How Disney Tech Can Immerse Park Guests in ‘Star Wars’

By Jeremy Hsu
July 18, 2017 1:55 pm
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/lovesick-cyborg/2017/07/18/disney-tech-can-immerse-park-
guests-star-wars/#.WbFn9_kjHIU

Disney tech is getting ready to grant the wish of any Star Wars fan who ever wished to stand inside
the cavernous space of a Star Destroyer hanger or help fly the Millennium Falcon during a space
battle. The entertainment giant has promised a “revolutionary new vacation experience” at its
theme parks that will supposedly include getting visitors dressed up in proper Star Wars attire and
even allowing families to stay at a 100-percent immersive Star Wars hotel where everyone is in
character all the time.

The new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge “lands” scheduled to open at both Disneyland Resort and Walt
Disney World Resort in 2019 appear to go well beyond Disney’s famed dedication to having
costumed staff stay in character. They seem designed around creating “living adventures”—set
within the conflict between the First Order and the Resistance as depicted in the newest Star Wars
films—in which visitors could earn extra galactic credits for doing well on a mission or end up
being pursued by local bounty hunters if they barely pull it off. Crucially, Disney has already
demonstrated or patented a wide array of technologies that could help create the Star Wars illusion
for guests.

“Once you leave Earth, you will discover a starship alive with characters, stories, and adventures
that unfold all around you,” Chapek said in a Disney blog post. “It is 100 percent immersive, and
the story will touch every single minute of your day, and it will culminate in a unique journey for
every person who visits.”

Disney “imagineers” described some of the details such as the 100-percent immersive hotel
during Disney’s biennial D23 fan expo 2017, according to Gizmodo. That hotel will only be built
at the Walt Disney World Resort, but both Disney World and Disneyland will feature
other immersive storytelling adventures built around two major Star Wars attractions.

The larger attraction will take place within a Star Destroyer’s hangar bay and potentially involve
being shot at by giant AT-AT walkers, whereas the second attraction will include the
opportunity for visitors to help pilot the space freighter Millennium Falcon or take control of quad
laser cannons to fend off enemy spacecraft.

But even the more ordinary experiences of standing in line for the rides, staying at the resort hotel,
or checking out the DJ in the local cantina will supposedly all have storytelling elements to
provide a personalized Star Wars experience for guests. To heighten the immersion, Disney may
rely on technological tricks such as real-looking lightsabers, rides that require visitors to scramble
away from danger rather than just sit inside a vehicle, and huggable robots roaming the buildings
and streets.

Wielding Lightsabers and Shooting Blasters

No Star Wars theme park would be complete without giving visitors the opportunity to blast
stormtroopers or possibly wield a Jedi lightsaber to deflect laser beams being fired at them.
A Disney patent application filed in 2016 showcased that possibility of an “audience interaction
projection system” that could potentially power certain attractions at the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
park.

“The audience member may actually feel as if they are launching powerful beams of laser-like
light towards objects on the stage,” according to the Disney patent filing. The Disney tech
involves a system of invisible light projectors and sensors or reflectors that can identify whenever
a visitor may be pointing a device—such as a mobile phone or perhaps a Star Wars blaster—at a
target such as an animatronic figure. Visible light projectors then create the illusion that the
visitors are shooting lasers at the target in question.

This system could possibly enable visitors to fire Star Wars blaster-style weapons and potentially
even “kill” animatronic stormtroopers or other enemies during certain rides or attractions.A Disney
Star Wars theme park will include attractions such as having visitors help fight off enemy
spaceships. Credit: Disney | Lucasfilm

“The audience member thinks that the animatronic figure was destroyed as a result of their own, or
the combined effect of a number of audience members, sending a laser beam or beams toward the
animatronic figure,” according to the Disney patent filing. “Therefore, the audience member is
provided with the appearance of audience participation with a lighting feature during the
entertainment performance.”

Visitors more enamored with wielding a real lightsaber similar to the Jedi or Sith of Star Wars lore
could also get their chance to shine. The same Disney patent suggests a way to create the illusion
that visitors are using a lightsaber to deflect laser beams being fired by hovering drones—not
unlike the training scene from “Star Wars IV: A New Hope”—or possibly lasers being fired by
animatronic characters such as stormtroopers. Such interaction with Star Wars weapons could add
a fairly unprecedented degree of immersion for visitors accustomed to more passive theme park
experiences.

Self-Driving Ride Vehicles May Monitor Passenger Moods

Another Disney tech that could help bring the Star Wars experience to life involves “trackless”
ride vehicles that can maneuver independently of one another unlike the typical roller coasters
or rides on rails featured at most theme parks that follow a fixed path through a ride space. An
example of this could be an 8-person trackless vehicle—dubbed the “First Order Fleet Transport”
in Star Wars parlance—that was on display at D23 Expo 2017 and showcased in photos taken
by WDW News Today.

Disney visitors would likely get to ride that trackless vehicle during the “Battle Escape” attraction
that takes place within the Star Destroyer’s hangar bay. That “Battle Escape” could involve
visitors having to quickly get off a moving vehicle to escape some First Order stormtroopers and
re-board the vehicle later on, according to an insider report from MiceChat that was highlighted
by Slashfilm in October 2016.This implies the vehicles may need the capability to automatically
detect whenever passengers had boarded the rides or gotten off lest they leave someone behind.
They would also potentially need to be able to detect obstacles or the presence of people in order
to avoid colliding with visitors.

Two recent Disney patent applications from 2017 also reveal some other possible technologies
behind such trackless ride vehicles. The patent filings refer to the idea that a trackless vehicle
could adjust its own behavior and even route based on the “emotional state” and mood of
individual passengers. For example, a vehicle that uses facial recognition to detect smiles on
visitors’ faces whenever it spins around may throw in more maneuvers along those lines to amp up
the fun. In another example, a vehicle that detected passengers getting bored and listless might
decide to move to a new part of the attraction.

There are potential risks to having more independently-moving, trackless vehicles that also
allow passengers to get on and off throughout the ride space. In addition to the safety issues of
having moving vehicles and visitors on foot in close proximity, there is also the possibility that the
overall ride will be slowed down if visitors take their time in re-boarding at certain points. But
Disney seems to be betting that the immersion factor of having to physically scramble in avoiding
capture by stormtroopers will pay off in an unparalleled experience.Those Huggable Robots Are
Watching You
Disney has already shown its dedication to creating believable robots and animatronic characters
through its theme parks and ownership of the Star Wars franchise. Back in 2011, Disney filed a
patent for a “magnetic spherical balancing robot drive” that helped create the BB-8 droid
resembling an R2-D2 robot head on top of a rolling soccer ball. But a more recent patent filing
from 2017 suggests Disney is also eying the possibility of soft robots that could enable park
visitors to touch and even hug wandering robots.

The patent is plainly titled “Soft body robot for physical interaction with human.” It envisions
technologies for creating a soft, flexible and responsive robot that can accommodate everything
from human hugs to little kids accidentally running into the robot. Besides being made of soft
materials, the robot could potentially use sensors to detect points of pressure from human touch
and adjust its body in a way that minimizes potential harm if a child visitor is snuggling it tightly.

The Disney Star Wars resort will likely feature a variety of interactive robots and animatronic
characters to enhance the sense of storytelling immersion for visitors. Credit: Disney | Lucasfilm

Both wandering droids and animatronic figures may also take advantage of gaze-tracking
technologies that use cameras to detect where one visitor or the majority of guests are looking.
That opens up the possibility for more lifelike interactions that make the droids or animatronic
figures appear to be paying attention to visitors’ interests, or could potentially cue the droids or
animatronic figures to start speaking if they notice human attention being focused upon them. In
2016, Disney received a patent based on this gaze-tracking technology that could end up driving
interactions involving droid bartenders, tour guides or hotel clerks.

Disney’s robots and animatronic figures seem unlikely to rival the futuristic “Westworld”
vision of a theme park filled with realistic robot hosts that appear indistinguishable from humans.
But the Disney patents suggest a step-wise development toward making robotic and animatronic
Star Wars characters that enable more lifelike interactions and storytelling immersion.

Personalized Star Wars Adventures for Everyone

Much of the Disney tech needed to pull off an immersive Star Wars theme park will not rely on the
latest patents. Disney has already demonstrated the potential for tracking individual visitor
itineraries and needs through its smart wristband system of “MagicBands” issued to millions of
visitors each year. A Wired story from 2015 explained how the MagicBands wirelessly provide
location and other guest information that enables Disney’s human hosts to greet families by name
and even deliver food orders to their tables without any confusion.

The goal of the MagicBand is to enable a seamless visitor experience for Disney guests that
provides the best itineraries and map routes for seeing each visitor’s favorite attractions, provides
paperless ticket entry to attractions with a simple swipe of the wristband, enables visitors to unlock
their hotel rooms, and even provides the capability for instant purchases if visitors choose to link
their wristband to a credit card.

Disney announced plans for an immersive Star Wars hotel that will be a “one-of-a-kind experience
where a luxury resort meets a multi-day adventure in a galaxy far, far away.” Credit: Disney |
LucasfilmGiven the existing Disney tech, it’s not hard to see how Disney might adapt the
MagicBand system to enabling an even more immersive storytelling experience in Star Wars. The
wristbands might help keep track of how well a guest performed in the Millennium Falcon
attraction and reward that guest with extra “money” that can be spent on shop gifts. They could
also keep track of which visitors performed poorly on the same attraction so that a certain Star
Wars bounty hunter may accost them when he or she wanders into the local cantina.

There’s a good argument to be made that the Star Wars universe depicted in the films is based
more on the illusion of science and technology than any real-life physics or engineering. But real
life technology seems well poised to help Disney’s Star Wars theme park convince many future
visitors to believe in that Star Wars illusion through immersive storytelling.
 Digital lighting goes organic Research reveals a bright future for a new lighting technology

By Kathiann Kowalski
Jun 6, 2014 — 10:30 Am Est
https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/digital-lighting-goes-organic

Flick on a light at home and chances are a glass bulb or tube will start to glow. The two most
common types of electric lights — incandescent and fluorescent — have worked pretty well for a
long time. Make that too long: Both types are so last century.

Incandescent bulbs waste most of their energy. Regular and compact fluorescent tubes are more
efficient. However, they contain toxic mercury. Now lighting engineers want us to imagine electric
lighting beyond the bulb.

Picture sheets of electric lights that can bend or twist. Your bedroom could have glowing
sculptures instead of lamps. A living room window might be transparent by day, then light up at
night. The whole kitchen ceiling might glow. And whole walls could be covered with
programmable lighting. A few taps on a control panel might change its brightness, color or pattern.

It’s all possible with organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs. They are a new type of digital — or
solid-state — lighting. Made from solid materials, they don’t require the vacuum now found in an
incandescent bulb or the gas that’s encased within fluorescent tubes.

OLED technology doesn’t just promise new designs. It points to better efficiency, fewer
environmental risks and longer-lasting products too.Welcome to lighting in the digital age: The
future is going to be bright.

Of sandwiches and coins

Right now, most indoor lighting depends on glass bulbs or tubes. A fluorescent lamp glows when
electricity flows through a gas-filled tube. In old-style incandescent bulbs, electricity heats up a
tungsten thread until it glows. These bulbs produce more heat than light. In fact, the filament can
get much hotter than molten lava.

Digital or solid-state lighting is different. It doesn’t use electricity to make heat that produces light.
Instead, it sends electricity through solid materials called semiconductors. Those materials can
release energy directly as light through a process called electroluminescence (Ee-LEK-troh-
LOOM-in-ESS-ents).

One form of digital lighting is already popular: light-emitting diodes, better known as LEDs. They
light most flat-screen TVs and computer monitors. Traffic lights, car headlights and taillights,
flashlights and even some flashy sneakers also use LEDs. While they’re used like bulbs, LEDs are
actually bits of flat wafers. One 10 × 10 centimeter (4 × 4 inch) wafer can yield thousands of chips
as small as a grain of sand.

Both LEDs and OLEDs rely on electroluminescence. However, organic LEDs, or OLEDs, offer
more design flexibility. Differences in the manufacturing process let OLEDs be made in bigger
sheets on flexible surfaces. And while LEDs often function as bright point sources of light,
OLEDs can provide softer, more diffuse light.

To understand an OLED, start by thinking of it as a sandwich.

Electrical conductors, called electrodes, make up the two outer layers of an OLED. One layer has
extra electrons (the subatomic particles whose movement creates an electric current). The other
layer has bonus “holes.” The holes are spaces where electrons can go. And at least one of the
layers is transparent. That way, when an OLED lights up, people can see the illumination.

CANEK FUENTES-HERNANDEZ, GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Wedged between the outer layers is a semiconductor. It carries electric current under some
conditions but not others. In OLEDs, the semiconductor contains carbon. Carbon is found in all
living things. Thus, scientists often say carbon-based materials are organic, even if they’re not
alive. In OLEDs, the organic materials are usually polymers. (These are chemicals that have many
repeating groups of atoms in long chains.)

Applying a power source to the OLED’s outer layers will make an electric current flow through
the device. As that happens, the extra electrons from one outer layer enter the OLED’s
semiconductor core.

When an electron finds a hole in the semiconductor, it drops into it. There it settles inside the
organic layer, explains Yiting Zhu. She’s a researcher at the Lighting Research Center at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, N.Y.

At this happens, the other outer layer pulls electrons out. That action puts new holes in the
semiconductor. “One electrode injects electrons, and the other injects holes,” explains Valy
Vardeny. He’s a physicist at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

Free electrons have a higher energy level than do the electrons that orbit an atom’s nucleus. Think
of how you’re all revved up when you’re playing sports. Electrons enter the semiconductor layer
in that higher energy state.

