into a conductor, there must be a relative
motion between the conductor and the magnetic lines of flux. Slip
is the relative motion needed in the induction motor to induce a
voltage into the rotor. If the induction motor ran at synchronous
speed, there would be no relative motion and no torque would be
produced. This implies that the greater the slip, the greater the
torque. This is true to a limit. (Please see speed/torque curve
below)
When creating your own human powered vehicles, a chain drive will likely be your
chosen power transfer system, as it is an inexpensive, easy-to-install and highly efficient
drive mechanism. Bicycle chains are fairly simple, requiring only one inexpensive tool to
remove and attach links. Since a recumbent cycle will often require a chain that is one
and a half to 3 times the length of a regular upright bicycle chain, some basics should
be known, as you will probably need to create the chain for your vehicle.
There are two basic types of bicycle chain: single speed chain and multi-speed chain.
Single speed chain is mainly used on kids' bikes, BMX bikes, coaster brake cruisers,
and heavy cargo bikes. Multi-speed chain is used on standard speed bikes and
mountain bikes that require the use of a front and rear derailleur to change gears. Both
types of bicycle chain have a pitch of 1/2 inch (ANSI standard #40). This measurement
indicates the length of the links. Although every type of bicycle chain and freewheel
have a 1/2 in pitch, the width of chain varies quite a bit, from 3/32" to 1/8".
Single speed bicycle chain is wider, having a width of 1/8 inch. This type of chain will not
fit a multi-speed freewheel nor will it fit properly through a derailleur cage. Multi-speed
chain comes in variouswidths, with 3/32" being the most common size. Multi-speed
chain is designed with a lot more side-to-side flex to allow it to function properly with a
derailleur system. Flexibility is very important in a multi-speed system as the alignment
of front and rear chain rings could be off by as much as 3 inches, depending on which
gears are being used. Figure 1 shows the two common sizes of bicycle chain; 1/8" on
the top and 3/32" on the bottom. At this angle, both chain types look very similar since
you can only see the pitch, not the width.
When bicycle building becomes your hobby, one of those "must have" tools will be a
chain link tool as shown in Figure 3. For under $20, this small tool will give you a lifetime
of service, able to break and rejoin any size of bicycle chain in a few seconds. The other
method involves using a punch, a hammer, and a finishing nail, but I assure you, the
chain link tool is so much easier and makes a worthwhile investment. To open a link,
place the chain into the holder as shown in Figure 3, and then turn the vice handle
clockwise to press out the link pin.
Fig 15Removing the link pin
Figure 4 shows the link pin pushed out by the chain link tool after turning the handle
around a few times. This tool makes adjusting a chain pretty much effortless which is a
good thing since you may have toadjust a long recumbent chain on a new project
several times to get it right.
The two outer plates, pins, and rollers with inner plates are shown in Figure 6. Normally,
you would not need to pull a chain apart like this, as there are no wear parts that can be
replaced. When a chain fails or stretches, the damage is always throughout the entire
chain, which needs to be replaced. For this reason, you should never join together
chains that are from different manufacturers or may be years apart in wear. Often, the
outer plates will have the manufacturers code stamped on them.
After pressing a link back into a chain, the pin will have forced the plates together,
causing a stiff link as shown in Figure 7. This stiff link will cause a skip or jump every
time it passes trough the rear derailleur, and must be fixed before use. A stiff link will
always be created when first joining a chain, but it can easily be relaxed.
To fix a stiff link, hold the chain so you can work the links side to side as shown in
Figure 8.
Press your thumbs against the plates on each side of the stiff link and force it back and
forth until it no longer sticks when you bend the chain. Once the link has been relaxed, it
will act like every other link without causing the problem shown in Figure 7.
Fig 20Multi-speed freewheel and chain
Figure 9 shows a common 6 speed freewheel and the 3/32" chain that fits into it.
Although the larger single speed (1/8") chain will also fit into the teeth, it will be too wide
to fit properly through the rear derailleur. You could get away with the larger chain on a
multi-sped freewheel if you plan to make your bike single speed (fixed gear).
The 3/32" multi-speed chain is not only designed to fit properly between the rear
derailleur cage as shown in Figure 10, but it is also designed to flex side-to-side,
allowing some misalignment between opposing chain rings at the front and rear of a
bicycle.
Fig 22This chain is too thin for the teeth
Multi-speed chain will not fit into the teeth of a single speed freehub or coaster hub as
shown in Figure 11, so you don't ever have to worry that you may have the wrong chain
there. The width of the teeth makes it impossible to seat the rollers properly.
The 1/8" single speed chain is shown meshing with a BMX freewheel in Figure 12. A
coaster hub will have the same width of chain ring, requiring the 1/8" wide chain.
Sometimes, you may require a very long chain when making a long cargo trike or even
a very tall bike. The chain shown in Figure 13 is standard 1/8" single speed chain, but
was taken from a discarded garage door opener, a good source for a very long length of
single speed chain.
When working on recumbent cycles and creative human powered vehicles, you will
likely need to join together two or more bicycle chains, so consider purchasing an
inexpensive chain link tool, and be mindful of the different widths of bicycle chain. Rusty
chain should always be discarded. Oiling a chain is a matter of choice. I have never
oiled a bicycle chain, and the current school of thought is that an oiledchain is less
efficient and will wear out sooner due to trapping dirt between the links. Maybe if your
bike lives outdoors and is exposed to alot of moisture, then a light brushing of light oil
may be a good thing,
CHAPTER NO.-4
Voltage regulator :
7805 IC Rating :
Current rating Ic = 1A
The success of any creation is often dependent on the foundations it is built upon, be it
the strength of a character, depth of a buildings foundations or the extent of a trees
roots. Much in the same way, the success of any electronic device depends on what it is
built on. The motherboard of any electronics device serves as a playground and a host
to every form of electrical signal that performs some function for the equipment. Be it
the communication signal between the North Bridge and processor on a computer, or a
simple on-off signal in a routine school project, the effectiveness of the design is a
function of the capabilities offered by the base board itself.
A Printed Circuit Board doesnt just connect electrical components using etched
copper pathways, but also provides mechanical strength to it. Printed Circuit Boards, or
more appropriately, Printed Wiring Boards are found in almost all of the commercial
products as a packaging medium as building blocks.
