Week 5 - TinkerCAD Circuits
Simulating circuits in TinkerCAD
September 16, 2022
Coursework (the 'what?') 🤷♂️
Problem-solving
We started with problem-solving techniques and norms in this session. Problem-solving can be broken down into the following concise steps:
Identify the problem (quantize it)
Think of expected/possible solution
Gather more information on each approach (test cases, expert reviews, surveys)
Combine and evaluate the best among the alternatives
Attempt implementation of the idea
Record the consequence of the applied solution
It is advisable to get a lot of perspectives for evaluating the results of applied solutions.
Basics of electronics
The second topic of this session was fundamental electronic devices. We've simulated them using TinkerCAD.
Electronics is an integral building block of applied computer projects. Let's summarize some terms:
Resistors - convert electricity to heat (blocks current flow)
Rheostats - variable resistors (and potentiometer if 3 terminals connected)
Capacitor - used for bypass systems, and noise filters (maintains a steady flow of current)
Inductors - oppose the change in the voltage (used for choking, energy transfer - mutual inductance)
Diodes - allows one side flow of current
Breadboard - board for electronic prototyping without having to build PCBs, which are expensive
Digital Circuits
These circuits are capable of processing signals. They are made of logic gates. And, the logic gates are made by multiple transistors (TTL logic). NAND and NOR gates can build all of the 7 logic gates. But, NAND is preferred over NOR gate.
We also performed an assignment, which made the understanding of these topics even more obvious.
Impact (the 'so what?') 🚀
Considering the short-term impact, we are going to use electronic components in the gambler bot and possibly in the final project. Every robot is a sensor-controller-actuator system, which makes total use of the topics we learned in this session.
As for the long-term impact, the advanced study of computer science and engineering deals with electronics. It is therefore crucial to understand the functioning of electronic parts in order to realize how a computer works.
Reflections (the 'now what?') 🤔
I could not reflect on this topic so much because it was a total recap of my previous course. Recap is a good idea to keep ourselves updated.
TinkerCAD is a good approach to start learning electronic circuit simulation. But, for the advanced roles of SPICE simulations, software such as Proteus is used in industrial setups.
Further reading 📄
We've also tried simulating electric circuits and the Arduino itself in this web session. It is highly recommended to practice this way since we don't have to bear the cost of working with real physical parts. Also, simulations provide the idea results which would otherwise be disturbed by noise and interference in the physical setup which makes it harder to get meaningful test results.
References 🔖
CAUTION: GET THESE READY (INCLUDING INDUCTOR COILS) WHEN PERFORMING CIRCUIT RELATED OPERATIONS.
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