Current sharing in paralleled conductors

Good conductors present low resistance to electrons drifting at constant velocity under the influence of an applied electric field, resulting in conduction current. However high conductivity tends to oppose any changes in current within the conductor due to high internal magnetic fields and the associated dasiabackpsila emf´s induced. Hence conductor currents can only be changed by displacement currents that dasiaflowpsila in the insulation medium of a cable, and these are proportional to the cable capacitance. Any change in conductor current is initially established on the surface of the conductor by these displacement currents and then slowly diffuse into the interior, to become the familiar conduction current. In an arrangement where two or more conductors are connected in parallel, any changes in current are initially shared according to their relative displacement currents, and hence their relative capacitances to the return conductor. Thus when the total current changes, the change is initially shared between the conductors according to their capacitances, and eventually according to their resistances, after the relatively slow diffusion into the interior. This paper examines this current sharing effect in a practical manner.