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Last Updated:  Wednesday June 02, 2021 01:44:28 PM

Circuits Designed by Dave Johnson, P.E.

Capacitance-Based Touch SwitchThis is another capacitance based touch on/touch off switch, which can control power to a 200 watt 240vac load . . . Hobby Circuit designed by Dave Johnson P.E.-February, 2002

Circuit Eliminates 9v BatteryIf you use 9v battery powered devices for long periods of time, you may get tired of constantly changing batteries.  The circuit below can be wired into any 9v battery powered device, drawing power from an external AC to DC power adapter.  I designed the c . . . Hobby Circuit designed by David A. Johnson P.E.-December, 2009

Classic Linear 5v Supply using 6.3vAC TransformerA classic method for producing a regulated +5v DC supply is shown below.  This circuit consists of an iron core transformer, a bridge rectifier, a filter capacitor and a voltage regulator.  Many people are tempted to use a very popular 6.3v transformer. . . Circuit by David Johnson P.E.-February, 2009




Links to electronic circuits, electronic schematics and designs for engineers, hobbyists, students & inventors:

 

 

C Volt Ranger -  transforms a0-5-Volt input voltage to a adjustable range between0-10-Volt __

Calibrated trim tool tweaks multiturn pots -  01/07/99 EDN-Design Ideas Many analog circuits contain multiturn trimming potentiometers whose settings you may need to change during maintenance or calibration.  Also, some instruments have panel-mounted potentiometers that may need periodic adjustments.  After disturbing a setting by more than one or two turns, it becomes difficult or impossible to restore the original setting.  The usual method Page includes several designs.  Scroll to find this one__ Circuit Design by Sanjay Chendvankar, Tata Institute, Mumbai, India

Capacitance-Based Touch Switch -  This is another capacitance based touch on/touch off switch, which can control power to a 200 watt 240vac load . . . Hobby Circuit designed by Dave Johnson P.E.-February, 2002

Capacitance Multiplier Power Supply for Class-A Amplifiers -  A basic circuit is provided in the article, but it is assumed that the builder knows all the pitfalls.  The supplied schematic is in fact for a capacitance multiplier filter   (not a regulator) , but is somewhat lacking   (I feel) and can be improved dramatically __ Designed by Rod Elliott  ESP

Capacitance to Voltage conversion -  We have seen that the electrical property of capacitance has been the main physical principle behind many of the sensors that we have discussed.  The main reason why it is so useful is that it is a property which varies directly proportional to the distance between the metal plates.  This has made it a useful tool in measuring small vibrations.  Capacitance can also be used to measure much greater distances than we have seen so far.  The Radio- Baton is an example of a system which uses capacitance to measure distances on the order of 1 meter.   __ Designed by Tim Stilson

Capacitor improves efficiency in CPU supply -  04/04/02 EDN-Design Ideas High efficiency is important for the DC/DC buck converters that supply high currents in notebook PCs.  This efficiency extends battery life and minimizes temperature rise.  A low-dissipation synchronous rectifier using an external MOSET provIdeas this high efficiency.  Synchronous rectifiers require special attention, however__ Circuit Design by Masami Muranaka, Maxim Integrated Products, Tokyo, Japan

Car Battery Charger -  quickly and easily charge most any lead acid battery, automatically turns charging off when ready.   __ Designed by Aaron Cake

Car Converter12V to 9V -  To get a more precise output voltage, replace zener diode Z1 with 10V and R1 with a 1Kilo ohm potentiometer.  A Coolrib for Q1 is optional but highly recommended.  You can replace Q1 for a more robust type to get more output amps depending on your requirements.  Simple circuit to power your 9 volt cassette recorder and other stuff __ Designed by Tony van Roon  VA3AVR

Car NiCad Charger -  This circuit provides up to20-Volt output from a regular13.2V automotive battery, to enable constant current charging of NiCd battery packs up to15 cells AT 1.2V (Tony van Roon's 18V total).   __ Designed by Tony van Roon  VA3AVR

Cascoded stack yields multiple voltages -  03/16/00 EDN-Design Ideas Although the cascode voltage-reference configuration in Figure 1 may seem obvious, the choice of R 1 and the bypass capacitors is critical.  At first glance, stacking up references of the same voltage to produce a collection of voltages seems straightforward.  However, nothing comes without precautions and an understanding of limitations.   __ Circuit Design by Clayton Grantham

Change Improves Regulators’ Reliability -  05/12/94 EDN-Design Ideas The standard circuit for adjustable, 3-terminal regulators(LM317, LM350, etc]in Fig 1a suffers from a designed-in fault  If  potentiometer R2’s wiper loses contact,  regulator’s output goes high.  Because  potentiometer is  most unreliable part in  circuit, consider using  circuit in Fig 1b.  Now,__ Circuit Design by Peter Demchenko, VN, Vilnius, Lithuania

Cheap pushbutton replaces rotary switch -  26-Oct-00 EDN-Design Ideas The problem of setting any one of four modes of aµC-operated process has a straightforward solution  Have the µC check the states of some 4 bits of aµC.   __ Circuit Design by Abel Raynus, Armatron International Inc, Melrose, MA

