Wire wound resistor

Wire wound resistor definition

Wire wound resistor is a type of passive component in which metal wires

are used to reduce or restrict the flow of electric current to a certain level.

Construction of wire wound resistor

The wire wound resistor is made by winding the metal wire around a metal
core. In wire wound resistors, metal wire is used as the resistance element
and metal core is used as the non-conductive material.

A Nichrome or manganin is commonly used as the metal wires, because

they provide high resistance to the electric current and operates at high
temperature. Most commonly used core materials include plastic,
fiberglass, or ceramic.

The wounded wire is covered with an insulating material such as vitreous

enamel, which opposes or blocks the outside heat. This step is taken to
achieve high stability. Hence, even at high temperature heat does not enter
into the wire wound resistor. Thus, the wire wound resistors operates at
high temperature.

The wire wound resistors can range from small surface mount components
to a large tubular power resistor. These resistors are used in the electronic
instruments and equipments where high accuracy and more power
dissipation are required. The wire wound resistor is more preferred over the
metal oxide resistors because of its high stability at higher temperature and
smaller size.

Resistance of the wire wound resistor is depends on three factors:

resistivity of the metal wire, length of the metal wire and cross
sectional area of the metal wire
Resistivity of the metal wire

The resistance of the wire wound resistor is directly proportional to the

resistivity of the metal wire.

A metal wire with high resistance opposes or blocks large amount of

electric current. Therefore, the wire wound resistor provides high resistance
to the electric current.

Length of the metal wire

The resistance of the wire wound resistor is directly proportional to the

length of the metal wire.

The long length metal wires offer high resistance because the free
electrons have to travel large distance. Hence, the possibility of electrons
collision with the atoms is high. Therefore, a large number of free
electrons collide with the atoms. The large number of free electrons
colliding with the atoms loses their energy in the form of heat and the
remaining small number of free electrons moves freely by carrying the
electric current. Therefore, only a small number of free electrons or small
amount of electric current flows through the wire wound resistor.

The short length metal wires offer low resistance because the free
electrons have to travel only a small distance. Hence, the possibility of
electrons collision with the atoms is low. Therefore, only a small number of
free electrons collide with the atoms. The small number of free electrons
colliding with the atoms loses their energy in the form of heat and the
remaining large number of free electrons moves freely by carrying the
electric current. Therefore, large amount of electric current flows through
the wire wound resistor.

Cross sectional area of the metal wire

The resistance of a wire wound resistor is inversely proportional to the

cross sectional area of the metal wire.

The metal wires with small cross sectional area provides less space for the
free electrons to move. Hence, the possibility of electrons collision with the
atoms is high. Therefore, only a small electric current flows through the
wire wound resistor.

The metal wires with large cross sectional area provide enough space for
the free electrons to move freely. Hence, the possibility of electrons
collision with the atoms is low. Therefore, large electric current flows
through the wire wound resistor.

Applications of wire wound resistors

The wire wound resistors are widely used for various applications such as:

 Telecommunication
 Computers
 Audio and video equipments
 Medical electronic equipments
 Defense and space
 Telephone switching systems
 Transducers instrumentation
 Current and voltage balancing
 Current sensing

Advantages and disadvantages of wire wound resistor

Advantages of wire wound resistor

 Low cost
 High accuracy
  High stability
 Wide resistance range

Disadvantages of wire wound resistor

The wire wound resistors are used only for low frequencies, it is not
suitable for high frequencies. At high frequencies, it acts as inductor.
Hence, for high frequencies non-inductive wire wound resistors are used .