When an electron settles into the semiconductor layer, it falls into a lower-energy hole. Think of
how you might sink into a comfy armchair to rest after a big game. But now the extra energy has
to go somewhere. The OLED releases that extra energy in the form of light. This is
electroluminescence.

That’s not the end of the story. As long as the electric current flows, the outer layers keep injecting

Lighting with changeable colors

An OLED usually emits red, blue or green light. These are the three primary colors. Which color
depends on what else the semiconductor layer contains besides carbon.

OLEDs in some high-end TVs, cell phones and tablets include layers that can produce all three
primary colors.

The layered effect makes an OLED a bit like a hero sandwich. Switching on and off these red, blue
and green layers, either singly or in combination, allows an individual OLED to produce a full
range of colors. To glow white, OLED lights usually combine the light emissions from all three
layers. For black, all layers would turn off.

Changing a semiconductor’s chemical make-up allows you to go beyond just color. It also can
change a color’s hue and other characteristics. For instance, instead of just green, an OLED can be
tuned to produce a vivid emerald green or a pale lime green. Still, whatever recipe is used, each
semiconductor layer has been able to emit only one color at a time, notes Vardeny.

That’s because the semiconductor normally has just one of two electronic states. It’s like a coin
with two sides. When it lands, it’s either heads or tails. In the semiconductor’s case, it can be one
color or another. Never both.

LIGHTING RESEARCH CENTER/PI

Until now.

Recently, Vardeny and his colleagues coaxed a single semiconductor layer into emitting two
different colors of light— at the same time. They reported their discovery in the September 2013
issue of Scientific Reports.

“Finding a polymer that emits two colors is like finding a human being with two heads,” says
Vardeny. “It’s that surprising.”

Quantum physics deals with what happens at the atomic or subatomic level. The new
semiconductor contains a tiny bit of platinum. And at the level of quantum physics, that precious
metal acts like a mixer. It essentially lets the semiconductor exhibit both electronic states —
equivalent to the coin’s heads and tails — at once. This allows the semiconductor to emit two
different colors at the same time.

Vardeny’s team made a semiconductor where one state emits violet light and the other emits
yellow. Violet is really red plus blue light. Yellow is red plus green light. Those two hues include
all three primary colors of light, so their combined light looks white.

The process offers a way to make white OLEDs with a single semiconductor. Using one layer
instead of two or three could make OLED lighting less costly.

University of Utah researchers can coax white light from a single polymer (as seen here)
because its mix of violet and yellow light includes all three primary colors of light: red, blue
and green.

TEK BASEL, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

Why organic?

Fluorescent lights can be unpleasant. Not OLEDs. “The lighting quality is better,” says Lu Li.
He’s a materials engineer at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). OLEDs have none
of the flicker or glare associated with fluorescents, he notes. OLED light also is soft, or more
diffused.

And OLEDs emit light in all directions. This quality makes OLEDs ideal for display screens as
well as lighting, says Bernard Kippelen. He heads a center in Atlanta at the Georgia Institute of
Technology where experts research OLEDs and other organic electronics. It’s called the Center for
Organic Photonics and Electronics (COPE).

Look at a conventional TV or computer screen from the side. In many cases the image will appear
distorted. But an OLED image will look clear, no matter what your viewing angle is. Backlights
on conventional screens also make shadowy scenes seem too dark. OLED screens produce better
contrast because each color layer itself lights up. And unlit black areas are all black from the
absence of light — not backlit with dark gray.

Making regular LEDs requires very hot temperatures. Making OLEDs doesn’t. “They can be
processed at nearly room temperature,” says Kippelen. As a result, OLEDs can be put on almost
anything, from a sheet of glass to very thin plastic. Inkjet printers could even do the job.

Such features open up lots of design possibilities. “You can bend [OLEDs] into any shape you
want,” says Nadarajah Narendran. He’s the research director at RPI’s Lighting Research Center.
Imagine having a roll-up TV or a cell phone that wraps around your wrist. A ceiling could have
curved lighting. “Even your drapes can become OLEDs,” he says.
These ideas are not just dreams. Li and other UCLA researchers have already made a flexible
OLED. They described it in the September 2013 Nature Photonics. (Photonics deals with the
properties and transmission of tiny particles of light energy.)

Their new OLED material is bendable and stretchable. Plus, you can see through it.

“It almost looks like a gummy bear, but its stretchability is better,” notes Li. Think about the
elastic hair bands that hold ponytails in place. The new OLED material is about as stretchable, he
says.

OLEDs also are environmentally friendly. Regular LEDs can contain arsenic. And fluorescent
lights usually have mercury in them. Both are toxic. Disposing of them requires special handling.
That’s not true for OLEDs. “You throw them away, and in a few days they are part of Mother
Earth,” says the University of Utah’s Vardeny.

And, Zhu adds, “Energy savings are going to be huge.” Within five or six years, OLEDs could
provide twice as much light per unit of power as fluorescent bulbs. Even more dramatically, the
output per watt could be 10 or 20 times as high as that of traditional bulbs.

Moving ahead

The way OLEDs emit light is only part of the story. The way people perceive and experience light
matters too. Thus, Narendran’s group at RPI studies what types of lighting would and wouldn’t
work in the real world. Just because something is possible with OLEDs doesn’t mean it’s a good
idea, says Narendran.

“If every inch of your wall and ceiling is glowing, it will drive you nuts,” he predicts. Most people
prefer some variation and shadows. These qualities add visual interest. They also make it easier to
see the texture of furniture or fabrics.

Efficiency and durability matter too. To increase both, RPI’s Zhu tests OLED technologies. Some
of the goals include making OLEDs cheaper to manufacture and to use. They also need to be more
rugged and last longer. Fortunately, experts are making progress on all these fronts, she says.

Meanwhile, Kippelen’s team has found a way to make the outer electrode layers more stable. Over
time, the common metals in many electrodes react with oxygen in the presence of moisture. In
other words, they rust. New organic materials can reduce that problem. The researchers described
the materials two years ago in the journal Science.

These and other improvements will help OLEDs compete better with existing technologies. OLED
displays are already in some smartphones and tablets. The prices for larger displays remain high.
For example, today a top-of-the-line 55-inch OLED TV may cost $9,000.

Lighting rooms with OLEDs is even newer. A few offices already incorporate the pioneering
technology. Among them: the U.S. embassy in Helsinki, Finland.

COURTESY ACUITY BRANDS

For now, LED technology is more advanced than that for OLEDs. Nor will OLED lights ever
entirely replace LEDs. Narendran says LEDs will always work better for smaller light sources that
direct light to a certain spot. “OLEDs are good for larger areas and more diffuse light within the
space,” he says.

For the typical home, office or school, OLEDs still aren’t big enough, affordable enough or
durable enough. Getting there will take several more years of work by researchers. When OLED
lighting does enter wider use, it will offer lots of possibilities beyond the traditional light
bulb.“OLEDs have the potential to change the whole environment,” Narendran predicts. For
example, OLED lighting needn’t be limited to fixtures. It could become part of the building. It
could be part of the furniture. It might even become part of our clothes.The uses for OLEDs are
only limited by our imagination. What are your ideas for a brighter future?
 Power Supply

By Vin Marshall
February 3, 2010.
https://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2009-12/build-simple-dc-power-supply

A power supply, as we'll be referring to it here, converts alternating current from the outlet on the
wall into direct current. There are several ways to do this. We are going to look at one of the
simplest, but also most illustrative. Electricity passes through several stages in a voltage regulator
type power supply like this one, or like the common wall-wart. The ways in which it is altered by
each stage are explained below. The next time you use a wall-wart to power one of your projects,
you will understand what is happening inside.

Power supplies are an essential part of any piece of electronic equipment, and while it's easy to
take them for granted, it's surprising how complicated power supplies can be. This article discusses
the basics of power supplies with an audio slant - it's particularly appropriate for people
experimenting with "chip-amps".

While the power supplies found in audio amplifiers might look simple, there is more to them than
meets the eye and it's vitally important to get the design right. Consider this: all the energy
delivered to your loudspeakers comes from the power supply - the power amplifier circuit is just
like a "tap", controlling the flow of energy.

With chip-amp based power amplifiers, the power supply is more important than usual. When
designing a discrete amplifier, you can build in a high level of power supply immunity - for
example the critical input stage and voltage gain stages can be highly isolated from the noisy
output stage with simple R-C filters. But this isn't an option with most chip-amps where the power
supply pins are shared with the high and low current circuitry.

Power supply requirements

The power supply must convert the available power source into the form required by the amplifier
circuitry. In most cases, this power source will be the domestic mains power supply - 115 or 230
volts, depending on where you live. But sometimes batteries are used - these must be configured
correctly, and a means of recharging them might be required. The construction of the power supply
is quite simple. I built this power supply many years ago and used point to point wiring on a perf
board to build it. There are many cleaner ways to build it than this, and I encourage you to pursue
one of them. However, this works just fine as is. In building this power supply, it would be wise to
attach a heat sink of some kind to the 78xx voltage regulators. This design can quite easily be
modified to provide an adjustable voltage output by using a LM317 voltage regulator in place of or
in addition to the voltage regulators specified. By grounding the center tap of the transformer
secondary (assuming you have a transformer with a center tap), taking positive and negative leads
from the bridge rectifier, and using the LM79xx and/or LM337 series of negative voltage
regulators, your power supply can supply regulated negative voltages as well.
Let's consider the issues:

Output voltage and current

This is the basic starting point when designing the supply. A typical requirement for a low
powered audio power amplifier might be around +/-30V at 3 amps. For an audio pre-amp, you
might need +/-15 volts at 100mA. Or a logic circuit might require 5V at 500mA. The
output power of a supply is the product of the voltage and current - 180 watts (60V times 3A), 3
watts and 2.5 watts respectively for the three examples above.
The load requirements can differ over time - the audio power amplifier might only need the full
180 watts when being asked to play a very loud passage into "difficult" loudspeakers, and even
then the demand peaks might only last for a few milliseconds (assuming it's a class B amplifier).
For this reason you can, and commercial manufacturers do, take liberties when specifying the
components. This means "save money" or, more cynically, "cut corners". By contrast, the preamp
and the logic circuit will have a fairly constant current demand. Variables might be relays or
display backlights, but these are easy to predict. Important fact: the diyer can gain a significant
increase in long-term reliability by over-engineering the power supply, often at minimal extra cost.
Finally, it is important that the power supply can reliably deliver the required energy comfortably
without sustaining damage!

Output noise and ripple

The ideal power supply is a perfect DC voltage source. Inevitably, such power supplies don't exist,
and a practical power supply will have an unwanted AC component superimposed on the DC
voltage. Batteries can get pretty close to ideal in this regard. For a mains power supply, this AC
component will contain multiples of the basic mains frequency - eg, 50, 100, 150 and 200Hz or
100, 200 and 300Hz. Additionally, there will be some high-frequency noise, some of which might
be random, the rest being related to the mains frequency.
How an amplifier responds to this depends entirely on the design. As stated above, op-amp based
power amplifiers can be much more sensitive to power supply noise than conventional power
amplifiers, so effort spent on the power supply is definitely worthwhile.

Load and line regulation

The output voltage of a power supply will fall when a load is connected. This is because of the
internal resistance present in a practical voltage source - this effect was mentioned when
discussing op-amps.

Any voltage source can be modeled like this, and it's easy to see how the internal resistance
combines with a load to form a potential divider. The fall in output voltage for a change in load
current is called load regulation, and is normally expressed in percentage terms. For the sort of
unregulated supply used in audio power amplifiers, this value can be quite high - a few percent,
whereas for a typical regulated supply that you might find in a preamp, this value might be 0.1%
or better.

Line regulation refers to the change in output voltage caused by a change in input supply voltage.
Again, the typical values depend on the type of supply in use - an unregulated supply will be
entirely dependant on the value of the mains supply, whereas well-designed regulated supplies are
almost completely independent from the input voltage, until it falls below a certain threshold.
Luckily, few audio circuits critically depend on the absolute value of the supply rails - the levels of
noise and ripple are generally the biggest concern. Conversely, other applications such as logic or
microprocessor systems can be very specific about their supply voltage.
This simple overview of the key parameters should help to set the scene - to read more specific
details about power supply parameters, have a look at my bench PSU project. This section
investigates mains power supplies for audio applications.

Safety

Before reading on, you must agree with the following disclaimer:
When dealing with power supplies, safety must be your top priority. As well as mains-derived
power supplies, this also applies equally to batteries - the energy contained in these can be
surprisingly destructive.
It might be an obvious thing to say, but your amplifier must not kill anyone! Also it must not set
fire to your house! Safety must never be compromised at any time, whatever the goal. There is no
justification for producing dangerous equipment.
It is responsibility to check the applicable regulations before constructing or working on power
supplies - information presented here is just a guide and does not constitute authoritative advice.
The author disclaims responsibility for any outcomes after reading this article. Also, read the
website disclaimer.

You can take a number of practical steps to ensure your projects will be safe. Here are some basic
guidelines:

1. Double-insulate all mains connectors:

I use heatshrink or Hellermann sleeves on connections, and further protect with larger overall
sleeves where possible. You can buy molded insulators that fit over IEC mains inlets, fuseholders
and switches - use these where possible. Sheets of insulating plastic or paxolin can be purchased or
recycled from old equipment - perhaps the most useful thing from old switched-mode power
supplies!

2. Metal cases must be connected to Earth:

This is an absolutely essential safety requirement. Should a live conductor touch the case, this will
ensure that the mains fuse will "blow". If the case is not earthed, the case could become live, and
will give someone a potentially serious electric shock. Some people remove earth connections in a
misguided attempt to cure "earth loops" - if this is required, then your grounding scheme needs
attention. This is the subject of a separate article.