Cheap PWM IC makes synchronous gate driver -  02/04/99 EDN-Design Ideas NOTE : Page includes several designs.  Scroll to find this one.  A system with a µP, memory, and peripherals usually requires several power-supply voltages.  Designers typically use local switching regulators to produce the desired voltage rails.  One of the most common topologies, the synchronous buck regulator, converts a 5 or 12V bus to some other, lower voltage.  This approach has gained vast acceptance, thanks to its relative simplicity__ Circuit Design by Dimitry Goder, Switch Power Inc, Campbell, CA

Chopping Reduces Reference’s Supply Current -  04/10/97 EDN-Design Ideas UPDATED LINK! The 10V precision reference, IC3, in Figure 1 has temperature drift of approximately 0.6 ppm/�C and good long-term stability.  However, because of its zener-based design, this reference needs more than 4 mA of supply current.  To reduce this current, the circuit in Figure 1  supplies the reference with chopped power.  This scheme lowers the mean supply__ Circuit Design by Hartmut Henkel, von Hoerner & Sulger GmbH, Schwetzingen, Germany

Circuit adds foldback-current protection -  21-Jul-05 EDN-Design Ideas Enhance three-terminal regulator with foldback oversight__ Circuit Design by Rafael García-Gil and JM Espí, Electronic Engineering Department, University of Valencia, Spain

Circuit Eliminates 9v Battery -  If you use 9v battery powered devices for long periods of time, you may get tired of constantly changing batteries.  The circuit below can be wired into any 9v battery powered device, drawing power from an external AC to DC power adapter.  I designed the c . . . Hobby Circuit designed by David A. Johnson P.E.-December, 2009

Circuit Forms Single-Pulse Voltage Multiplier -  18-Sep-03 EDN-Design Ideas It is sometimes necessary for a microcontroller to generate a pulse whose voltage is higher than the power-supply voltage of the microcontroller.  The circuit in Figure 1 allows you to generate 14V pulses from a 5V power supply.  An adaptation of the circuit provIdeas a 5 to 12V programming pulse for programming the fuse bits in Atmel(www__ Circuit Design by Richard Cappels, Mesa, AZ

Circuit improves on bias for GaAs FETs -  12/06/01 EDN-Design Ideas It's important to properly sequence the bias applied to an RF/microwave GaAs FET or a MMIC(monolithic-microwave-IC] amplifier.  These devices are extremely sensitive to drain and gate voltage levels as well as to the order in which these biases turn on and off.  A GaAs-FET amplifier that uses two bias voltages-a negative supply, VGG, on its gate and a positive supply, VDD, on its dra__ Circuit Design by Tom Roberts, Anritsu Co, Morgan Hill, CA

Circuit Improves Transient Dynamics -  06/24/99 EDN-Design Ideas Designing low-voltage, high-current converters with fast dynamic performance places stringent demands on a system designer.  However, a simple technique reduces the peak voltage deviation and decreases the response time for a tran__ Circuit Design by Robert Sheehan, Linear Technology Corp, Milpitas, CA

Circuit Measures Small Current in DC Servo Motor -  12/06/01 EDN-Design Ideas The simple Circuit design in Figure 1 lets you measure all components of a current flowing in a dc servo motor.  The rectified output of the circuit uses ground as a reference, so you can measure the output by using a single-ended A/D converter.  The current-sense resistor, R1, has a value of 0.1Ω __ Circuit Design by Shyam Tiwari

Circuit provides ADSL frequency reference -  05/25/00 EDN-Design Ideas The discrete-multitone (DMT) frequencies that asymmetrical-digital-subscriber lines (ADSL) use are integral multiples of a common frequency, and the symbol period is the inverse of this frequency.  Integration over the symbol period allows the sine and cosine orthogonal waveform products to vanish for all multiples of the common frequency except for those having the same frequency.   __ Circuit Design by Bert Erickson, Fayetteville, NYMay 25, 2000

Circuit Provides Leading-Edge Blanking -  29-May-03 EDN-Design Ideas In isolated switch-mode power supplies using peak-current-mode control, generally the current-sense resistor senses the current on the primary side of the power converter.  Figure 1 shows a typical circuit, in which R2 is the current-sense resistor that monitors the current.  The current-sense signal goes to the input of the PWM comparator—in this case, the PWM comparator's input(ISENS__ Circuit Design by Michael O'Loughlin, Texas Instruments, Dallas, TX

Circuit provides reference for multiple ADCs -  24-Jan-02 EDN-Design Ideas The achievable accuracy for systems with multiple ADCs depends directly on the reference voltages applied to the ADCs.  Medical-ultrasound-imaging systems, for example, commonly include a large number of ADCs in the system's beam-former electronics, with the ADCs usually organized in groups of 16, 24, 32, and so on__ Circuit Design by Ron Gatzke and Tanja Hofner, Maxim Integrated Products, Sunnyvale, CA

