Timer/Generator Circuits Manual

This book is concerned mainly with waveform generator techniques and circuits. Waveform generators are used somewhere or other in most types of electronic equipment, and thus form one of the most widely used classes of circuit. They may be designed to produce outputs with sine, square, triangle, ramp, pulse, staircase or a variety of other forms. The generators may produce modulated or unmodulated outputs, and the outputs may be of single or multiple form. Waveform generator circuits may be built using transistors, op-amps, standard digital ICs, or dedicated waveform or 'function' generator ICs. One of the most popular ways of generating square and pulse waveforms is via so-called "time" ICs of the widely available and versatile "555" type, and many circuits of this type are included in the book. The manual is divided into eleven chapters and presents a total of over three hundred practical circuits, diagrams and tables. The opening chapter outlines basic principles and types of generator. Chapters 2 to 8 each deal with a specific type of waveform generator and chapter nine deals with special waveform generator circuits.
Chapter ten takes an in-depth look at phase-locked loop circuits, and the final chapter deals with miscellaneous applications of the ubiquitous "555" timer type of IC. An appendix presents a number of useful waveform-generator design charts, as an aid to those readers who wish to design or modify generator circuits to their own specifications. The book is specifically aimed at the practical design engineer, technician and experimenter, but will be of equal interest to the electronics student and the amateur. It deals with its subject in an easy-to-read, down-to-earth, non-mathematical but very comprehensive manner. Each chapter starts off by explaining the basic principles of its subject and then goes on to present the reader with a wide range of practical circuit designs. Throughout the volume, great emphasis is placed on practical "user" information and circuitry, and the book abounds with useful circuits and data. Most of the ICs and other devices used in the practical circuits are modestly priced and readily available types, with universally recognized type numbers.