Electronics: A General Introduction for the Non-Specialist

495 Pages·1968·12.548 MB·English

by  G. H. Olsen B.Sc., C.Eng., A.M.I.E.R.E., A. Inst. P. (auth.)

G. H. Olsen
Electronics
A General Introduction for the
Non-Specialist
ELECTRONICS
A General Introduction
for the Non-Specialist
ELECTRONICS
A General Introduction for
the Non-Specialist
G. H. OLSEN
B.Sc., C.Eng., A.M.I.E.R.E., A. Inst. P.
Senior Lecturer, Physics Dept., Rutherford
College of Technology
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
First published by
Butterworth & Co. (Publishers) Ltd.
ISBN 978-1-4899-6249-2 ISBN 978-1-4899-6535-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-6535-6
©
The Author
1968
Originally published by Plenum US in 1968.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1968
Suggested U.D.C. number: 621·38
Library 0/ Congress Catalog Card Number 68 - 25338
PREFACE
There can be few scientific workers nowadays who do not use electronic equip
ment in their work. Forthose who arenot specialists in electronic engineering
the field of electronics must indeed seem bewildering; every year sees the
invention of new devices or the development of existing ones, and the pace at
which electronics is expanding is so rapid that even electronic engineers feel
that they are being overwhelmed. This book has therefore been written as a
general introduction to the subject for those who find formal or examination
textstobe unsuitable for their needs.
The author is indebted to several firms for their willingness to allow publi
cation of data and circuits from their commercialliterature: Mullard Ltd.,
Ferranti Ltd., Marconi Ltd., Texas Instruments Ltd., SGS-Fairchild Ltd .•
Philco International Ltd., Tektronix Ltd., Solartron Instruments Ltd .•
Standard Telephonesand Cables Ltd., Hilger and Watts Ltd., Baldwin Instru
ments Ltd .• Evans Electroselenium Ltd., and Mallory Ratteries Ltd. Thanks
are also due to the Editors of Electronic Engineering, Wireless World, Instru
ment Practice and Philips Technical Library as well as the Institution of
Electronic and Radio Engineers for permission to publish circuit diagrams
taken from various papers referred to in the text.
The author is grateful to the staff of Butterworth and Co. Ltd. for their
help in the preparation of the manuscript; he also wishes to thank Miss
Rosalind Lowe who typed the manuscript with meticulous care and who
cheerfully suffered the many alterations in the handwritten work.
Finally the author must express his great appreciation to his wife, Mary.
Her fortitude and self-denial as weil as her assistance in reading and comment
ing upon the manuscript have not gone unnoticed. It is probably true to say
that without her encouragement and support this book would never have been
written.
5
CONTENTS
s
Preface
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . .• . . . . 11
Explaining the need for chemists and others to know some electronics and out
lining the aims or the book
2. Passive Components-Resistors, Capacitors and Inductors 15
Resistors; colour coding; types in common use; parallel and series combinations;
non-linear resistors; temperature measurements using thermistors; capacitors;
charging and discharging; types in common use; inductors; mutual inductance;
microminiaturization
3. The Response of Circuits containing Passive Components 52
Waveforms; pulse response o r CR and LR circuits; sine waves; response of LCR
circuits to sine waves; elementary a.c. theory and the j notation
4. Active Devices 1-Thermionic Valves 80
The diode; rectification; demodulation; diode clamping; the triode; triode para
meters; triode as an amplifier; single-stage amplifier design using the Ioad line
and graphical techniques; automatic grid bias; multielectrode valves; screen-grid
valves; pentode and beamtetrode
5. Active Devices 2-Semiconductors 101
Conductors, insulators and semiconductors; energy Ievel diagrams; intrinsic and
impurity conduction in semiconductor crystals; the pn junction diode; zener dio
des; tunnel diodes; the junction transistor; transistor operation; the unijunction
transistor; field-effect transistors
6. Indicating Instruments ........................................ 140
Moving-coil and moving-iron meters; multi-range meters; hot-wire and thermo
couple types; galvanometers
7. Power Supplies 157
Batteries; solar cells; transformers; rectifiers and rectifying circuits; smoothing;
complete power packs for low-powered equipment; voltage and current stabili
zation; stabilized power supplies; power supplies for transistorized equipment;
extremely high-voltage supplies (e.h.t. supplies)
7
CONTENTS
8. Thyratronsand Silicon Controlled Rectifiers (Thyristors) 190
Thyratron construction and behaviour; horizontal and vertical control of thyra
trons; fumace and motor control; silicon controlled rectifiers and their behaviour;
control using unijunction transistors; s.c.r. circuits for power supplies
9. Amp/ifiers 210
Classification; voltage amplifiers; decibel scales; wide-band amplifiers; negative
feedback; the cathode-follower; transistor amplifiers; tuned amplifiers; ampli
fiers using field-effect transistors; power amplifiers; d.c. and differential ampli
fiers; chopper stabilization; operational amplifiers and the principles ofanalogue
computing
10. Oscillators 294
Sine wave generators; LC oscillators for high frequencies; electron-coupled oscil
lator; crystal oscillators; RC oscillators for low frequencies; tunnel diodes and
unijunction oscillators; relaxation types; the multivibrator; the transistron; trian
gular wave generators; triggered oscillators
11. The Cathode-Ray Oscilloscope 328
The construction of the cathode-ray tube; the timebase; the Y-amplifier and
specifications of some commercial instruments; X-amplifiers; practical considera
tions in using the oscilloscope; voltage and time measurements; frequency and
phase difference measurements; photographing and recording oscilloscope
traces
12. Photoelectric Devices 353
Photoemissive, photoconductive and photovoltaic cells; applications of photo
cells, photometers, photoelectric relays, densitometers; the Spekker absorptio
meter; the phototransistor
13. Miscellaneous Measuring Instruments 376
Valve voltmeters; wave analysers; the Q-meter; semi-electrometer circuits; the
electrometer valve; pH meter; measuring bridges; servo systems and potentio
metric recorders; phase-sensitive detection; dekatron and digitron counting
tubes and associated circuits using geiger tubes and solid-state detectors; the
binary scale; binary counting; binary-to-decimal conversion; digital instruments
