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Direct-coupled Amplifier
A direct-coupled amplifier or DC amplifier is a type of amplifier in which the output of one stage of the amplifier is coupled to the input of the next stage in such a way as to permit signals with zero frequency, also referred to as direct current, to pass from input to output. This is an application of the more general direct coupling. It was invented by Harold J Paz and Francis P. Keiper Jr. in 1955. It displaced the triode vacuum tube amplifier designed by Lee de Forest. Almost all vacuum tube circuit designs are now replaced with direct coupled transistor circuit design. It is the first transistor amplifier design that did not include coupling capacitors. The direct-coupled amplifier allowed analog circuits to be built smaller with the elimination of coupling capacitors and removed the lower frequency limitation that is dependent on capacitors. History Paz first started his career at Bell Labs as an intern from December 1950 to April 1952 as an Engineering Aid. Paz worked o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amplifier
An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost the voltage or current ( power, voltage or current amplifier). It is a two-port electronic circuit that uses electric power from a power supply to increase the amplitude of a signal applied to its input terminals, producing a greater amplitude signal at its output. The ratio of output to input voltage, current, or power is termed gain (voltage, current, or power gain). An amplifier, by definition has gain greater than unity (if the gain is less than unity, the device is an attenuator). An amplifier can either be a separate piece of equipment or an electrical circuit contained within another device. Amplification is fundamental to modern electronics, and amplifiers are widely used in almost all electronic equipment. Amplifiers can be ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alternating Current
Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in which electric power is delivered to businesses and residences, and it is the form of electrical energy that consumers typically use when they plug kitchen appliances, televisions, fans and electric lamps into a wall socket. A common source of DC power is a battery cell in a flashlight. The abbreviations ''AC'' and ''DC'' are often used to mean simply ''alternating'' and ''direct'', as when they modify '' current'' or '' voltage''. The usual waveform of alternating current in most electric power circuits is a sine wave, whose positive half-period corresponds with positive direction of the current and vice versa. In certain applications, like guitar amplifiers, different waveforms are used, such as triangular waves or square waves. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Instrumentation Amplifier
An instrumentation amplifier (sometimes shorthanded as in-amp or InAmp) is a type of differential amplifier that has been outfitted with input buffer amplifiers, which eliminate the need for input impedance matching and thus make the amplifier particularly suitable for use in measurement and test equipment. Additional characteristics include very low DC offset, low drift, low noise, very high open-loop gain, very high common-mode rejection ratio, and very high input impedances. Instrumentation amplifiers are used where great accuracy and stability of the circuit both short- and long-term are required. Although the instrumentation amplifier is usually shown schematically identical to a standard operational amplifier (op-amp), the electronic instrumentation amplifier is almost always internally composed of 3 op-amps. These are arranged so that there is one op-amp to buffer each input (+, −), and one to produce the desired output with adequate impedance matching for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Servo Drive
A servo drive is an electronic amplifier used to power electric servomechanisms. A servo drive monitors the feedback signal from the servomechanism and continually adjusts for deviation from expected behavior. Function A servo drive receives a command signal from a control system, amplifies the signal, and transmits electric current to a servo motor in order to produce motion proportional to the command signal. Typically, the command signal represents a desired velocity, but can also represent a desired torque or position. A sensor attached to the servo motor reports the motor's actual status back to the servo drive. The servo drive then compares the actual motor status with the commanded motor status. It then alters the voltage, frequency or pulse width to the motor so as to correct for any deviation from the commanded status. In a properly configured control system, the servo motor rotates at a velocity that very closely approximates the velocity signal being received by the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voltage Regulator
A voltage regulator is a system designed to automatically maintain a constant voltage. A voltage regulator may use a simple feed-forward design or may include negative feedback. It may use an electromechanical mechanism, or electronic components. Depending on the design, it may be used to regulate one or more Alternating current, AC or Direct current, DC voltages. Electronic voltage regulators are found in devices such as Power supply unit (computer), computer power supplies where they stabilize the DC voltages used by the processor and other elements. In Alternator (automotive), automobile alternators and central power station generator plants, voltage regulators control the output of the plant. In an electric power distribution system, voltage regulators may be installed at a substation or along distribution lines so that all customers receive steady voltage independent of how much power is drawn from the line. Electronic voltage regulators A simple voltage/current regulator c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cascade Connection
A two-port network (a kind of four-terminal network or quadripole) is an electrical network ( circuit) or device with two ''pairs'' of terminals to connect to external circuits. Two terminals constitute a port if the currents applied to them satisfy the essential requirement known as the port condition: the electric current entering one terminal must equal the current emerging from the other terminal on the same port.Gray, §3.2, p. 172Jaeger, §10.5 §13.5 §13.8 The ports constitute interfaces where the network connects to other networks, the points where signals are applied or outputs are taken. In a two-port network, often port 1 is considered the input port and port 2 is considered the output port. It's used in mathematical circuit analysis. Application The two-port network model is used in mathematical circuit analysis techniques to isolate portions of larger circuits. A two-port network is regarded as a "black box" with its properties specified by a matrix of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Single-ended Signaling