3. Always use appropriate fuses:

The fuses in the mains plug are to protect the cable only (a surprising number of people don't
realise this). As an absolute minimum, a project requires a primary fuse on the input. Improve
safety and save on mains wiring by buying an IEC mains inlet with an integrated fuseholder. At
this point, we use an integrated circuit to consistently regulate the voltage to exactly the desired
level. It is important in sizing the components for all of the previous stages to drive this IC with a
voltage level sufficiently higher than the regulated voltage such that the remaining dips 120 times
per second will not drop below the required minimum input value. However, you do not want to
drive it with too high a voltage, as that excess power will be dissipated as heat. The voltage curve
at this point is (ideally) a DC signal at the desired voltage; a horizontal line.

4. Ensure any wires passing though holes in the chassis are protected:

Thoroughly de-burr the hole, and fit a protective rubber grommet or strain-relief. This applies to
any wires passing through any metal panel - not just mains leads entering the equipment.
Personally, I find that captive mains leads are a real pain - use IEC connectors!

5. Always use good quality components:

Make sure you use a reputable supplier and ensure all components are adequately rated and meet
the required safety standards. In Europe, look for the "CE" mark. When recycling components
from old equipment, be careful to ensure they are in good condition.

6. Finally, use common sense:

You'd be amazed at the things I've seen! Always think everything through, and if in doubt seek
advice from a professional or experienced builder. As a starting point, ask yourself what might
happen if someone took the lid off, or dropped the unit...
Mains wiring

The incoming mains supply is presented to the transformer via a fuse and an optional (but
recommended) power switch. Larger amplifiers might require an anti-surge device, but that's
beyond the scope of this article. Other optional extras include mains filters or remote-control
power-up schemes. Again, I recommend using an IEC socket for the mains inlet. These take up
slightly more space than a captive mains lead, but they neatly get around the issues of safely
securing the incoming cable. From experience, you'll find that once you've had to untangle the
mains lead from the mess of cables behind your hi-fi a few times, you'll wish that you'd followed
my advice!

Also from experience, mains wiring will take more space than you might think. Cables should not
be cramped, compressed or chaffed - any undue pressure could cause the connections to become
unreliable over time. Connections should be mechanically sound so that they do not rely on solder
for strength. Some safety standards state that connections carrying mains power should not be
soldered - only crimp or screw-type methods are permitted. It is absolutely your responsibility to
check this - apart from the risk of personal injury, your household insurance might be
invalidated if your amplifier burns your house down!

I've already said it, but all mains terminals must be protected so that no-one can accidentally touch
them.
Safety aside, the objective is to get the incoming mains voltage to the primary winding of the
mains transformer. This represents the most basic setup - the only optional component is the mains
switch. Again, the fuse is absolutely mandatory. In the UK, domestic mains plugs also have a fuse
fitted, but these are only available in a limited number of values (typically 1, 3, 5 and 13 amps),
and are intended to protect the mains cable only. In other parts of the world, the nearest fuse might
be back at the house fusebox, and this is likely to be rated at 20 amps and upwards. Without an
appropriate fuse, a fault could turn an amplifier into a house fire!

The fuse should come first - thus it protects the switch should some mechanical fault cause live
and neutral to come into contact.
Note that if you are using a panel-mounted fuseholder, there is a correct way to wire them up - the
live feed from the mains input should connect to the end of the fuseholder rather than the side.
Otherwise, it's possible to receive a shock when inserting a new fuse. Panel-mount fuseholders
intended for this application are much deeper than usual to try to minimise the risk of accidental
contact, but of course require more space in the enclosure. IEC mains inlets with integrated
fuseholders are available and these are preferable because you cannot access the fuse when the
IEC plug is inserted.

Should you be using a double-throw switch, wire it as shown - otherwise the unconnected
terminals of the switch become live when the switch is in the "off" position. Fortunately, most
mains switches tend to be single-throw, but if you are using a double-thow relay to switch the
mains, this is an important consideration. If you are using a single-pole switch, it should switch the
live (not neutral) side. In this instance, the order of the fuse and switch can perhaps be swapped,
but I would still prefer the fuse first because there is a (very) slight risk of the switch suffering
mechanical damage that causes a short-circuit to the chassis.

The safety earth connection needs special mention. This is absolutely essential for safety, and this
connection must carry a large current in the event of a live-chassis short-circuit. Some safety
standards recommend that this connection is made using a tag that is secured to the chassis using a
fastener that is not responsible for supporting anything else, and I follow this practice without
exception. Always use shake-proof or "star" washers to ensure a good contact.
Choosing the fuse rating is notoriously difficult - you need a value that is large enough to not
suffer from "nuisance tripping", yet not so large that it doesn't fail during a genuine fault. In
theory, you could work out the highest current that is likely to flow under worst-case
circumstances, and fit the next largest size. However, the discharged smoothing capacitors will
cause a surge at switch-on, also torroidal transformers cause a large surge when first powered -
anything greater than around 250VA is likely to need some form of surge-protection to stop the
fuse from crying "wolfe".

Fuses are available with different "ballistics" - in other words "anti-surge" examples fare better
here than "quick-blow". A prefix or suffix identifies these - for example T1A is 1 amp, anti-surge.

Transformers

Essential to reduce the mains voltage to a suitable level to power your circuitry, and to provide
safety isolation. Never build a circuit to run directly from the mains!
There are two basic types - the conventional "frame" devices made using "EI" laminations, and
ring-shaped "torroidal" models. The former are normally used when cost is more important than
size and external radiation, whereas torroidal transformers are considered to be the de-facto option
for high quality audio, due to their compact size and low magnetic flux leakage.

Some people prefer frame transformers, claiming they "sound" better. Comparing the raw
specifications, torroidal transformer appear to be better in all regards so it's hard to see where this
claim comes from. However there is one factor that is rarely discussed - torrodal transformers have
a much better frequency response, but ironically that is a distinct drawback - more high-frequency
mains-bourn noise can get through to the audio circuitry. Mains filters are a cost-effective solution
to this problem.

The mains is applied to the primary winding, and the output is taken from
the secondary winding(s). There are a couple of options for the primary side - you can purchase
transformers with a single primary winding to match your local mains supply - 230V, for example.
This results in simpler wiring, but should you move to a different part of the world, you would
need to obtain a new transformer. Alternatively you can use a transformer with dual primary
windings. These are typically rated at 115 volts each, and can be connected in parallel or series for
115V or 230V operation. Therefore, it's relatively easy to re-wire these should you emigrate. Also,
you could purchase a special 115-230V selector switch - this is the best plan if you plan to export
your products.

The secondaries also tend to be dual, but some transformers have a single secondary winding with
a centre-tap. Creating the dual supply rails required for typical audio circuits is possible from
either.

Transformers are sold by their VA rating - meaning volts times amps. Power is normally measured
in Watts, and is also the product of volts and amps. So what is the difference between VA and
Watts? Into a resistive load such as a bulb or heater, none whatsoever. The complication comes
when you drive a reactive load - then there is a phase difference between the current and voltage.
In this circumstance, the difference between VA and Watts is called the Power Factor. Perhaps the
subject of a future article...

As mentioned in the introduction, you can take liberties with sizing transformers for audio power
amplifiers, and the cost saving can be considerable for a manufacturer. Personally, I feel that this
cost saving is a false economy for DIY audio - the price-per-VA falls as the transformer rating
increases, making large transformers more attractive. Other factors, such as physical size and
weight are likely to be the issues I'd consider first.

Rectification and smoothing

The next stage is to convert the AC from the transformer into DC - this process is
called rectification. AC current flows in differing directions, whereas DC current flows in one
direction only. Therefore, to rectify AC, we need to use diodes - a component that acts like a one-
way valve. This diagram shows some basic ideas:
Circuit A is sometimes used for low-power applications, and when current demands are a few mA,
this circuit is just fine. But for more realistic loads, this circuit is inefficient because energy only
flows for the positive half-cycle.

Circuit B uses a bridge rectifier to avoid this problem, albeit in return for a small increase in
complexity. However, it is possible to obtain this configuration of four diodes in a single package,
making practical realisations very simple indeed.

This diagram shows the waveforms resulting from the above circuits. In both cases, the AC input
is shown in red, and the rectified DC is blue. The slight difference between the input and output is
caused by the forward voltage drop of the diodes (around 0.6-0.7 volts - note that there are two
diode drops for a bridge rectifier).

The output from both these circuits varies from 0 volts, up to almost the peak voltage of the
incoming AC voltage. Put another way, the output contains a large AC component which needs to
be removed. Something needs to "fill in the gaps", and that's where the smoothing capacitors come
in. The green trace shows the voltage across a capacitor connected to the output of each of the
circuits. As you can see, energy is supplied by the smoothing capacitor when the AC voltage falls
below the DC output. During the peaks, energy is supplied from the transformer via the rectifier -
this energy recharges the smoothing capacitor. The problems with half-wave rectification become
apparent here - the capacitor is "topped up" less often, so the charge in the capacitor falls more.
This means the ripple voltage is higher. As before, the green trace is the voltage across the
smoothing capacitor, and here we see this voltage at both its minimum and maximum values. The
difference between these values is the ripple voltage.

The conduction angle is defined as the time when energy flows from the transformer into the
capacitor and load. It's normally expressed in degrees, remembering that one complete cycle of a
sine wave has 360 degrees.

So, current is taken from the transformer - and therefore the mains supply - in chunks. Every cycle,
a full-wave rectifier takes two "gulps" from the supply to recharge the smoothing capacitor.
During this time, enough energy is taken to refill the capacitor such that it can supply energy
during the remainder of the cycle, so it follows that the peak currents flowing during conduction
time are much greater than the average current flowing in the load. So the bridge rectifier must be
rated at a higher current than you might expect.

This diagram was derived from a Spice simulation of a full-wave rectifier feeding a 2000µF
smoothing capacitor and a 10Ω load. It was also built to verify the results. Note that the current
pulses are around 3A, which is bigger than the average load current by around a factor of 4. For
full-wave rectification, this isn't a bad "rule of thumb" to bear in mind. It tells you that the wiring
between the transformer, bridge rectifier and smoothing capacitor needs to be much thicker than
you might think, given the average current drawn from the supply.

Lets consider an example power supply, with some typical values:

The AC voltage from the transformer is 12 volts. But note how the output voltage is higher - how
is this possible? AC voltages are specified in RMS (Root Mean Squared). But rectifying circuits
with smoothing capacitors produce a DC voltage that is close the peak value of the AC input,
which is bigger than the RMS value by a factor of 1.414 (the square-root of 2).

The exact DC voltage is hard to predict because it depends on many variables, including the load
current, the ripple voltage, the diodes used, the transformer, etc. So, multiplying the AC voltage by
root-2, and knocking off a volt or two will get you close enough for practical purposes. Should
your application need a more precise voltage, you need further circuitry to regulate the supply.
This simple supply is often called an Unregulated Supply. As shown here, it produces a single DC
voltage from one transformer secondary. However, audio applications frequently require a
symmetrical supply - here are a couple of ways to do this:
The first example is widely used to produce split supplies from a centre-tapped secondary
windings although, as mentioned above, most transformers have dual secondaries, which can be
connected in series to form a centre tap. The second example looks like two single supplies that
have simply been connected together, and this is basically the case. This uses more components,
and losses are higher because of the extra diodes, but this method offers easier ground
management. In other words, it's easier to keep the large charging current pulses away from the
system ground. Ensuring a clean, noise-free ground is essential in any audio power supply. The
mains is applied to the primary winding, and the output is taken from the secondary winding(s).
There are a couple of options for the primary side - you can purchase transformers with a single
primary winding to match your local mains supply - 230V, for example. This results in simpler
wiring, but should you move to a different part of the world, you would need to obtain a new
transformer. Alternatively you can use a transformer with dual primary windings. These are
typically rated at 115 volts each, and can be connected in parallel or series for 115V or 230V
operation. Therefore, it's relatively easy to re-wire these should you emigrate. Also, you could
purchase a special 115-230V selector switch - this is the best plan if you plan to export your
products.

The secondaries also tend to be dual, but some transformers have a single secondary winding with
a centre-tap. Creating the dual supply rails required for typical audio circuits is possible from
either.Transformers are sold by their VA rating - meaning volts times amps. Power is normally
measured in Watts, and is also the product of volts and amps. So what is the difference between
VA and Watts? Into a resistive load such as a bulb or heater, none whatsoever. The complication
comes when you drive a reactive load - then there is a phase difference between the current and
voltage. In this circumstance, the difference between VA and Watts is called the Power Factor
 Input protection filters out the risks in power converters

By Martin Keenan
https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/power-supplies/input-protection-filters-out-
the-power-risks-2017-07/

Switched mode inverters and converters form the heart of many modern power applications
including ‘smart’ motor drives, solar power, UPS systems, high power AC-DC converters and
many more.

All these applications must meet statutory and practical requirements for input electromagnetic
interference (EMI) filtering and protection against injury to personnel or damage to equipment.

A typical requirement for a power converter starts with a list of statutory standards for safety
and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC). ‘Volts and amps’ come way down the list and are
sometimes not even known for certain.

Standard definitions

At least safety and EMC specifications can be defined early on.

Safety is often the IT standard UL/EN 60950-1 – or its upcoming replacement EN62368-1 –
and EMC is often the EN61000 series covering conducted and radiated emissions; immunity to
transients and surges on the power lines; and immunity to electromagnetic radiation and
electrostatic discharge.

Particular applications such as medical or motor drives have their own specifications, often
based on these standards.

Input filtering to meet the EMC specifications needs to be designed with an eye on safety, as
the requirements can be interdependent. For example, filtering protects against transients that
could damage safety insulation and AC leakage current requirements restrict the value of some
EMC components. An ideal input filter takes all this into account without degrading the basic
functionality of the converter.

