Hey guysAs you probably know, toaster elements use several nichrome wires to toast the food. I‘m sure there‘s a very good reason for this, but why not use a sheet of nichrome for uniformness?I‘m a product designer, not an engineer, so 2 reasons I can think of are: cost? or a sheet that large won‘t be able to be heated uniformly all the way across?Cheers, much appreciated!!
This Site Might Help You. RE: In toasters, why is nichrome a wire not a sheet? Hey guys As you probably know, toaster elements use several nichrome wires to toast the food. I'm sure there's a very good reason for this, but why not use a sheet of nichrome for uniformness? I'm a product designer, not an engineer, so 2 reasons I can think of are: cost? or a.
If you use a sheet, it means there is greater resistance By what rule? There is less resistance since the cross sectional area of the conductor is increased, all things kept equal. I can easily fabricate a sheet with the same electrical properties of a wire. and the current isn't concentrated to where it should go, that means it won't be enough to get a sheet hot enough. With lower resistance the current increases since voltage is the constant. Power is proportional to the square of the current. That's why it's in a form of wire, lower resistance which means the current is high enough to get the wire hot, and current is concentrated to where it should go and is spread by swiveling it across. It's not just wire, it's NiChrome wire and it's chosen for its HIGH resistivity at high temperatures. If all you wanted was lower resistance, then any large copper conductor would do or your sheet of NiChrome would fare even better. I'm an electrical engineer. No comment The answer is that Nichrome wire is a Nickle-Iron alloy and Nickle is not cheap. Then you have weight considerations, handling, manufacturing, thermal expansion (wires elongate, sheets warp), access to high voltage, etc. In the end, it is safer, more efficient, and better controlled.
Charcinders's answer is spot-on - very well thought out. Just a note for you - there's only one nichrome strip per heating surface, threaded back and forth on an insulating board. Given how thin that 2-3 foot long piece is, imagine how thin a solid sheet six inches long would have to be. And incidentally, cheap toasters are one of the very few things I'm not willing to take apart and put back together again. They're made of stamped metal which is razor sharp on the side facing away from the user, and the couple I've taken apart were apparently held together by factory elves while the key piece was inserted. Remove that piece and it's instant pile of razor blades. Never again. Cheers