PCBs are a composite of organic and/or inorganic dielectric materials with many layers
with wiring interconnects and also house components like inductors and capacitors.
There isnt any standard printing board as such and each board is unique, often a
function of the product itself. There are industry standards for almost every aspect
of PCB design, controlled by IPC, for example the IPC-2221, Generic Standard on
Printed Board Design.
History
PCBs have evolved from the electrical connection systems developed in the 1850s. The
first patents on Printed Wires were issued in 1903. Albert Hanson explained a layered
structure of foil conductors laminated to insulation boards. Arthur Berry patented a
Print-and-Etch method in 1913 and Max Schoop patented Flame Spraying metal onto a
board via a mask. Thomas Edison had experimented with chemicals for plating
conductors on linen paper way back in 1904, but the method of electroplating circuit
patterns was finally successfully patented to Charles Durcase in the year 1927. Charles
Ducas had earlier patented a technique of creating electrical paths directly using
stencils and electrically conductive ink in 1925.
World War II saw the invention of circuit boards that could withstand gunshots. But, the
credit of developing the first PCB is given to Paul Eisler in 1943, for developing a
method of etching conductive circuits on copper foil bonded to a non-conductive base
reinforced by glass. The method remained dormant until late 50s when the transistors
were introduced for commercial use. The presence of wire leads on electronic
components led to the development of Through Hole technology where holes were
drilled into the PCB and the components soldered on to the board at those points. It was
patented by a U.S. firm Hazeltyne in 1961. However, this process being slightly
expensive and wasteful as the extra wire is cut off and not used much. Nowadays,
surface mount technology is gaining impetus as the demand for smaller, high density
circuits is increasing.
Types of PCBs
A PCB can be of four types: rigid boards, flexible and rigid-flex boards, metal-core
boards and injection molded boards out of which the rigid board is the most popular.
Further these may be single sided, double sided or multilayered. The mechanical,
electrical, chemical and thermal properties of the material should be considered while
making PCBs otherwise the reliability of the board suffers. Presently, copper-clad
laminates of different reinforced resin systems are used in rigid boards. Examples
include Fire resistant FR-4 epoxies, PTFE, cyanate esters, ployimides etc. Most
commonly used reinforcement material is continuous filament E-Glass. Flexible and
rigid flex-boards have random arrangements of conductors on a flexible base and may
be with/without cover layers. Here, the wiring is restricted to select areas of the plane. In
case of constraining metal core technology, the PCB can be of standard materials but
the core materials must have low Coefficient of Thermal Expansion and strength to
constrain the PCB. Copper-Invar-Copper and Copper-Molybdenum-Copper are two
popular materials for this purpose. Molded boards have resins containing fillers which
are molded into a die to form the required shapes.
Before anything is drawn onto the PCB, it first has to be designed and verified by means
of simulation. The design process is hierarchical in nature and may follow either one of
the two approaches:
Top-Down Design: Designers start with a higher abstraction layer and work on its
general functionality before creating a lower level building block for that layer. This
creates organized designs as the overall structure is drawn first and complexity is
tackled at a later, lower stage. It is like manufacturing a car body first and then making
custom parts for it.
Bottom-Up Design: In this methodology, designers first develop the smallest block and
then go on to designing bigger blocks from smaller building blocks. This gives the
design a modular approach and increases reusability of segments of design. This
approach is like the manufacturing of a standard car in a factory, make the parts first
and then put them into a single piece.
No matter what approach a designer chooses, the PCB has to meet certain signal-
integrity requirements like crosstalk, SSO, noise, delay and reflections, electromagnetic
compatibility, EMI specifications and susceptibility requirements, thermal requirements,
strength etc. Designing the PCB is a part of a much wider design process. The netlist
generation is an important step not just for PCB designers but for circuit simulation too.
Netlist contains a net, or a complete set of interconnections and components used.
Once the circuit simulation is successful, PCB designers get down to working out the
most simple and efficient circuit pattern or artwork. By placing the components on the
board in the software, the size of the board may be known. There are various
automated component placement software which can speed the work of the designer
and have different algorithms working on their back end. However, a seasoned designer
would know that such software cannot always give satisfactory results and orderly
placed components design is seldom the suitable design. The last step involves the
placement of interconnect traces. This again can be an automated step using software
based on popular algorithms like Lee algorithm, Hightower router, pattern router,
channel router and gridless routers, but designer discretion is required. Once this step is
completed, the boards integrity is verified by subjecting the trace pattern to Design Rule
Checks which check if all the tracks, vias and pads have been placed according to the
design rule sets or not. The length of interconnects can lead to severe signal distortions.
Hence, Signal-integrity, EMI compliance and other checks are performed as the next
step.
PCB Manufacturing
Artwork is generated by sending the design files in a particular format to plotters and
transparencies for PCB manufacturing are produced. After this the manufacturing of the
PCB commences. There are mainly five standard technologies used in PCB
manufacturing:
1. Machining: This includes drilling, punching holes and routing on a PCB with
standard existent machinery and also new technologies like laser and water jet cutting.
The strength of the board needs to be taken into account while machining for accurate
hole diameters. Small holes make this method costly and less reliable due to reduced
aspect ratio and also making plating difficult.
2. Imaging: This step transfers the circuit artwork onto individual layers. Single sided
or double sided PCBs may use simple Screen Printing technology for creating the
patterns on a print-and-etch basis. But this has a limitation on the minimum line width
achievable. For fine line boards and multilayer boards, Photoimaging is used which may
be applied by flood screen printing, dip coating, Electrophoresis, roller laminating or
liquid roller coating. Recently, direct laser imaging and liquid crystal light valve imaging
have also been employed for the same.
5. Etching: The removal of unwanted metal and dielectric from the board takes
place by either dry or wet processes. The uniformity of etching is the prime concern in
this stage and to extend the fine line etching capabilities, new anisotropic etching
solutions are being developed.
Design Flow
The overall design flow can be summarized in the flowchart as shown below:
Back in the olden days, when PCBs had just been introduced, military was the chief
consumer. But as the technology progressed and as the need grew, more and more
interest was diverted towards better PCBs and as of today, they serve as the base for a
multitude of components, gadgets and devices ranging from ever innovating computers
and cell phones to basic equipments like television, radio and toys for children. Soon
there are going to be more mobile phones than there are people in this world and the
trend will continue to rise. This might be a convenience to the users, but isnt without
hazards either, combating which offers great scope for people from diverse fields.