A simplistic filter design, such as shown in Figure 1 above, takes all the requirements one by
one and includes discrete components to meet the overall specification.

In the schematic, Figure 1 the functions are:

 L1, L2, C1 and C2 attenuate differential mode (DM) noise

 T1, C3 and C4 reduce common mode (CM) noise

 VAR1 absorbs energy from input transients and surges

 R1 limits start-up inrush current

 R2 discharges C1 and C2 on power down

 FS1 protects against downstream shorts.

The EMI limits for conducted interference, typically using standard CISPR22 and its
derivative EN55022, use a test setup using a line impedance stabiliser network (LISN) (Figure
2) which registers the addition and subtraction of differential and common mode currents, so a
filter must adequately attenuate both CM and DM noise to meet the limits.

At low power, filtering is often minimal. A peek inside a modern mobile phone charger, for
example, will show few specific EMC components while still meeting statutory requirements.

The push for lower cost and simplicity has driven design techniques to minimise EMI at source
by using ‘soft switching’ and optimum layout for EMC. CM noise, for example, often results
when current from switching devices couples into grounded heatsinks. If a primary heatsink
can be isolated from ground, AC mains leakage is also reduced, an example of safety and EMC
interacting.

A typical filter explained

At low power, T1 is often unnecessary, but could be wound with high leakage inductance to
effectively include L1 and L2.

A fusible resistor can combine R1 and FS1, and C2 may be omitted, depending on EMI levels.
Meanwhile, VAR1 could be omitted depending on the circuit impedances and application
environment.

In ‘Class II’ or earth-free applications, C3 and C4 would not be fitted although similar
capacitors may be fitted from input 0V to output ground.

So let us consider the function of each component in turn:

 FS1 is a ‘fast blow’ type, with agency ratings for the input voltage and with rating adequate to
pass the normal running current with a guarantee to open with downstream shorts that might
cause a shock or fire hazard. In primary circuits, creepage and clearance distances can
sometimes be reduced if shorts across the connections are guaranteed to open the fuse. DC
input converters require fuse types that ‘self-extinguish’ arcs during opening, typically sand-
filled.

 VAR1 in extreme cases has to absorb significant energy and might be supplemented by a
Transorb or even gas discharge tubes. Again, its presence allows the downstream circuitry to
have reduced creepage and clearances if preceded by such a voltage limiting component. Of
course, VAR1 must be rated for the highest line input voltage and must absorb the specified
transients.

 At power down, C1 and C2 have to discharge to a safe voltage within a specified time, R2
performing this function. Its dissipation in normal operation can, however, exceed target levels
for no-load power consumption, so schemes have been introduced to actively disconnect R2
until needed. A common mistake is to select a general-purpose resistor for R2. As it is across
the line it needs to be high voltage type. However, if the values of C1 and C2 together are less
than 100nF, R2 can be omitted.

 DM emissions are attenuated by L1, L2 and C1 and C2 ‘X’ capacitors which also help to
absorb transients from the input supply. Relatively high capacitance is often needed, typically
500nF, and they must be rated for the continuous input voltage and over-voltages on the line.
These are set by the ‘overvoltage category’ of the application requiring either ‘X1’ types rated
at 4kV test or ‘X2’ types rated at 2.5kV test.
L1 and L2 see full line current, so they are typically small value iron powder toroidal cores.

 CM emissions are reduced by C3 and C4 ‘Y’ capacitors providing a low-impedance path for
noise to circulate inside the converter. Again, the parts must be chosen according to line
 ‘overvoltage category’, and are either ‘Y1’ types rated at 8kV test or ‘Y2’ types at 5kV test.
The value of Y capacitors is limited because under the fault condition of a protective earth
connection going open, a metal chassis would connect to live through the capacitors. The
capacitance must then be limited to allow a maximum ‘touch’ current to flow as set by the
standards and application, being as low as 10µA in sensitive medical environments.

 T1, with its ‘current compensated’ windings, provides high impedance to CM noise without
saturation from line current and is a ferrite toroid or E-core with isolation between windings.

 Inrush current is limited by R1 and at higher power is often an NTC thermistor to avoid
standing losses.

At even higher power, a triac or possibly a relay may be used to short out the resistor after the
surge has passed, to reduce dissipation.

Commercially available products suitable for elements of filter networks include TDK-
EPCOS’ series S, E2/E3(K1) and Q for varistors, S364x and S464x for thermistors, B3292x
for X2 capacitors and B3202x for Y2 capacitors.

They provide the B8245/6/7/8 series of common mode chokes, while their range of ferrite
cores can be used for custom solutions.

Complete filter modules are also available in, for example, TDK’s B84143 series.
 Using EAGLE: Schematic and Board

by Jimbo
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/using-eagle-schematic

PCB design in EAGLE is a two-step process. First you design your schematic, then you lay out a
PCB based on that schematic. EAGLE’s board and schematic editors work hand-in-hand. A well-
designed schematic is critical to the overall PCB design process. It will help you catch errors
before the board is fabricated, and it’ll help you debug a board when something doesn’t work.
This tutorial is the first of a two-part Using EAGLE series, and it’s devoted entirely to the
schematic-designing side of EAGLE. In part 2, Using EAGLE: Board Layout, we’ll use the
schematic designed in this tutorial as the basis for our example board layout.

Suggested Reading

If you’d like to follow along with this tutorial, make sure you’ve installed and setup the EAGLE
software. Our How to Install and Setup EAGLE tutorial goes over this process step-by-step, and it
also covers the basics of what EAGLE is and what makes it great. It also covers how to download
and install the SparkFun EAGLE libraries we’ll be using in this tutorial. Definitely read through
that tutorial before you continue on.
We’d also recommend you read and understand the concepts behind these tutorials:

 How to Read a Schematic

 PCB Basics

Create a Project

We’ll start by making a new project folder for our design. In the control panel, under the
“Projects” tree, right click on the directory where you want the project to live (by default EAGLE
creates an “eagle” directory in your home folder), and select “New Project”. Give the newly
created, red project folder a descriptive name. How about “Bare Bones Arduino”. Project folders
are like any regular file system folder, except they contain a file named “eagle.epf”. The EPF file
links your schematic and board design together, and also stores any settings you may have set
especially for the project.

Create a Schematic

The project folder will house both our schematic and board design files (and eventually our gerber
files too). To begin the design process, we need to lay out a schematic. To add a schematic to a
project folder, right-click the folder, hover over “New” and select “Schematic”.
A new,blank window should immediately pop up. Welcome to the schematic editor!
Adding Parts to a Schematic : Schematic design is a two step process. First you have to add all of
the parts to the schematic sheet, then those parts need to be wired together. You can intermix the
steps – add a few parts, wire a few parts, then add some more – but since we already have
a reference design we’ll just add everything in one swoop. Using the ADD Tool. The ADD tool –
(on the left toolbar, or under the Edit menu) – is what you’ll use to place every single
component on the schematic. The ADD tool opens up a library navigator, where you can expand
specific libraries and look at the parts it holds. With a part selected on the left side, the view on the
right half should update to show both the schematic symbol of the part and its package. The ADD
tool also has search functionality – very helpful when you have to navigate through dozens of
libraries to find a part. The search is very literal, so don’t misspell stuff! You can add wildcards to
your search by placing an asterisk (*) before and/or after your search term. For example if you
search for atmega328 you should find a single part/package combo in the SparkFun-DigitalIC
library, but if you search *atmega328* (note asterisks before and after), you’ll discover two more
versions of the IC (because they’re actually named “ATMEGA328P”). You’ll probably want to
get accustomed to always adding an asterisk before and after your search term.
To actually add a part from a library either select the part you want and click “OK”, or double-
click your part.

Step 1: Add a Frame

The frame isn’t a critical component for what will be the final PCB layout, but it keeps your
schematic looking clean and organized. The frame we want should be in the SparkFun-Aesthetics
library, and it’s named FRAME-LETTER. Find that by either searching or navigating and add it
to your schematic. After selecting the part you want to add, it’ll “glow” and start hovering around
following your mouse cursor. To place the part, left-click (once!). Let’s place the frame so its
bottom-left corner runs right over our origin (the small dotted cross, in a static spot on the
schematic). After placing a part, the add tool will assume you want to add another – a new frame
should start following your cursor. To get out of the add-mode either hit escape (ESC) twice or
just select a different tool.

Step 2: Save (And Save Often)

Right now your schematic is an untitled temporary file living in your computer’s ether. To save
either go to File > Save, or just click the blue floppy disk icon. Name your schematic something
descriptive. How about “BareBonesArduino.sch” (SCH is the file format for all EAGLE
schematics). As a bonus, after saving, your frame’s title should update accordingly (you may have
to move around the screen, or go to View > Redraw).

Step 3: Adding the Power Input

Next we’ll add four different parts all devoted to our voltage supply input. Use the add tool for
these parts. If you need to move parts around, use the MOVE tool – (left toolbar or under
the Edit menu). Left-click once on a part to pick it up (your mouse should be hovering over the
part’s red “+” origin). Then left click again when it’s where it needs to be.

Step 4: Microprocessor and Supporting Circuitry

Next we’ll add the main component of the design – the ATmega328 microprocessor – as well as
some components to support it. Here are the parts we’ll add. To rotate parts as your placing them,
either select one of the four options on the rotate toolbar – <="" img=""
style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; height: auto; max-width:
100%;"> – or right click before placing the part. Place your microcontroller in the center of the
frame, then add the other parts around it like so:

Step 5: Adding the Connectors

Three connectors will finish off our design. One 8-pin connector to break out the analog pins, a 6-
pin serial programming header, and a 2x3-pin ICSP programming header. Here are the three parts
to add for this step:
Finally! Here’s what your schematic should look like with every part added:

Step 6 : Wiring Up the Schematic

With all of the parts added to our schematic, it’s time to wire them together. There’s one major
caveat here before we start: even though we’re wiring parts on the schematic, we not going to use
the WIRE tool to connect them together. Instead, we’ll use the NET tool (left toolbar, or under
the Draw menu). The WIRE tool would be better-named as a line-drawing tool, NET does a better
job of connecting components.

Step 7 : Using the NET Tool

To use the NET tool, hover over the very end of a pin (as close as possible, zoom in if you have
to), and left-click once to start a wire. Now a green line should be following your mouse cursor
around. To terminate the net, left-click on either another pin or a net. The hard part, sometimes, is
identifying which part on a circuit symbol is actually a pin. Usually they’re recognizable by a thin,
horizontal, red line off to the side of a part. Sometimes (not always) they’re labeled with a pin
number. Make sure you click on the very end of the pin when you start or finish a net route. Route
the Power Input Circuit. Start back in the upper left, and route the power input circuit like so:
Whenever a net splits in two directions a junction node is created. This signifies that all three
intersecting nets areconnected. If two nets cross, but there’s not a junction, those nets are
not connected. Route the ATmega328 Circuit. Next we’ll route the ATmega328 to its supporting
circuitry. There’s LEDs, a connector, resistor, capacitor and VCC/GND symbols to route. Don’t
forget to add nets between the LEDs, resistors, and GND symbols!

Step 8 : Making Named, Labeled Net Stubs

The remaining nets we have to make are not going to be as easy to cleanly route. For example, we
need to connect the TXO pin on JP2 to the ATmega’s RXD pin, all the way on the other side. You
could do it, it would work, but it’d be really ugly. Instead, we’ll make net “stubs” and give them
unique names to connect them. We’ll start by adding short, one-sided nets to each of the six pins
on the serial connector. Begin by starting a net at a pin, just as you’ve been doing. Terminate the
net by left-clicking a few grid-lengths over to the right of the pin. Then, instead of routing to
another pin, just hit ESC to finish the route. Next, we’ll use the NAME tool – (left toolbar, or
under the Edit menu) – to name each of the six nets. With the NAME tool selected, clicking on a
net should open a new dialog. Start by naming the net connected to the top, GND pin. Delete the
auto-generated name (e.g. N$14), and replace it with “GND” (sans the quotation marks). This
should result in a warning dialog, asking you if you want to connect this net to all of the other nets
named “GND” (that would be every net connected to a GND symbol). Thanks for looking out for
us EAGLE, but in this case Yes we do want to connect GND to GND. After naming a net, you
should use the LABEL tool – – to add a text label. With the LABEL tool selected, left-click on the
net you just named. This should spawn a piece of text that says “GND”, left-click again to place
the label down right on top of your net. Follow that same order of operations for the remaining five
net stubs. In the end, they should look like this (note the net connected to the TXO pin is named
“RX”, and a “TX” net connects to RXI – that’s on purpose):
VCC should be the only other net that warns you that you’ll be connecting to other nets named
“VCC” (anything connected to a VCC voltage node). For the other named nets, we’ll need to
create this same stub somewhere else. Where exactly? Well, we need to add a “RX” and “TX” net
on the ATmega328, and a “DTR”.
Even though there’s no green net connecting these pins, every net with the same, exact name is
actually connected. We need to do a lot of the same to connect the 2x3 programming header to the
ATmega328. First, wire up the connector like so (naming/labeling MOSI, MISO, SCK, and
RESET). Then, back to the ATmega328, add the same four named/labeled nets:
Phew – you’re done. Get excited, it’s about time to lay out a PCB! When your schematic is done,
it should look a little something like this:
The schematic layout is done, but there are a few tips and tricks we’d like to share before moving
over to the PCB layout portion of the tutorial.
Tips and Tricks

Names and Values

Every component on your schematic should have two editable text fields: a name and a value.
The name is an identifier like R1, R2, LED3, etc. Every component on the schematic should have

a unique name. You can use the NAME tool – on any component to change the name. A
part’s value allows you to define unique characteristics of that part. For example, you can set a
resistor’s resistance, or a capacitor’s capacitance. The importance of a part’s value depends on
what type of component it is. For parts like resistors, capacitors, inductors, etc. the value is a
critical piece of information when you’re generating a bill of materials or assembly sheet. To
adjust a part’s value parameter, use the VALUE tool.