Single-ended signaling is the simplest and most commonly used method of transmitting electrical signals over wires. One wire carries a varying voltage that represents the signal, while the other wire is connected to a reference voltage, usually ground. The main alternative to single-ended signaling is called ''differential signaling'' where the two conductors carry signals equal in magnitude but of opposite electric polarity. Single-ended signaling is less expensive to implement than differential, but it has a distinct disadvantage: a single-ended system requires a power supply voltage equal to the maximum amplitude of the signal to be received whereas a differential system only requires a voltage half of the signal amplitude to be received. For a given power supply voltage then, a differential system produces signals of twice the amplitude and therefore has twice as good noise immunity (6 dB higher signal-to-noise ratio) as a single-ended system. The main advantage of single-end ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operational Amplifier
An operational amplifier (often op amp or opamp) is a DC-coupled high-gain electronic voltage amplifier with a differential input and, usually, a single-ended output. In this configuration, an op amp produces an output potential (relative to circuit ground) that is typically 100,000 times larger than the potential difference between its input terminals. The operational amplifier traces its origin and name to analog computers, where they were used to perform mathematical operations in linear, non-linear, and frequency-dependent circuits. The popularity of the op amp as a building block in analog circuits is due to its versatility. By using negative feedback, the characteristics of an op-amp circuit, its gain, input and output impedance, bandwidth etc. are determined by external components and have little dependence on temperature coefficients or engineering tolerance in the op amp itself. Op amps are used widely in electronic devices today, including a vast array of consu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Differential Amplifier
A differential amplifier is a type of electronic amplifier that amplifies the difference between two input voltages but suppresses any voltage common to the two inputs. It is an analog circuit with two inputs V_\text^- and V_\text^+ and one output V_\text, in which the output is ideally proportional to the difference between the two voltages: : V_\text = A(V_\text^+ - V_\text^-), where A is the gain of the amplifier. Single amplifiers are usually implemented by either adding the appropriate feedback resistors to a standard op-amp, or with a dedicated integrated circuit containing internal feedback resistors. It is also a common sub-component of larger integrated circuits handling analog signals. Theory The output of an ideal differential amplifier is given by : V_\text = A_\text(V_\text^+ - V_\text^-), where V_\text^+ and V_\text^- are the input voltages, and A_\text is the differential gain. In practice, however, the gain is not quite equal for the two inputs. This means, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fairchild Semiconductor
Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. was an American semiconductor company based in San Jose, California. Founded in 1957 as a division of Fairchild Camera and Instrument, it became a pioneer in the manufacturing of transistors and of integrated circuits. Schlumberger bought the firm in 1979 and sold it to National Semiconductor in 1987; Fairchild was spun off as an independent company again in 1997. In September 2016, Fairchild was acquired by ON Semiconductor. The company had locations in the United States at San Jose, California; San Rafael, California; South Portland, Maine; West Jordan, Utah; and Mountaintop, Pennsylvania. Outside the US it operated locations in Australia; Singapore; Bucheon, South Korea; Penang, Malaysia; Suzhou, China; and Cebu, Philippines, among others. History 1950s In 1955, William Shockley founded Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory, funded by Beckman Instruments in Mountain View, California; his plan was to develop a new type ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coupling (electronics)
In electronics, electric power and telecommunication, coupling is the transfer of electrical energy from one circuit to another, or between parts of a circuit. Coupling can be deliberate as part of the function of the circuit, or it may be undesirable, for instance due to coupling to stray fields. For example, energy is transferred from a power source to an electrical load by means of conductive coupling, which may be either resistive or direct coupling. An AC potential may be transferred from one circuit segment to another having a DC potential by use of a capacitor. Electrical energy may be transferred from one circuit segment to another segment with different impedance by use of a transformer; this is known as impedance matching. These are examples of electrostatic and electrodynamic inductive coupling. Types Electrical conduction: * Direct coupling, also called conductive coupling and galvanic coupling * Resistive conduction * Atmospheric plasma channel coupling ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Widlar
Robert John Widlar (pronounced ''wide-lar''; November 30, 1937 – February 27, 1991) was an American electronics engineer and a designer of linear integrated circuits (ICs). Early years Widlar was born November 30, 1937 in Cleveland to parents of Czech, Irish and German ethnicity.Lojek, p. 250. His mother, Mary Vithous, was born in Cleveland to Czech immigrants Frank Vithous (František Vitous (or Vitouš?)) and Marie Zakova (Marie Žáková).Lojek, p. 249. His father, Walter J. Widlar, came from prominent German and Irish American families whose ancestors settled in Cleveland in the middle of the 19th century. A self-taught radio engineer, Walter Widlar worked for the radio station and designed pioneering ultra high frequency transmitters. The world of electronics surrounded him since birth: one of his brothers became the first baby monitored by wireless radio. Guided by his father, Bob developed a strong interest in electronics in early childhood. Widlar never talked ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
