Voltage
Division Rule
· Definition of voltage divider
·
Voltage
division
·
Applications
of voltage division
Voltage divider definition
Voltage divider also known as
potential divider is a passive linear circuit and is may be defined as a number
of electrical resistances connected to a voltage source in series used to
obtain a desired fraction of input voltage as output.
.
It comes with taps at certain points to obtain a variable
fraction of input voltage as output, frequently used to give power supplies to
electronic devices.
Voltage division
The distribution of input voltage among the different
elements of the voltage divider is called voltage division.
For example, we know
I =Vin /(R1+R2)
So, voltage across the first resistor is
VR1 = I R1 = R1 Vin / (R1+R2)
i.e,
VR1 = Vin R1/(R1+R2)
Similarly, voltage across the second resistor would be
VR2 = Vin R2/(R1+R2)
[since, in series
circuit current is same in both the resistances]
Therefore, to
find the voltage over an individual resistance in series, take the total series
voltage and multiply by the individual resistance over the total resistance.
Applications
of voltage divider
Voltage dividers are used for scaling of voltage levels,
biasing of electronic devices and measurement of voltages. A potentiometer is a
most common voltage divider which is used as a variable voltage divider in many
radios to control the volume of radios.
Potentiometer
There are other
applications of voltage divider listed below,
·
By
scaling down high voltages with the help of voltage divider, we can be able to measure high voltages by voltmeter.
·
Voltage
divider can be used to measure the resistance of sensors using microcontroller.
