Why choose TME as your Online Resistance Wire Supplier?
- 1 What is a resistance wire?
- 1.1 How TME can help you have resistance wire for your exact specifications?
- 1.2 How does resistance wire work?
- 2 How you can choose resistance wire for your application
- 2.1 Factors that influence the resistance of the wire
- 2.1.1 Material
- 2.1.2 Diameter
- 2.1.3 External Temperature
- 3 What are the applications of resistance wires?
- 3.1 Heating Elements
- 3.2 Temperature Sensors
- 3.3 Electrical Circuits
- 3.3.1 Conclusion
- 3.4 Resistance Wires at TME
Most of us already know that resistance wires are used in electrical circuits, but have you ever wondered why?
We will answer that and more, so buckle up everyone as we are going to take a refresher on high school Physics. And don’t worry, we will keep it practical, which means you can utilize this information, get your resistance wires online, and use them to your advantage! So, here we go!
What is a resistance wire?
As the name suggests, a resistance wire resists the flow of current in an electrical circuit. Because otherwise our circuits would fry up, and we don’t want that. So, we use a resistance wire with different resistances to make sure the current never exceeds unsafe values in a circuit.
While the wire resists current it heats up itself, and sometimes, we utilize this property of resistance wires in heating appliances.
How TME can help you have resistance wire for your exact specifications?
As electrical circuits are designed for various use cases, you might need versatility in the resistance values of your wires. You might need wires of different lengths or diameters, or with different Ω/m values.
The good news is, TME can help you with that. Their website offers wires with resistance 0.764 Ω/m, 1.19 Ω/m, to all the way up to 10.7 Ω/m and 19.7 Ω/m. And wires with different diameters are also available at TME as you can get your hands on wires with diameters 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 to 1, 1.2, and 1.5mm.
How does resistance wire work?
When current is made to pass through the resistance wire, it is actually the electrons inside it that carry the current. While the electrons are transferring the current, they collide among themselves and with the walls of the wire, which generates heat.
As more heat is generated, the movements of electrons become more violent, the wire heats up more, and the cycle continues.
These collisions hinder the flow of current, and thereby resist the current.
As these collisions result in a loss of energy, and therefore the overall system becomes less efficient. So, we need to make sure we have resistance wires to exact specifications – to not waste any energy more than required.
This efficiency is also affected by the quality of the resistance wire. Therefore, you would also need to get your hands on high-quality electronic components. TME maintains an all-around stock for resistance wires and all of them go through rigorous quality inspections to make sure no malfunctioning resistance wire is ever shipped. These quality inspections are backed up by several quality certifications, acquired by TME, including ISO:9001 and ISO:14001.
How you can choose resistance wire for your application
Factors that influence the resistance of the wire
To select a resistance wire for your work, you need to know the factors that influence its resistivity. There are 3 main factors, discussed briefly below:
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Material
Different materials have different electrical resistances. For example, Nichrome has high electrical resistance as compared to other resistance wire materials such as copper, aluminum, stainless steel, etc.
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Diameter
Wires with a larger diameter will allow more current to pass through them (because the more free area would result in lesser collisions). A wire with a smaller diameter will have higher resistance.
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External Temperature
External conditions such as temperature will influence the resistance of the wire. Higher temperatures would typically cause more violent movements of electrons and therefore more collisions will result in higher resistance.
What are the applications of resistance wires?
Although resistance wires are used in a plethora of applications. Not to mention, they are used in one form or the other in electrical devices that generate heat. Here are a few popular applications of resistance wires:
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Heating Elements
Resistance wires are frequently used as heating elements in devices such as toasters, ovens, hair dryers, electric heaters, and more.
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Temperature Sensors
Thermostats and ovens often use resistance wires to measure temperature. They can also be used to complete an electrical circuit that we want to make sensitive to temperature changes.
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Electrical Circuits
And of course, they are used in electrical circuits to control the flow of current. Resistance wires enable us to control and manipulate the current flowing through an electrical circuit.
Conclusion
Resistance wires are quite an essential component in electrical devices if not the most important! They are used to limit the flow of current inside an electrical circuit, so the circuits don’t fry up.
While the resistance wire controls the current flow, they serve another useful purpose too. They heat themselves up, which we can utilize in heating applications such as toasters, ovens, hair dryers, etc.
Resistance wires are used for a lot of purposes so they need to be adaptable. And we don’t want to go with overkill with resistance wire as it would result in loss of energy and turn systems inefficient. Therefore, we need resistance wires matched to exact specifications and up to all quality standards. This is where TME can help you with superior-quality resistance wires.
Resistance Wires at TME
TME was founded in 1989, and over a run of more than 33 years, they have been offering a wide variety of electrical components including resistance wires.
You can find great versatility for resistance wires on their website. The resistances for the available wires can be as low as 0.764 Ω/m to all the way up as high as 19.1 Ω/m. They are available for a huge range of temperatures as well. These resistance wires will work perfectly in temperature ranges: -100°C – 1300°C. Visit this link to learn more https://www.tme.com/us/en-us/katalog/resistance-wires_113597/.
TME offers high-quality products that are up to international standards including ISO: 9001 and ISO: 14001. They offer 400,000 products and electronic components and send 5,000 shipments daily to 150+ countries including Germany, the USA, the UK, Italy, Spain, and of course its home country – Poland.