Solder contains lead, which is a toxic material. On heating Solder, lead fumes are
formed which should not be inhaled. However, it is necessary for performance reasons
that such operations be done in closed areas. Proper processing and filtering of the
fumes is required before they are allowed to enter the earths atmosphere. Due to
rapidly changing technology, devices become outdated and obsolete in a matter of few
months and sometimes even weeks, and as progressive population goes on embracing
newer technology, the pile of older devices continues to get bigger day by day. It would
be disastrous for the ecosystem if poisonous substances entered the system through
these discarded materials, hence it causes disposal problems. Several mitigation
procedures have been adopted by countries in order to tackle this situation like e-waste
management, recycling electronic products, and salvaging parts from older equipment,
reclaim and reuse of solder and buy back offers from the manufacturers. Development
of cheap and non-toxic ways to make electrical connections like water soluble
conductive molded plastics are being developed to replace wires and solder. Further,
developments of technologies like three-dimensional molded plastic boards assure us of
PCB technologies being a very dynamic field for many years to come.
Transformer :
Selecting a suitable transformer is of great importance. The current rating and the
secondary voltage of the transformer is a crucial factor.
The current rating of the transformer depends upon the current required for the
load to be driven.
The input voltage to the 7805 IC should be at least 2V greater than the required
2V output, therefore it requires an input voltage at least close to 7V.
So I chose a 6-0-6 transformer with current rating 500mA (Since 6*2 = 8.4V).
NOTE : Any transformer which supplies secondary peak voltage up to 35V can be used
but as the voltage increases size of the transformer and power dissipation across
regulator increases.
Rectifying circuit :
Voltage Regulator
Voltage regulator is a device which provides fix output voltage in spite of the variable
input voltage supplied. It is a three terminal device. Voltage regulator basically comes in
two different series: 78XX and 79XX. Voltage regulator under 78XX series are designed
for positive inputs i.e. if while 79XX series are designed for negative inputs. In market
variety of voltage regulators are available with output as 6V, 9V, 12V, 15V etc. Voltage
regulator can also withstand over current drawn due to short circuit or overheating. It will
cut off the circuit before damage occurs. One must take care while mounting the
regulator because reverse polarity may destroy the regulator.
Pin configuration of negative and positive voltage regulator are shown in fig.
As we know that output of regulator is fixed but with the help of voltage divider rule we
can use 5V regulator to deliver 12V. But reverse is not possible that is we cannot obtain
5V from 12V regulator.
Suppose value of resistor connected between com and output pin of regulator be
470ohm(R1).This means we have 10.6mA current (because V =5V and V = IR)
available between pin, com and output. There would be some stand-by current of about
2.5mA which will be available between rotary switch and ground. Therefore total current
available will be approx. 13.1mA. Now, lets say we want 5V to 12V from this circuit. For
minimum 5V, we will directly get this from regulator output. But if you want maximum
12V, then apart from 5V,additional 7V would require selection of appropriate resistor.
Here R =?
V = 7V
I =13.1mA
Therefore V =I*R
R = 543ohm
Therefore, we have to connect resistor of 543ohm with 470ohm to get the desire output
of 12V. But resistor of this value might not be easily available, so we can use resistor
that has values near to it viz. 560ohm.
Now if you want to obtain different voltage between 5V and 12V use different values of
resistor like if you want to obtain 6V then-
V =6V
I = 10.6mA
R = 6V/10.6mA
R = 566ohm
But we have already connected resistor R1 of 470ohm so, for 6V we have to use
resistor value =100ohm( 566- 470ohm= 96 approx 100ohm). Similarly, you can
calculate different values of resistor for obtaining different voltages.
In this circuit we have used different resistors to obtain different values of voltage. You
can also use a variable resistor to obtain the different values of voltage with a single
resistor.
Pin Diagram:
Pin Description:
IC 7905
Pin Diagram:
Pin Description:
Capacitors :
It is given by
1. f= frequency of AC ( 50 Hz)
2. R=resistance calculated
R= V/Ic
V=62=8. 4
3. C= filtering capacitance
Y=Vac-rms/Vdc
Vac-rms = Vr/23
Vdc= VMax-(Vr/2)
Vr= VMax- VMin
Vr = 5.2-4.8 =0. 4V
Vac-rms = .3464V
Vdc = 5V
Y=0 .06928
Hence the capacitor value is found out by substituting the ripple factor in Y=1/(43fRC)
LED
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are semiconductor light sources. The light emitted from LEDs
varies from visible to infrared and ultraviolet regions. They operate on low voltage and power.
LEDs are one of the most common electronic components and are mostly used as indicators in
circuits. They are also used for luminance and optoelectronic applications.
Based on semiconductor diode, LEDs emit photons when electrons recombine with holes on
forward biasing. The two terminals of LEDs are anode (+) and cathode (-) and can be identified
by their size. The longer leg is the positive terminal or anode and shorter one is negative
terminal.
The forward voltage of LED (1.7V-2.2V) is lower than the voltage supplied (5V) to drive it in a
circuit. Using an LED as such would burn it because a high current would destroy its p-n gate.
Therefore a current limiting resistor is used in series with LED. Without this resistor, either low
input voltage (equal to forward voltage) or PWM (pulse width modulation) is used to drive the
LED. Get details about internal structure of a LED.
Pin Diagram:
How LED works
LED (Light Emitting Diode) is a special diode that emits light when an electric voltage is applied
to it. It is common electronic component that is being used in devices like TV, computer, etc.
generally for indicating purpose. They are available in various colors like red, yellow, green etc.
There are two leads of an LED that are used to supply input voltage. The longer lead is positive
and known as Post, and the smaller is negative known as Anvil as shown in the image above.
The above image shows the structure of an LED. A metal cup is placed on the negative lead
(Anvil) which holds a semiconductor die. The semiconductor die is a combination of two
semiconductor materials N type and P type and an active region (known as P-N junction)
between them. The outer body is formed of an epoxy glass that provides directionality to the
light as well as protection to the die and leads.
A closer look shows the structure of various components clearly. A cone shape cup, which holds
the semiconductor die. The conical shape plays an important role to reflect the light emitted from
the semiconductor die. Both leads are connected with the die by a wire bond.
