Circuit Bricks - The easy way to design electronic circuits for GCSE Electronics

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UPDATED:.20:28 24 October 2013

IDEAL FOR GCSE ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS	Welcome to CIRCUIT BRICKS. This is a system that makes designing circuits simple. It follows a very common format that most circuits can be modelled around. These circuits are pitched at the required level for most GCSE Electronic Projects. The circuit "Bricks" are designed for most general applications, but values may need to be adjusted to suit specific requirements Pages will change frequently as circuits are developed and updated - Refresh often!

	BRICK TYPES			CIRCUIT STRUCTURE
	INPUTS Sensor - LDR, Thermistor, microphone User Input - switch, potentiometer PROCESSES There are many different control devices. They can be combined to make more complex control systems. Some basic ones are - comparator, timer, monostable, amplifier, converter, counter OUTPUTS Audible device - buzzer, siren, speaker Visual device - LED, bulb, 7-seg/dot matrix display Movement - motor, solenoid, meter			Almost all circuits can be broken down into sections, of 3 different types Many circuits on this site have block diagrams to show their function. For example, Ultrasonic Alarm, Speed Controller Most circuits will have many process sections as well as multiple inputs and outputs. These can all be modelled as shown below. Try the TUTORIAL to see how to make a freezer alarm.


	BRICKS
	Below are Circuit Bricks you can use and place together to form a circuit. Just follow these steps: Write down how you want your design to function - a specification of circuit. Identify the inputs and outputs and break the control part into stages to form a block diagram. Look up the circuit for each block using the circuit bricks in the lists below Connect them together removing duplicate parts and connect up the +V and 0v supplies together. When you have finished, if you have simulation software (such as Crocdile Clips or Livewire etc.) you can create and test the final circuit out for yourself.

INPUTS	PROCESSES	OUTPUTS
Electret Microphone	Audio Power Amplifier	Bulb / Lamp
Light Sensor - LDR	Audio Pre-Amplifier - Op-Amp	Buzzer
Magnetic Switch	Audio Pre-Amplifier - Transistor	DC Motor
PTM switch - Logic Input	Comparator	Display - 7-segment
Power-Up Pulse Generator	Current Amplifier	LED
Temperature Sensor -Thermistor	Demodulator (Rectifier/Filter)	LED Arrays
Voltage Reference - Potential Divider	Dot/Bar Display Driver	Loudspeaker
Voltage Reference - Variable	Drivers -Transistor	Relays
Voltage Reference - Zener	Drivers - Darlington (IC Arrays)	Siren
	Inverter - transistor	Solenoid
	Latching Driver - Thyristor
	Oscillator - Astable 555
	Timer - Monostable 555
	Spike Generator
	Triangle Wave Astable
	Voltage Clamp
	Volume Control
	DIGITAL
	Bistables
	BCD to 7-segment decoder
	Counter - 7 segment output
	Counter - BCD
	Counter - Binary
	Counter - Decade
	D-Type Flip/Flop
	Inverter - IC
	Latches
	Logic gates
	Pulse Generator
	Signal Delay
	GCE
	Astable - Gated
	Astable - NOT gates
	Frequency to Voltage Converter
	Monostables - NOR/NAND
	Schmitt Trigger
	Summing Amplifier

HELP

If you get stuck generating the circuit, email us what you have completed so far and we will try to help you. However we can not always guarantee a rapid response.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are using this for coursework you must declare any help you have been given!

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