student working in startup

[rainman1]

Hello everybody.

I'm a third year student working in a small high-tech company.
I started working in the company two months ago.
I deal with integrated circuits at my job.
The first month was very hard for me; I made a lot of stupid mistakes.
The second month was much better and I started being productive and the engineers in the crew were pleased from me.

I wanted to ask you please a few questions:
1. During my job, I often run into components which I'm new to, and I don’t understand well how they work. For example, a latching relay, A/D converter, AC to DC converter, etc.
could you please name some sites that deal with electronic and explain in a professional way how different components work?
2. I would be very pleased to hear from you advices on how to keep being a productive worker, and do well at work.

Thank you very much.

 

[dknguyen]

I''m not sure how a third year has not heard of those things (or more likely you have but was never taught about them which is conceivable if you're focused in computer engineering, RF, or electromagnetics), but to be honest the only way to figure out how they work is to google specifically for that part because there is too much specialized information behind each one to find it all in one place.

A latching relay...not much to find about that. It's just a relay that holds it's state in power off using a spring rather than resetting whenever power is off.

An AC-DC converter is for the most part, just a transformer (if needed to step down the voltage since this is most easily done with the greatest efficiency with AC rather than DC) followed by a bridge rectifier (almost always made of diodes- sometimes with other components attempting to better approximate an ideal diode) to make the waveform unipolar followed by a large capacitor to smooth out the big bumps of the rectiifed AC waveform to make it a DC voltage with some ripple (since capacitors are not perfect). Everything after that is usually to refine the DC voltage some more and is then called a linear regulator which is cheap, small, good performance, but super inefficient or a DC-DC [switching] converter which is where things start to get interesting...

ADCs...well you're going to have to google that one. THe main kinds are Successive Approximation Regster (SARs), Sigma Delta, Dual Slope, Flash. For the SARs converter, if you really want to know how it works you will have to find an explaination of how the SAR register works internally in addition to how the SAR register works with other components in the ADC. You will know you have found it when it starts talking about successively redistributing the input voltage among various capacitors (successively dividing the voltage over and over again) and each time comparing it to a reference voltage using a comparator in order to figure out the bits in the digital output one-at-a-time from the coarsest bit down to the finest bit (MSB to LSB).

Here is a start for ADCs:
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/custompdfs/2009/01/adc1.pdf

 

[rainman1]

Hey.
Thank you very much for your detailed answer.
Well, I've consumed much information about these components, i was asking in general for electronic sites that explain about a variety of components.
Thanks

 

[decent_13]

hey every one i need ur help .i have a project it is about microprocessor .
it is serial file transfer pc to pc with rs232 data cable . the program must be writen in assembly language . .i need ur help .

 

[dknguyen]

hey every one i need ur help .i have a project it is about microprocessor .
it is serial file transfer pc to pc with rs232 data cable . the program must be writen in assembly language . .i need ur help .

1. Don't hijack threads. You can start your own thread at the top left where there is a button that says "New Post". I don't know why so many people seem not to see it.

2. More info needed. YOu need to show you've tried something on your part and ask specific questions since no one here will do your entire project for you. ESPECIALLY if it's a school assignment.

 

[decent_13]

ok . dont angry . iwll obey ur directives

 

[rainman1]

I would be happy to hear your opinions regarding my questions.
Thank you.

 

[rainman1]

Please guys, it would really help me.
I'm looking for sites with professional information on different components,
and advices for being a productive employee.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Mickster]

Please guys, it would really help me.
I'm looking for sites with professional information on different components.

You have access to a web browser, otherwise you wouldn't have access to this site.

Take a look at the devices you are expected to deal with day to day, talk to the engineers you also deal with day to day, and identify where you are deficient.

Use your web browser to find datasheets, real-world applications, or even hobby-circuits containing the devices you wish to research.

Ask specific forum questions regarding a certain device and not a generalised shopping list - provide information that you believe to be correct, pertaining to one device, then ask for critique. Once you understand that device, move onto the next.

Ask questions at work....whenever you're not sure about something....no-one is going to rip you for trying to improve.

The ones who get ripped are the ones who THINK they know it all and refuse to ask questions, then engineer a monumental cock-up.

 

[kjennejohn]

I found this site a couple of months ago. I was so impressed I "donated" $20 to his PayPal account.
**broken link removed**

It is a humongazoid collection of IC data sheets, like the simple timer chips (think 555, etc) , 74xx (TTL) series, 75xx (linear), 40xx, 45xx (last two are CMOS), early RAM and ROMs, SEEPROMs, and a few CPU series, plus a few off-the-wall ICs, like the 93xx bit-sliced roll-your-own-processor stuff.

Enjoy!
kenjj

 

[ScareCrow]

I take that because you are asking how things like latching relays work you are not a third year electronics student because those are entry level subjects. So I would recommend 3 approaches. The first would be to visit the manufacturer's website and look for their product data sheets and tech reports on whatever device is in question. Often times they will have application stories of how projects worked out using their products, these are often called "white papers." The second would be to visit websites like .... TheLearningPit - PLC Simulators and Resources for Training. ..which has links to online tutorials on electrical and electronic training. There are many other sites like that. A lot of it is free, or very cheap. The third approach is to develop a cache of BS phrases to get through the rough stuff. Remember, if you can't dazzle them with brilliance then baffle them with bull$hit.

 

[rainman1]

Thanks guys.
By the way, I am a third year electrical engineering student.
In the country where i learn, Relays are not learnd in the first two years, and i've just begun my third year.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Wow I learned microcontrollers CDP1802 in high school, relays are real basic. What did they teach you for the last two years.

 

[rainman1]

Wow I learned microcontrollers CDP1802 in high school, relays are real basic. What did they teach you for the last two years.

resistors, capacitors, inductors, diodes, tranzistors, power supplies, amplifiers.

 

[OutToLunch]

first few years in college are typically spent in physics, math, and those useless liberal arts classes with a couple basic electrical courses thrown in here or there.