Electronic Fundamentals Report: Analysis of Electronic Systems

This report provides a comprehensive overview of electronic fundamentals, covering three key areas: Metal Oxide Varistors (MOVs), PID control systems, and the evolution of integrated circuits. The report begins with an introduction to MOVs, detailing their construction, operation, and application in protecting electronic circuits from voltage surges. It then delves into the application of PID (Proportional, Integral, Derivative) techniques in aircraft control systems, explaining how these techniques improve performance. Finally, the report discusses the evolution and technology of integrated circuits, tracing their development from small-scale integrations to very large-scale integrations, and highlighting the significance of Moore's Law in the semiconductor industry. The report includes relevant references to support the presented information.

Running Head: Electronic Fundamentals 1
Electronic Fundamentals
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Metal Oxide Varistor
Introduction
A Varistor is a current-voltage characteristic component which has consisted of two
terminals; it is a solid state semiconductor with similar properties to a diode. It serves the
purpose of protecting electronic and electrical circuits from high voltages (Levinson, 1975).
However, unlike a circuit breaker or a fuse, it offers protection from high currents by shorting
when an overcurrent is registered and thus protecting the device from the surge in current.
Construction of a Metal Oxide Varistor.

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A Metal Oxide Varistor (MOV) is the most common Varistor used. The components of a
metal oxide Varistor is mainly from the adding up of metal oxides such as manganese, cobalt,
and other metals applicable which are kept in between electrodes and an inclusion of the main
component which is Zinc Oxide. The body of a metal oxide Varistor consist of a semiconductor
material characteristic of current and voltage symmetry which are non-ohmic this makes it
applicable in both DC and AC voltages. A metal oxide Varistor is thus a large number of parallel
connected diodes in order to enable the ability to handle large amounts of energy, but for a better
rating of voltage, the diodes are connected in series.
Metal Oxide Varistor have a wide range of voltages, the Varistor voltages are between 10
volts to 1000 volts and above for the selection of DC or AC and help to identify the voltage
supply. In selecting an MOV or any Varistor for a given device it's maximum rating of voltage
should be above the highest voltage supply expected, that means for a 240 supply voltage the
MOV should have a 270-volt RMS. The maximum current surge value that a Varistor takes
depends on the number of times a pulse is repeated and the width of the transient pulse.
Operation
An MOV has a very high resistance. The component of a device containing an MOV is as
shown above. The conduction of the component is as soon as its voltage reaches the minimum
voltage required to conduct electrons from the valence band to the conduction band which is

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called the threshold voltage... When this voltage is exceeded the resistance of the MOV drops
and becomes zero.
The high voltage across the device causes it to have impedance; this makes the current to
pass across the MOV. The maximum voltage across the load device is equal to the addition of
the voltage registered across the wires and the current that disconnects the device which is also
the clamp voltage.
When the transient voltage passes across the component device, the MOV state is as
shown in the above diagram as it awaits the transient voltage to cut across the component.
Example in a practical circuit
Varistor has many applications as well as their advantages, and they are used to suppress
transients from appliances used domestically and lighting types of equipment in industries in DC

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or AC lines of power. MOV’s are connected across supplies of mains and switches in
semiconductors to protect MOSFET’s, thyristor bridges and transistors.
Techniques Of How PID Improve The Performance Of An Aircraft Control System.
An aircraft control system consists of surfaces that offer control over flight, the linkages
connecting the flight, the controls in the cockpit and the various means that control the direction
of an aircraft during flight. The controls that govern the engine of an aircraft are also considered
as controls of flight as they change the course of an aircraft.
An aircraft control system should be based on the proportional, integral and derivative
techniques. The properties of the following PID’s should be as follows. The controller should
always amplify the errors such that the actual signal and the error are relative or proportional to
one another. Thus, a controller that is proportional should be in accordance the following rule,
the error that is in a state that is steady should be inversely dependent on the gaining
proportionality that means that larger gain results in the error were going down as well.
The aircraft system should also be given by the expression SSE=1/ (1+KpG (O)). Thus,
the Kp which is the gain in proportionality is made larger the SSE reduces; while as the KpG (O)
increases the Kp becomes smaller this is because they have an inverse relation to one another.
The control systems should again be noted that they do not change at all the systems order, so
when one uses an order system that is secondary it remains secondary when you use a control
system that follows the PID technique. However, when one applies a system that is integral, it
increases the aircraft control system by a single value one.
The primary aircraft control system consists of the following; a yoke that controls the
aircraft, this is a side or centre control which looks like a stick; this dictates the pitch and roll of

