High Voltage Generator

This high voltage generator was designed  with the aim of testing the electrical break-down protection used on the railways. These  protection measures are used to ensure that  any external metal parts will never be at a  high voltage. If that were about to happen,  a very large current would flow (in the order  of kilo-amps), which causes the protection  to operate, creating a short circuit to ground effectively earthing the metal parts. This hap-pens when, for example, a lightning strike hits  the overhead line (or their supports) on the  railways.

This generator generates a high voltage of  1,000 V, but with an output current that is limited to few milliamps. This permits the electrical breakdown protection to be tested with-out it going into a short circuit state. The circuit uses common parts throughout: a  TL494 pulse-width modulator, several FETs or  bipolar switching transistors, a simple 1.4 VA  mains transformer and a discrete voltage multiplier. P1 is used to set the maximum current  and P2 sets the output voltage.

High Voltage Generator Circuit Diagram

The use of a voltage multiplier has the advantage that the working voltage of the smoothing capacitors can be lower, which makes them easier to obtain. The TL494 was chosen  because it can still operate at a voltage of  about 7 V, which means it can keep on working even when the batteries are nearly empty.  The power is provided by six C-type batteries, which keeps the total weight at a reason-able level.

The 2x4 V secondary of AC power transformer  (Tr1) is used back to front. It does mean that  the 4 V winding has double the rated voltage  across it, but that is acceptable because the  frequency is a lot higher (several kilo-Hertz)  than the 50 Hz (60 Hz) the transformer is  designed for. The final version also includes a display of the  output voltage so that the breakdown volt-age can be read.

From a historical perspective there follows a  bit of background information. In the past a different system was worked  out. Every high-voltage support post has a  protection system, and it isn’t clear when  the protection had operated and went into  a short-circuit state due to a large current  discharge.

Since very large currents were involved, a certain Mr. Van Ark figured out a solution for this.  He used a glass tube filled with a liquid containing a red pigment and a metal ball. When  a large current discharge occurred the metal  ball shot up due to the strong magnetic field,  which caused the pigment to mix with the liquid. This could be seen for a good 24 hours after the event. After a thunder storm it was  easy to see where a discharge current took  place: one only had to walk past the tubes  and have a good look at them.

Unfortunately, things didn’t work out as  expected. Since it often took a very long  time before a discharge occurred, the pigment settled down too much. When a dis-charge finally did occur the pigment no  longer mixed with the liquid and nothing was  visible. This system was therefore sidelined,  but it found its place in the (railway) history  books as the ‘balls of Van Ark’.

Author : By Jac Hettema – Copyright : Elektor

Source:  http://www.ecircuitslab.com/2012/03/high-voltage-generator.html

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Three Phase Appliance Protector

    Many of our costly appliances require three-phase AC supply for operation. Failure of any of the phases makes the appliance prone to erratic functioning and may even lead to failure. Hence it is of paramount importance to monitor the availability of the three-phase supply and switch off the appliance in the event of failure of one or two phases. The power to the appliance should resume with the availability of all phases of the supply with certain time delay in order to avoid surges and momentary fluctuations.

    The complete circuit of a three phase appliance protector is described here. It requires three-phase supply, three 12V relays and a timer IC NE555 along with 230V coil contactor havingfour poles. Relays RL1 and RL2 act as a sensing devices for phases Y and B, respectively. These relays are connected such that each acts as an enabling device for the subsequent relay. Therefore the combination of the relays forms a logical AND gate connected serially.

    The availability of phase R energises relay RL1 and its normally opened (N/O) contacts close to connect phase Y to the input of transformer X2. The availability of phase Y energises relay RL2 and its N/O contacts close to connect phase B to the input of transformer X3, thus applying a triggering input to timer IC NE555 (IC1).

    Therefore the delay timer built around NE555 triggers only when all the phases (R, Y and B) are available. It provides a delay of approximately four seconds, which energises relay RL3 and its N/O contact closes to connect the line to the energizing coil of four-pole contactor relay RL4. Contactor RL4 closes to ensure the availability of the three-phase supply to the appliance.

    The rating of contactor RL4 can be selected according to the full-load current rating of the appliances. Here the contact current rating of the four-pole contactor is up to 32A. The availability of phases R, Y and B is monitored by appropriate LEDs connected across the secondary windings of transformers X1, X2 and X3, respectively. Hence this circuit does not require a separate indicator lamp for monitoring the availability of the three phases. When phase R is available, LED1 glows. When phase Y is available, LED2 glows. When phase B is available, LED3 glows.

     The main advantage of this protector circuit is that it protects three-phase appliances from failure of any of the phases by disconnecting the power supply through the contactor and automatically restores the three-phase supply to the appliance (with reasonable time delay) when all the phases are available.

    Assemble the circuit on a general-purpose PCB and enclose in a cabinet with the relays and contactor mounted on the backside of cabinet. Connect the appliance through external wires.