Verifying Connections

The SHOW tool is very useful for verifying that pins across your schematic are connected
correctly. If you use SHOW on a net, every pin it’s connected to should light up. If you’re dubious
of the fact that two like-named nets are connected, give the SHOW tool a try. SHOW-ing a net
connected to GND, for example, should result in a lot of GND nets lighting up. As an alternative
to show, you can temporarily MOVE a part a part to make sure nets are connected to it. Use
MOVE to pick a part up, and the nets connected to it should bend and adjust to remain so. Just
make sure you hit ESC to notmove the part (or UNDO if you accidentally move it).
If all the nets connected to a part MOVE with it, all connections are good. If a net isn’t moving
along with the part, it’s not connected to the pin correctly. Double check to make sure you routed
to the very end of the pin, and not a bit further: If you have any nets incorrectly connected like
above, DELETE it, and try re-netting.

Group Moving/Deleting/Etc.

Any tool that you use on a single component, can also be used on a group of them. Grouping and
performing an action on that group is a two-step process. First, use the group tool to select the
parts you want to modify. You can either hold down the left-mouse button and drag a box around
them, or click multiple times to draw a polygon around a group. Once the group is made, every
object in that group should glow. After grouping, select the tool you want to use. The status box in
the far bottom-left will have some helpful information pertaining to using the tool on a group: In
order to perform any action on a group, you have to select the tool, then hold down
CTRL and right-click the group. After you CTRL+right-click, the tool will operate on the group
just as it does a single component.

Copy/Paste

EAGLE’s Copy and Paste tools don’t work exactly like other copy/paste tools you may have
encountered before. Copy actually performs both a copy and paste when it’s used. As soon as you
copy a part (or any object on the schematic – name, text, net, etc.) an exact copy will instantly
spawn and follow your mouse awaiting placement. This is useful if you need to add multiples of
the same part (like GND nodes or resistors). Paste can only be used to paste a group that has
previously been copied to your clipboard. To use paste you first have to create a group, then (with
the copy tool selected) CTRL+right-click to copy it, but hit ESC instead of gluing it down. This’ll
store the copied group into your operating system’s clipboard, and you can use paste to place it
somewhere. This tool is especially useful if you need to copy parts of one schematic file into
another. This tutorial is the first of a pair. The next tutorial, Using EAGLE: Board Layout, will use
the schematic we designed here to lay out a “Bare Bones Arduino” PCB. If you’re headed over to
that tutorial next, you can get a head start by clicking the Generate/Switch to Board icon to create
a board based on this schematic.
Move to Board

Previously on Using EAGLE

EAGLE’s board designer is where a good portion of the magic happens. It’s here where the
dimensions of the board come together, parts are arranged, and connected by copper traces. In the
board editor, the conceptual, idealized schematic you’ve designed becomes a precisely
dimensioned and routed PCB.
In this tutorial we’ll cover every step in EAGLE PCB design: from placing parts, to routing them,
to generating gerber files to send to a fab house. We’ll also go over the basics of EAGLE’s board
editor, beginning with explaining how the layers in EAGLE match up to the layers of a PCB.

Create a Board From Schematic

Before starting this tutorial, read through and follow along with the Using EAGLE:
Schematic tutorial (not to mention the Setting Up EAGLE tutorial before that). The schematic
designed in that tutorial will be used as the foundation for the PCB designed here. To switch from
the schematic editor to the related board, simply click the Generate/Switch to Board command
(on the top toolbar, or under the File menu) – which should prompt a new, board editor window to
open. All of the parts you added from the schematic should be there, stacked on top of eachother,
ready to be placed and routed.
The board and schematic editors share a few similarities, but, for the most part, they’re completely
different animals. On the next page, we’ll look at the colored layers of the board editor, and see
how they compare to the actual layers of a PCB. Layers Overview PCB composition is all about
layering one material over another. The thickest, middle part of the board is a insulating substrate
(usually FR4). On either side of that is a thin layer of copper, where our electric signals pass
through. To insulate and protect the copper layers, we cover them with a thin layer of lacquer-
like soldermask, which is what gives the PCB color (green, red, blue, etc.). Finally, to top it all
off, we add a layer of ink-like silkscreen, which can add text and logos to the PCB. The layers of a
double-sided PCB (image from the PCB Basics tutorial).

EAGLE’s Layers

The EAGLE board designer has layers just like an actual PCB, and they overlap too. We use a
palette of colors to represent the different layers. Here are the layers you’ll be working with in the
board designer: To turn any layer off or on, click the “Layer Settings…” button – – and then click
a layer’s number to select or de-select it. Before you start routing, make sure the layers above
(aside from tStop and bStop) are visible.

Selecting From Overlapping Objects

Here’s one last tip before we get to laying our board out. This is an interface trick that trips a lot of
people up. Since the board view is entirely two-dimensional, and different layers are bound to
overlap, sometimes you have to do some finagling to select an object when there are others on top
of it. Normally, you use the mouse’s left-click to select an object (whether it’s a trace, via, part,
etc.), but when there are two parts overlapping exactly where you’re clicking, EAGLE doesn’t
know which one you want to pick up. In cases like that, EAGLE will pick one of the two
overlapping objects, and ask if that’s the one you want. If it is, you have to left-click again to
confirm. If you were trying to grab one of the other overlapping objects, right-click to cycle to
the next part. EAGLE’s status box, in the very bottom-left of the window, provides some helpful
information when you’re trying to select a part. For example: In the GIF above, a VCC net
overlaps another named Reset. We left-click once directly where they overlap, and EAGLE asks us
if we meant to select VCC. We right-click to cycle, and it asks us instead if we’d like to
select Reset. Right-clicking again cycles back to VCC, and a final left-click selects that as the net
we want to move.
If you haven’t already, click the Generate/Switch to Board icon – – in the schematic editor to
create a new PCB design based on your schematic. The new board file should show all of the parts
from your schematic. The gold lines, called airwires, connect between pins and reflect the net
connections you made on the schematic. There should also be a faint, light-gray outline of a board
dimension to the right of all of the parts. Our first job in this PCB layout will be arranging the
parts, and then minimizing the area of our PCB dimension outline. PCB costs are usually related to
the board size, so a smaller board is a cheaper board.

Understanding the Grid

In the schematic editor we never even looked at the grid, but in the board editor it becomes much
more important. The grid should be visible in the board editor. You can adjust the granularity of
the grid, by clicking on the GRID icon . A 0.05" grid, and 0.005" alternate grid is a good size for
this kind of board. EAGLE forces your parts, traces, and other objects to “snap” to the grid defined
in the Size box. If you need finer control, hold down ALT on your keyboard to access
the alternate grid, which is defined in the Alt box.

Moving Parts

Using the MOVE tool, you can start to move parts within the dimension box. While you’re
moving parts, you can rotate them by either right-clicking or changing the angle in the drop-down
box near the top. The way you arrange your parts has a huge impact on how easy or hard the next
step will be. As you’re moving, rotating, and placing parts, there are some factors you should take
into consideration: Don’t overlap parts: All of your components need some space to breathe. The
green via holes need a good amount of clearance between them too. Remember those green rings
are exposed copper on both sides of the board, if copper overlaps, streams will cross and short
circuits will happen. Minimize intersecting airwires: While you move parts, notice how the
airwires move with them. Limiting criss-crossing airwires as much as you can will make
routing much easier in the long run. While you’re relocating parts, hit the RATSNEST button – –
to get the airwires to recalculate.

Part placement requirements: Some parts may require special consideration during placement.
For example, you’ll probably want the insertion point of the barrel jack connector to be facing the
edge of the board. And make sure that decoupling capacitor is nice and close to the IC. Tighter
placement means a smaller and cheaper board, but it also makes routing harder. Below is an
example of how you might lay out your board while considering those factors. We’ve minimized
airwire intersections by cleverly placing the LEDs and their current-limiting resistors. Some parts
are placed where they just have to go (the barrel jack, and decoupling capacitor). And the layout is
relatively tight. Note: The tNames layer (which isn’t visible by default) was turned on to help
identify which part is which.

Adjusting the Dimension Layer

Now that the parts are placed, we’re starting to get a better idea of how the board will look. Now
we just need to fix our dimension outline. You can either move the dimensions lines that are
already there, or just start from scratch. Use the DELETE tool to erase all four of the dimension
lines. Then use the WIRE tool to draw a new outline. Before you draw anything though, go up to
the options bar and set the layer to 20 Dimension. Also up there, you may want to turn down the
width a bit (we usually set it to 0.008"). Then, starting at the origin, draw a box around your parts.
Don’t intersect the dimension layer with any holes, or they’ll be cut off! Make sure you end where
you started. That’s a fine start. With the parts laid out, and the dimension adjusted, we’re ready to
start routing some copper!
Routing the Board

Routing is the most fun part of this entire process. It’s like solving a puzzle! Our job will be
turning each of those gold airwires into top or bottom copper traces. At the same time, you also
have to make sure not to overlap two different signals. To draw all of our copper traces, we’ll use
the ROUTE tool (not the WIRE tool!). After selecting the tool, there are a few options to consider
on the toolbar above:

 Layer: On a 2-layer board like this, you’ll have to choose whether you want to start routing on
the top (1) or bottom (16) layer.
 Bend Style: Usually you’ll want to use 45° angles for your routes (wire bend styles 1 and 3), but
it can be fun to make loopy traces too.
 Width: This defines how wide your copper will be. Usually 0.01" is a good default size. You
shouldn’t go any smaller than 0.007" (or you’ll probably end up paying extra). Wider traces can
allow for more current to safely pass through. If you need to supply 1A through a trace, it’d need
to be much wider (to find out how much, exactly, use a trace width calculator).
 Via Options: You can also set a few via characteristics here. The shape, diameter, and drill can
be set, but usually the defaults (round, auto, and 0.02" respectively) are perfect.

With those all set, you start a route by left-clicking on a pin where a airwire terminates. The
airwire, and connected pins will “glow”, and a red or blue line will start on the pin. You finish the
trace by left-clicking again on top of the other pin the airwire connects to. Between the pins, you
can left-click as much as you need to “glue” a trace down. While routing it’s important to avoid
two cases of overlap: copper over vias, and copper over copper. Remember that all of these copper
traces are basically bare wire. If two signals overlap, they’ll short out, and neither will do what it’s
supposed to. If traces do cross each other, make sure they do so on opposite sides of the board. It’s
perfectly acceptable for a trace on the top side to intersect with one on the bottom. That’s why
there are two layers! If you need more precise control over your routes, you can hold down the
ALT key on your keyboard to access the alternate grid. By default, this is set to be a much more
fine 0.005".

Placing Vias

Vias are really tiny drill holes that are filled with copper. We use them mid-route to move a trace
from one side of the board to the other. To place a via mid-route, first left-click in the black ether
between pins to “glue” your trace down. Then you can either change the layer manually in the
options bar up top, or click your middle mouse button to swap sides. And continue routing to
your destination. EAGLE will automatically add a via for you. Make sure you leave enough space
between two different signal traces. PCB fabricators should have clearly defied minimum widths
that they’ll allow between traces – probably around 0.006" for standard boards. As a good rule-of-
thumb, if you don’t have enough space between two traces to fit another (not saying you should),
they’re too close together.

Ripping Up Traces

Much like the WIRE tool isn’t actually used to make wires, the DELETE tool can’t actually be
used to delete traces. If you need to go back and re-work a route, use the RIPUP tool – – to
remove traces. This tool turns routed traces back into airwires. You can also use UNDO and
REDO to back/forward-track. That’s about all the simple rules there are. Go have the time of your
life solving the routing puzzle! You may want to start on the closest, easiest traces first. Or, you
might want to route the important signals – like power and ground – first. Here’s an example of a
fully-routed board: See if you can do a better job than that! Make your board smaller. Or try to
avoid using any vias. After you feel like the routing is done, there are a few checks we can do to
make sure it’s 100% complete. We’ll cover those on the next page Or Use the Autorouter
(Cheater!) If you’re short on time, or having trouble solving the routing puzzle, you can try
loading up EAGLE’s Autorouter – – to see if it can finish the job. Open up the autorouter, don’t
worry about these other tabs for now, just click OK. If you don’t like the job the autorouter did,
you can quickly hit Undo to go back to where you were. The autorouter won’t always be able to
finish the job, so it’s still important to understand how to manually route pads (plus manual routes
look much better). After running the autorouter, check the bottom-left status box to see how it did.
If it says anything other than “OptimizeN: 100% finished”, you’ve still got some work to do. If
your autorouter couldn’t finish the job, try turning Routing Grid down from 50mil 10mil. There
are tons of optimizations and settings to be made in the autorouter. If you want to dig deeper into
the subject, consider checking out EAGLE’s manual where an entire chapter is devoted to it.

Checking for Errors

Before we package the design up and send it off to the fabrication house, there are a few tools we
can use to check our design for errors. The first check is to make sure you’ve actually routed all of
the nets in your schematic. To do this, hit the RATSNEST icon – – and then immediately check
the bottom left status box. If you’ve routed everything, it should say “Ratsnest: Nothing to do!” As
denoted by the exclamation mark, having “nothing to do” is very exciting. It means you’ve made
every route required. If ratsnest says you have “N airwires” left to route, double check your board
for any floating golden lines and route them up. If you’ve looked all over, and can’t find the
suspect airwire, try turning off every layer except 19 Unrouted.

