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Some wirewound power resistors have a tapping point that can slide along the resistance element, allowing a larger or smaller part of the resistance to be used. Where continuous adjustment of the resistance value during operation of equipment is required, the sliding resistance tap can be connected to a knob accessible to an operator.
Various resistor types of different shapes and sizes. A resistor is a passive two-terminal electrical component that implements electrical resistance as a circuit element. In electronic circuits, resistors are used to reduce current flow, adjust signal levels, to divide voltages, bias active elements, and terminate transmission lines, among other uses.
Fixed-value liquid resistors are typically used where very high power dissipation is required. They are used in the rotor circuits of large slip ring induction motors to control starting current, torque and to limit large electrical fault currents (while other protection systems operate to clear or isolate the fault).
Manganin foil and wire is used in the manufacture of resistors, particularly ammeter shunts, because of its virtually zero temperature coefficient of resistance value [2] and long term stability. Several Manganin resistors served as the legal standard for the ohm in the United States from 1901 to 1990. [ 3 ]
Railways commonly used salt water load banks in the 1950s to test the output power of diesel-electric locomotives. [3] They were subsequently replaced by specially designed resistive load banks . Some early three-phase AC electric locomotives also used liquid rheostats for starting up the motors and balancing load between multiple locomotives.
Originally meant also as part marking code, this shorthand notation is widely used in electrical engineering to denote the values of resistors and capacitors in circuit diagrams and in the production of electronic circuits (for example in bills of material and in silk screens).
It is better if the alloy used has a high resistivity, since a shorter wire can then be used. In many situations, the stability of the resistor is of primary importance, and thus the alloy's temperature coefficient of resistivity and corrosion resistance play a large part in material selection.
The power dissipated by a resistor may be calculated from its resistance, and the voltage or current involved. The formula is a combination of Ohm's law and Joule's law: = = =, where P is the power, R is the resistance, V is the voltage across the resistor, and I is the current through the resistor.