Greentech Lead America: Vishay Precision Group is
offering precision resistors built on Bulk Metal Z- and Z1-Foil technology in
alternative energy and smart grid applications.
Vishay Foil Resistors’ (VFR) portfolio includes
wrap-around chip resistors with flexible terminations, precision trimming
potentiometers, resistor dividers, current-sensing resistors with Kelvin
connections, through-hole devices, and much more.
“A major challenge faced by designers of circuits
used in alternative energy applications is finding resistors with sufficient
reliability, long-term stability, and immunity from ESD,” said Yuval
Hernik, senior director of application engineering for Vishay Foil Resistors.
“Analog circuitry in these applications is almost
always operating under severe environmental, thermal, and mechanical
conditions, and must withstand frequent and extended service by professionals
and novices alike. All of these factors have an impact on the design of analog
circuits and the requirements for precision resistors,” Hernik added.
The company claims that VFR’s Bulk Metal Z- and Z1-Foil
resistors for solar and wind turbine power systems provide long life required
by solar energy cells and panels, smart meters, solar and wind inverter
circuits, wind turbine braking circuits, hybrid electric vehicles, and more.
Bulk Metal Foil resistors are immune to extraordinary
incidents such as radiation exposure and withstand ESD spikes to at least 25
kV.
Moreover, the devices provide wide resistance ranges,
with any resistance value within their given range available at any tolerance
with no additional cost or lead time effect.
Applications such as motor-driven power supplies and
calibration units in wind and solar equipment require component technologies
with proven reliability to minimize costs.
To address these demands, VFR’s SMR3DZ Z-Foil
ultra-high-precision wrap-around chip resistor provides improved load-life
stability of 0.005 percent at 70 degreesC for 2,000 hours at rated power.
The device features flexible terminations to ensure
minimal stress transference from the PCB due to load-induced temperature
gradients and a difference in Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE).
High-temperature pressure sensors in desert solar
stations and thermoelectric charging systems based on solar panel conditions
require resistors with low TCR and high load-life stability.
Samples and production quantities of the foil resistors
are available now, with lead times of five days for prototype samples and from
two days to five weeks for standard orders at the catalog houses, depending on
their shelf availability.
VPG is a market leader of Foil Technology Products,
providing ongoing technology innovations in precision foil resistors and foil
strain gages, which are the foundation of the Company’s Force Sensors Products
and its Weighing and Control Systems.