Design Ideas editor Charles H. Small introduces EDN's latest engineer-submitted circuit designs, providing links to related articles from our archives, design resources elsewhere on the Web, and just-plain-fun stuff. en-us http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091.html?nid=2786 Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information. Subject to its Terms of Use Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:16:50 PST http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/790025079.html?nid=2786 Peltier devices, also known as solid-state refrigerators, or TECs (thermoelectric coolers), actively cool temperature-sensitive electronic componen... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/1630024363.html?nid=2786 Chop the noise gain to measure an op amp's real-time offset voltage introduces a new type of chopping. "Chopping the noise gain" is a sim... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/840023684.html?nid=2786 To discover potential power-supply problems, you must run dynamic and static tests. The simple current sink in Precision voltage-controlled current... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/1790022979.html?nid=2786 In general, audio equalizers need second-order bandpass filters. If implements using state variable techniques you would need three op amps per cha... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/2000022200.html?nid=2786 In 1971, Signetics—later Philips—introduced the NE555 timer, and manufacturers are still producing more than 1 billion of them a year. ... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/640021464.html?nid=2786 One way to obviate the nonlinear characteristic of an RTD sensor is to design analog hardware to perform the curve-fitting mathematics before any a... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/550020655.html?nid=2786 A Hopfield network can convert analog signals into digital format and can perform associative recalling, signal estimation, and combinatorial optim... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/990019899.html?nid=2786 This Design Idea employs the Microchip PIC10F222 single-chip microcontroller. You program this microcontroller's internal memory using the MCL... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/310018831.html?nid=2786 Engineers have for many years used passive-CMV (common-mode voltage) inductive cancellation. Sometimes called a "humbucker transformer" b... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/1790018179.html?nid=2786 In "Chopper-stabilized transimpedance amplifier nulls out background illumination," the reference signal from the light chopper as a squa... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/1110017711.html?nid=2786 With alternative power sources, such as wind or solar, a distorted 60-Hz sine wave is more likely to be present. To measure this distortion, you ca... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/850017085.html?nid=2786 Some microcontrollers permit operation below a supply voltage of 3V, directly from a 3V alkaline or lithium battery. It is important to monitor the... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/1350016335.html?nid=2786 The circuit in Use a TL431 shunt regulator to limit high ac input voltage limits, or clamps, input-ac voltages higher than 260V rms to levels safe ... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/860015686.html?nid=2786 In test-and-measurement applications, you must provide overvoltage protection for the output terminals of amplifiers, power supplies, and similar c... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/440015044.html?nid=2786 If I may step into Charles Small's space for a moment, I'd like to give Design Ideas fans a heads-up. Actually, three. 1) Today marks the debut of... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/430015043.html?nid=2786 "Single op amp achieves double hysteresis-transfer characteristic" presents a more efficient way to implement a three-position controller... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/1850014385.html?nid=2786 This issue's Design Ideas provide high-level coding of functions in CPLDs and FPGAs. "CPLD's internal oscillator performs autocalibration auto... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/1720013972.html?nid=2786 If you need only a few nonvolatile gates, consider using a component common in analog- and mixed-signal systems, the digital potentiometer, instead... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/1570013157.html?nid=2786 A software solution is the simplest way to compensate the system offset when interfacing a resistive bridge sensor with an analog to digital conver... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/210012621.html?nid=2786 Offline power supplies that drive loads of 200W and more require inrush-current limiters. Without increasing power losses during normal operation, ... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/1650011965.html?nid=2786 Armed with the circuit in "Analyzer tests reverse-recovery behavior of diodes," you can obtain consistant reverse-recovery data on device... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/750011475.html?nid=2786 This issue's batch of Design Ideas is slated for harsh applications. In "Build a complete industrial-ADC interface using a microcontroller and... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/1500010950.html?nid=2786 The Power Integrations Topswitch family of integrated flyback-regulator ICs provides exceptional performance in small, low-pincount packages. Thi... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/1160010316.html?nid=2786 This issue's clutch of Design Ideas emanates from the analog electronics domain. Frequent contributor Marián Štofka scores a double w... http://www.edn.com/blog/910000091/post/930010093.html?nid=2786 An FYI for you fans of Design Ideas: EDN's Editorial Director, Maury Wright, has posted a column discussing the Video Design Ideas we've st...