Irreversible entropy model for damage diagnosis in resistors
- Instrumentation, Sensor and Interfaces Group, Electronic Engineering Department, Escola d'Enginyeria de Telecomunicació i Aeronàutica de Castelldefels EETAC, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona Tech (UPC), Castelldefels-Barcelona (Spain)
We propose a method to characterize electrical resistor damage based on entropy measurements. Irreversible entropy and the rate at which it is generated are more convenient parameters than resistance for describing damage because they are essentially positive in virtue of the second law of thermodynamics, whereas resistance may increase or decrease depending on the degradation mechanism. Commercial resistors were tested in order to characterize the damage induced by power surges. Resistors were biased with constant and pulsed voltage signals, leading to power dissipation in the range of 4–8 W, which is well above the 0.25 W nominal power to initiate failure. Entropy was inferred from the added power and temperature evolution. A model is proposed to understand the relationship among resistance, entropy, and damage. The power surge dissipates into heat (Joule effect) and damages the resistor. The results show a correlation between entropy generation rate and resistor failure. We conclude that damage can be conveniently assessed from irreversible entropy generation. Our results for resistors can be easily extrapolated to other systems or machines that can be modeled based on their resistance.
- OSTI ID:
- 22492868
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 16 Vol. 118; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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