Passive components

Electronic circuits consist of networks of passive components and electronic devices. The basic passive components
are resistors, capacitors and inductors

Resistors

- Devices which oppose the flow of electrons. They are represented in a schematic diagram by the letter R.
the international unit measure for resistance is the ohm symbolized by the greek letter omega (Ω)
- The ohm maybe defined as, 1 Ω resistance is required to limit current flow within a circuit to 1A when 1V
of emf if applied.

Resistor types

a) Fixed resistors b) Variable resistors

- Conductors and insulators have resistance, the difference is that a resistor is a component designed to
produce a specific amount of resistance.

Purpose
-Used to direct and control current
- To produce specific voltages
When electrons pass through conductors some heat is caused by the resistance of the conductors and its desirable.
Heating elements of stoves, toasters utilize the heat caused by the elements

Fixed resistors
- these have one value
- they can be described in terms of the way they are constructed or fabricated

Wire wound
- made from resistance wire around an insulating core
- core is either ceramic or plastic
- wound core is packaged in a round, tubular case of plastic or ceramic
- values range from a fraction of an ohm up to 35K Ω depending on the length and diameter of wire used

Advantages
 - power resistors used for high current applications
- precision resistors because the length and gauge of wire used can be measured exactly than other materials
used in resistors ( tolerance 0.005% to 1%)
- high stability resistors – value is stable under many conditions

Disadvantages
- physically large in size
- expensive as compared to carbon resistors

Carbon composition

- Made from a mixture of carbon (conductor) and clay (non-conductor which is pressed and molded into rods
by heating.

- they are packaged in plastic tubes with circular bands outside the package

- bands have different colors which represent the resistance values

- values range from a few ohms to 10MΩ

- tolerance is ±10%

- power ratings from 0.125W to 1W

Advantages

-less expensive

- Values vary over an extremely broad range

- made in the most popular sizes

-standard units can be purchased with the resistance values in fractions of an ohm

Disadvantages

- high tolerance

- poor stability

- noisy i.e. they introduce unwanted voltages due to agitated electrons (thermal agitation Noise) causing a
rushing sound in the speaker

Metal oxide
 - Tin oxide is deposited on a ceramic rod and protected by a tough insulating coating.

- Have color bands on the outside to represent their values

- Tolerance is ±3%

- Power rating typically 0.5W

Advantages

- offer high stability over a long period of time

- low tolerance

Disadvantages

-lower rating

Variable resistors

- Usually called potentiometers or rheostats

- They provide the ability to continually adjust the resistance of a resistor

- They consist of an incomplete circular track of either fixed carbon resistor for high value and low power (
up to 2W) of fixed wire wound resistor for high power.

- Connections to each end of the track are brought out to 2 terminal tags

- A wiper makes contact with the track and is connected to a 3rd terminal tag between the other 2.
 - Rotation of the spindle moves wiper over track and changes resistance between centre and either end ones.

- Variable resistors can either be linear or non linear

Linear

- Equal changes of resistance occur when the spindle is rotated through equal angles.

- Current through a linear resistor is directly proportional to the supply voltage and inversely proportional to
the resistance provided temperature remains constant.

Non linear (logarithmic)

- resistance change is not in direct proportion to the position change

- change of resistance at one end of the track is less than at the other for equal angular rotations

-from a few ohms to several mega ohms values are 10KΩ, 50KΩ, 100K, 500KΩ and 1MΩ

Preset resistors

Symbol

- these are adjusted with a screw driver when necessary

- have tracks of carbon or cement ( ceramic and metal oxide)

Applications of variable resistors

- maybe used to control current in a circuit

- only one end tag and wiper are needed

Potential divider

- any voltage from zero to maximum voltage can be obtained by rotating the spindle

- all three terminal tags are used in this case

Resistor specifications

1. Tolerance – Manufacturer’s statement of how close to the exact value a resistor can be expected to be.

2. Power rating – if the rate at which a resistor changes electrical energy exceeds power rating it will overheat
and be damaged. The greater the physical size the greater the rating

3. Stability – it is the ability of a resistor to keep same value as it ages despite changes of temperature and
other physical conditions.

4. Nominal value – value of resistance in ohms

Resistor colour codes

- Clear method is needed for marking and identifying resistors

- Large units , values can be printed on cases

- Small carbon composition resistors have no room to print the information

- After printing a mark it will be difficult to read when it is connected in circuit.

- Every resistor is identified by at least three colour bands

FIRST BAND SECOND BAND THIRD BAND FOURTH BAND FIFTH BAND

COLOUR DIGIT COLOUR DIGIT COLOUR DIGIT COLOUR DIGIT TEMP COEFF OR
RELIABILITY

BLACK 0 BLACK 0 BLACK 100

BROWN 1 BROWN 1 BROWN 101 BROWN ±1%

RED 2 RED 2 RED 102 RED ±2%

ORANGE 3 ORANGE 3 ORANGE 103

YELLOW 4 YELLOW 4 YELLOW 104

GREEN 5 GREEN 5 GREEN 105 GREEN ±0.5%

VIOLET 7 VIOLET 7 VIOLET 107 VIOLET ±0.1%

GREY 8 GREY 8 GREY 108

WHITE 9 WHITE 9 WHITE 109

SILVER 10-2 SILVER ±10%

GOLD 10-1 GOLD ±5%

NO BAND ±20%

Printed code

- code printed on resistors consists of letters and numbers

- Also used on variable resistors and circuit diagrams e.g.

