Cyclopedia of Telephony and Telegraphy, Vol. 1 / A General Reference Work on Telephony, etc. etc.

by American School of Correspondence

If the length and the depth of the winding space of the coil as well as the diameter of the core are known, it is not difficult to determine how much bare copper wire of a given size may be wound on it, but it is more difficult to know these facts concerning copper wire which has been covered with cotton or silk. Yet something may be done, and tables have been prepared for standard wire sizes with definite thicknesses of silk and cotton insulation. As a result of facts collected from a large number of actually wound coils, the number of turns per linear inch and per square inch of B.&S. gauge wires from No. 20 to No. 40 have been tabulated, and these, supplemented by a tabulation of the number of ohms per cubic inch of winding space for wires of three different kinds of insulation, are given in Table IV.

Bearing in mind that the calculations of Table IV are all based upon the "diameter over insulation," which it states at the outset for each of four different kinds of covering, it is evident what is meant by "turns per linear inch." The columns referring to "turns per square inch" mean the number of turns, the ends of which would be exposed in one square inch if the wound coil were cut in a plane passing through the axis of the core. Knowing the distance between the head, and the depth to which the coil is to be wound, it is easy to select a size of wire which will give the required number of turns in the provided space. It is to be noted that the depth of winding space is one-half of the difference between the core diameter and the complete diameter of the wound coil. The resistance of the entire volume of wound wire may be determined in advance by knowing the total cubic contents of the winding space and multiplying this by the ohms per cubic inch of the selected wire; that is, one must multiply in inches the distance between the heads of the spool by the difference between the squares of the diameters of the core and the winding space, and this in turn by .7854. This result, times the ohms per cubic inch, as given in the table, gives the resistance of the winding.

There is a considerable variation in the method of applying silk insulation to the finer wires, and it is in the finer sizes that the errors, if any, pile up most rapidly. Yet the table throughout is based on data taken from many samples of actual coil winding by the present process of winding small coils. It should be said further that the table does not take into account the placing of any layers of paper between the successive layers of the wires. This table has been compared with many examples and has been used in calculating windings in advance, and is found to be as close an approximation as is afforded by any of the formulas on the subject, and with the further advantage that it is not so cumbersome to apply.

Winding Calculations. In experimental work, involving the winding of coils, it is frequently necessary to try one winding to determine its effect in a given circuit arrangement, and from the knowledge so gained to substitute another just fitted to the conditions. It is in such a substitution that the table is of most value. Assume a case in which are required a spool and core of a given size with a winding of, say No. 25 single silk-covered wire, of a resistance of 50 ohms. Assume also that the circuit regulations required that this spool should be rewound so as to have a resistance of, say 1,000 ohms. What size single silk-covered wire shall be used? Manifestly, the winding space remains the same, or nearly so. The resistance is to be increased from 50 to 1,000 ohms, or twenty times its first value. Therefore, the wire to be used must show in the table twenty times as many ohms per cubic inch as are shown in No. 25, the known first size. This amount would be twenty times 7.489, which is 149.8, but there is no size giving this exact resistance. No. 32, however, is very nearly of that resistance and if wound to exactly the same depth would give about 970 ohms. A few turns more would provide the additional thirty ohms.

Similarly, in a coil known to possess a certain number of turns, the table will give the size to be selected for rewinding to a greater or smaller number of turns. In this case, as in the case of substituting a winding of different resistance, it is unnecessary to measure and calculate upon the dimensions of the spool and core. Assume a spool wound with No. 30 double silk-covered wire, which requires to be wound with a size to double the number of turns. The exact size to do this would have 8922. turns per square inch and would be between No. 34 and No. 35. A choice of these two wires may be made, using an increased winding depth with the smaller wire and a shallower winding depth for the larger wire.

Impedance Coils. In telephony electromagnets frequently serve, as already stated, to perform other functions than the producing of motion by attracting or releasing their armatures. They are required to act as impedance coils to present a barrier to the passage of alternating or other rapidly fluctuating currents, and at the same time to allow the comparatively free passage of steady currents. Where it is desired that an electromagnet coil shall possess high impedance, it is usual to employ a laminated instead of a solid core. This is done by building up a core of suitable size by laying together thin sheets of soft iron, or by forming a bundle of soft iron wires. The use of laminated cores is for the purpose of preventing eddy currents, which, if allowed to flow, would not only be wasteful of energy but would also tend to defeat the desired high impedance. Sometimes in iron-clad impedance coils, the iron shell is slotted longitudinally to break up the flow of eddy currents in the shell.

Frequently electromagnetic coils have only the function of offering impedance, where no requirements exist for converting any part of the electric energy into mechanical work. Where this is the case, such coils are termed impedance, or retardation, or choke coils, since they are employed to impede or to retard or to choke back the flow of rapidly varying current. The distinction, therefore, between an impedance coil and the coil of an ordinary electromagnet is one of function, since structurally they may be the same, and the same principles of design and construction apply largely to each.

Number of Turns. It should be remembered that an impedance coil obstructs the passage of fluctuating current, not so much by ohmic resistance as by offering an opposing or counter-electromotive force. Other things being equal, the counter-electromotive force of self-induction increases directly as the number of turns on a coil and directly as the number of lines of force threading the coil, and this latter factor depends also on the reluctance of the magnetic circuit. Therefore, to secure high impedance we need many turns or low reluctance, or both. Often, owing to requirements for direct-current carrying capacity and limitations of space, a very large number of turns is not permissible, in which case sufficiently high impedance to such rapid fluctuations as those of voice currents may be had by employing a magnetic circuit of very low reluctance, usually a completely closed circuit.

Kind of Iron. An important factor in the design of impedance coils is the grade of iron used in the magnetic circuit. Obviously, it should be of the highest permeability and, furthermore, there should be ample cross-section of core to prevent even an approach to saturation. The iron should, if possible, be worked at that density of magnetization at which it has the highest permeability in order to obtain the maximum impedance effects.