Implementing Power Resistors on Aluminium Core Printed Circuit Boards

Power resistors are key components in industrial applications that operate at high currents. Standard components of this type are available from various manufacturers, but they can also be easily implemented as traces on a printed circuit board, especially when the required resistance is in the range of 1…10 ohms. By using aluminum core technology for PCBs, heat transfer is better and allows higher power ratings. Our paper presents the design, implementation and testing of such resistors fabricated on Al-core PCBs using traces with the shape of a Hilbert curve. Electrical and thermal measurements are performed for various configurations of PCB trace resistors.