The entire assembly is encapsulated in a epoxy glass case. The shape of the glass gives
directionality to the light emitted from semiconductor die.
This image is the top view of the LED after removing some section of the epoxy glass case. You
can see how the semiconductor die is placed in the cone. The wires are also visible on a closer
look.
After removing the glass completely, the above image shows the front view of the leads. It
showcases the structure of both the leads Anvil and Post, which are connected to the N layer
and P layer of the semiconductor die respectively by wire bond.
The negative terminal (Anvil) has a cavity where the semiconductor die is placed. This cavity is
shaped so as to reflect the produced light into upward direction.
The semiconductor die which is the heart of the LED, placed on the cavity located on negative
terminal (Anvil).
Working:
The P type semiconductor is connected with the positive end of battery and N type with the
negative end of the battery. When a current is passed through the LED, free electrons from the N
layer moves to the P layer in the active region (P-N Junction). This involves a drop from the
conduction band to the lower orbit and electrons release some energy in the form of photons. The
frequency and wavelength of the light produced photons is dependent on the material and doping
level of the semiconductor. In case of LED, the material used and doping levels are set so as to
produce photons with wavelength in the range of desired color of light in the visible spectrum.
Capacitor
Capacitor is a passive component used to store charge. The charge (q) stored in a capacitor is the
product of its capacitance (C) value and the voltage (V) applied to it. Capacitors offer infinite
reactance to zero frequency so they are used for blocking DC components or bypassing the AC
signals. The capacitor undergoes through a recursive cycle of charging and discharging in AC
circuits where the voltage and current across it depends on the RC time constant. For this reason,
capacitors are used for smoothing power supply variations. Other uses include, coupling the
various stages of audio system, tuning in radio circuits etc. These are used to store energy like in
a camera flash.
Capacitors may be non-polarized/polarized and fixed/variable. Electrolytic capacitors are
polarized while ceramic and paper capacitors are examples of non polarized capacitors. Since
capacitors store charge, they must be carefully discharged before troubleshooting the circuits.
The maximum voltage rating of the capacitors used must always be greater than the supply
voltage. Click to learn more about working of a capacitor along with its internal structure.
Pin Diagram:
How Capacitor works
Capacitor is a widely used electronic component. It stores electric charge and then discharges it
into the circuit. It blocks the direct current and allows the alternating current to pass through it.
Depending on the purpose, there are a variety of capacitors being used like ceramic, electrolytic,
mylar, mica, etc. We will explore an electrolytic capacitor through this article.
Structure of a Capacitor: A capacitor contains two conductor plates which are generally made
of metal and an insulator between them. This insulator also known as dielectric is made up of
material like paper, plastic, ceramic or glass. The two plates are electrically connected to the
external circuit with the help of two thin metal rods also known as the legs of the capacitor.
These two plates are used to store charge between them. One is connected with positive voltage
and other one with negative voltage. A capacitor is characterized by the parameter capacitance.
Capacitance is measured as ratio of difference of charges between the plates and total voltage
drop between the plates.
C = dQ/dV
The unit of capacitance is FARAD.
Lets have a closer look into the structure and how a capacitor is able to store charge.
The above image shows a simple electrolytic capacitor with two thin rods coming out from the
cylindrical container. The capacitor is wrapped up using a plastic covering. This covering is done
to label the capacitor.
Metal Container
On removing the label, you can see a metal container adjoined with a rubber stand to hold the
entire setup.
Inside the metal case is a folded layer of dielectric in between metal plates. Next images give a
clear perception of the internal structure of the capacitor.
Dielectric
In the above image, we can clearly see two different types of layers, folded like a swiss roll. A
dielectric layer is sandwiched between two metal plates. These metal plates are used to store
charge and the dielectric works as an insulator between them. These plates are folded round to
minimize the size of the capacitor.
One plate works as cathode and another as anode. To increase the value of a capacitor and the
same time to keep the size smaller, we use electrolyte. However depending on the size and
application, there are different types of electrolytes used in different ways within a
capacitor.Generally, anode is soaked into liquid electrolyte to increase the surface area of the
plate as well as efficiency.
Now, you can see that the plates are directly connected to the legs of capacitor and a rubber stand
is used to hold these plates.
Lastly to summarize the building block of a capacitor includes a pair of metal plates, thin rods, a
dielectric, a rubber stand, a metal container and a plastic covering.
Capacitor : Types of Capacitors
What is a Capacitor?
A capacitor is a passive two terminal component which stores electric charge. This component
consists of two conductors which are separated by a dielectric medium. The potential difference
when applied across the conductors polarizes the dipole ions to store the charge in the dielectric
medium. The circuit symbol of a capacitor is shown below:
The capacitance or the potential storage by the capacitor is measured in Farads which is
symbolized as F. One Farad is the capacitance when one coulomb of electric charge is stored in
the conductor on the application of one volt potential difference.
The charge stored in a capacitor is given by
Q = CV
Where Q - charge stored by the capacitor
C - Capacitance value of the capacitor
V - Voltage applied across the capacitor
Note the other formula of current, I = dQ/dt
Taking the derivative with respect to time,
dQ/dt = d(CV)/dt
From the above statement, we can express the equation as
I = C (dV/dt)
As you turn on the power supply, the current begins to flow through the capacitor inducing the
positive and negative potentials across its plates. The capacitor continues to charge until the
capacitor voltage equalizes up to the supply voltage which is called as the charging phase of the
capacitor. Once the capacitor is fully charged at the end of this phase, it gets open circuited for
DC. It begins to discharge when the power of the capacitor is switched off. The charging and
discharging of the capacitor is given by a time constant.
The conductors offer a series resistance and if the capacitor is constructed using tubular structure
then some inductance is also induced. The dielectric medium between the plates has an electric
field strength limit and also passes a small amount of leakage current which results into a
Breakdown voltage.
There are different types of capacitors, they can be fixed or variable. They are categorized into
two groups, polarized or non-polarized. Electrolytic capacitors are polarized. Most of the low
value capacitors are non-polarized. The symbol of capacitors from each group is shown below:
The capacitance of a capacitor is also affected by the shape or structure of the capacitors. The
capacitors are available in different shapes like radial lead type which are rectangular or cubical
or axial lead type which are tubular or cylindrical.
The variable type of capacitors can vary the capacitance by changing the distance between the
plates or the effective area of the capacitor.
