switchmode – Experimental Engineering

Posted on February 2, 2013 by The Engineer — Leave a comment

He-Ne Laser

Having had a He-Ne laser tube for a while & the required power supply, it was time to mount the tube in a more sturdy manner. Above the tube is mounted with a pair of 32mm Terry Clips, with the power leads passing through the plastic top. The ballast resistor is built into the silicone rubber on the anode end of the tube. (Right).
Output power is about 1mW for this tube, which came from a supermarket barcode scanner from the 90’s. The tube is dated August 1993 & is manufactured by Aerotech.

Inside the box is the usual 2.2Ah 12v Li-Po battery pack & the brick type He-Ne laser supply. The small circuit in the centre is a switchmode converter that drops the 12v from the battery pack to the 5v required for the laser supply.

Posted on October 4, 2011 by The Engineer — Leave a comment

LED Lighting Part 1

Here I will document progress in replacing standard halogen MR10 lights with LEDs.

These units are from TruOpto, available through Rapid Electronics in the UK. They are 3W total, from 3x 1W emitters on an aluminium back plate.

Here is the LED attached to a heatsink for testing purposes – these units dissipate nearly 2W in heat at full output.

As the lights are to be run from a 12v battery bank, for simplicity a master regulator is required to provide a stable 11.4v rail for LED supply.

I have used a Texas Instruments part – PTN78020WAH. This is a 6A capable adjustable regulator module.

The LED lights are to be fully dimmable – the low voltage PWM dimmers are in progress of being built.

Posted on May 23, 2011 by The Engineer — Leave a comment

PSi 150 Power Inverter

This is a small 120W power inverter, intended for small loads such as lights, fans, small TVs & laptop computers.

End cover of the unit, 12v DC input cord at the top, power switch & indicator LEDs at the bottom.

Opposite end of the unit, with the standard 240v AC 50Hz Mains output socket.

Cover removed from the top of the unit. Main power transformer is visible in the centre here, MOSFET bank is under the steel clamp on the left, the aluminium case forms the heatsink.

On the right is a KA3525 switchmode PWM controller & on the left is a LM324N quad Op-Amp IC. The buzzer on the far left is for the low battery warning.

PCB removed from the casing, with the MOSFET bank on the right hand side. Two potentiometers in the centre of the board tweak the frequency of the switcher & the output voltage.

Posted on August 2, 2010 by The Engineer — 1 Comment

ICL Barcode Scanner

An ICL barcode scanner from the 80s is shown here. This is the top of the unit with cover on.

Plastic cover removed from the unit showing internal components. Main PSU on left, scan assembly in center. Laser PSU & Cooling fan on right. Laser tube at top.