Properties and Uses of Thermistors--Thermally Sensitive Resistors
01 January 1947
HERMISTORS, solids whose or thermally s e n s i t i v e resistors, a r e d e v i c e s m a d e of resistance varies rapidly with temperature. electrical E v e n t h o u g h t h e y a r e o n l y a b o u t 1 5 y e a r s old t h e y h a v e a l r e a d y f o u n d i m S o m e of these uses are as t i m e delay devices, p r o t e c t i v e devices, p o r t a n t a n d large scale uses in t h e t e l e p h o n e p l a n t a n d in m i l i t a r y e q u i p ments. voltage regulators, regulators in carrier systems, speech volume limiters, test e q u i p m e n t for ultra-high-frequency power, a n d detecting elements for very small r a d i a n t little m a i n t e n a n c e . sively nology. in power. In all these applications thermistors were c h o s e n b e c a u s e t h e y a r e s i m p l e , s m a l l , r u g g e d , h a v e a l o n g life, a n d r e q u i r e Because of these and other desirable properties, therradio, electrical and thermal m i s t o r s p r o m i s e t o b e c o m e n e w c i r c u i t e l e m e n t s w h i c h will b e u s e d e x t e n the fields of communications, i n s t r u m e n t a t i o n , research in physics, c h e m i s t r y a n d biology, a n d w a r techS p e c i f i c t y p e s o f u s e s w h i c h will b e d i s c u s s e d i n t h e s e c o n d p a r t of this p a p e r include: 1) simple, sensitive and fast responding t h e r m o m e t e r s , * Published in Elec. Engg., November 1946. The authors acknowledge their indebtedness to Messrs. J.