Component Basics

To understand how wind turbines function, think of how a basic fan works.

• Current (typically electricity) flows into a motor
• The electrical power from the current makes the motor spin
• The spinning motion of the motor is applied to an axle
• The axle is connected to the fan blades
• The fan blades rotate from the energy produced by the motor and axle
• The blades create an air flow which is pointed away from the device

Simple enough, right?

Wind turbines work generally like a fan - but in reverse. Reverse the process and you have created a wind powered electricity generator.

• Wind blows over the fan blades
• The blades are connected to a horizontal axle
• The rotating axle is connected to an electric motor
• As the axle rotates, magnets turn around coiled wires
• The energy produced flows through the wires
• The current is harnessed in a battery bank or directly applied to a device

If you’d like to see first hand how a wind-turbine produces energy, you can try a simple wind turbine experiment kit where you can assemble a basic energy producing wind turbine and experiment with alternative energy sources.

Are you color challenged? Don’t know what color goes best with another?

Luckily, there are many online tools to help you muddle your way through whether you are designing a web site or trying to find the perfect paint color for your home. Many will provide color suggestions based on the age-old color wheel but there are many creative tools that can even provide a color palette from an image.

Here are some of the best ones:

• Color Hunter is a place to find and make color palettes created from images. To find color palettes on Color Hunter, enter a search term or search by tag or hex color code or image URL. If you have an image, you can upload it and get a color palette based on the colors in the image.

www.colorhunter.com

• Kuler, from Adobe is a web-hosted application that generates color themes. With Kuler you can experiment quickly with color variations and browse thousands of themes.  Kuler panels are built into Adobe Illustrator® CS4, Photoshop® CS4, InDesign® CS4, Fireworks® CS4, and Flash® CS4 Professional software.

www.kuler.adobe.com

• If you are looking for Color Combination ideas, check out the combo library. The library contains hundreds of color swatches, along with their color hex values. You can also use the website color grabbing tool or the search tool to get a quick start.

www.colorcombos.com

• Toucan, the tool from aviary.com, allows you to pick and analyze colors. Choose up to 20 colors per palette using color association rules or an uploaded image. Toucan knows all about color theory, and you can even see a color deficiency preview.

www.aviary.com

Andy Bauer is a tech writer for West Florida Components. You can view more of his articles on the blog at http://www.westfloridacomponents.com.

(image: Kakade, Creative Commons)

Zener diodes are a special type of diode which permit current to flow in the forward direction as in a normal diode, but where it differs is that it also allows current flow in the reverse direction when the voltage exceeds the breakdown voltage also referred to as Zener voltage or the Zener knee voltage. This electrical property was discovered by Clarence Zener and hence the name Zener diode. The breakdown voltage can be controlled and fixed during the doping process of the diode’s production.

A conventional diode does not let a significant amount of current flow through it in the reverse bias when the voltage is below the breakdown voltage. But when the voltage is exceeded to a point below the reverse breakdown voltage the diode is subjected to high current due to avalanche breakdown and is damaged forever. A Zener diode on the other hand exhibits a controlled breakdown and lets the current keep the voltage across the diode at the Zener voltage. Thus a Zener diode can be used to generate a reference voltage to be used in an amplifier stage, or even as a voltage stabilizer in low current applications.

A Zener diode can be used for a number of applications due to its properties. Apart from the above-mentioned uses, it can also be used to regulate the voltage across the circuit. To do so, it is connected in parallel with the variable voltage source with the diode reverse biased. The Zener diode thus conducts only when the voltage is at the Zener diode’s breakdown voltage, and from then on maintains the voltage at the same value.

A multilayer chip capacitor, which is abbreviated as MLCC, is a thin film capacitor that is constructed of several layers of conductors which are set apart by the dielectric material. The conductive layers are joined to the interconnect lands through conductive vias. The interconnect lands permit the capacitor to be added to a circuit. The multi layer capacitor can provide the ability to raise the capacitance while at the same time it can lower the inductance and the interconnect resistance. As an example of it’s use, the capacitor can be mounted near a processor circuit on a circuit board.

Multilayer ceramic chip capacitors have three main benefits:

• small size

• high capacity

• easily mounted

For those reasons, they are able to be used for various electronic devices and in high frequency circuits. In one example, they are often used a decoupling capacitors placed in the power supply circuits for LSI, which are chips with tens of thousands of transistors per chip.

Datasheets for electronic parts have become relatively easy to find on the internet. Here are a few of my favorite places to find spec sheets for electronic components:

http://www.alldatasheet.com/ - easy to use, straightforward search for a datasheet. One thing I like is that if you put in a part number like LM317T, it will return the results on the next page sorted by manufacturers. It also gives you a list of other similar part numbers and the option to search by other terms in the results just by clicking on the hyperlink.

http://www.datasheetcatalog.com/ - also easy to use. Less noise than alldatasheet because the results that are returned are only hyperlinked on the actual pdf file.

http://www.datasheetlocator.com/ - not as easy to use as the searches begin with the manufacturer, and sometimes you don’t know who the manufacturer is, BUT the best thing is that is will bring you right to the place on the manufacturer’s web site where you can search for datasheets. This is useful as long as the manufacturer hasn’t moved their datasheets to different files!

http://www.datasheetarchive.com/ - this is my least favorite of all the datasheet resource sites because of the way the results are returned. Very clunky and not intuitive because of the large number of ads on their site.

