ESP Educational Projects

Elliott Sound Products

Share |

Main Index

Projects Index

Articles Index

Introduction

Technical colleges, schools and universities - ESP can design and supply educational kits, specialising in analogue electronics projects. Many of the featured projects have been used as student projects at educational institutions all over the world, but specialised projects designed to supplement specific parts of the curriculum can be developed, and either complete kits or just the blank PCB and full instructions can be supplied.

This is a new service from ESP, and I would be delighted to quote for any customised schematics, PCBs or complete kits, for almost any analogue or simple logic based project. As may be seen from the extensive range of projects and articles on The Audio Pages, there are a great many possibilities.

There is a big difference between knowing and understanding, and only by working with things at their most exposed level (discrete circuitry) does a student gain true understanding. A great many projects use ICs - sometimes highly specialised - the student may know how to use that IC (or similar ICs), but gets no understanding of the basic principles. With the passing years, the basics are being lost, with many engineers being unable to even bias a transistor for linear operation.

Examples

For more information and full details, please refer to the projects index - as can be seen, there are projects for construction of ever popular audio amplifiers and preamps, simple mixers, test equipment and lighting applications.

ESP is in a unique position to be able to offer anything from a complete service to just a design and/or a PCB to suit, along with comprehensive documentation. There are very few educational kit suppliers, and most are targetted at complete beginners - ESP can supply educational services for complete beginners, right through to advanced levels.

Some good examples of educational kits are ...

Transistor and FET Circuits - biasing, different topologies - common emitter, common collector, common base, cascode, compound pairs, darlington pairs, direct coupled circuits, etc. Essential basic techniques for linear operation.
Voltage Regulators - IC and discrete designs, where the student can learn the basic principles of series and shunt regulation, error amplifiers, series pass transistors, low drop-out circuits, etc. All of these devices are available in IC form, but the inner workings are hidden from view, thus preventing a full understanding of the principles of operation.
Switching Regulators - again, using both IC and discrete designs to ensure that the student has a complete understanding of the principles of boost and buck regulators, switchmode power supplies, feedback principles, stability and efficiency.
Operational Amplifiers - IC and discrete circuits, demonstrating voltage and current offsets, biasing, stability, feedback techniques (voltage and current) and output impedance. Filters, oscillators, comparators, level shifting circuits, precision rectifiers, current sources and sinks - the range is almost endless
Analogue Servo Systems - simple servos that show the importance of servo gain, dead-band setting, etc. Stability and accuracy issues can be seen first hand, and the solutions investigated. Excellent introduction to electro-mechanical systems in general.
Rectification - using basic rectifier topologies to gain an appreciation for the benefits and disadvantages of different topologies (e.g. half wave, full wave, bridge, voltage doublers, voltage multipliers, etc.).
Mains Control - phase control using TRIACs and SCRs, zero voltage switching, linear control of AC systems, motor speed controls (servo and open loop systems), etc.

The above is a small sample of the possibilities, and there are obviously many more. One of the difficulties of educational kits is that they are usually designed with a "one size fits all" approach, and this limits their usefulness. It is also important that the circuits demonstrated should do exactly what was intended - they must work flawlessly if properly assembled, and have a wide tolerance for normal component variations.

Further Information

Should you feel that well designed projects to reinforce the theoretical aspects of the curriculum would be helpful, please do not hesitate to contact me with details of your requirements. Having taught electronics, I know how important it is for students to have hands-on practical experience. Although discrete circuitry may well be considered "old hat" by the students of today, they will have a far, far greater understanding of basic principles if they are exposed to them in a way that makes the subject not only interesting, but fun. In my experience, people learn faster and better if the subject is fun - it greatly improves attention and (more importantly, retention), since people's minds don't wander very far when they are having a good time.

To contact ESP with any enquiry, please go to the Contact ESP page for details. I look forward to helping you to improve the education of our future engineers and technicians.

Main Index

Projects Index

Articles Index

Copyright Notice. This article, including but not limited to all text and diagrams, is the intellectual property of Rod Elliott, and is © 2003. Reproduction or re-publication by any means whatsoever, whether electronic, mechanical or electro- mechanical, is strictly prohibited under International Copyright laws. The author (Rod Elliott) grants the reader the right to use this information for personal use only, and further allows that one (1) copy may be made for reference. Commercial use is prohibited without express written authorisation from Rod Elliott.