Discussion Closed This discussion was created more than 6 months ago and has been closed. To start a new discussion with a link back to this one, click here.

Serpentine resistor

Please login with a confirmed email address before reporting spam

I was trying to simulate two serpentine resistors with exactly the same length, width and thickness. I drew them on AutoCAD. The only difference between the two resistors is the number of bends. For resistor(1), number of bends is only 2, while for resistor(2), number of bends is 18.

After running simulation on AC/DC module and Electric Currents (ec) sub module, resistance values came as the following:

Resistor(1) = 13.223 ohm (2 number of bends)
Resistor(2)= 12.643 ohm (18 number of bends)

I expected that the number of bends will not affect the resistance value, but it actually does in an inverse manner (though not much, but it does)

Is anyone aware why would the number of bends affect the resistance value?



1 Reply Last Post Aug 31, 2016, 8:54 a.m. EDT
Jeff Hiller COMSOL Employee

Please login with a confirmed email address before reporting spam

Posted: 8 years ago Aug 31, 2016, 8:54 a.m. EDT
Hello Haneen,
To me, it would have been surprising if both structures had had the same resistance. While the two structures' midlines may have the same lengths, the current does not follow the midline: it gets distributed non-uniformly across the conductor. Qualitatively speaking, each bend is an opportunity for the current to take a shorter path than the midline, so it's logical that the resistance would be lower with more bends.
Best regards,
Jeff
Hello Haneen, To me, it would have been surprising if both structures had had the same resistance. While the two structures' midlines may have the same lengths, the current does not follow the midline: it gets distributed non-uniformly across the conductor. Qualitatively speaking, each bend is an opportunity for the current to take a shorter path than the midline, so it's logical that the resistance would be lower with more bends. Best regards, Jeff

Note that while COMSOL employees may participate in the discussion forum, COMSOL® software users who are on-subscription should submit their questions via the Support Center for a more comprehensive response from the Technical Support team.