pratical electronics for inventors
Perhaps the most common predicament a newcomer faces when learning electron-
ics is figuring out exactly what it is he or she must learn. What topics are worth
covering, and in which general order should they be covered? A good starting
point to get a sense of what is important to learn and in what general order is pre-
sented in the flowchart in Fig. 1.1. This chart provides an overview of the basic ele-
ments that go into designing practical electrical gadgets and represents the
information you will find in this book. The following paragraphs describe these
basic elements in detail.
At the top of the chart comes the theory. This involves learning about voltage, cur-
rent, resistance, capacitance, inductance, and various laws and theorems that help
predict the size and direction of voltages and currents within circuits. As you learn
the basic theory, you will be introduced to basic passive components such as resis-
tors, capacitors, inductors, and transformers.
Next down the line comes discrete passive circuits. Discrete passive circuits
include current-limiting networks, voltage dividers, filter circuits, attenuators, and so
on. These simple circuits, by themselves, are not very interesting, but they are vital
ingredients in more complex circuits.
After you have learned about passive components and circuits, you move on to
discrete active devices, which are built from semiconductor materials. These devices
consist mainly of diodes (one-way current-flow gates), transistors (electrically con-
trolled switches/amplifiers), and thyristors (electrically controlled switches only).
Once you have covered the discrete active devices, you move on to discrete
active/passive circuits. Some of these circuits include rectifiers (ac-to-dc converters),
amplifiers, oscillators, modulators, mixers, and voltage regulators. This is where
things start getting interesting.
To make things easier on the circuit designer, manufacturers have created inte-
grated circuits (ICs) that contain discrete circuits—like the ones mentioned in the
last paragraph—that are crammed onto a tiny chip of silicon. The chip usually is
housed within a plastic package, where tiny internal wires link the chip to external
metal terminals. Integrated circuits such as amplifiers and voltage regulators are
referred to as analog devices,which means that they respond to and produce signals
Enregistrer un commentaire