The polarized type of capacitors should be connected as per their polarity or else the capacitor
can be damaged due to incorrect connection.
The low value capacitors are non-polarized and can be connected in any manner. They are not
damaged by heat when soldering, except for the polystyrene type of capacitor. They have high
voltage ratings of at least 50V, usually 250V or so
Many small value capacitors have their value printed but without a multiplier, so you need to use
experience to work out what the multiplier should be!
For example:
0.1 means 0.1F = 100nF.
Sometimes the multiplier is used in place of the decimal point:
For example - 4n7 means 4.7nF.
b. Paper capacitor:
Paper capacitors are made of paper or oil-impregnated paper and aluminum foil layers rolled into
a cylinder and sealed with wax. These capacitors were commonly used but are now replaced by
the plastic or polymer type of capacitors. The paper capacitors are bulky, highly hygroscopic and
soaks moisture which causes loss to the dielectric degrading its overall performance is the major
drawback with this type of capacitors. The other variants include oil-impregnated, paper-
polyester and Kraft paper capacitor.
c. Metalized paper capacitors:
The metalized paper capacitors are smaller in size than the conventional paper capacitors.
However, these capacitors are appropriate for only low current applications and are now
replaced by metalized film capacitors.
d. Mica capacitor:
The mica capacitor uses mica as the dielectric medium. Mica is inert in nature and hence the
physical and chemical properties do not change as it ages. It provides good temperature stability
and resistance to corona discharge i.e. electrical discharges due to ionization around conductor.
However, the cost is very high and due to improper sealing the capacitor is highly prone to
moisture which increases the power factor.
f. Glass capacitor:
These capacitors are fabricated of glass dielectrics and are very expensive which are used for
highly accurate, stable and reliable operation in harsh environmental conditions. These are
resistant to nuclear radiations and available in range of 10pF to 1000pF.
g. Ceramic capacitor:
The non polarized type ceramic capacitors which are also known as Disc capacitors are
widely used these days. These are available in millions of varieties of cost and performance. The
features of ceramic capacitor depend upon:
Type of ceramic dielectric used in the capacitor which varies in the temperature coefficient.
Dielectric losses.
The exact formulas of the different ceramics used in ceramic capacitors vary from one
manufacturer to another. The common compounds such as titanium dioxide, strontium titanate,
and barium titanateare the three main types available although other types such as leaded disc
ceramic capacitors for through hole mounting which are resin coated, multilayer surface mount
chip ceramic capacitors and microwave bare leadless disc ceramic capacitors that are designed to
sit in a slot in the PCB and are soldered in place.
These are made by placing silver coated ceramic plateson two sides and assembled together to
form the capacitor. The surface mount version consists of the ceramic dielectric in which a
number of interleaved precious metal electrodes are contained. This structure gives rise to a high
capacitance per unit volume. The inner electrodes are connected to the two terminations, either
by silver palladium (AgPd) alloy in the ratio 65 : 35, or silver dipped with a barrier layer of
plated nickel and finally covered with a layer of plated tin (NiSn).
The Electronics industries alliance (EIA) has broadly classified the ceramics used in these
capacitors into 3 classes class 1,class 2 and class 3.The lower is the class better are its overall
characteristics but is on the cost of size. Each class defines the working temperature range,
temperature drift, tolerance, etc. The typical values range from 10pF to 1uF. The capacitance
values are labeled by three digit codes where the first two digits represent a number and the third
digit is the multiplier digit.
For example: 103 means 10 * 103 pF which is 0.01uF
or
104 which is 10*104 pF which is 0.1uF
The tolerance is indicated by a letter like j=5%, K=10% and M=20%.
These capacitors are commonly used as a timing element in filter circuit and balancing oscillator
circuits in radio frequency applications, coupling and decoupling networks.
The three ceramic classes decided by EIA are:
a. Class1 - Class 1 ceramic capacitors are the most stable forms of ceramic capacitor with
respect to temperature. The common compounds used as the dielectrics are magnesium titanate
for a positive temperature coefficient (PTC), or calcium titanate for capacitors with a negative
temperature coefficient (NTC). Using combinations of these and other compounds it is possible
to obtain a dielectric constant of between 5 and 150. They have an almost linear characteristic
and their properties are almost independent of frequency within normal bounds. Temperature
coefficients between +40 and -5000 ppm/C can be obtained.
Class 1 capacitors offer the best performance with respect to dissipation factor. A typical figure
may be 0.15%. It is also possible to obtain very high accuracy (~1%) class 1 capacitors rather
than the more usual 5% or 10% tolerance versions. The highest accuracy class 1 capacitors are
designated C0G or NP0.
EIA has defined a set of codes in order to have a managed way of ceramic capacitor
performance. The codes of class 1 and class 2 capacitors are different.
The class 1 codes are as follows:
The first character is a letter which gives the significant figure of the change in capacitance over
temperature in ppm/C.
The second character is numeric and gives the multiplier.
The third character is a letter and gives the maximum error in ppm/C.
One common example of class 1 capacitor is a C0G. This has 0 drift, with an error of 30PPM/C.
b. Class 2 - Class 2 capacitors are better in size, but have less accuracy and stability. As a result,
they are normally used for decoupling, coupling and bypass applications where accuracy is not
of prime importance. A typical class 2 capacitor may change capacitance by 15% or so over a
-50C to +85C temperature range and it may have a dissipation factor of 2.5%. It will have
average to poor accuracy (from 10% down to +20/-80%). However for many applications these
figures would not present a problem.
The class 2 codes are as follows:
The first character is a letter which gives the low-end operating temperature.
The second is numeric which provides the high-end operating temperature.
The third character is a letter which provides capacitance change over that temperature range.
The common examples of class 2 ceramic capacitors are:
The X7R capacitor which operates from -55C to +125C with a capacitance change of up to
15%.
The Z5U capacitor which operates from +10C to +85C with a capacitance change of up to
+22% to -56%.
c. Class 3 - Class 3 ceramic capacitors are small in size with less accuracy, stability and low
dissipation factor. This type of capacitors cannot withstand high voltages.
Barium titanate that has a dielectric constant about 1250 is used as the dielectric. A typical class
3 capacitor will change its capacitance by -22% to +50% over a temperature range of +10C to
+55C. It may also have a dissipation factor of around 3 to 5%. It will have a fairly poor accuracy
(commonly, 20%, or -20/+80%). Therefore, class 3 ceramic capacitors are typically used as
decoupling or in other power supply applications where accuracy is not of prime importance.