Design Rule Check

Once you’re done routing there’s just one more check to be made: the design rule check (DRC).
For this step, we recommend you use the SparkFun design rules, which you can download here.
To load up the DRC, click the DRC icon which opens up this dialog. The tabs in this view
(Layers, Clearance, Distance, etc.) help define a huge set of design rules which your layout needs
to pass. These rules define things like minimum clearance distances, or trace widths, or drill hole
sizes…all sorts of fun stuff. Instead of setting each of those manually, you can load up a set of
design rules using a DRU file. To do this, hit Load… and select the SparkFun.dru file you just
downloaded. The title of the window will change to “DRC (SparkFun)”, and some values on the
other tabs will change. Then hit the Check button. Again, look down to the bottom-left of the
editor. If your design is perfect, you should see “DRC: No errors.” But if things didn’t go so swell,
you’ll instead be greeted by the dreaded “DRC Errors” window. The error window lists all of the
open errors, and it also highlights where the error is. Click on any of the errors listed, and EAGLE
will point to the offender. There are all so. Once you’ve seen both “No airwires left!” and “DRC:
No errors.”, your board is ready to send to the fab house, which means it’s time to generate some
gerber files. Before we do that though, let’s add some finishing touches to the design.

Finishing Touches
Adding Copper Pours. Copper pours are usually a great addition to a board. They look
professional and they actually have a good reason for existing. Not to mention they make
routing much easier. Usually, when you’re adding a copper pour it’s for the ground signal. So let’s
add some ground pours to the design. Start by selecting the POLYGON tool – . Then (as usual),
you’ll need to adjust some settings in the options bar. Select the top copper (1) layer. Also adjust
the Isolate setting which defines how much clearance the ground pour gives other signals, 0.012"
for this is usually good. Next, draw a set of lines just like you did the dimension box. In fact, just
draw right on top of the dimension lines. Start drawing at the origin, trace all the way around, and
finish back at the same spot. A dotted red box should appear around the dimension of the board.
After you’ve drawn the polygon, you have to connect it to a net using the NAME tool – . This
works just like naming nets on a schematic. Use that tool on the dotted red line you just created,
and in the dialog that pops up type “GND”. (Click here to see an animated GIF of the entire
process.) The last step is to hit ratsnest, to watch the glorious red pour fill just about the entire
area of your board. You’ll probably hate me for telling you this now, but adding ground pours to
your design at the very beginning (after placing parts, before routing) makes manual
routing much easier. You can (and probably should) have ground pours on both sides of the board,
so follow the same set of steps on the bottom layer. It can be hard to tell what is and isn’t
connected to the ground pour. If you see a black gap separating a pad and the pour, there is no
connection. If you see some traces forming a “target” over the pad, there is a connection from the
pour to that pad. If you ever want to hide the polygon (it’s hard to see other stuff with it on there),
use the RIPUP tool on the polygon border you just drew. Don’t worry, the polygon is still there,
just hit ratsnest to bring it back.

Adding Silkscreen

Although it has no real effect on the circuit your designing, silkscreen can be a critical part of the
PCB design. You want it to look good, right? Some silkscreen – like part outlines – is
automatically placed on the board because it’s a piece of the part. We can manually add other
information, like labels, logos, and names. A variety of draw can be used to draw on the silkscreen
layer (tPlacefor top, bPlace for bottom). Have fun and explore with these tools. You could add
labels for the headers, or values for the resistors, or even create a nifty logo.The draw tools are a
bit limited, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it look good!

Generating Gerbers

When you’ve finalized your design, the last step before sending it off to the fab house is to
generate gerber files. Gerber files are kind of a “universal language” for PCB designs. EAGLE is
far from the only PCB CAD software out there, and its design files are nothing like those of Orcad
or Altium. Fab houses can’t possibly support every piece of software out there, so we send them
the gerber files instead. Gerber files – note the plurality – each describe single layers of the PCB.
One gerber might describe the silkscreen, while another defines where the top copper is. In all,
we’ll generate seven gerber files to send to the fab house. Before we get too much further, you’ll
need to download another definition file: SparkFun’s CAM file. Then, load up the CAM processor
by clicking the CAM icon which will open up this window: From here, go to the File menu, then
go Open > Job…. In the file browser that opens, select the sfe-gerb274x.cam file that you just
downloaded. Now the CAM processor window should have a series of tabs: “Top Copper”,
“Bottom Copper”, “Top Silkscreen”, etc. Each of these tabs define how to create one of the gerber
files. Now all you have to do is click Process Job. If you haven’t saved recently, it’ll prompt you
to. The gerber generation process should be pretty quick. Once it’s run its course, have a look in
your project directory, which should have loads of new files in it. In addition to the board (BRD)
and schematic (SCH) files, there should now be a .dri, .GBL, .GBO, .GBS, .GML, .gpi, .GTO,
.GTP, .GTS, and a .TXT. Meet the Gerbers!

Picking a PCB Manufacturer

There are PCB manufacturers all over the world, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding
one. OSH Park is pretty great for low-volume, high-quality PCBs (plus, they’re
purple!). Advanced Circuits is awesomely fast. Gold Phoenix is cheap. We could go on and on, but
Ladyada has a great list over on her website. Before they fabricate the board, the fab house will
usually run a quick design for manufacturability (DFM) check, and let you know if something on
your design will cause in a problem. The process of sending gerber files varies by fab house. Most
will ask you to send them a zipped folder of select files. Which gerber files? Check with your fab
house again (e.g. Advanced Circuits and OSH Park’s guidelines), but usually you want to send
them GTL, GBL, GTS, GBS, GTO, GBO and the TXT files. The GTP file isn’t necessary for the
PCB fabrication, but (if your design had SMD parts) it can be used to create a stencil. So zip those
gerbers up. Play the waiting game. And get ready to assemble your very own PCB! If you’d like to
check out the reference design we did in this tutorial, you can download them here. That also
includes the gerber files, and all EAGLE scripts used in this tutorial.
 IoT sensors serve and protect

By Gabriele Fulco
https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/sensors-serve-protect-2017-09/

The number of unattended and remote facilities has increased, thanks to the internet of things
(IoT). Isolated and rough terrain locations as well as sites that require minimal attention can
now be given fully automated and connected protection.

The IoT connected system is capable of executing an automated function, but is often unaware
of the external environment, which could well affect performance, and particularly safety.

Take, for example, a reservoir high in the mountains, equipped with an automated system
which monitors the level of the water. If it had a human operator, they would be aware that the
temperature was beginning to soar, or that a forest fire had broken out in a neighbouring field.
They would also be aware of potentially catastrophic events affecting safety, like an
earthquake that could affect the structure of the dam.

The IoT is now allowing these environmental factors to be considered alongside the original
automated task of water measurement.

A sensor for all reasons

To remove the need for a human operative at the reservoir, the IoT system would need to have
several connected sensors in place, to monitor temperature, humidity, pollution and so on.
Each one would have to be individually designed in – no small job for the designer.

A multi-functional environmental sensor can make it easier for designers to use a fully
integrated sensor that covers a multitude of environmental factors in addition to those
mentioned above. Some, like Omron’s 2JCIE-BL01, include UVI, barometric pressure, noise
and acceleration. A combined environmental sensor allows the user to keep track of the
surroundings and bespoke threshold values can be set to provide alerts that notify the user of
any abnormal sensor readings.

In the example of the reservoir, a rise in temperature could be detected by the environmental
sensor and an alert issued and/or an automated response implemented.

Seismic stability

In many areas of the world the environmental factors already measured will also need to
consider the threat of an earthquake.

There are over 50 each day on average – that’s about 20,000 a year. This is a particular issue
for unmanned IoT systems.

An attended system with a human operator can normally be shut down safely in an emergency,
but remote systems are vulnerable if the problem isn’t detected.

A smart seismic sensor can minimise the risk of secondary damage after an earthquake by
safely stopping any hazardous devices and halting production lines as necessary. It can also
help to determine damage by mapping seismic intensity and providing information about the
risk of buildings collapsing.Omron’s D7S sensor has a globally-patented algorithm-driven
technology that gives precision measurement of spectral intensity (SI), allowing the sensor to
reject impulse vibration noise, only responding to genuine seismic activity.
If your plant happened to be located next to a train line, the sensor would use its three-axis
accelerometer and SI value calculation algorithms to distinguish between seismic activity and
other movement.

Air pollution monitoring in both home and work environments is becoming more important as
building managers and authorities alike look to control vehicle emissions, cigarette and other
smoke.

An increase in particles in the atmosphere can also indicate a higher pollution risk. Through
the IoT a dust sensor can automatically send an alert that can activate air conditioning units to
counterbalance the influx of pollutants and secure the environment.

Omron has developed a compact dust sensor to detect particles as small as 0.5µm in the
atmosphere. Its air throughput is about six times that of established alternatives. The result is
improved sensitivity of response to changes in the environment.

Spot the difference

The IoT is doing more than just helping to automate unmanned systems; it’s also allowing
sensors to intelligently be aware of the people in any given environment.

For example, a sensor could be used to detect a human presence among animals and then also
use facial recognition to determine whether the person it sees is authorised to be there.

This would have many security applications, from controlling access to buildings, computers,
phones etc to also restricting access for people with different clearance levels.

Facial recognition and many other gesture-related recognition systems can easily be added by a
designer without the need to understand the algorithms or the optical design.

The IoT is making it increasingly easy for both the direct and indirect environmental factors of
a facility to be monitored and – using cloud-based solutions – for thresholds and automated
response procedures to be put in place.

Sensor technology and modules like the HVC are also saving design time and effort, allowing
developers to easily integrate them into their designs and read the data provided to create their
systems.

Looking ahead to IoT systems that provide customer service applications, we can see a higher
degree of customisation is available.
Imagine an office coffee machine that recognises your face and prepares your drink, just the
way you like it.

In a factory machinery operatives might find their chair automatically adjusted to their height
and weight to give maximum comfort. The next generation of lighting systems can also
respond to gestures adjusting lighting, air conditioning or heating.

Sensor can tell if you’re happy

The Omron HVC-P2 B5T sensor allows a designer to integrate 10 key image sensing functions
into their system: detection of a human face, hand or body; face recognition; gender detection;
estimation of age, mood, facial pose, gaze and blink.

In each case the module returns a value together with its degree of certainty, allowing the
programmer to configure the response appropriately for each individual application. This can
be easily integrated into an established system or implemented as part of a new design. All the
integrator needs to do is read the data output and programme the system to react appropriately.
The Omron HVC module is the first vision module specifically aimed at applications like
building automation. It can differentiate between young and old, male and female and even
give a mood estimation (based on one of five expressions).

Although the algorithms required to implement these functions are complex and processor-
intensive, they are handled entirely within the module without making any demand on the host
system. This frees the developer from having to devote time to building and testing algorithms,
a complex and time-intensive task.
 Transistors in Radio

By Chris Woodford.
Last updated: April 27, 2017.
http://www.explainthatstuff.com/howtransistorswork.html

One of my interests is restoring vintage transistor radios. Of course, after 40 plus years of life,
most electrolytic capacitors are suspect and the carbon-composition resistors have drifted high
(and sometimes become very noisy). No surprises there. But the reliability and failure modes of
vintage transistors is interesting, and is the subject of this article. The earliest practical transistors
were made from germanium, and devices using this material were commonly used well into the
1970s. It's true that silicon transistors are better in most regards, but used appropriately,
germanium transistors can give excellent results, and generally, they are remarkably reliable -
especially when you consider how young the semiconductor industry was - but there are some
noteable exceptions.

The AF11x problem

The alloy-diffused AF114, AF115, AF116 and AF117 transistors were introduced in the early
1960s. There is an AF118, but this is not found in transistor radios - it's a high voltage transistor
intended for use in video circuits, but it is occasionally found elsewhere (for example, the Leak
Stereo 30 hi-fi amplifier).

The AF117 is commonly used in AM radio stages, and the AF114-6 types are found in FM radios.
They are very similar in practice - indeed, according to the data presented in the classic
reference Towers International Transistor Selector, there is no difference. I suspect that they are all
the same piece of germanium, and are labelled according to their measured HF performance.
Anyway, the problem with these transistors is NOT the germanium itself - rather, it's the package
the transistors are mounted in. The TO7 encapsulation has a 4th lead that is connected to the metal
can, and this is usually connected to ground so that the transistor inside is screened. Fine so far.
Unfortunately, the tin plating that is applied to the base metal of the encapsulation exhibits the
rather surprising phenomenon of growing whiskers that ultimately make contact with electrodes
inside the can. These whiskers are many times thinner than a human hair, but they are able to pass
a current that will interfere with the operation of the transistor. The basic effect has been known
about within the electronics industry for many decades, and has been studied by many authorities,
including NASA. Indeed, they have specifically investigated the AF11x transistors. The "cure" to
tin whisker formation is to add an amount of lead to the tin, forming an alloy which doesn't form
whiskers. For many years, this meant that the tin whisker problem was a historical problem, but
unfortunately, the recent removal of lead from the electronics industry has resulted in a recurrence
of the problem. History will teach us nothing!

How to deal with AF11x transistors

A failed AF11x transistor is usually easy to spot; if you see one, it's probably faulty! Sometimes,
sharply tapping the case might temporarily dislodge the offending whiskers and cause the set to
spring into life. Often though, this doesn't work. Taking DC voltage measurements might be
enough to prove the existance of the problem, or simply measuring the continuity between the
screen lead and the other leads (with the set powered down, of course!) might be a useful
approach. To be absolutely sure, remove the transistor and measure the resisance between screen
and the other leads. Any leakage at all - no matter how slight it might seem - could be enough to
stop the set working.