Circuit Serves as Milliohm Meter -  04/15/04 EDN-Design Ideas When I was recently debugging a design, I discovered that a short circuit existed from a ground plane to a power plane.  I did not have access to a milliohm meter or an equivalent tester for locating this type of short circuit.  So, I logged onto the Internet to find an easily constructible milliohm meter__ Circuit Design by AM Hunt, Lancaster Hunt Systems Ltd, Shepperton, UK

Circuit translates I2C voltages -  12/26/02 EDN-Design Ideas This design idea explores level-shifting an I˛C bus from 5V/ground(positive domain] to ground/25V(negative domain].  In multisupply systems, you sometimes face a situation in which digital information stored in logic circuits running from 5V to ground needs conversion to analog signals referenced to a negative supply__ Circuit Design by Peter Liu, Optron X, Allentown, PA

Circuitry for Signal Conditioning & Power Conversion -  AN75 Linear Technology This publication includes designs for data converters and signal conditioners, transducer circuits, crystal oscillators and power converters.  Wideband and micropower circuitry receive special attention.  Tutorials on micropower design techniques and parasitic effects of test equipment are included.  __ Linear Technology/Analog Devices

Circuitry for Single Cell Operation -  AN15 1.5V powered circuits for complex linear functions are detailed.  Designs include a V/F converter, a 10-bit A/D, sample-hold amplifiers, a switching regulator and other circuits.  Also included is a section of component considerations for 1.5V powered linear circuits.  __ Linear Technology/Analog Devices

Classic Linear 5v Supply using 6.3vAC Transformer -  A classic method for producing a regulated +5v DC supply is shown below.  This circuit consists of an iron core transformer, a bridge rectifier, a filter capacitor and a voltage regulator.  Many people are tempted to use a very popular 6.3v transformer. . . Circuit by David Johnson P.E.-February, 2009

Cockcroft Walton Diode Voltage Multipliers -  These circuits generate high voltages and can cause dangerous shocks! Do not build these devices unless you are experienced and qualified to work on high voltage devices. __ Contact: Charles Wenzel of Wenzel Associates, Inc.

Compact Step-Up Converter Conserves Battery Power -  DN358 Design Notes __ Linear Technology/Analog Devices

Constant-on-time buck-boost regulator converts a positive input to a negative output -  7-Dec-04 EDN-Design Ideas Buck regulators find wide application as step-down regulators for converting large positive input voltages into a smaller positive output voltages.  Figure 1 shows a simplified buck regulator that operates in continuous-conduction mode—that is, the inductor current always remains positive.  The output voltage, VOUT, is equal to D×VIN, where D is the duty-cycle ratio of the buck switc__ Circuit Design by Robert Bell, National Semiconductor Inc, Chandler, AZ

Convert voltage to potentiometer-wiper setting -  09/05/02 EDN-Design Ideas The circuit in Figure 1converts an analog input voltage, VIN, to a proportional wiper setting of a DPP(digitally programmable potentiometer].  The potentiometer's wiper setting, which varies from position 0 through 31, corresponds to the input voltage, which varies from 0 to 1V dc.  The CAT5114, IC5, is a 32-tap potentiometer with an increment/decrement interface__ Circuit Design by Chuck Wojslaw, Catalyst Semiconductor, Sunnyvale, CA, and Chris Wojslaw, Conexant Systems, Newport Beach, CA

Create a Virtual Ground with the LT1118-2.5 Sink/Source Voltage Regulator -  DN115 Design Notes __ Linear Technology/Analog Devices

Critical-mode control stabilizes switch-mode power supplies -  04/23/98 EDN-Design Ideas Discontinuous-conduction-mode operation eases switch-mode power-supply design and allows for better response to step-load changes.  Operating at the critical-conduction point--beginning a new cycle at the exact point the inductor current falls to zero--ensures that the converter stays in discontinuous-conduction mode.__ Circuit Design by Christophe Basso, Motorola Semiconductors

Cúk converter yields 90% efficiency -  EDN-Design Ideas -- 09/01/94    The simple DC/DC converter in Fig 1 has an efficiency of 90% min and output ripple measured at 10 mV p-p.  This circuit employs an inexpensive 78L15 regulator in an unusual manner.  The regulator, IC2, operates as a voltage-level shifter.  Because the regulator's normal output is tied to ground, the regulator tries to maintain its input at its characteristic 15V above its voltage-reference (VR) pin's level by drawing the appropriate current through biasing resistor R1.  __ Circuit Design by Peter Demchenko, VN, Vilnius, Lithuania

Current-sensing scheme improves PFC on/off sequences -  06/27/02 EDN-Design Ideas PFC(power-factor-correction] preconverters typically use the step-up, or boost, configuration, because this type of converter is relatively easy to implement(Figure 1).  However, this topology requires the output voltage to be higher than the input voltage.  When this condition is not the case—for example, with on/off sequences or under load conditions—some inrush current flows thro__ Circuit Design by Joël Turchi, On Semiconductor, Toulouse, France

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Voltage Converters:  #'s - B      C - K      L - Q      R - Z


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