    Caution:  To avoid the risk of electric shock, ensure that AC mains is disconnected during assembly of the circuit and double check everything before connecting your circuit to the mains.

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Motional Feed Back Amplifier

This concept has appeared long back in Practical Electronics a UK based Magazine. Based on this concept I designed this circuit during 1981 to 1986 with lots of field trials and modifications, the design was frozen in 1986. I have assembled so many amplifiers for me and for my friends based on this design with various power levels. They are still kicking in so many houses. This concept can be applied to any existing amplifier also. You must listen to believe the crystal clear thumping bass response. crystal clear mid and hi frequencies. Good transient response with very low distortion. Hope you guys  will enjoy the reproduction of this amplifier.

In the art of audio sound reproduction it is well-known that the dynamic loudspeaker is more nonlinear and generates more distortion than all the other system components combined. This is particularly true at low frequencies which require large cone excursions where the stiffness of both the inner spider and the outer surround increases rapidly as the cone approaches its peak displacement, resulting in a nonlinear suspension compliance generating high distortion.

For example, in a typical high fidelity sound system at a frequency of about 35 Hz the total harmonic distortion of the amplifier might be of the order of 0.01%, whereas the distortion of the loudspeaker might range from about 3.0% to about 50.0%, depending upon the loudness. If this cone motion can be sensed and given as a feed back to the earlier stage of the amplifier, this distortion can be reduced dramatically.

Circuit diagram:

 

Motional Feed Back Amplifier Circuit Diagram

Motional Feedback (MFB) was a speaker system developed in the early 1970s by Philips Holland. It introduced a feedback system to the woofers of HiFi loudspeakers, enabling them to achieve a more extended low frequency response in a relatively small enclosure. The key benefits are a very controlled bass response. Any distortion induced by the enclosure or the woofer itself is immediately corrected by the feedback. These hand-built speakers were sounding very good and were quite expensive.

As a different approach, instead of using the cone movement, the current flow through the voice can be sensed (the current is proportional to cone movement) and can be used as a cone movement feedback. This novel idea is used in this amplifier design (I don’t claim any originality; this idea has appeared in Practical Electronics UK Magazine – long back – They might have even patented it).the amplifier used here is a standard Philips audio application circuit, with a specification of 40 Watt RMS @ < 0.06% Total Harmonic Distortion into 8 ohms impedance speaker and having a frequency response from 20Hz to 100 KHz, suitably modified for our application.

Powersupply Circuit:

Motional Feed Back Amplifier Powersupply Circuit Diagram

The amplifier is a conventional class B directly coupled quasi complimentary out put stage, operating with single 56Volt supply (no need for a regulated or dual power supply). BC157 is the pre-driver and half supply stabilizer. BD 139 is the driver, a BD139 and a BD140 complimentary pair out put driver stage with 2N3055 as final out put stage. The speaker voice coil current is sensed through 0.47 ohms resistance connected from speaker one end to ground. This signal is given as negative fed back to previous stage through 470 ohms. The half supply at speaker coupling capacitor can be adjusted by varying the 39K resistance (if required you may fix a 100K pre set in the place of 39K and adjust for half supply with no in put signal at junction of both 0.47 ohms of out put transistors and speaker coupling capacitor).

The quiescent current through output transistors can be adjusted with 22 ohms in series with two bias diodes 1N4007. The value for 50mA quiescent current will lie between 15 to 33 ohms for a supply of 56volts. The amplifier can be protected with a simple 1.5Amp fast acting fuse in the positive power supply. the amplifier can be assembled on 40watt Philips amplifier application board or on any standard plain straight line board. All the three driver transistors require cooling clips. (Standard TO220 casing cooling fins). Out put transistors require a good quality extruded alloy heat sink with insulating mounting kit and with a smear of silicon conductive grease, for good conductance of heat.

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Bass Treble Tone Control

The LM1036 is a DC controlled tone (bass/treble), volume and balance circuit for stereo applications in car radio, TV and audio systems. An additional control input allows loudness compensation to be simply effected. Four control inputs provide control of the bass, treble, balance and volume functions through application of DC voltages from a remote control system or, alternatively, from four potentiometers which may be biased from a zener regulated supply provided on the circuit.

Bass Treble Tone Control Circuit diagram :

Each tone response is defined by a single capacitor chosen to give the desired characteristic.

Features :

• Wide supply voltage range, 9V to 16V
• Large volume control range, 75 dB typical
• Tone control, ±15 dB typical
• Channel separation, 75 dB typical
• Low distortion, 0.06% typical for an input level of 0.3 Vrms
• High signal to noise, 80 dB typical for an input level of 0.3 Vrms
• Few external components required

Note :

Vcc can be anything between 9V to 16V and the output capacitors are 10uF/25V electrolytic

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Step up Down DC DC Converter Circuit Diagram

Positive output step-up and step-down dc-dc converters have a common limitation in that neither can handle input voltages that are both greater than or less than the output. For example, when converting a 12-V sealed lead/acid battery to a regulated +12 V output, the battery voltage might vary from a high of 15 V down to 10 V. 