Value 0.27Ω 3.3Ω 68KΩ 4.7MΩ

Printed code R27 3R3 68K 4M7

Tolerances are indicated by adding a letter at the end

F = ±1% G=±2% J=±5% K=±10% M=±20%

E.g. 5K6K =5.6K Ω ±10%

Preferred values

Exact values of fixed resistors are unnecessary so only preferred values are made

- values chosen for the E12 series (±10% tolerance) are 1, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8, 2.2, 2.7, 3.3, 3.9, 4.7, 5.6, 6.8, 8.2
and multiples that are 10 times greater

- values for the E24 series (± 5% tolerance) have 24 basic values, those in addition to the E12 series being
1.1, 1.3, 1.6, 2.0, 2.4, 3.0, 3.6, 4.3, 5.1, 6.2, 7.5, and 9.1

NON LINEAR RESISTORS

Temperature coefficient

- Important difference between carbon and wire wound resistors lies in the effect of a change in temperature
on resistance.

- The value of a carbon resistor decreases if it gets hot whereas the resistance of a wire wound increases with
temperature.
 - Carbon has a negative temperature coefficient while metals have a positive temperature coefficient.

- The temp coefficient of a resistive material is the factor or coefficient by which its resistivity at 0°C must
be multiplied to give resistivity increase for each degree rise in temp

- Special type of resistors which respond to change are called thermistors or thermal sensitive resistors

SYMBOL

- Temp of thermistors is a function of both ambient temp and power dissipation due to the current flow
through the device.

- There are 2 main types of thermistors

i) The NTC (negative temp coefficient)

ii) The PTC ( positive temp coefficient)

The NTC

- Resistance of most semiconductors decreases with increase in temp.

- When heat is applied to the semiconductor, a number of its covalent bonds are broken, releasing free
electrons thus reducing the resistance of the material.

Temp resistance curve for NTC

- When a voltage is applied to an NTC thermistor which is in series with a resistor, current will flow and heat
is generated in the thermistor.

- Its resistance will be lowered and more current will flow thru the cct.

- This in turn will heat the thermistor more and lower its resistance further.

- The process is cumulative and will continue until the thermistor reaches the max temp possible for the
amount of power available in the cct.
 - At this time a steady state will exist.

- Because of the mass of the thermistor, it takes time for it to be heated to its max value.

Application of NTCs

i) temp measurement

- Vs is a constant voltage supply

- The bridge is balance so that voltmeter reading is zero before the NTC is heated.

- The NTC is then placed in the environment in which the temp is to be measured.

- The balance of the bridge is disturbed and a small voltage appears across the bridge.

- The voltage is then amplified using a differential amp and then measured using a voltmeter graduated in °C

ii) Transistor protection

- When the transistor heats up, resistance of the NTC falls, thereby reducing the base current which in turn
reduces heating of the transistor.
iii) Prevention of current surges

- e.g. filaments of electron tubes of radio and TV receivers have low resistance when cold.

- When switching on a large current tends to flow through the lamp (damaging it).

- With the use of an NTC, initially current is reduced at room temp.

- Current grows slowly as the bulb heats and the NTC resistance lowers

Disadvantages of NTCs

i) Non-linearity, hence scales are difficult to make

ii) NTC takes along time to return to its original value

iii) They are not stable

PTCs

- for most conductors, the resistance increases with increase in temp

- PTC thermistors are generally made of barium, strontium titanate

- Resistance of PTC thermistors increase exponentially as the temp is increased

- Resistance of PTC at any temp can be calculated by the formula

RT = RN (1+ α∆T + β∆T 2 )

α and β are stable coefficients

Applications of PTCs

i) PTC can be used for temp measurements as in NTCs

ii) Motor/Transformer winding protection

- the PTC is wound together with windings

- during the normal operation PTC has low resistance hence it does not interfere with the operation of the
motor/ Tx

- when the windings begin to overheat, resistance of PTC rise exponentially thereby blocking the rise of
current through the windings hence overheating stops

- when the winding cool down, the PTC resistance falls and normal operation is restored

The voltage dependant resistor (VDR)

- it is also referred to as a varistor

- it is a resistor whose resistance varies depending on the voltage across it

Symbol

Characteristics

- VDR is normally made of material such as silicon carbide bunched with a ceramic and dry pressed into
rods or discs and then fired at 1250°C

- A VDR is chosen to have high resistance at normal or supply voltage and a low resistance at high voltages (
associated with transient peaks in a cct)

- The resistance of a VDR falls exponentially with increase in voltage

Uses of VDR

i) protection against current surges

- After the surge has passed the VDRs resistance maintains its high value allowing normal operation

Cathode ray tube degaussing coil (demagnetizing coil)

- On switching on most current flows through the VDR thereby magnetizing the coil since the NTC has very
high resistance at room temp

- The magnetism on the coil cancels any magnetism on the screen. As the coil heats up the resistance of the
NTC falls allowing more current to go to the CRO systems

Hall generator effect

- If a current carrying conductor is subjected to a perpendicular magnetic field Holes will accumulate on one
end and electrons to the other end creating +ve and –ve potentials respectively

- The difference between these two potential is referred to as Hall voltage and the device is referred to as
Hall generator

- Semiconductors have replace metals as materials for hall generator because they have extremely high
electron mobility
Magneto Dependant Resistors

SYMBOL

- they are magnetically controlled resistors

- charge carriers passing through the semiconductors are deflected to the sides due to transversal magnetic
fields

- the extension of the path of charge carriers through the conductor ( channel of charge carriers) with
increasing flux results in an increase in the resistance of the conductor

Construction

- the variation of resistance with the magnetic field strength is a function of both the magnetic flux density
and temp

Applications

i) Current measurement

ii) Proximity switches

iii) Counters
Detection and measurement of magnetic field