Friday

Understanding SMPS

As all we know that,SMPS is one of the important part of any computer system and after that only very few people know about it.An SMPS(Switched Mode Power Supply) is an electronic power unit that is used as a switching regulator.The main task of any SMPS is to switch the power supply between the saturation (full on) and cutoff (completely off) with a variable duty cycle whose average is the desired output voltage.After this the resulting rectangular waveform that is formed passed through a combination of a capacitor and inductor.The main advantage of this method is greater efficiency because the switching transistor dissipates little power in the saturated state and the off state compared to the semi conducting state (active region).In addition to these advantages,SMPS is light in weight and in smaller size so that it can easily fit into your pc.On the other hand it also have some disadvantages like greater complexity, the generation of high amplitude, high frequency energy that the low-pass filter must block to avoid EMI and a ripple voltage at the switching frequency and the harmonic frequencies there of.

SMPS can be classified into four types according to the input and output waveforms, as follows.

AC in, DC out: rectifier, off-line converter input stage.
DC in, DC out: voltage converter, or current converter, or DC to DC converter
AC in, AC out: frequency changer, cycloconverter
DC in, AC out: inverter
AC and DC are abbreviations for alternating current and direct current.

Thursday

Build a Computer

If you are the do-it-yourself type like me who wants to boast that he built (ahem... assembled) the computer, without having a clue as to connect which wires, where, then welcome to my humble virtual abode. In this post, I will show you how to assemble your computer, which will come in handy, even if you are replacing the basic parts. Please refer to the pictures specified:

Fitting the components in the cabinet:

1. This is the cabinet. And if you are the penny-pinching type, this is exactly the thing to look out for. Now, almost all cabinets are equipped to deal with different motherboards, unless we are talking about a stone-age monolith. (See the elongated holes? exactly the things that allow for different sizes of components)

2. This is the SMPS (Switch Mode Power Supply), more like a distributor, which is responsible for powering up all the other devices like the CDROM or DVDRAM drive, the motherboard, floppy drive etc and in some older ones, even the monitor.

3. This is the motherboard (literally the mother of all devices), which means, whatever your computer thinks, it does that here. Make sure that you have an ATX motherboard (ask your dealer) before trying out whatever I suggest.

4. This is your CDROM Drive (you can also have a DVDRAM drive). Before fitting it into your cabinet, check that the pins are

5. Finally, the HARD Disk - this is where your computer has his memory. Without this, your computer will have complete amnesia, except for a things like date and time settings, etc.

Connections:
1. This, is the ATX (Advanced Technology Exended) power connector. Connect it as shown.

2.This is the EIDE(Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics) cable, used to connect the computer's motherboard to the hard-disk, the CDROM drive and the floppy disk drive.

Connect it to the motherboard as shown below:

Then, connect the same to the CDROM Drive and the Floppy disk drive (if you have one, that is).

3. Connect the power.

The above example is given for the most general configuration. DO NOT try to repeat the same procedure on any other type of machine than a personal PC. The above procedure is a very general one and as we go along I shall post more detailed articles of varying complexity which will deal with more intricate topics.