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an aircraft by activating the warps in a wing of an aircraft according to how the yoke is turned.
The pedals in the rudder this controls the yaw by giving motion to the rudder according to the
direction of movement. Controls of the throttle this control the speed and thrust of an engine as
dictated by the power of the aircraft.
Various aircraft vary in the various yokes in the control where the yoke may be
controlled by the rolls counterclockwise or clockwise control and the pitch by the tilt in the
column of control inside or outside the panel of the control instrument (Stevens, 2015). An
aircraft control system is so as the yoke and stick are designed to roll and pitch in a conventional
manner as well as the pedals in the rudder and the yaw as well.
Evolution and Technology of Integrated Circuits
Development of small electronics spans over time that is less than the expectancy life of a
human being, even though it spans this short period the microelectronics have existed over four
generations. The 60’s were characteristic of a low-density fabrics process which was categorized
as Small Scale Integrations which saw the count of transistors to an amount of about 10.
However, this was surpassed by the Medium Scale Integration, which saw about 100 transistors
that were placed on one chip. At this time, the resources vast to research declined and firms
within the private sector also undertook research which was initially undertaken by the military.
The Large Scale Integration saw the integration of 1000 transistors on a single chip this
was marked in the seventies. The Transistor-transistor logic offered these large scales integration
densities which became the first trudge towards the revolution of the integrated circuits. During
the eighties period, the number of the transistors on one chip had gone above the 1000 value, and
this became the period of the Very Large Scale Integration. However, little information was
recorded in an age of further generations such as the ULSI; this is because it is at this period that

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the research group responsible for this age of transistors had the same problem as attributed to
the vacuum tubes. The main cause for this is due to; limit on the gates on a single chip,
dissipation of power as well as negligence.
The introduction of the microprocessors saw the beginning of the second generation of
Integrated circuits. The first microprocessor was the 4004 which was manufactured in the year
1972 by Intel Company which up to date is the largest manufacturer of microprocessors
(Bennett, 2005).
Thus, founded on the knowledge of evolution and history of the Integrated Circuits an
observer by the name Gordon Moore, who is also responsible in co-founding the Intel Company
came up with the Moore’s Law. Moore’s Law states that from observations in the count of
transistors in an integrated circuit doubles after two years. Moore reflected this on paper in the
year 1965 and true to his word this was clearly projected in a forecast that he revised in the year
1975. Due to his forecast, this law guided the planning in development and research by firms
within the semiconductor industry. Moore’s law is thus termed as rather as a projection or
observation rather than a law of physics or nature. In the long term the integrated circuits have
been dictated by the Moore’s law up to date. However, forecasts have predicted a decline in the
growth of the number of transistors incorporated in an integrated circuit.

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References
Levinson, L. M., & Philipp, H. R. (1975). The physics of metal oxide Varistor. Journal of
Applied Physics, 46(3), 1332-1341.
Stevens, B. L., Lewis, F. L., & Johnson, E. N. (2015). Aircraft Control and Simulation:
Dynamics, Controls Design, and Autonomous Systems. John Wiley & Sons.
Bennett, H. S., Brederlow, R., Costa, J. C., Cottrell, P. E., Huang, W. M., Immorlica Jr, A. A., ...
& Zhao, B. (2005). Device and technology evolution for Si-based RF integrated
circuits. Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on,52(7), 1235-1258.

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