| A few weeks ago, I found myself groping for some sorely needed inspiration. I was even questioning the very need for a book on this particular subject. So despite spending five years in the general vicinity of the legend behind it, I fi nally went and bought myself the “other” book—Troubleshooting Analog Circuits by Robert Pease. I am glad I did, because it ended up fulfi lling both my requirements—I not only learned that his book is truly is an inspiring resource (certainly something to chuckle your way through coach class with pretzels and coffee in hand), but also that it isn’t about Power Conversion. Take, for example, that famous picture on its cover. The hopelessly entangled object you see there (the creation, not the creator) apparently served as a historic V-F (voltage-to-frequency) converter circuit. But really, it would never pass muster as even a basic switching converter. Breadboards, for one, are kryptonite to switching converters. If you really think about it, all that that picture so aptly conveys is exactly what you shouldn’t ever be attempting to do in power. Reassuringly, even that book itself recognizes that “switch-mode regulators [are] a whole new ball-game.” |