14. Introduction to Logic Circuits 433
The elements oflogic and control; logic circuits; automatic control; bistable coun
ters; binary-to-decimal converters; digital voltmeter
15. Practica/ Considerations 458
Maintenance and servicing; test equipment needed; the principles of fault
finding; practical hints for mounting and servicing transistors; soldering; building
equipment
8
CONTENTS
Appendices
1. Differentiating and Integrating Circuits . .. .. .. .. .. .. . . . .. . .. . . . .. .. . . .. . 468
2. Decibel Scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
3. Calculation of C and L Values for Simple Power Supplies ................. 470
4. Range of Preferred Values of Resistors ................................... 472
S. Matrix Algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............ 473
Index .......................................•................ 487
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1
INTRODUCTION
The average reader usually avoids reading the preface of a textbook because
such an introduction is often little more than a Statement of the author's aims.
in writing the book, together with numerous acknowledgments to those who
have helped him in his work. Understandably this can be dull for those who
are keen to delve immediately into the subject matter. lt is in the hope of
arresting the attention of such readers that this short introductory chapter has.
been written. In it an attempt has been made to ensure that all readers know
what the aims of the book are and what they can expect from a study of the
text.
Paradoxically, Iet us begin by stating what this book is not intended to do.
It is not an examination textbook that supplies the information and circuit
analyses that have to be regurgitated when answering what are often stereo
typed examination questions. Examinations, one supposes, are a necessary
part of our education system and many excellent texts have been published
that cater for the examination candidate. Unfortunately, such books do not
meet the needs of many scientists who wish to gain only a working knowledge
of the operation of some of the electronic equipment they use. It is not often
that non-specialists in electronics are required to design electronic equipment
from basic principles, but they may :find it useful to be able to modify or ex
tend the capabilities of their instruments, or be in a position to suggest such
modi:fications or extensions to others. lt is also useful to have suffi.cient know
ledge to read speci:fications, to buy equipment wisely and to approach manu
facturers and others knowledgeably. The author has enjoyed the privilege of
teaching many such people who required a course that started right from the
beginning assuming no knowledge whatever ofthe subject. Too many courses,
these students felt, were aimed at the professional physicist and electronic or
electrical engineer. These latter workers often require a detailed analytical
approach and usually bring to the lectures a considerable background know
ledge appropriate to electronics; many of the available textbooks, under
standably, are written for such specialists. For the graduate chemist, biolo
gist, medical doctor, mechanical engineer and mathematician, however, there
has often been insuffi.cient time in their studies to include work on electron
ics, and since electronic techniques are now widely used in almost every kind
of measurement and control, many feel the inadequacy of their knowledge of
11
ELECTRONICS
electronics. This book has therefore been written for those who want an
introductory account of the subject that is qualitative, informative, and is not
overburdened with mathematics and circuit analyses. Although it is assumed
that the reader has no previous knowledge of electronics, some acquaintance
with certain aspects of physics and mathematics must be taken for granted.
The reader is expected to have heard of Ohm's law, to be able to manipulate
algebraic expressions, to perform very simple differentiations and to know
what is meant by a simple integral. The mathematical content has, however,
been restricted, but where necessary sufficient instruction is given. (The only
exception to this is the section dealing with operational amplifiers.) Partic
ular attention has been paid to the sections dealing with the j-operator and
complex numbers in a.c. theory, both of which are extremely easy to under
stand.
In avoiding Laplace transforms and mathematical aspects of the quantum
theory, wave mechanics and solid-state physics, it has been necessary to
attempt qualitative descriptions of the processes involved. Such 'mechanis
tic' pictures as have been drawn rely heavily on analogies. Whilst such inter
pretations are not, one hopes, incorrect, the reader should be aware that they
have limitations, and not press the analogies too far. Bearing this in mind,
useful pictures of device behaviour can be constructed that will enable the
reader to approach the use of such devices with confidence.
Ofthose who attend the author's introductory course on electronics, chem
ists have been in the majority and it is for this reason that the book is biased
towards their needs. The subject of electronics is the same, however, for all
students and so the major part of the book should prove satisfactory for wor
kers in other fields. Undergraduate electric~l engineers and physicists may
also welcome a qualitative first approach.
A good deal of attention has been paid in the early chapters to the basic
<:omponents, such as resistors, capacitors, inductors, valves and transistors.
Readers are then introduced to combinations of these components that form
the fundamental circuits from which most electronic equipment is built.
An attempt has been made to keep a balance between thermionic valve cir
oeuits and those that use transistors and allied semiconductor devices. Although
transistors are rapidly replacing thermionic valves in most applications, it
would be wrong, in the author's view, to regard thermionic valves as of no
account and to discount them as obsolete, especially in measurement appli
cations. Several practical aspects of electranics are discussed and some use
ful circuits are given with details of the components used. Very often text
books intended for examination work pay little attention to the practical
details of the circuits they analyse.
Many electronic devices seem complex at first sight, but it should be realiz
ed that all electronic circuits, no matter how complex they may seem, can be
12