Microcontrollers are an integral part of the life of a modern person. They are used from children's toys to process control systems. Thanks to the use of microcontrollers, engineers managed to achieve greater manufacturing speed and product quality in almost all areas of production. This material is an overview of key dates in the history of microcontrollers. This is not a technical guide, many subtleties and points are missing.

To understand the reasons for the appearance and development of microprocessor technology, take a look at the characteristics and features of the first computers. ENIAC - the first computer, 1946. Weight - 30 tons, occupied the whole room or 85 cubic meters of volume in space. Large heat dissipation, power consumption, constant malfunctions due to electronic lamp connectors. Oxides led to the disappearance of contacts and lamps lost contactlost contact with the board ...

The function of any electric generator is to generate an electric current. But in fact, the generator does not produce anything, but only converts one form of energy into another (as is characteristic of all energy processes in nature). Most often, pronouncing the phrase “electric generator”, they mean a machine that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy.

Mechanical energy can be obtained from gas or steam expanding under pressure, from falling water, or even manually. In any case, in order to receive electric energy from a generator, it must first transfer this energy in an acceptable form, most often in mechanical form. Generators operating by mechanical drive are the dominant form of generators in the modern world. Such generators operate in nuclear and hydroelectric power plants, in automobiles, in diesel and gasoline generators ...

An electrical insulating tape (electrical tape) is a consumable material intended for insulation of wires and cables during various electrical and repair work. In the first half of the 20th century, the developers of the American company Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing decided to develop an electrical insulating tape that would be not just a tape, but a self-adhesive tape.

At first it was decided to create such a PVC-based tape, but it turned out that tricresyl phosphate (at the base of the plasticizer) makes the surface of the tape very oily and leads to the destruction of any adhesives that are applied to it. Later, chemists of the company found a new approach - they began to produce tape based on rubber and without sulfur content. These first self-adhesive tapes were white and yellow. The white ribbon quickly became a thing of the past due to its instability to ultraviolet, it was replaced by black ...

To perform any tasks related to automation, you often need to count certain time intervals. Sometimes this is done by counting a certain number of periods of the clock or machine cycles. However, although they follow at a given frequency and most often depend on the quartz resonator, when performing operations in real time, and especially if they are tied to the time of day, they shift in time. To solve this problem, use real-time clock or RTC chips.

RTC (real time clock, Russian real-time clock) is a type of microcircuit intended for counting time in “real” units (seconds, minutes, hours, etc.).They are dependent on a power source, which can be either external, in the form of a replaceable battery or a lithium battery, or integrated into the microcircuit housing. Clock signals for time reporting can be obtained from an external quartz resonator ...

When we pronounce the phrase “electric current”, we usually mean the most diverse manifestations of electricity. The current flows through the wires of high-voltage power lines, the current rotates the starter and charges the battery in our car, lightning during a thunderstorm is also an electric current.

Electrolysis, electric welding, sparks of static electricity on a comb, current flows in a spiral of an incandescent lamp, and even in a tiny pocket flashlight a tiny current flows through an LED. Needless to say, our heart, which also generates a small electric current, is especially noticeable during the passage of the ECG procedure. In physics, it is customary to call the ordered movement of charged particles and, in principle, any charge carriers of electric current. An electron moving around an atomic nucleus is also a current. And a charged ebony wand, if you hold it in your hand ...

In the news reports, no, no, and sometimes there are reports that in some city a gas exploded at the entrance of a residential building or a fire occurred. As a rule, the cause is the leakage of a combustible gas mixture, consisting mainly of methane with additives (propane, butane, etc.) used in gas stoves and gas boilers. It would be good to prevent these misfortunes at the root, however, combustible gases are constantly being distributed, concentrated in rooms and lead to explosions and fires. The fault of all is human shortsightedness and imperfection of technology.

Meanwhile, there is a way to prevent such situations, or at least minimize their destructive consequences. The method is to install a gas leak detector in the room. The sensor will automatically detect the fact that the air has exceeded the concentration of a potentially hazardous gas, thus detecting a leak event and take the necessary steps to prevent...

Wago terminals: types, characteristics, how to choose and how to use correctly There are many ways to create contact between two or more conductors: terminals, lugs, sleeves, soldering, welding, twisting ... The German company Wago first introduced the design of terminals with spring contact in 1951 year, and now she is known as a manufacturer of popular connectors for wires. Small terminals for junction or junction boxes have been available since 1973. These terminals have their advantages, disadvantages and features, which we will consider in the article.

Due to the ease of use, this method of connection has gained popularity, it is very convenient to use it for temporary connection to electricity, for example, at a construction site, the lever clamps will become indispensable. In general, the spring terminal blocks from the manufacturer VAGO can be divided into disposable and reusable (with lever clamp). The main series of sections that are connected by such terminals ...

A diode bridge or, as it is also called, a rectifier is needed to convert AC to DC. It is used wherever you need to get constant voltage power, regardless of the power of the device, current consumption or voltage. To rectify a single-phase voltage, a Gretz circuit of four diodes is used. If there is a transformer in the circuit with a tap from the midpoint, use a circuit of two diodes. The bridge is called the inclusion of four diodes.

The diode bridge can be made in one housing, or it can be made of discrete diodes, that is, separate ones. The diode bridge input is called the AC voltage connection points, and the output is the point from which the constant is removed. Alternating voltage is applied to the points at which the anode is connected to the cathode of the diodes. At the output, plus and minus are obtained, while the positive pole is removed from the connection point of the cathodes, i.e. plus power, and the connection point of the anodes is a minus ...