However, they must not be used in applications where spikes are present as they cannot
withstand high voltages.
SMT ceramic capacitors are also available in standard packages which have following
designations given in the below table.
h. Plastic capacitors
i. Polyester or PET capacitor:
Polyester or PET capacitors are plastic capacitors available as leaded packages that replace the
paper capacitors. These capacitors are made of polyester films which small in size and available
at low cost. These have Operating voltages up to 60,000 V DC, operating temperatures up to 125
C and low moisture absorption. These are mostly used as low frequency signal capacitors and
integrators. They are preferred where cost plays an important role because they have high
tolerances of 5 - 10 %.
ii. Polystyrene capacitors:
These are large size capacitors available in tubular shape leaded packages. They have high
stability, negative temperature coefficient (NTC), high accuracy and low moisture absorption.
The operating temperature is limited to +85 C. These are mostly preferred for low frequency
applications as the tubular structure induces inductances which degraded the performance at high
frequencies.
v. Polypropylene capacitors:
These are used where higher tolerances than PET film capacitors are demanded. These are
available in leaded packages and are used for low frequency operation. They have high operating
voltages and are resistant to the breakdown. However, they get damaged by transient over-
voltages or voltage reversals.
vi. Polysulfone capacitor:
These capacitors are similar to polycarbonate capacitors but can withstand full voltage at
comparatively higher temperatures. These capacitors are very expensive and are not readily
available. The stability is limited as the moisture absorption is typically 0.2%
1. Electrolyte capacitors
i. Aluminum electrolyte capacitor:
These polarized capacitors are made of oxide film on aluminum foils. These are cheaper and
easily available. The range of values typically varies from 1uF to 47000uF and large tolerance of
20%. The voltage ratings range up to 500V. They have high capacitance to volume ratio and used
for smoothing in power supply circuits or coupling capacitors in audio amplifiers. These are
available in both leaded and surface mount packages. The capacitance value and voltage ratings
are either printed in uF or coded by a letter followed by three digits. The three digits represent
the capacitance value in pF where first two digits represent the number and the third one is the
multiplier digit. The letter codes are as follows:
ii. Tantalum electrolyte capacitor:
These capacitors utilize tantalum oxide which enables the fabrication of small size electrolytes.
These are costlier than aluminum electrolytes and have lower maximum voltage up to 50V and
are preferred where size matters. Their typical values range from 47uF to 470uF. These may be
using tantalum oxide layered foils or porous anode with sulphuric acid as electrolyte in between
tantalum foils in a wet tantalum electrolyte or solid tantalum electrolytes. Their SMT formats are
available in standard packages where package designations have been defined by the EIA.
iii. Super capacitor:
Super capacitors also called as electrolyte double layer capacitorare made of a thin electrolyte
separator flanked with activated carbon ions. These have capacitance values as high as of order
of mille farads. These are used as temporary power source as a replacement of batteries.
2. Variable capacitors
The variable type of capacitors can vary the capacitance by changing the distance between the
plates or the effective area of the capacitor.
a. Air-gap capacitors:
These capacitors use air as the dielectric medium. The distance between the plates can be varied
to change the capacitance. The capacitance values offered are high and can be used with high
voltages. These are used for high frequency operations in communication systems.
b. Vacuum capacitors:
These capacitors have glass or ceramic encapsulation and vacuum as the dielectric. Their
complex construction makes it very expensive. Theoretically, it has less losses and are used in
RF applications.
Capacitor Color Code:
A color code was used on polyester capacitors for many years. It is now obsolete, but of course
there are many still around. The colors should be read like the resistor code.
The top three color bands give the value in pF.
The 4th band is for tolerance.
The 5th band is for the voltage rating.
For example:
i. brown, black, orange means 10000pF = 10nF = 0.01F.
Note: There are no gaps between the colour bands, so 2 identical bands actually appear as a
wide band.
ii. wide red, yellow means 220nF = 0.22F.
Capacitor Power Supply Design
Circuit designers are now experimenting with capacitor based power supply due to its low cost
and light weight features. Unlike resistive type power supply, heat generation and power loss is
negligible in capacitor power supply. But there are many limitations in capacitor power supply.
It cannot give much current to drive inductive loads and since it is connected directly to mains,
capacitor breakdown can damage the load. Moreover, there is the risk of shock hazards, if
Do not use this power supply for testing prototypes or as battery charger. Do not construct this on
Bread board. Use common PCB.
So, theoretically a 225 K capacitor can give 159 milliampere current but practically we can
expect only 100- 120 mA current because, the current through the capacitor depends on input
voltage, reactance of capacitor etc.
If two 225 K capacitors are connected in parallel, current can be doubled.
Class X capacitors are subdivided into 3 types, class X1, X2 and X3. The difference is in the
peak voltage rating for the capacitors. Class Y capacitors are divided into 4 types, Y1, Y2, Y3
and Y4. Like X capacitors the different classes have different peak voltage ratings.
Most Important : Prevent Shock Hazards
1. Capacitor power supply is directly connected to mains and there is no galvanic isolation. Front
end of the power supply is at mains lethal potential.
2. Do not touch or trouble shoot when it is connected to mains.
3. Always use insulated screw driver and tester.
4. It is better to place a rubber sheet or wooden plank on the floor so that foot rests on the
insulator while working with AC circuits.
5. Always keep the left hand behind the body while testing live wires.
6. Always enclose the circuit is a shock proof case. Do not keep the case opened.
7. These forms of power supply should be constructed only by experienced persons to avoid
shock hazards.
Smart Capacitor power supply
This capacitor power supply can deliver 12 volt DC and 100 mA current to power low current
devices. It is provided with surge protection and is totally isolated from mains supply using
two capacitors in the phase and neutral lines. So the connected device is safe even if the phase
and neutral lines changes.
Transformer less power supply is used to reduce size and cost of electronic gadgets. Only low
current devices can be run in transformer less power supply, since the output current is low.
Unlike resistive type power supply, capacitive power supply isolates mains from the circuit and
drops mains to low volt AC without generating heat. So power loss due to heat generation is
negligible. The power supply works safely unless the capacitor burn out due to very high surge
current. Costly equipments should not be connected to capacitive power supply.
