Difference between revisions of "Skin effect"

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(New page: The skin effect is the tendency of an alternating electric current to distribute itself within a conductor so that the current density near the surface of the conductor is greater than tha...)
 
 
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Latest revision as of 14:34, 23 March 2008

The skin effect is the tendency of an alternating electric current to distribute itself within a conductor so that the current density near the surface of the conductor is greater than that at its core. That is, the electric current tends to flow at the "skin" of the conductor.


The skin depth (d) is the depth where the current is 1/e (about 0.37) times the current at the surface:

<math>d=\sqrt{{2\rho}\over{2\pi f \mu}}</math>

where

ρ = resistivity of conductor
f = frequency of current
μ = absolute magnetic permeability of conductor


For a round wire, the AC resistance is approximately:

<math>R={{\rho \over d}\left({L\over{\pi (D-d)}}\right)}</math>

where

L = length of conductor
D = diameter of conductor


Example - for copper

frequency depth
60 Hz 8.57 mm
10 kHz 0.66 mm
100 kHz 0.21 mm
1 MHz 66 µm
10 MHz 21 µm