Tesla coil design presented. This book would be of general interest to the majority of our readers, especially those in high-voltage research and the high-voltage ...
+44 (0) 1865 853333 www. elsevier.com 797 pp.-$59.95 (Softcover with CD), 2005 The PIC microcontroller is a low-cost, one-chip computer designed and manufactured by Microchip Technology, Inc. They are microprocessors, similar to PCs, but significantly simpler, smaller, and cheaper, optimized to interface with relays, sensors, lamps, and motors. They respond to input data received from the environment and respond according to their program. They generally consist of a CPU, I/ O section, data memory, and program memory. This book is for anyone who wants to understand and use the PIC microcontroller. This comprehensive and practical book begins by describing the basic inner workings of PICs and the programming needed to utilize these devices. There is a guide for choosing the correct PIC for an application and complete details on MBasic, an easy-to-learn, programming language (compiler included on the CD). Programming essentials and programming style is covered along with assembler language. This is especially helpful for those new to programming PICs. Basic input/output (I/O) operation of the microcontroller is covered, including switching inductive loads, isolated switching, switch bounce, and fast switching. Much of the remainder of the book covers examples of real world uses for the micro. Some of these applications are stepper motor control, home automation, temperature sensors, weather station, AC power control, RS-232 serial interface, and clocks. This very useful book allows even someone new to PICs to be able to choose the proper device, program, and design the circuit for simple to sophisticated designs. This is a great book for quickly learning about and using microcontrollers to do amazing tasks. The CD-ROM includes a full version MBasic compiler, circuit simulation software (from Linear Technology Corp.), data sheets, and application notes. Many of the example applications can be useful as a stepping stone for even more
sophisticated projects, once the fundamental concepts are learned from this book.
Advances in High Voltage Engineering Edited by A. Haddad and D. Warne The Institution of Electrical Engineers Michael Faraday House Six Hills Way, Stevenage Herts, SG1 2AY, UK ISBN# 0 85296 158 8 Phone + 44 020 7240 1871 Fax +44 020 7240 7735 http://www.IEE.org 667 pp.-£65/$109 (Hardcover), 2004 Many high-voltage applications are in the areas of power transmission and pulse power. This book details the advances and recent research being made in these areas of high-voltage technology over the past decade. The four technology areas covered in this text are basic breakdown mechanisms of air, power transmission components, optical measurements, and pulse power. Although there has been little new theory, more sophisticated measurements have lead to a clearer picture of the breakdown mechanisms. This chapter presents good illustrations and explanations of the physical processes of avalanche development, streamer formation, and corona. Some of the practical areas covered include sphere gap breakdown, gap factors, atmospheric effects, and breakdown over insulators. Although not specifically intended to be labeled as power transmission components, a majority of high-voltage engineering is directed toward the power community, thus leading to many of the latest developments. These areas covered are SF6 insulation systems, lightning protection, partial discharges (PD), ZnO surge arresters, outdoor insulators, overvoltages and insulation coordination on transmission networks, earthing, circuit breakers and interruption, polymer cables, and numerical analysis. The chapter on PDs starts with degradation mechanisms showing some chemical bonds and reactions caused by
November/December 2005 — Vol. 21, No. 6
PDs but, not in great depth. Then there is a section on PD measurements that cover mainly recent methods, including pulse sequence analysis and wavelet analysis. There is a lengthy description of dissolved gas analysis that is current up to 2002, but there are only a few pages on PD detection in cable insulation and no mention of recent real-time systems for early PD detection. However, there are many references to the Transactions on Electrical Insulation and the Electrical Insulation Magazine. The chapter on circuit breakers and interruption covers predominantly gas blast-type SF6 circuit breakers; vacuum breakers are mentioned, although the information and designs shown are very outdated. More recent research is provided on opto-acoustic vibration monitoring of SF6 puffer breakers with and without fault currents and is used to monitor the health of a circuit breaker. The chapter on high-voltage optical measurements includes basic descriptions of the traditional high-speed optical imaging methods (laser imaging high-speed film cameras, but no new digital cameras) and spectroscopic methods for measuring arc properties. Some of the basic equations are presented along with experimental set-ups for measuring electron densities and arc temperatures. Although there is a listing of various new optical fiber sensors for high-voltage measurements, there are only some details presented on their operation, along with simplified drawings and basic equations but with references for further study. The chapter on pulse power shows some of the latest designs for pulse compression, Marx banks, and charge lines with solid state switching used in compact Marx bank designs. There is a very interesting Tesla coil design presented. This book would be of general interest to the majority of our readers, especially those in high-voltage research and the high-voltage power engineering community. It presents a very good overview of the latest in the state of the art in highvoltage engineering in the mentioned technology areas.
45