Do not use this power supply for testing prototypes or as battery charger.
Do not construct this on Bread board. Use common PCB.
Circuit description
1. A 250 Volt MOV is connected across the phase and neutral as surge protector.
2. Capacitors C1 and C2 are in series with the phase and neutral lines to drop AC. C1 and C2 are
225 J 600 volt AC capacitors which drops 230 volt AC to low volt AC through the capacitive
reactance property. Output voltage from the capacitor slightly varies depending on the input AC
voltage. Output current is around 100 -120 mA. The output current depends on many factors
such as the quality of material used in the capacitor, input AC voltage etc. So precision in voltage
and current will not be available in capacitor power supply. As a rule each 1 uF can give 80-100
mA current.
3. R1 and R2 are bleeder resistors to remove the stored current from C1 and C2 at power off.
These capacitors can store more than 400 volts which should be removed to avoid shock using
the bleeder resistor.
4. D1 through D4 forms a full wave bridge rectifier to convert AC to DC. IN 4007 diodes can
handle up to 1 amp current.
5. C3 is the smoothing capacitor to remove ripples from the rectified voltage. As a rule, the
voltage rating of the smoothing capacitor should be three times higher than that of the rectified
voltage. Here 60 volt capacitor is used. Smoothing of DC depends on the value of the capacitor.
A standard value is 470 uF. But clean ripple free DC will be available if the value increases to
1000 or 2200 uF.
6. Resistor R3 is the current limiter for the Zener diode ZD.
7. ZD is the 12 volt 1 watt Zener diode to regulate the output voltage to 12 volt DC. Zener diode
requires more than 2 volts excess than its rated voltage for quick breakdown.
8. LED indicates the output current. If LED is used at the output, there will be some voltage drop
(around 1.6-1.8 volts) at the output. If 12 volt is needed, omit LED.
Note: 1.4 volts drop is due to LED
RESISTOR
Resistor is a passive component used to control current in a circuit. Its resistance is given by the
ratio of voltage applied across its terminals to the current passing through it. Thus a particular
value of resistor, for fixed voltage, limits the current through it. They are omnipresent in
electronic circuits.
The different value of resistances are used to limit the currents or get the desired voltage drop
according to the current-voltage rating of the device to be connected in the circuit. For example,
if an LED of rating 2.3V and 6mA is to be connected with a supply of 5V, a voltage drop of 2.7V
(5V-2.3V) and limiting current of 6mA is required. This can be achieved by providing a resistor
of 450 connected in series with the LED.
Resistors can be either fixed or variable. The low power resistors are comparatively smaller in
size than high power resistors. The resistance of a resistor can be estimated by their colour codes
or can be measured by a multimeter. There are some nonlinear resistors also whose resistance
changes with temperature or light. Negative temperature coefficient (NTC), positive temperature
coefficient (PTC) and light dependent resistor (LDR) are some such resistors. These special
resistors are commonly used as sensors.
Pin Diagram:
What is a Resistor?
An electric resistor is a two-terminal passive component specifically used to oppose and limit
current. A resistor works on the principle of Ohms Law which states that voltage across the
terminals of a resistor is directly proportional to the current flowing through it.
Ohms Law: V = IR
Where V is the voltage applied across resistor,
I is the current flowing through it,
And R is the constant called resistance.
The unit of resistance is ohms.
Types of Resistors:
Resistors can be broadly classified based on the following criteria: the type of material used, the
power rating and resistance value.
1. Fixed resistors.
In some scenarios, an electrical circuit may need a lesser amount of current to flow through it
than the input value. Fixed resistors are used in these situations to limit the flow of current.
These resistors are cylindrical rods which are a mixture of carbon granules and powdered
ceramic. The resistor value depends on the composition of the ceramic material. A higher
quantity of ceramic content will result in more resistance. Since the rod is coated with an
insulated material, there are chances of damage due to excessive heat caused by soldering.
High current and voltage can also damage the resistor. These factors bring irreversible changes in
the resistance power of these resistors. This type of resistor is rarely used nowadays due to their
high cost and are only preferred in power supply and welding circuits.
This resistor is formed by depositing a carbon film layer on an insulating substrate. Helical cuts
are then made through the carbon film to trace a long and helical resistive path. The resistance
can be varied by using different resistivity carbon material and modifying the shape of the
resistor. The helical resistive path make these resistors highly inductive and of little use for RF
applications.
They exhibit a temperature coefficient between -100 and -900 ppm/ C. The carbon film is
protected either by a conformal epoxy coating or a ceramic tube. The operation of
these resistors requires high pulse stability.
1.2 Metal Film resistor:
These resistors are made from small rods of ceramic coated with metal (such as a nickel alloy) or
metal oxide (such as tin oxide). The value of resistance is controlled mainly by the thickness of
the coating layer (the thicker the layer, the lower is the value of resistance). A fine spiral groove
can be cut along the rod using a laser to split the carbon or metal coating effectively into a long
and spiral strip, which forms the resistor.
Metal film resistors can be obtained in a wide range of resistance values from a few Ohms to tens
of millions of Ohms with a very small tolerance. For example, for a stated value of 100K Ohm,
the actual value will be between 99K Ohm and 101K Ohm. Small carbon, metal and oxide
resistors come in various colors such as dark red, brown, blue, green, grey or white.
Wire wound resistors vary in size and physical appearance. Their resistive elements are
commonly lengths of wire, usually an alloy such as Nickel/Chromium or Manganin wrapped
around a small ceramic or glass fiber rod and coated in an insulating flameproof cement film.
They are normally available in low values of resistance but are capable of dissipating large
amounts of power.
These resistors can get very hot during use. For this reason, these resistors are housed in a finned
metal case that can be bolted to a metal chassis to dissipate the heat generated. Protection from
fire is important and fireproof cases or coatings are vital. Lead-out wires are normally welded
rather than soldered to the resistor. Enamel resistors are used in scenarios where high power is
involved and are encapsulated in heat proof bases.
Since wire wound resistors are primarily coils, they have more undesirable inductance than other
types of resistor, although winding the wire in sections with alternately reversed directions can
minimize inductance. Other techniques employ bifilar winding to reduce cross-section area of
the coil. For the most demanding circuits, resistors with Ayrton-Perry windings are used.
