Power Education

Explore the theory of operation behind 3D time of flight sensors.

A comprehensive methodology to qualify the reliability of GaN products

The electrons of different types of atoms have different degrees of freedom to move around. With some types of materials, such as metals, the outermost electrons in the atoms are so loosely bound that they chaotically move in the space between the atoms of that material by nothing more than the influence of room-temperature heat energy. Because these virtually unbound electrons are free to leave their respective atoms and float

There are three major kinds of power supplies: unregulated (also called brute force), linear regulated, and switching. A fourth type of power supply circuit called the ripple-regulated, is a hybrid between the “brute force” and “switching” designs, and merits a subsection to itself. Unregulated An unregulated power supply is the most rudimentary type, consisting of a transformer, rectifier, and low-pass filter. These power supplies typically exhibit a lot of ripple

In the beam power tube, the basic four-element structure of the tetrode was maintained, but the grid and screen wires were carefully arranged along with a pair of auxiliary plates to create an interesting effect: focused beams or “sheets” of electrons traveling from cathode to plate. These electron beams formed a stationary “cloud” of electrons between the screen and plate (called a “space charge”) which acted to repel secondary electrons

We're in section 9.2, Power Supply Applications. The reason we're looking at power supplies is because they are a major use of diodes. Nearly all computers have some sort of power supplies. Now a power supply circuit must do several things. One of them is to convert AC line voltage into a DC voltage required by the circuit. They also must reduce the AC voltage to a lower value and they

PARTS AND MATERIALS Steel flat bar, 4 pieces Miscellaneous bolts, nuts, washers 28 gauge “magnet” wire Low-voltage AC power supply “Magnet wire” is small-gauge wire insulated with a thin enamel coating. It is intended to be used to make electromagnets, because many “turns” of wire may be wrapped in a relatively small-diameter coil. Any gauge of wire will work, but 28 gauge is recommended so as to make a coil with as many

This calculator computes for the capacitor charge time and energy, given the supply voltage and the added series resistance.

PARTS AND MATERIALS Four 6-volt batteries 12-volt light bulb, 25 or 50 watt Lamp socket High-wattage 12-volt lamps may be purchased from recreational vehicle (RV) and boating supply stores. Common sizes are 25 watt and 50 watt. This lamp will be used as a “heavy” load for your batteries (heavy load = one that draws substantial current). A regular household (120 volt) lamp socket will work just fine for these low-voltage “RV” lamps. CROSS-REFERENCES Lessons In

PARTS AND MATERIALS Automotive alternator (one required, but two recommended) Old alternators may be obtained for low prices at automobile wrecking yards. Many yards have alternators already removed from the automobile, for your convenience. I do not recommend paying full price for a new alternator, as used units cost far less money and function just as well for the purposes of this experiment. I highly recommend using a Delco-Remy brand

Ladder diagrams are specialized schematics commonly used to document industrial control logic systems. They are called “ladder” diagrams because they resemble a ladder, with two vertical rails (supply power) and as many “rungs” (horizontal lines) as there are control circuits to represent. If we wanted to draw a simple ladder diagram showing a lamp that is controlled by a hand switch, it would look like this: The “L1” and “L2”

Don’t just sit there! Build something!! Learning to mathematically analyze circuits requires much study and practice. Typically, students practice by working through lots of sample problems and checking their answers against those provided by the textbook or the instructor. While this is good, there is a much better way. You will learn much more by actually building and analyzing real circuits, letting your test equipment provide the “answers” instead

There are three basic factors of capacitor construction determining the amount of capacitance created. These factors all dictate capacitance by affecting how much electric field flux (relative difference of electrons between plates) will develop for a given amount of electric field force (voltage between the two plates): PLATE AREA: All other factors being equal, greater plate area gives greater capacitance; less plate area gives less capacitance. Explanation: Larger plate area

When calculating the power dissipation of resistive components, use any one of the three power equations to derive the answer from values of voltage, current, and/or resistance pertaining to each component: This is easily managed by adding another row to our familiar table of voltages, currents, and resistances: Power for any particular table column can be found by the appropriate Ohm’s Law equation (appropriate based on what figures

Inductive reactance Capacitive reactance Impedance in relation to R and X ZL = R + jXL ZC = R - jXC Ohm’s Law for AC Series and Parallel Impedances NOTE: All impedances must be calculated in complex number form for these equations to work. Resonance NOTE: This equation applies to a non-resistive LC circuit. In circuits containing resistance as well as inductance and capacitance, this equation applies only to series configurations and

SCRs are unidirectional (one-way) current devices, making them useful for controlling DC only. If two SCRs are joined in back-to-back parallel fashion just like two Shockley diodes were joined together to form a DIAC, we have a new device known as the TRIAC: (Figure below) The TRIAC SCR equivalent and, TRIAC schematic symbol Because individual SCRs are more flexible to use in advanced control systems, these are more commonly seen

A common topology for DC-AC power converter circuits uses a pair of transistors to switch DC current through the center-tapped winding of a step-up transformer, like this: In order for this form of circuit to function properly, the transistor “firing” signals must be precisely synchronized to ensure the two are never turned on simultaneously. The following schematic diagram shows a circuit to generate the necessary signals: Explain how this circuit

Don’t just sit there! Build something!! Learning to mathematically analyze circuits requires much study and practice. Typically, students practice by working through lots of sample problems and checking their answers against those provided by the textbook or the instructor. While this is good, there is a much better way. You will learn much more by actually building and analyzing real circuits, letting your test equipment provide the “answers” instead

Don’t just sit there! Build something!! Learning to mathematically analyze circuits requires much study and practice. Typically, students practice by working through lots of sample problems and checking their answers against those provided by the textbook or the instructor. While this is good, there is a much better way. You will learn much more by actually building and analyzing real circuits, letting your test equipment provide the “answers” instead

Every meter impacts the circuit it is measuring to some extent, just as any tire-pressure gauge changes the measured tire pressure slightly as some air is let out to operate the gauge. While some impact is inevitable, it can be minimized through good meter design. Since voltmeters are always connected in parallel with the component or components under test, any current through the voltmeter will contribute to the overall current

A three phase motor may be run from a single phase power source. (Figure below) However, it will not self-start. It may be hand started in either direction, coming up to speed in a few seconds. It will only develop 2/3 of the 3-φ power rating because one winding is not used. 3-φmotor runs from 1-φ power, but does not start. The single coil of a single phase induction motor

The Q, or quality, factor of a resonant circuit is a measure of the “goodness” or quality of a resonant circuit. A higher value for this figure of merit corresponds to a more narrow bandwith, which is desirable in many applications. More formally, Q is the ratio of power stored to power dissipated in the circuit reactance and resistance, respectively: Q = Pstored/Pdissipated = I2X/I2R Q = X/R