Great Circuit Design Books

I learned circuit theory in college but college courses tend to stick to theory with a little design.
Are there any good electronic books that focus on (teach) electronic circuit design and not so much electronics theory?

Thanks so much! :thumbsup:

Hi,

How can this be?
Is there a way to design electronics by one own without knowing the theory?

For me this means just a colletion of ready designs.
Without the theory behind it you can't calculate a single value.

Just take a simple example:
A bjt and a resistor
* you need to know about NPN and PNP
* you need to know about supply voltage limits, current limits, power dissipation, temperature rise
* one user uses it as a switch
* the other user in linear operation as emitter follower
* ... common emitter
* the other uses it as temperature sensor
.... and a lot of other things you can do with a bjt and a resistor

The best I can think of is an interactive web application where you can input your ideas and values and it selects the correct design for you and calculates the values.
But even then you need to know the phrases and the values to describe what you want...

And if you go through some forum threads you will see that it's not that easy to give useful and enough informations.
A forum post may be: What BJT should I use to control a motor?
The answer depends on
* power supply: AC, DC,
* motor type: AC single phase, AC three phase, brushed DC, brushless DC ...voltages, currents
* control type: ON/OFF, phase controlled AC, linear voltage controlled, linear current controlled, regulate RPM.
* and a lot of other parameters

Could you give an example about your idea?

Klaus

danner123 said:

I learned circuit theory in college but college courses tend to stick to theory with a little design.
Are there any good electronic books that focus on (teach) electronic circuit design and not so much electronics theory?

Thanks so much! :thumbsup:

Click to expand...

One of the best books I have found is Horowitz and Hill, The art of electronics. Currently at third edition.

This book is really good and provides a lot of practical information.
Desing with Operational Amplifiers and Analog Integrated Circuit by Sergio Franco.
It's all about analog design. Mostly opamp stuff, but it also touches DC/DC convertes, linear regulators, ADC/DAC, PLLs etc. The book doesn't explain how those chips are designed, it tells you how to use them properly and what are the limitations of these analog chips. As you can understand from the book's name.
What I like about this book is that it always deal with real world limitations. You can learn a lof things that you can apply in real world.

KlausST said:

Hi,

How can this be?
Is there a way to design electronics by one own without knowing the theory?

For me this means just a colletion of ready designs.
Without the theory behind it you can't calculate a single value.

Just take a simple example:
A bjt and a resistor
* you need to know about NPN and PNP
* you need to know about supply voltage limits, current limits, power dissipation, temperature rise
* one user uses it as a switch
* the other user in linear operation as emitter follower
* ... common emitter
* the other uses it as temperature sensor
.... and a lot of other things you can do with a bjt and a resistor

The best I can think of is an interactive web application where you can input your ideas and values and it selects the correct design for you and calculates the values.
But even then you need to know the phrases and the values to describe what you want...

And if you go through some forum threads you will see that it's not that easy to give useful and enough informations.
A forum post may be: What BJT should I use to control a motor?
The answer depends on
* power supply: AC, DC,
* motor type: AC single phase, AC three phase, brushed DC, brushless DC ...voltages, currents
* control type: ON/OFF, phase controlled AC, linear voltage controlled, linear current controlled, regulate RPM.
* and a lot of other parameters

Could you give an example about your idea?

Klaus

Click to expand...

Hi Klaus,

I understand theory is important. Without theory, you can't do anything. What I was looking for is a book on:
"Practical design techniques that focuses on common circuit design challenges"

Thanks!

danner123 said:

I learned circuit theory in college but college courses tend to stick to theory with a little design.
Are there any good electronic books that focus on (teach) electronic circuit design and not so much electronics theory?

Thanks so much! :thumbsup:

Click to expand...

What are some of the topics that you want to learn about? Analog, digital, power, RF...?

that focus on (teach) electronic circuit design and not so much electronics theory?

Click to expand...

It depends whether you want to be an engineer or a basic technician. But then if you want to be a good technician, you need to know the basics.

In my personal opinion, a mix is the best; a serviceman need not know exactly how a transistor works but must be able to read and understand the datasheet.

A great engineer would look at a circuit diagram and can comment when and how the design will fail. A good grasp of complex analysis is a must if you want to be a good engineer.

How about designing new blocks of circuit?

Hi,

I agree, a serviceman doesn't need to know how a transistor works.
An engineer should know this.

But a circuit designer needs to know a lot more.
An example:
There is a non inverting Opamp circuit. (One Opamp, two resistors)
Now the most important thing one wants to do is to adjust the gain of the circuit.
You may say "it is simple, there is a formula and I can calculate the gain..."
If a designer just uses the formula to calculate the gain he misses to understand that this "gain" modification influences a lot of other parameters: (here the most important)
* Increasing gain: will reduce bandwidth, will increase output noise and offset, may increase distortion
* Decreasing gain: will influence stability - in worst case the circuit starts to oscillate.

The problem is, that a stability issue isn't obvious. The circuit may work properly for years, but then - maybe caused by a change of temperature - it will fail.
This isn't "nice" when a self made thermometer stars to show weird temperatures, but it will be costly if an RC helicopter crashes, or if the oscillation kills your HiFi speakers...and what about an airbag control?
You may hear the oscillation in a speaker, but you won't recognice "oscillation" when your RC helicopter refuses to react to the RC. Maybe you think the problem was a weak battery, or a broken junction...and the next helicopter will crash again. Not much fun.

Thus - my personal opinion - a designer needs to know a lot of theory.
In my eyes a good designer is a curious person that is eager to learn. At least once in a life he tries to modify a circuit (like a non inverting Opamp circuit) until it refuses to operate properly to see where the limits are and how the circuit reacts.

I appeal to start in early days to read books, datsheets, application notes, view tutorial videos .... and yes, I know this is boring, but even if one does not understand the whole theory at once, you may remind the document later, maybe by the look to a scope screen, or when your circuit fails.

Klaus

and yes, I know this is boring, but even if one does not understand the whole theory at once, you may remind the document later...

Click to expand...

I was trying to convey the same thing but you have done with examples.

Circuit design is more art (and less science) and only 10% can be taught; 90% you get suddenly in a flash.

But if you are weak in theory, you will be severely restricted even in translating your idea into a rough schematic.

Complex circuits, like softwares, are made up of blocks. But if your background in theory is not so strong, you will find that putting circuit blocks together is not that easy...

That is perhaps the only reason why there are not many "Great Circuit" design books. A new design comes only once in a blue moon...

I use The "Edaboard" instead of a books it has lot of querys and high quality experienced helpers ...