Compact Thick-Film Resistors Offer High Power Dissipation and Reliability

Dec. 18, 2024

Bringing power ratings of up to 35 W, these rugged thick-film resistors usher in reliability and economy to industrial motor drives, AC-DC and DC-DC power converters, and battery energy storage systems.

Lee Goldberg

Related To: Electronic Design

The Riedon Model PF2203 and PFS35 Series of high-power thick-film resistors from Bourns Inc. come in compact TO-220 and DPAK packages. Surface-mount packaging, such as the DPAK for the Model PFS35 Series, is particularly popular for its ability to help reduce manufacturing costs.

The resistor series were created to meet the growing demand for greater power dissipation in smaller packages. They offer low inductance, excellent pulse-handling capabilities, and elevated power ratings of 35 W that enable enhanced circuit stability and measurement accuracy.

Both thick-film resistor series possess a wide range of resistance values (from 10 MΩ to 51 kΩ), a temperature range of −55 to +175°C, and resistance tolerance options of ±1% and ±5%. Such features equip the resistors to meet current limiting, current measurement, and capacitor discharge requirements in a broad variety of applications, including industrial motor drives, AC-DC and DC-DC power converters, and battery energy storage systems (BESS).

The RoHS-compliant Riedon Model PF2203 and PFS35 Series are available now. For additional information, click here.

About the Author

Lee Goldberg | Contributing Editor

Lee Goldberg is a self-identified “Recovering Engineer,” Maker/Hacker, Green-Tech Maven, Aviator, Gadfly, and Geek Dad. He spent the first 18 years of his career helping design microprocessors, embedded systems, renewable energy applications, and the occasional interplanetary spacecraft. After trading his ‘scope and soldering iron for a keyboard and a second career as a tech journalist, he’s spent the next two decades at several print and online engineering publications.

Lee’s current focus is power electronics, especially the technologies involved with energy efficiency, energy management, and renewable energy. This dovetails with his coverage of sustainable technologies and various environmental and social issues within the engineering community that he began in 1996. Lee also covers 3D printers, open-source hardware, and other Maker/Hacker technologies.

Lee holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Thomas Edison College, and participated in a colloquium on technology, society, and the environment at Goddard College’s Institute for Social Ecology. His book, “Green Electronics/Green Bottom Line - A Commonsense Guide To Environmentally Responsible Engineering and Management,” was published by Newnes Press.

Lee, his wife Catherine, and his daughter Anwyn currently reside in the outskirts of Princeton N.J., where they masquerade as a typical suburban family.

Lee also writes the regular PowerBites series.