Dissipation factor

[Anonymous]

What does the dissipation factor reading of coil tell you

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Digger,
I am curious where you heard the term dissipation factor in reference to coils. This is a term more commonly used when referring to capacitors. In laymen's terms the lower the dissipation factor of a capacitor, the higher the Q, or put another way, the lower the dissipation the lower the losses in the capacitor.
So when building an ideal circuit, one would probably strive for finding a capacitor with a lower dissipation factor to get maximum signal transfer and minimum error in calculated phase shift.
In real basic terms, the lower the dissipation factor, the better the results, generally speaking.
At least that is the way I remember it from many years ago. Taxing my remaining brain cell is getting harder these days. So,I don't know if this makes sense, but I hope it helps.
Reg

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Reg
I was just curious because it is on the LCR meter that I have, and it varies from coil to coil that I make.
Regards Frank Wallis

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Frank,
Ah, that explains it. The dissipation factor is there to analyze the capacitors. I am not sure the info has any accuracy when referencing inductors.
Reg