Essential Ideas in Electronics: Voltage (Part 1)

 

VOLTAGE IN SYSTEMS

Fig 1 shows a typical system diagram, in this case it could be for a bag alarm that sounds when it senses movement and, thanks to the latch, keeps the siren going after the movement has stopped. In this system diagram the arrows represent real physical signals. Some signals pass information across the system boundary (the dotted line in fig 1) either from ‘the rest of the world’ into the system or out of the system into the world. Other signals pass information from one block to another within the system. For example the arrow pointing across the system boundary out of the system represents the sound signal that you hear when the alarm is triggered. You’ll see that inside the system the signals are labelled as ‘electronic’ signals. Each of these electronic signals is actually a varying voltage. So, one very straightforward way to think about voltage is as a signal in a circuit; let’s explore this a bit further. Fig 2 shows the circuit blocks that you could use to make up the circuit. If you have access to Control Studio , you can try this circuit out yourself. Each connector has a coloured bar graph that shows the level of the signal, or voltage, between each pair of blocks.

Fig 2 shows the circuit blocks that you could use to make up the circuit. If you have access to Control Studio , you can try this circuit out yourself. Each connector has a coloured bar graph that shows the level of the signal, or voltage, between each pair of blocks.

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