Anthony H. Smith is a consultant engineer with Scitech, Bedfordshire, U.K. He received a BSc (Hon) in electronics from Salford University, Greater Manchester, U.K. Email address: tony.scitek@tiscali.co.uk
8 results found for Anthony H. Smith, displaying items 1 - 8
October 1, 2009[Ideas For Design] Backstory: Full-Wave Active Rectifier Requires No Diodes
When Electronic Design asked me to write about my Idea for Design, first seen in this year’s August 13 issue, it seemed a simple enough task. We’re all familiar with design. Most of us do it in some form or another almost every day. But, ideas? We all have them, but where do they come from? And what is the essence of a good idea? Simplicity? Elegance? Performance, novelty, creativity? Thomas Edison once said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration....
August 13, 2009[Ideas For Design] Full-Wave Active Rectifier Requires No Diodes
A full-wave rectifier can be built without using any diodes. It exploits the fact that the output voltage of certain single- supply op amps is effectively “clamped” to ground (0 V) when the input signal goes negative. The circuit combines a unity-gain follower (IC1a) and a second stage (IC1b) that combines the follower’s output signal (VO) with an inverted version of the input signal (VIN) (Fig....
June 11, 2009[Design View / Design Solution] Measuring Mains Current Doesn't Have To Be Difficult
Monitoring the current taken by a mains-powered appliance can be a challenge, particularly if the application demands an inexpensive solution that must provide galvanic isolation for user safety. Common solutions employ either a current-sense resistor or current-sense transformer to convert the line current to an ac voltage that’s then converted into a proportional dc voltage. The dc voltage may then be processed using various techniques to provide a...
August 3, 2006[Ideas For Design] Control A High-Power Load With A Low-Power Microcontroller
Many microcontrollers feature a pulse-width-modulated (PWM) output that can be low-pass filtered to produce a variable dc voltage. Without additional circuitry, however, this technique is limited to controlling very low-power loads. The circuit here illustrates a scheme that lets this dc voltage control a high-power load, such as a motor, actuator, or heating element (see the figure). Furthermore, the load voltage may be higher...
July 22, 2002[Ideas For Design] Simple Technique Generates Precise HART Waveforms
Designed to complement conventional 4- to 20-mA analog signaling, the Highway Addressable Remote Transducer (HART) protocol supports two-way digital communications for process measurement and control devices. The protocol uses frequency-shift keying...