Sometimes with obsolete parts, finding a datasheet may prove elusive. When I can not find one on the major datasheet sites, I often turn to google. If you simply do a search by part number you are often presented with results of electronic component companies that don’t actually own the parts, don’t link you to a page other than a list of parts and don’t have any information about the parts. You can determine those results immediately by the sub-text listed in the google search engine results. If you see a list of part numbers like this, you know that more than like you won’t find the datasheet or other info there:

Most of the datasheets on the internet are in Adobe pdf format. So, you can refine your search on google by simply adding ‘.pdf’ (with or without the quotes is fine) to your search string. That will sometimes pop the datasheets up to the top for you. Another search query I use is “part number .pdf .edu”. The reason is that universities often have a nice store of datasheets.

Sometimes the only way is to go directly to the web site of the manufacturer and looking there. Very often their sites are so large that not every page gets indexed into the major search engines. While most of the datasheets can be found on the major datasheet resource sites, I have had luck many times on the manufacturer’s web sites, too.

Happy datasheet hunting!

I saw this contest today and wanted to share it with others. Of course I already entered! If you are unfamiliar with the Flip Mino, you can read more about it here:
Flip Mino.

Great little camcorder that is so easy to use and even easier to upload to your computer and the web.

Ryan McLean from Smarter Wealth is giving away a brand new Flip Mino HD to one lucky reader. This will be the easiest Flip Mino HD to win because barely anyone is going to enter meaning more chances that you can win.

The Flip Mino HD is the coolest gadget around. You can shoot one hour of video in HD (so you can play it on your plasma) and you can even edit your footage right on your device. This device is so small that it will fit in your pocket so you will never miss capturing a moment ever again.

To enter all you have to do is sign up for Ryan’s newsletter and post about the competition.

Check out all the details of how you can enter the Win a Flip Mino HD competition now.

The LM324AD is a readily available quad operational amplifier.

The LM324 series is a low−cost quad op amp with true differential inputs. It has a few notable benefits over regular operational amplifiers constructed in single supply applications. The quad op amp operates at voltages as low as 3V up to a high of 32V with quiescent currents about 1/5 of these associated with the MC1741 (on a per amplifier basis). The common mode input range includes the negative supply, thereby eliminating the necessity for external biasing components in many applications. The output voltage range also includes the negative power supply voltage.

The LM324 series is made using four internally compensated, two−stage operational amplifiers. The first stage of each consists of differential input devices Q20 and Q18 with input buffer transistors Q21 and Q17 and the differential to single ended converter Q3 and Q4. The first stage performs not only the first stage gain function but also performs the level shifting and transconductance reduction functions. By reducing the transconductance, a smaller compensation capacitor (only 5.0 pF) can be employed, thus saving chip area.

The transconductance reduction is accomplished by splitting the collectors of Q20 and Q18. Another feature of this input stage is that the input common mode range can include the negative supply or ground, in single supply operation, without saturating either the input devices or the differential to single−ended converter. The second stage consists of a standard current source load amplifier stage.

Each amplifier is biased from an internal−voltage regulator which has a low temperature coefficient thus giving each amplifier good temperature characteristics as well as excellent power supply rejection.

Electrolytic capacitors are constructed of high purity aluminum foil that has an aluminum oxide thin film dielectric on their surface. West Florida Components has a large selection of radial electrolytic capacitors in stock.

Here’s a list of the Radial Electrolytic Capacitors available.
0.22uF .22uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor CE-KD Series

0.22uF .22uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor EV.22M50AA

0.33uF .33uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

0.47uF .47uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor HFS Series

0.47uF .47uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor Capar

0.47uF .47uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor Nichicon

0.47uF .47uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor RMRM Series

0.47uF .47uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor SME50VB0.47FM

0.47uF .47uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor Yeong-Long LTD

0.56uF .56uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor Richey

0.56uF .56uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

1uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor UVX1H010MDA1CA

1uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor 5130105M050JA40SB

1uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor ECR Series

1uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor Elna

1uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor HFS Series

1uF 100V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor KME Series

1uF 100V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

1uF 200V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

1uF 315V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor CEUSM2F010A

1uF 350V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor NTE

1uF 350V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

1uF 450V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

2.2uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor NRSA2R2M50V

2.2uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

2.2uF 100V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

2.2uF 200V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

2.2uF 250V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor UVR2ER2MEA1AA

2.2uF 250V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

2.2uF 400V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor KME Series

3.3uF 63V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor 222203758338

3.3uF 100V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor 517D335M100JA7K

