Electronics Overview

Basic Circuits, Power Supplies,

Transistors, Cable Impedance
 Basic Circuit Analysis
• What we won’t do:
– common electronics-class things: RLC, filters, detailed
analysis
• What we will do:
– set out basic relations
– look at a few examples of fundamental importance (mostly
resistive circuits)
– look at diodes, voltage regulation, transistors
– discuss impedances (cable, output, etc.)

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 The Basic Relations
• V is voltage (volts: V); I is current (amps: A); R is
resistance (ohms: ); C is capacitance (farads: F); L
is inductance (henrys: H)
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• Ohm’s Law: V = IR; V = C  Idt; V = L(dI/dt)
• Power: P = IV = V2/R = I2R
• Resistors and inductors in series add

• Capacitors in parallel add
• Resistors and inductors in parallel, and capacitors in
series add according to:
1 1 1 1
   
X tot X1 X 2 X 3


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 Example: Voltage divider
• Voltage dividers are a classic way to
set a voltage
• Works on the principle that all charge
flowing through the first resistor goes R1
through the second
– so V  R-value V Vout
– provided any load at output is 1
negligible: otherwise some current R2 3
goes there too 2
• So Vout = V(R2/(R1 + R2))
• R2 here is a variable resistor, or
potentiometer, or “pot”
– typically three terminals: R12 is fixed,
tap slides along to vary R13 and R23,
though R13 + R23 = R12 always

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 Real Batteries: Output Impedance
• A power supply (battery) is characterized by a
voltage (V) and an output impedance (R)
– sometimes called source impedance
• Hooking up to load: Rload, we form a voltage
divider, so that the voltage applied by the battery
R
terminal is actually Vout = V(Rload/(R+Rload))
– thus the smaller R is, the “stiffer” the power supply
V – when Vout sags with higher load current, we call
this “droop”
• Example: If 10.0 V power supply droops by 1%
(0.1 V) when loaded to 1 Amp (10  load):
D-cell example: 6A – internal resistance is 0.1 
out of 1.5 V battery – called output impedance or source impedance
indicates 0.25  output
– may vary with load, though (not a real resistor)
impedance

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 UCSD: Physics 121; 2012

Power Supplies and Regulation

• A power supply typically starts with a transformer
– to knock down the 340 V peak-to-peak (120 V AC) to something
reasonable/manageable
• We will be using a center-tap transformer
A A’

AC input CT AC output

B B’

– (A’  B’) = (winding ratio)(A  B)

• when A > B, so is A’ > B’
– geometry of center tap (CT) guarantees it is midway between A’
and B’ (frequently tie this to ground so that A’ = B’)
– note that secondary side floats: no ground reference built-in

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 UCSD: Physics 121; 2012

Diodes
• Diodes are essentially one-way current gates
• Symbolized by:
• Current vs. voltage graphs:

acts just like a wire

(will support arbitrary
I I I I
current) provided that
voltage is positive
V V 0.6 V V V
plain resistor diode idealized diode WAY idealized diode

the direction the

arrow points in the
diode symbol is the
direction that current
will flow
no current flows current flows
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 Diode Makeup
• Diodes are made of semiconductors (usually silicon)
• Essentially a stack of p-doped and n-doped silicon to
form a p-n junction
– doping means deliberate impurities that contribute extra
electrons (n-doped) or “holes” for electrons (p-doped)
• Transistors are n-p-n or p-n-p arrangements of
semiconductors

p-type n-type

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 LEDs: Light-Emitting Diodes
• Main difference is material is more exotic than silicon used in ordinary
diodes/transistors
– typically 2-volt drop instead of 0.6 V drop
• When electron flows through LED, loses energy by emitting a photon of
light rather than vibrating lattice (heat)
• LED efficiency is 30% (compare to incandescent bulb at 10%)
• Must supply current-limiting resistor in series:
– figure on 2 V drop across LED; aim for 1–10 mA of current

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 Getting DC back out of AC
• AC provides a means for us to distribute electrical
power, but most devices actually want DC
– bulbs, toasters, heaters, fans don’t care: plug straight in
– sophisticated devices care because they have diodes and
transistors that require a certain polarity
• rather than oscillating polarity derived from AC
• this is why battery orientation matters in most electronics
• Use diodes to “rectify” AC signal
• Simplest (half-wave) rectifier uses one diode:
input voltage

AC source load

diode only conducts voltage seen by load

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 Doing Better: Full-wave Diode Bridge
• The diode in the rectifying circuit simply prevented
the negative swing of voltage from conducting
– but this wastes half the available cycle
– also very irregular (bumpy): far from a “good” DC source
• By using four diodes, you can recover the negative
swing:
B & C conduct
input voltage
A B
AC source

A & D conduct
C load
D
voltage seen by load

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