The principal difference between thin film and thick film resistors is how the film is applied to the
cylinder (axial resistors) or the surface (SMD resistors). Thin film resistors are made by
sputtering (a method of vacuum deposition) the resistive material onto an insulating substrate
whereas thick film are made using screen and stencil printing processes.
Ceramic conductors such as tantalum nitride (TaN), ruthenium dioxide (RuO 2), lead oxide (PbO),
bismuth ruthenate (Bi2Ru2O7), nickel chromium (NiCr), and bismuth iridate (Bi 2Ir2O7) are the
materials commonly used for making thin film resistors. Thick film resistors are usually made by
mixing ceramics with powdered glass. Thick films have tolerances ranging from 1 to 2% and a
temperature coefficient between 200 or 250 ppm/K.
Thin film resistors are usually more expensive than thick film resistors. Thin film resistors are
preferred for microwave passive and active power componentssuch as microwave power
resistors, microwave power terminations, microwave resistive power dividers, microwave power
attenuators.
This type of resistor helps to achieve very low power dissipation along with very high
component density. Most modern circuits use tiny SMT resistors. These are made by depositing a
film of resistive material such as tin oxide on a tiny ceramic chip. The edges of the resistor are
then accurately ground or cut with a laser to give precise resistance across the device. Tolerances
may be as low as 0.02%. Contacts at each end are provided, which are soldered directly onto the
conductive print on the circuit board, usually by automatic assembly methods. These are mostly
used where space is an important factor.
1.7 Network resistors:
These resistors are the combination of resistances which may be giving identical value at all pins,
with one pin acting as a common terminal. These resistors are available in both single in line
package and dual in line package and may be surface mount or through hole. These are used in
applications such as pull up/pull down, DAC etc.
Variable resistors:
Presets and potentiometers are commonly used types of variable resistors. These are mostly used
for voltage division and setting the sensitivity of sensors. These have a sliding contact or wiper
which can be rotated with the help of a screw driver to change the resistance value. In the linear
type, the change in resistance is linear as the wiper rotates. In the logarithmic type, the resistance
changes exponentially as the wiper slides. The value is meant to be set correctly when installed
in some device, and is not adjusted by the device's user.
The variable may have three tabs where the middle tab is the wiper. If all the three tabs are used,
it behaves as a voltage divider. If only wiper tab is used along with another tab, it becomes a
variable resistor or rheostat. If only the side tabs are used, then it behaves as a fixed resistor.
These are mostly used for tuning, voltage division and adjusting sensitivity of sensors.
The variable can have one or two switches in-built where the resistor operates for the ON state of
the switch(s). Such resistors were mostly used for volume control in older TV and radio circuits.
There may also be four-tab variables where the fourth lead is for feedback signal and placed near
the first tab. Wire wound variable resistors are used for very precise control of resistance.
The wiper may also be rotary (as in most presets), sliding or disc shaped (as used in pocket
radios for volume control).
3. Semi variable resistors
These are two terminal variable resistors designed for handling higher voltages and currents.
These are constructed by resistive wire wrapped to form a toroid coil with the wiper moving over
the upper surface of the toroid, sliding from one turn of the wire to the next. A rheostat is also
made from resistance wire wound on a heat-resisting cylinder with the slider made from a
number of metal fingers. The fingers can be moved along the coil of resistance wire by a sliding
knob, thus changing the tapping point.
4. Special resistors
4.1 Thermistors:
Thermistors are special resistors whose resistance changes with the temperature. If the
resistance increases with increase in temperature, then it is called positive temperature coefficient
(PTC) or posistors. If the resistance decreases with the increase in temperature, then it is called a
negative temperature coefficient (NTC).
An NTC can be replaced by a transistor with a trimmer potentiometer. PTCs are mostly used as
current limiter for circuit protection. As the heat dissipation of resistor increases, the resistance is
increased thereby limiting the current. The NTCs are mostly used for temperature sensing,
replacement of fuses in power supply protection and for low temperature measurements of up to
10K. These are constructed using sintered metal oxides in ceramic matrix.
LDRs have cadmium sulfide zigzag tack whose resistance decreases as the light intensity
incident on it increases. In the absence of light, its resistance is in mega ohms but on the
application of light, the resistance falls drastically. These resistors are used in many consumer
items such as camera light meters, street lights, clock radios, alarms, and outdoor clocks.
Resistance measurement:
By Color Codes
Chip resistors have a three digit numeric representation where the first two digits represent the
number and the third digit is the multiplier. For example, on a chip resistor, the number 103
signifies that its resistance is 10K with 3 being the multiplication factor.
There are a few simple steps required to make a resistance measurement with a digital
multimeter:
1. Select the resistance that needs to be measured and estimate what the resistance may be.
2. Insert the probes into the required sockets. The digital multimeter will have several sockets for
the test probes. Insert these or check whether they are already in the correct sockets.
4. Select the required range. When the digital multimeter is on, the required quantity that is
voltage, current or resistance and its range can be selected. The range selected should be such
that the best reading is obtained. Normally, the multimeter function switch will be labeled with
the maximum resistance reading. Choose the one where the estimated value of resistance will be
under but close to the maximum of the range. In this way, the most accurate resistance
measurement can be made.
5. Make the measurement. The probes can be applied to both the two terminals of the resistor.
The range can be adjusted if necessary. The value of the resistor is shown on the mutimeter
display.
6. Turn off the multimeter: Once the resistance measurement has been made, the multimeter can
be turned off to preserve the batteries. It is also wise to turn the function switch to a high voltage
range. In this way, if the multimeter is used again for another type of reading, then no damage
will be caused if it is inadvertently used without selecting the correct range and function.
Circuit Analysis:
The AC and DC behavior of resistors are the same. In series combination, the equivalent
resistance is the sum of the resistances and is given by:
R = R1 + R2 + R3 +
The current through the branch remains constant while voltage drops across different resistors
are different and are given by the product of current and the individual resistances.
In shunt combination, the equivalent resistance is given by:
1/R = 1/R1 + 1/R2 +1/R3+..
The voltage across branches remains constant while currents in different branches are different
and are given by supply voltage divided by the individual resistances.
Through analysis, we can conclude that in case of two branch circuits, current in one branch is
the product of supply current and the resistance in other branch divided by the sum of
resistances. This is called Shunt formulae