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Serpentine resistor
Posted Aug 8, 2016, 5:19 a.m. EDT 1 Reply
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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?
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?
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1 Reply Last Post Aug 31, 2016, 8:54 a.m. EDT
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Posted:
8 years ago
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
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