By using a MAX641 to drive separate P-and N-cbannel MOSFETs, both ends of the inductor are switched to allow noninverting buck/boost operation. A second advantage of the circuit over most boostonly designs is that the output goes to 0 V when shutdown is activated. Inefficiency is a drawback because two MOSFETs and two diodes increase the losses in the charge and discharge path of the inductor. The circuit delivers +12 V at 100 mA at 70 percent efficiency with an 8-V input.

Step up Down DC - DC Converter Circuit Diagram

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Floating 9V Supply For DVM Modules

Most commercial DVM modules with an LCD readout are 9-V powered and based on an ICL7106 or similar A-D converter chip. These modules are typically used in laboratory power supplies and other test and measurement equipment where a drop-in solution needs to be found to realize a voltmeter readout. Particularly in power supply units, the LCD module will need to ‘float’ relative to the PSU supply rails, and this inevitably requires a separate 9-volt power supply. In some cases, batteries may be used but these have distinct advantages. The alternative, a 9-V converter effectively powered by the PSU and yet floating, is shown here.


It is built from the ubiquitous TLC555, LMC555 or 7555) timer IC acting in astable multivibrator configuration producing a 70-kHz square wave fed into a simple rectifier. In essence, capacitors C5 and C6 afford the above mentioned electrical isolation between the PSU supply rails and the LCD module. The old, bipolar NE555 IC should not be used here because it presents a too heavy loads on the converter’s own supply voltage. Depending on the exact type and brand of the CMOS 555 you’re using, resistor R6 may need to be redimensioned a bit to ensure a supply voltage of about 10 volts at pins 8 and 4 of the chip. At an output voltage of 9.5 V, the maximum output current of the converter s about 1 mA.

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Automatic Switch For Voltage Converters

New applications for DC voltage converters, such as the ‘workhorse’ LT1070, arise every day. These converters can be adapted to nearly every imaginable ratio of input and output voltages. However, all of these circuits and devices have the same shortcoming, which is that they lack an on/off switch. Especially when they are used as a source of 6-V / 12-V power for a car radio, this is highly impractical. The circuit described here adds automatic load detection to the converter. For use in a car, the additional circuitry must be small and fit into a compact enclosure together with the converter.

Since the battery voltage and ambient temperature vary over wide ranges, a simple form of load detection must be used. Besides this, the voltage drop across the load sensing circuitry must naturally be as small as possible. This can be achieved by using ‘ultra-modern’ SiGe technology. The 6 V from the battery and the 12 V from the converter are combined in the MB R2545 dual diode. Consequently, a voltage of at least 6 V is always applied to the radio (for memory retention). If the radio is switched on, it draws a current from the 6-V battery, which may be around 100 mA.

This current produces a voltage across R1. If this voltage is 75 mV or greater, the AC128 germanium transistor starts conducting and charges electrolytic capacitor C1, which is connected to the gate of the BUZ10. The MOSFET energises RE1 and thus connects the supply voltage to the converter. As a result, 12-V power is connected to the radio. The resulting increased current causes the voltage drop across R1 to increase, which is undesirable, so a 10-A Schottky diode is connected in parallel. The total voltage drop is thus approximately 0.6 V. The RC network connected to the BUZ10 ensures that the transistor always remains switched on for at least several seconds, to prevent the circuit from ‘chattering’ with varying current consumption.


If the load is switched off, the AC128 cuts off, the electrolytic capacitor discharges and the relay again disconnects the voltage converter. The residual current consumption is so small that the circuit can also be connected ahead of the ignition switch. The Schottky diodes need only be rated for the necessary voltages and currents, and above all, they should have the lowest possible saturation voltage. The exact type is not critical. Two separate diodes can also be used. A small heat sink for the MBR diode won’t hurt, but this is normally not essential. Practically any type of PNP germanium transistor that is still available or on hand can be used (AC125, AC126 and AC128 work perfectly).

It may be necessary to modify the value of R1. In combination with the germanium transistor, R1 determines which level of current will be ignored (for memory retention) and which level of current will cause the converter to be switched on. With the component values shown in Figure 1, this level is between 10 mA and 25 mA. It is recommended to measure the quiescent current (at 6 V) and switch-on current of the load and then simulate the switching process using dummy load resistors. When selecting the 6-V relay, ensure that its contacts have an adequate current rating. The actual value can be significantly greater than the nominal output current. With a load of 5 A at 12 V and a converter efficiency of 70 percent, the current through the relay contacts rises to 14.3 A.

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