NOS replacement?
In short, no! Unfortunately, the exact mechanism for tin whisker growth is still unknown, but it
does seem that the presence or otherwise of an electric field has no effect. So, just because a
transistor has been sitting around unused for 50 years, it's no guarantee of its condition. Forget
about it. And don't pay silly money for NOS examples of these transistors and expect them to
work!
Replace with an equivalent?
Option 2 is better. The best equivalent transistors are the AF12x series that are the same piece of
germanium, but mounted in a TO72 case. This looks like the ubiquitous TO18 package - as used
by the BC108 and similar - but with a forth lead for the screen. This package seems to be immune
to the tin whisker problem - presumably the case wasn't plated with pure tin.

But, there are problems with this approach. For a start, these transistors are hard to find today -
NOS is the only sensible option - and vendors are very aware of their usefulness when setting
prices! Additionally, they look "wrong". Many collectors wanting to perform sympathetic
restorations will pay attention to aesthetic matters - especially if it's a set that displays most of its
"works" when you open it up to change the batteries. Sometimes, people will cut open a failed
AF11x device, discard the contents, and glue the AF12x replacment in place - this works well
because the TO72 package is considerably smaller than the TO7, and from a casual glance at the
top of the PCB, this "fix" is invisible.

The final problem with the AF12x replacements is that their leads are much, much shorter than the
TO7 AF11x. This means that to fit them to some sets - Hacker, for example - the leads might need
to be extended.

As AF12x transistors are hard to find, it's worth considering silicon devices in this role. Perhaps
surprisingly, many general-purpose PNP transistors will work with no modifications. Basic
"jellybean" transistors like the BC558 or 2N3906 might do the job. But with this approach, it is
impossible to draw up any specific guidelines, and all I can say is that you have to be prepared to
experiment and test carefully. You might need to carry out some realignment, and you might need
to adjust a resistor or two to get the bias correct - especially if it's a self-oscillating mixer stage.
One for the more experienced engineers! So, from an electrical and long-term reliability point of
view, a compatible replacement might well be the best option - especially if you are providing a
warranty for the repair - but it's not without compromises.

Cut the screen lead?

No! It's a bodge of the highest order. OK, if the immediate problem is a short from the case to
a single electrode, then yes, this will probably get the set going, and it will probably work well
enough, despite the fact the case is no longer earthed. But the key word above was "immediate".
You can be 100% sure that sooner or later, the thriving community of tin whiskers will find their
way to another electrode, and then you'll have a short-circuit between the first electrode and the
next one. And a dead radio. Additionally, should you decide to "treat" the transistor - see below -
then that procedure will be complicated by fact you'll have a much shorter screen lead. Don't do it!

"Treat" the transistor

A faulty AF11x transistor can be fixed. It's important to realise that this can only be regarded as a
short-term fix, but it's easy to do, and for the sets that were designed with easy servicing in mind -
such as those made by Hacker - then it's no real hardship to repeat the treatment every few years.
Having said that, I've been treating transistors this way for a long time, and I have yet to see a
recurrence. These whiskers seem to grow slowly, and they do have quite a long way to go inside
the package.

The idea of fixing these transistors is well-known, and everyone has their own preferred method.
The technique adopted will impact on the long-term success of the repair, so I use a method that I
believe will give the best reliability - however, others will have their own thoughts. A quick search
of the various vintage radio forums will return lots of information - so make your own mind up.
The basic idea is to pass a high current through the tin whiskers so that they are vapourised, but
obviously this has to be done in a way that doesn't damage the germanium junction inside. You
have to use a lot of energy to ensure that as much as possible of the whiskers are removed. Using a
high voltage will ensure that you "catch" any whiskers that are close to making contact with an
electrode. And of course, during this process, you don't want to put yourself at risk of recieving an
electric shock. Here is what I do:
1. Remove the transistor from the radio. Measure the resistance between screen and the other
electrodes - you might find that at least one of them will exhibit a low resistance (10Ω or less),
or you might find that any resistance is pretty high - a few kΩ or more. In some cases, you
might not find any leakage at all. Even if this is the case, you've taken the effort to remove the
transistor, so carry on with the procedure – treating them can fix a fault, even if there appears
to be no leakage to speak of.

2. Connect together the collector, base and emitter leads. Use a dab of solder to be absolutely sure
they are firmly connected. If you forget to join them, then there is a risk of damage to the
junction.

3. Find a decent electrolytic capacitor - this will be charged up by a bench power supply, and will
ensure the maximum energy is delivered directly into the transistor. I'd recommend using at
least 100µF for this. The voltage rating obviously depends on what you have available.
Connect a bench power supply to the capacitor. At this stage, set the output to 0 volts. This
power supply remains connected throughout the whole procedure, and will top up the capacitor
if it loses charge. The power supply should be at least 30V - more if you have it. The higher the
voltage, the further the electricity will be able to jump, so the more whiskers will be caught by
the discharge. Some people use lower voltages - such as 9V from a PP3.

4. Solder one end of the capacitor to the 3 twisted electrodes. Bend the leads so that the screen
lead is just a short distance away from the other end of the capacitor. Wind up the voltage of
the power supply. Take great care to ensure you don't touch both ends of the capacitor at the
same time - espeically if you are using higher voltages. Bring the end of the capacitor and the
screen lead together, and watch and listen for a small spark as the energy is discharged into the
transistor.

5. If you are especially lucky, you might even see the bottom end of the transistor light up (the
base plate is glass). Wind down the DC power supply to zero volts. You've probably sorted it at
this stage, but I do an extra step (I think I invented this, for what that's worth!).

6. Solder the screen lead to the capacitor, and wind up the voltage again. At this stage, we're not
expecting any current to be flowing, as we've already zapped the whiskers. But, these can be
tricky little things, so we'll hunt out any that might be hiding just out of reach... Very
carefully, sharply hit the body of the transistor from several different directions. I hold the
transistor just a couple of millimetres above a metal bench vice, and hit it from above with a
large screwdriver - this gives the transistor a double-impact from two sides. Rotate and do it
again. After 30 or so seconds of this, you can be confident that there is nothing waiting to
"land" after just a few weeks of operation. Sometimes, you do see the PSU output dip slightly
as the capacitor quickly recharges after an impact, which is reassuring confirmation of
something actually happening during this part of the process.

7. Finally, check for leakage between the screen and other electrodes. Re-fit the transistor to the
radio (I never bother testing it first), taking care to neatly straighten out the leads and re-
forming them to fit back into the PCB. Re-fit any sleeving that was used, and be extra careful
about putting it back correctly (many manufacturers omitted the silk-screen from their PCBs).
Once all the transistors have been done. the radio should burst back into life - although of
course you might have to search for other age-related faults like faulty electrolytic capacitors.
If needed, basic DC voltage measurements will confirm that the transistors are acting as
transistors.

This approach has worked for me with a 100% success rate. However, I do think that if you're
doing this for a paying customer, you are morally obliged to explain the issue to the customer,
making sure they understand that this can only be considered to be a short or medium term fix -
perhaps offering a reasonably long warranty on the repair as a gesture of good faith. Based on my
experience so far, I'd be confident enough to offer a 5 year warranty on AF11x repairs, which isn't
bad going really...
Problems with TO1 transistors
The TO1 package was widely used by Mullard - example devices include AC127, AC128, AC176,
AC187, AC188. These transistors were mostly used in audio output stages, as well as in earlier
parts of the audio circuitry. There are many similar devices out there - for example, the Newmaket
NKT700 types, as used by Dynatron, amongst others..

Note the example on the right, which comes with an aluminium case mounted over the TO1
package to facilitate heat sink mounting. Transistors in this package usually had a suffix of "-01"
or "K". The package is called X04.

Being commonly used in the output stage, these are prone to overload and thermal issues. They
can fail completely, which is normally pretty easy to spot, but they can also partially fail with the
symptom of much-reduced current gain, which gives rise to a high distortion and reduced output
voltage swing on one half of the waveform. Easy enough to spot with an oscilloscope.

There is another failure mode which could apply to several types of transistor, but I'll mention it
here because unfortunately, the TO1 transistors are statistically more likely to suffer from it.
Basically, when manufacturers started adding sockets to allow the radio set to be powered from an
external DC power source - be it a car battery or a mains adaptor - this meant that the output pair
became at risk of damage from the application of incorrect polarity. Even a brief connection of the
wrong polarity could be enough to harm the output transistors. Normally, the damage stopped
there, but if left incorrectly connected for long enough, electrolytic capacitors might start to protest
- often with extremely messy results! In most cases, the remaining semiconductors were
sufficiently protected by power supply decoupling arrangements, but not always.

Another failure mode is greatly increased noise. I've seen this perhaps half a dozen times in the
driver stage in the audio amplifier used by Hacker. Incidentally, it's more correct to refer to this
transistor as the "VAS" (voltage amplifier stage), but most people who learnt about basic amplifier
theory back in those days refer to it as the driver. Either way, I'm talking about T4 (AC128) on the
A205 amplifier assembly, as used in the Hacker Sovereign II (RP25), the Herald (RP35) and the
VHF Herald (RP37). The symptom is sharp, impulsive noise, and on a 'scope it shows up as
positive-going spikes. It looks like the transistor is intermittently breaking down.

Of the failure modes considered so far, replacement is the only cure. These transistors are
relatively easy to find, but some of them can be expensive - luckily, the circuits are generally non-
critical, and some substitutions can be performed - refer to Towers or some other equivalent guide.
Oh, and be aware that a modern version of the AC128 (and others) exists and is readily available
as NOS - they were available at the larger suppliers like CPC until relatively recently. However,
it's in a different case that has a smaller diameter than the original TO1 types, so doesn't fit very
well into the copper heat sink clips that were popular at the time.

The final thing to say about these transistors is that they can suffer from the tin whisker problem.
This is contrary to the "accepted wisdom" found on radio forums, and people are often surprised
when I report it, but yes, it happens. Unlike the AF11x types, it's by no means certain that they will
develop tin whiskers, but don't rule it out. Of course, there is no screen lead, so it doesn't
necessarily cause quite the same problems that the AF11x types do - unless the transistor is
mounted on the chassis for heat sinking purposes.

The whiskers can be zapped in exactly the same way, but it's a bit less convenient because there is
no screen wire. A croc-clip can be used to get a good contact to the case.

The mysterious "T2"

Several Hacker sets use a transistor that has no markings other than "T2". Questions about these
very occasionally crop up on the vintage radio forums, but no-one seems to know anything about
them. I even created an entry about them on Radiomuseum.org in the hope that someone might
recognise them.
This transistor is no more or less reliable than the regular types, but I wanted to include some
details about it here - if anyone knows anything about these, please contact me...
As you can see, it's in the same TO1 package as the AC176 and AC128 sitting either side of it.
This picture shows a late example of the Hacker A205 PCB (with the heat sink removed) as used
in a Sovereign II RP25B - earlier examples used an OC71. I have only ever seen the T2 used as a
bias stabiliser (VBE-muliplier).

Other than the usual red dot to denote the collector lead (not visible in the picture), there are no
other markings on the transistor. I have seen a mention of "T3", which has a blue spot - with TO1
transistors, a red spot implies PNP, and blue means NPN. From memory, that was found in a
machine made by Philips. So, what's the story?

I have a theory, but so far it really is just a theory. As I have only ever seen these in the V BE-
muliplier position, where there is guaranteed to only ever be a volt or two across it, I wonder if
these are transistors that failed to meet their breakdown voltage specifications, but were otherwise
reasonably OK. Then sold to selected customers with strict instructions about how to use them?

Unfortunately, it's very hard to search for information about these as "T2" and "T3" are frequently
used as designations on circuit diagrams and parts lists! But, should you ever encounter a faulty
one, just about any PNP germanium transistor should be a suitable replacement. Obviously, if it is
attached to a heat sink with a spring clip, then a device with the TO1 package is required - the
AC128 is the obvious option, but as there will be hardly any current passing, something like an
AC125 might be better if you have one - save the AC128 for output stage failures.

How about the glass types?

The first germanium transistors that I encountered as a kid were the glass-encapsulated OCxx
types - OC44, OC45, OC71, OC81D, OC81, etc. The latter types listed were often further
encapulated in an aluminium can for improved heat dissipation - the OC81D was often used as a
driver (ahead of an inter-stage phase-splitting transformer), and a pair of OC81 types formed the
push-pull output stage. Sometimes you find them with a printed plastic sleeve, in various colours.
Irrespective of whether or not the can or sleeve is included, the encapsulation is called SO-2.
Incidentally, the OC71 was introduced in 1954. It was by no means the first commercially released
transistor, but it was extremely popular and remained in production for many years. Similarly, the
OC44/45 were launched in 1956. I still find it incredible to think that this was 60 years ago! In
general, these are exceedingly reliable - I can't remember the last time I had to replace one. Well
OK, I can, but that's not because of an electrical fault:

This remarkable photograph shows an OC44 that was found in a radio - at some point in the past it
had been smashed, but amazingly, it was working perfectly! Needless to say, I replaced it, but
wonder how much longer it would have gone on working for.

Obviously, they are physically fragile. Also, should the paint flake off, the transistor will behave to
some extent as a phototransistor - plenty of unsuspecting engineers wasted hours searching for the
source of mysterious humming before realising that their bench lights were the cause! Incidentally,
there was an official phototransistor available - the OCP71 - which was filled with a clear silicon
grease to allow maximum light transfer. The regular transistors were treated to a more opaque
filling (as seen above) - apparently, if you scrape off the paint from a transistor to find a clear
filling, it was probably a rejected phototransistor that was tested to see if it could be sold as a
regular OC-seried transistor (reference).