3.3uF 100V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor 517D335M100

3.3uF 160V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

3.3uF 200V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

3.3uF 350V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor 335RMR350M

3.3uF 450V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

4.7uF 35V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

4.7uF 25V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

4.7uF 450V Radial Electrolytic Capacitors

4.7uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor 2038-034-36478

4.7uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor CE-SE Series

4.7uF 50V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor HFS Series

4.7uF 63V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor SME Series

4.7uF 100V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor 475CKR100M

4.7uF 160V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor CEBSM2C4R7M1-T4

4.7uF 200V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor UVX204R7MPA1TD

4.7uF 200V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

4.7uF 315V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor 5150475M315CD7K

4.7uF 350V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor KME Series

4.7uF 400V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor 475CKH400M

6.8uF 25V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

6.8uF 35V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor CRE Series

6.8uF 35V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

10uF 16V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor 5150106M016JA6A

10uF 16V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

10uF 350V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

10uF 35V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor NRSA Series

10uF 35V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor UVR1V100MDA1TA

10uF 35V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

10uF 35V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor 515D106M035
22uF 400V Radial Snap In Electrolytic Capacitor

22uF 450V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

33uF 450V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor

100uF 16V Radial Electrolytic Capacitors

330uF 200V Radial Electrolytic Snap-In Capacitors KL20337M22035

330uF 385V Radial Electrolytic Capacitors B43502-D337-M90

470uF 400V Radial Electrolytic Snap-In Capacitors

560uF 160V Radial Electrolytic Capacitors

1000uF 100V Radial Electrolytic Snap-In Capacitors

Assorted Radial Electrolytic Capacitors 450V

A fuse is over current protection device, which breaks the circuit in case of an excessive current flow, thus protecting the other electronic components of the circuit from any damage that excessive current may cause. The fuse normally consists of a metal strip or wire that melts when excessive current starts flowing through it.

Fuses are integral parts of power distribution systems to prevent any damage or fire that may be caused as a result of excessive current passing through them.

Fuses are defined to be of two basic types - the slow blow and the fast acting.

The slow blow type of fuse has a coiled construction inside it. These fuses break the circuit only when the excessive current is continuous and not just a current surge. Short circuits are this type of continuous overload which are best protected by slow blow type of fuses.

In fact acting fuses, on the other hand, the fuse opens the circuit very quickly in case of any current surge, even if temporary. This is ideal or analog meter movements which can quickly get destroyed if excessive current flows through them. While a fast acting fuse may be used in place of a slow blow fuse, the reverse should not be done as the fuse may not break the circuit in time to protect the electronic components from damage.

Fuses are given different ratings to determine which fuse is best suited to a particular circuit or system. Rated current of the fuse gives the maximum current that can pass through the fuse without causing it to break the circuit. The I2t value measures the energy required to blow the fuse and indicates the energy that the circuit elements need to withstand before the fuse breaks the circuit.

Author Resource:- Andy Bauer is a tech writer for West Florida Components - an internet based retailer of electronic parts and supplies. Visit West Florida Components for a large selection of electronic components and guides.

Soldering is the process of joining two or more parts together with a fusible alloy, such as tin or lead, using a heated instrument called a soldering iron.

Soldered joints, if improperly done, may need to have the solder removed in order to re-solder them. A poor joint may result in complete failure of the electrical connection over a period of time. Poor quality of solder, improper cleaning of the surface before soldering, lack of correct technique, corrosion of the joint due to leftover flux, movement (shake) of the joint before the solder has cooled may all cause a poor soldered joint.

Re-soldering may also be required in order to replace a defective electronic component or to troubleshoot an electronics problem.

The process of removing solder and components is called desoldering.

There are a few common methods of desoldering. The two most commons techniques are described below. What they have in common is that both require the use of a soldering iron to complete the task.

A common method of desoldering is to use a desoldering pump that is a vacuum pump similar in operation to a bicycle pump, but in reverse. It has a spring-loaded plunger that breaks the solder and is sucked away by the pump. Repeated operation of the pump may be required in order to completely desolder a joint. The pump has to be operated carefully in order not to damage the PCB or the electronic component.

A solder wick or braid is an alternative to desoldering pumps. Here the copper wick is placed over the joint and the solder is melted by means of a soldering iron. The solder gradually flows into the wick and hence gets removed. The wick must be removed from the PCB before it cools down as otherwise it may damage the board.

Something you might want to take into consideration is that solder wick is the more expensive alternative so if you need to do a lot of desoldering, you may want to use the solder pump as your primary method, then use the solder wick to complete the task.

It is recommended that a soldering iron in the 15W to 30W range be used. Soldering irons with higher wattage may result in damage to the board or components, however some heavier connections (like a chassis) may require a higher wattage iron to properly remove all the solder.

Take precautions when working with solder. Do your work in a well-ventilated area as fumes from the resin can get into your lungs or eyes. Be careful not to let the hot solder splash you. You could get severely burned. Lastly, consider using eye protection such as work goggles when working with solder.

Desoldering is not as difficult as you might think. Take heed of the precautions and follow the suggested methods for an easy desoldering experience.

Author Resource:- Andy Bauer is a tech writer for West Florida Components - an internet based retailer of electronic parts and supplies. Visit West Florida Components for a large selection of electronic components and guides.