Litz cables are designed to reduce the effects of proximity and skin effects in AC power supplies. They consist of individually insulated wires twisted together to minimize proximity effect and have a smaller cross-section profile to deal with skin effect.
Litz cables are power cables made up of several individually insulated wires. This type of wire is specially designed for use with alternating current (AC) power supplies in order to reduce the unwanted effects of two different phenomena. These phenomena, known as proximity effects and skin effect, can both lead to decreased efficiency with higher frequency AC power. The way a litz wire deals with the skin effect is by providing a smaller cross section profile in each individual wire. Since each wire of the component can also be twisted together, it is also possible to minimize the proximity effect.
One of the main problems with the use of high frequency alternating current is a phenomenon known as the skin effect. In the case of very high alternating current frequencies, this effect causes most of the electricity to be conducted close to the surface of a wire rather than distributed evenly. The part of the wire that actually carries the current is known as the skin depth. Since most of the wire is not used for current transfer, this is an expensive situation which can also result in reduced efficiency. One way to deal with skin effect is to hollow out the wire so that the unused portion is gone, but litz wire can be a more compact solution.
To deal with the skin effect, each litz strand is made up of many smaller strands. Each of these wires is about one skin deep in diameter so that all of the material can be used to conduct electricity. Individual strands can be bundled together, and in some cases several bundles will then be made into a single strand. Higher frequencies require thinner single wires, so it can be important to know the characteristics of the AC current in a particular application to choose the correct litz wire.
Another problem that litz wire can address is proximity effect. This is a phenomenon that results in a higher overall resistance when multiple wires are carrying electricity in close proximity to each other. The current can be confined to a smaller area than normal, resulting in a situation known as current crowding. To address this problem, each component wire can be twisted. Many different types of insulator can be used, although polyurethane is often chosen because it does not need to be removed before soldering the wire.
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