Articles and news - 10

Analog comparator recognizes three signal relations
Analog comparator recognizes three signal relations
06.20.2024 Circuits

Several years ago we were developing a clamp-on photometer, a hand-held instrument that could be clamped onto a communications optical fiber to indicate the presence of light, its direction of travel, and the presence of combinations of low-frequency test tone modulation...

How correctly charge lithium-ion lithium-polymer batteries
How to correctly charge the lithium-ion/lithium-polymer batteries
06.18.2024 Articles

Electronic designers must be aware of the ideal charging method, as it increases the battery’s lifetime and enhances its performance. Nowadays Lithium-ion/Lithium-polymer are used extensively in portable electronic devices that are frequently charged...

Brick-wall lowpass audio filter needs no
"Brick-wall" lowpass audio filter needs no tuning
06.17.2024 Circuits

When a system's specifications call for a lowpass filter with a steep frequency-cutoff characteristic, an engineer can opt for a “brick-wall”- filter design that features a sharp transition band...

What thermal jumper do anyway
What's a "thermal jumper" do, anyway?
06.13.2024 Articles

I’ve always been interested in simple-looking components which solve well-defined, clear, bounded problems...

Frank J. Sprague man behind motors
Frank J. Sprague, the man behind the motors that remade the urban landscape
06.12.2024 Articles

Navigating the burgeoning cities of the early twentieth century would have been a very different experience without the electromechanical railway and elevator systems designed by Frank Sprague...

One microcontroller pin drives two LEDs
One microcontroller pin drives two LEDs with low quiescent current
06.11.2024 Circuits

The basis for this Design Idea is a circuit that uses three resistors and a microcontroller-I/O pin to work as input high impedance or output to independently drive two LEDs...

Solar constant lighting system uses PV-pushback-effect.
Solar constant lighting system uses PV-pushback-effect. Part 2 - System testing
06.10.2024 Circuits

Testing was done at various sunlight intensities. For any given sunlight intensity, VPV, IPV, VM, IM, etc., are measured...

Solar constant lighting system uses PV-pushback-effect.
Solar constant lighting system uses PV-pushback-effect. Part 1 - System description
06.06.2024 Circuits

Solar day lamps (SDLs) are made by simply connecting an LED array to a solar photovoltaic (PV) panel. SDLs represent a highly cost-effective way of utilizing solar energy for lighting. However, SDLs suffer from drawbacks such as daytime-only lighting, light-intensity fluctuations based on sunlight intensity, and low output on cloudy or rainy days...

Bias HF JFET
Bias for HF JFET
06.05.2024 Circuits

Junction field-effect transistors usually require some reverse bias voltage to be applied to a gate terminal. In HF and UHF applications, this bias is often provided using the voltage across the source resistor...

brief history switching power supplies
A brief history of switching power supplies
06.04.2024 Articles

The high-efficiency switching power supply has become a staple ingredient in many of today’s electronic systems. What is its origins and how has it evolved over the decades...