The alloy-junction OC44/45 types were used in early AM radios, but were quickly replaced by the
infamous AF117. When working, the AF117 does give much better results - the OC44/45 types
had a higher base-collector capacitance which required neutralisation (essentially, a form of
positive feedback) between IF stages to get good gain. These types are sometimes found in audio
pre-amplifiers as well. And unfortunately for vintage radio collectors, these - and many other
germanium types - were also used in guitar distortion pedals, and musicians wanting the "classic
germanium sound" are willing to pay a pretty premium for original examples of these transistors
for use with modern clones of the designs. Happily, silicon tranistors have proved to be extremely
reliable, provided they are correctly used. Germanium transistors are very sensitive to temperature,
and they were comparatively expensive, so designers tended to use them very conservatively, with
plenty of heat sinking where appropriate. Silicon transistors are able to withstand much higher
junction temperatures, so designers naturally took liberties with the thermal design.
Coincidentally, by the time manufacturers were using silicon devices for output duties, the UK
market had become a lot more competitive, with no shortage of cheaper imports taking sales from
the home-grown products, so the temptation to save every penny possible must have been
overwhelming.

Apart from overload or overheating (including the application of incorrect polarity, as mentioned
earlier), silicon transistors have been remarkably successful. There were a few cases of thermal
runaway in specific sets, but by and large unexplained failures are mostly random, and few and far
between. With just one exception:
The "Lockfit" problem
At some point in the late 1960s, Mullard introduced a new range of transistors in a package that
was called "Lockfit". As you can see from the picture, the style is very distinctive. The short,
stubby legs are preformed to facilitate PCB assembly - either manually or by automatic means.
These transistors were literally everywhere in the 1970s, and I rescued a fair few of them when I
took things apart when I was a kid. For audio use, the BC147, BC148 and the BC149 were very
popular - as far as I can tell, the silicon inside each of these is the same as was fitted to the
ubiquitous BC107/8/9 transistors (which were in the metal TO18 can). In RF and IF stages, the
BF194 and BF195 were popular. As with the AF11x range, it's hard to see an obvious difference
between them when you simply examine the data in Towers, but Mullard recommended that the
BF194 was used in IF stages, and the BF195 is intended for input and mixer stages. Additionally,
there was the BF196 and BF197, which are recommended for use in TV applications, but they
usually work OK in radio circuits (be aware that they have more bandwidth and a lower H FE).

Having introduced them, what is the problem?

Unusually for a transistor, they have a partial failure mode. Yes, complete failures do happen, and
perhaps slightly more often than with other types - especially those that lead a quiet life on a
signals panel - but the partial failure mode is a really strange one to explain.

Compounding the issue is this simple fact: the partial failure might not be at all obvious - whether
the fault is noticed depends on where it occurs in the circuit. For that reason, I suggest that the
actual failure rate is higher than the anecdotal evidence suggests.

The symptom is greatly increased noise. It's a very distinctive type of noise - not the usual hiss
(white noise) that we are used to hearing from audio amplifiers in general. Rather, it's an
impulsive, low-frequency type of noise - almost like a rumble. It's almost certainly a type of noise
called "shot noise". As mentioned, whether this is noticeable depends on where this transistor is in
the signal path, and how much gain follows on from it. By way of an example, I'll talk about the
audio amplifier used by Hacker in many of their sets - the A205 assembly, which is used in the
Sovereign II (RP25), the Herald (RP35) and the VHF Herald (RP37). They used the same basic
circuit in many of their other sets, and similar comments apply. Click on the schematic to enlarge
it.

Forum members frequently report excessive noise with these sets - present at all settings of the
volume control, which obviously narrows it down to the amplifier. The subjective description is as
given above - a low frequency rumble. In many cases, T1 is the culprit - I've changed dozens of
these (I use the BC108 as a replacement; the very first versions of this PCB shipped with these, so
it's a "sympathetic" repair).

As you can see, T1 is followed by two other voltage amplifier transistors: T2 (another BC148) and
T4 (AC128), so it makes sense that any excess noise generated by T1 is going to be effectively
amplified. If T2 was to suffer the same fate, then it won't cause the output to be anything like as
noisy, as it's only followed by T4. In fact, if you were lucky, you might be able to swap T1 and T2,
on the off-chance that T2 was a quiet example, and the noise from T1 now won't be noticed. No, I
don't recommend that course of action - change both T1 and T2 for BC108s and be done with it!
While I'm talking about this amplifier, it's worth noting that almost exactly the same type of noise
can be produced by RV3. So before reaching for the soldering iron, it's worth giving RV3 a quick
bit of switch-cleaning spray and exercising it. Once done, set it so that there is 8.9V at the positive
end of C10 with an 18V supply (and set the current at the test link to 3mA while you're at it). Oh,
and if neither RV3 or new transistors cure the noise, start investigating carbon composition
resistors. R1 and R3 have played up in the past.

Away from this audio circuit, the BC148 might be used in any number of applications that won't
necessarily show any symptoms when the transistors are playing up. For example, the RP25B used
a BC148 in a simple voltage regulator circuit for the RF stages (as did the Sovereign III "family" -
the RP72, RP74, RP75, RP76 - and many other later sets). In this instance, rather than being
followed by a lot of gain, the voltage regulator is followed by generous decoupling.

Likewise, in the Super-Sovereign, a pair of BC148s are used to drive the tuning/battery meter. Not
a critical circuit, and again, you're unlikely to notice a problem unless things were seriously faulty.
I could go on, but as you can hopefully see, the noise problem in these transistors is only a
problem if the transistor is followed with lots of gain. If not, you'd probably be none the wiser.
Regarding the BF194/5 types, when these partially fail, the symptom is a loss of sensitivity in the
receiver. Whether it's actually the same problem (rising noise giving the impression of less
sensitivity), or some other effect, I haven't tried to determine. But, when faced with low sensitivity,
it's normally a Lockfit transistor at fault. I really wish I had a bit of spare time to build up some
sort of test jig that can characterise these transistors outside of a radio, as I'd like to be able to sort
through my spares. It's worth saying that like with the audio amplifier example, it's the "earlier"
transistors - earlier in terms of where they appear in the signal path - that give the most trouble,
which does tend to reinforce the idea that excess noise might be the problem.

Why do they fail?

It's a good question. It's obviously something related to the packaging, and I wonder if the package
is somehow allowing moisture in? There could be a mechanical problem, as the short and very
stout legs - that go into the PCB with a distinct clicking action - could be stressing the package in
some way. Compare the legs of a Lockfit to a TO18 case, or a plastic TO92 - it's certainly
conceivable that this could be part of the problem. And those legs will conduct the heat of
soldering towards the junction much more effectively than the skinny legs of a TO92.

Anecdotally, I sense that they might have become more reliable as time went on (just thinking
about the sets I repair, and noticing that it's more of a problem for the earlier models), so perhaps
Mullard improved their processes over the years? Perhaps it depended on certain batches, or which
facility manufactured them? To be honest, I doubt we'll ever find the answer. But being aware of
the problem - which could affect NOS as well, depending on the exact cause - is the important
point to take away.

Identifying affected Lockfit transistors

Sometimes failure is obvious - especially complete failure, where you'll need nothing more
sophisticated than a voltmeter and a knowledge of standard fault-finding techniques. But the
partial failure mode can be tricky to diagnose - especially in the RF and IF stages. Testing by
substitution is an obvious technique, but the are two problems with this:
1. You have to be sure your replacement component is unaffected.
2. Changing transistors in radio sets is not always easy - especially the ones located in the
FM front end.

So, it's nice to be a bit more deterministic about this. One really useful piece of information is that
when they have partially failed, they seem to become fairly temperature sensitive. It's not 100%
guaranteed, but armed with a can of freezer spray and a hairdrier (or heat from a soldering iron),
we can approach replacement with some confidence.
Lockfit substitutes
Where possible, it's best to avoid using second-hand or NOS Lockfit replacements. As exact data
about the failure mechanism is not yet available - and nor is it always possible to be confident
about your spares stock - I generally prefer to replace them with other types.
Of course, the appearance will be altered by doing this. Below the Lockfit package is compared to
the TO18 and TO92 types:

Audio-freqency substitutes
As mentioned earlier, the BC147/8/9 seem to contain the same silicon as found in the BC107/8/9,
and these TO18 devices have proved to be extremely reliable over the years. I would have no
hesitation in using these as replacements - especially as these transistors were very much around
when Lockfits were commonly used.

If you are less concerned about maintaining an authentic appearance, then the BC547/8/9 are
excellent transistors that are also very reliable when correctly used. These are in the TO92
package. I believe they were introduced at some point in the mid-late 1970s, and are simply TO92
versions of the BC107/8/9 types.

When substituting, it's useful to be aware of the differences between these transistors. Basically,
the BC1x8 is the general purpose transistor, the BC1x7 is rated to a higher voltage, and the BC1x9
is a low noise device. I strongly suspect that they all come from the same production line, and
were tested and characterised before being labelled; that's a relatively common practice in the
semiconductor industry. So, if the original transistor was a BC149, it's best to use a BC109 or
BC549 as a replacement - although in practice, the difference in noise might be negligible.
Likewise, if the original was a BC147, then check the circuit carefully to see what voltage the
transistor might be subjected to, and replace with a BC107 or BC547 if in doubt. Remember, the
BC1x8 was always the cheapest of the three, so designers generally only specified one of the
others if the application required it.

It's also worth being aware of the gain groupings. During testing, the transistors are characterised
according to their HFE, and labelled accordingly with a suffix, which could be "A" for low gain
(125 to 260), "B" for medium gain (240 to 500), or "C" for high gain (450-900). If there was no
suffix, then it could be anything in the range of 125 to 500 (or 900). The exact numbers vary with
device, and where you get your data from - I've quoted figures from a Mullard data book published
in 1979.

As a principle, design engineers will try to ensure that their circuits aren't unduly affected by exact
values of HFE as it's a decidedly shifty parameter, but if they specified a particular gain grouping, it
does make sense to stick to it if possible. Of course, this is where knowledge and experience of
transistor circuits comes into play - the more you understand the circuit, the less dogmatic you can
be about making substitutions.

These transistors are NPN, but obviously PNP versions are available. BC157/8/9 are the Lockfit
types, and these can be replaced by BC177/8/9 in a TO18 can, or BC557/8/9 in the TO92 style.
Naturally, there are countless other tranistors out there that will do the job - the sorts of circuits
these transistors are used in are hardly demanding. However, things get more tricky as you move
away from the audio-frequency types.

IF and RF substitutes
The first problem with the BF194/5 is the unusual pin-out, which puts the emitter in the middle. So
any substitution is made easier by finding a device that follows that. The BF494/5 are good bets,
but these are obsolete, so you're looking for NOS. Later Hacker sets used the BF394/5. Sadly,
these are no more easy to find today. The BF184/5 - in a TO18 can - is also a workable alternative,
but these have a 4th lead for screening, which isn't always easy to attach to anything - it's normally
OK to leave it floating. Again, these are long obsolete, so NOS if you can find them.
These suggestions contain pretty much the same silicon as the original Lockfit types. But given
how hard these are to find - even harder than finding NOS Lockfits - you might have to investigate
alternative types. I've seen the BF199 suggested as an alternative, but it's also obsolete. The Farnell
website suggests that 2N5089 is a suitable alternative, and they are pretty cheap, but at the time of
writing, they are US stock only, so you'll have to stump up £15.95 delivery
charge. Cricklewood sell them for a somewhat higher price, but factor in the delivery and
depending on the quantity you want, they'll probably work out better. Should you decide to try
these, note that the pin-out is not the same as the originals. And also bear in mind that I haven't
tried them myself.
Another suggestion is the BF255, but these seem to be even harder to find that the others! As
always, a good knowledge of transistor circuits will help, but to an extent, it's always going to be a
bit of a gamble - things do get more complex as the frequency goes up! If you have experience and
a decent amount of test gear, then at least you're in a position to verify that the repaired unit works
to specification.
My experiences with radios has taught me to hoard everything! Even a totally ruined radio can
yield some usable transistors for a future repair. Later on, Mullard released some quite "beefy"
Lockfit transistors - the BC465/464 pair, for example, were used as audio output transistors on
many radios, including models from Hacker and Roberts. These fail pretty regularly, but that's
down to overheating - certainly there is no doubt about their failure when it happens.
The BC464/5 are rated to 1.5A each, and are good for about 20 volts. The BC462/3 offered the
same current, but at around 30 volts. That sort of current handling is extremely unusual in a plastic
package that has no sensible provision for mounting on a heat sink. Spring clips were available - as
seen here in the Sovereign IV RP77MB, but they were not always used. For example, the Hacker
SP80 - an expensive stereo set - used a set of these per channel with no heat sinking beyond what
the copper on the PCB offered. Substitutes are hard to recommend, because along with the high
current handling, they have a reasonably high HFE - about 100 up to 280. Medium power
transistors tend to be in the 50-100 range. However, I have successfully used BC337/BC327 pair -
these are good for 800mA, but it's normally enough in practice.

Conclusions
I'm amazed at how reliable the transistor has proven to be - most are working long after the
expected lifespan of the products they were fitted in, and of those few that do fail, most seem to be
related to the seemingly mundane matter of the encapsulation rather than the complicated
semiconductor material!
Knowing that certain types of transistors are prone to failure is essential knowledge when restoring
old radios, and other electronics from the same era, of course. I hope that the information here is of
interest to vintage electronics collectors. As a principle, design engineers will try to ensure that
their circuits aren't unduly affected by exact values of H FE as it's a decidedly shifty parameter, but
if they specified a particular gain grouping, it does make sense to stick to it if possible. Of course,
this is where knowledge and experience of transistor circuits comes into play - the more you
understand the circuit, the less dogmatic you can be about making substitutions. Away from this
audio circuit, the BC148 might be used in any number of applications that won't necessarily show
any symptoms when the transistors are playing up.