Circuit

The IPC, the trade association for electronics assembly companies, has released the findings of recent research into the industry’s approach to sustainability. Each year, electronic waste accounts for $57 billion in losses including the disposal of iron, copper, and gold.  The survey finds that sustainability is inspiring changes to every aspect of electronics manufacturing, said Dr John W Mitchell, the IPC’s ...

A whole session was set aside for energy harvesting ICs at this week’s IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco. Described as “inductor-less capacitor-less”, a harvesting IC from Delft University of Technology and Fudan University connects to two harvesters simultaneously: one electromagnetic and the other piezoelectric. Both harvesters are on the same vibration-driven cantilever, resonant at 30Hz and outputting ...

Puls has introduced a range of DIN rail electronic circuit breakers for 24V loads from 90 to 480W. “With a width of only 22.5mm, PISA-M is the smallest four-channel electronic circuit breaker in the market,” according to the company. “PISA-M features a digital coded interface providing a way to remotely control the devices and to monitor the operational system status. ...

Distributor RS has added a circuit simulator to its DesignSpark tools. The browser-based tool is rebadged PartQuest Explore from Siemens. “In partnership with Siemen’s PartQuest Explore team, all DesignSpark members, regardless of their subscription option, will have access to the DesignSpark Circuit Simulator tool,” according to RS. It “provides an environment for design, modelling, simulating and analying electronic and mechatronic ...

Harting is offering printed circuit tracks on injection-moulded thermoplastic 3d objects, calling the process ‘3D-Mid’. The injection moulded part is custom-designed to fit between or around what ever the customer wants it to. The moulded part is doped with chemicals so that, after moulding, its surface is activated wherever conductive tracks are required  “through laser-direct structuring, a procedure created by ...

For a long time, I have thought that pulse generator outputs should not have adjustable amplitude and offset. Instead, they should have an adjustable top value and a separately adjustable bottom value: 5V and 0V, for example. The other day, I thought of a way to modify a conventional ‘diamond buffer’ (circuit above) to produce just that effect. I realise ...

PCB contract electronic manufacturer UK Circuits and Electronics Solutions (UKC) has added a surface mount component counter and a screen printer to its production line in Manchester. “During the pandemic we experienced an unprecedented period of growth and built a strong order book through both existing and new business,” said MD Marc. “Given our high levels of demand we felt that it ...

This book may be of interest to budding Gadget Masters - A Beginner’s Guide to Circuits, by Øyvind Nydal Dahl.

There is a classic circuit for stopping a voltage increasing beyond a certain value in analogue circuitry And here it is, modelled using LTSpice. It is the same circuit as the classic simple precision rectifier (set to pass the negative half-sine), but with the non-inverting input of the op-amp connected to the voltage-to-clamp-to rather than 0V as it would be ...

Over at www.falstad.com is a circuit simulator with a few ready to run demos. This one is the good old two transistor multivibtrator (pictured), where you can watch voltages change and blobs of current run around – obviously in the opposite direction to any electrons that might be making that current work 🙂 While I can find a way to ...