Introduction to Electronics
Definition, History and Application of Electronics
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of this session, the students
shall be able to:
1. Define electronics
2. Recall important milestone in the history
of electronics
3. List different applications of electronics
What is Electronics?
Electronics:
▪ an applied form of
science that deals
with electrons.
▪ handles electric
circuits containing
active elements,
passive elements
and other
underlying
techniques
making it as an
important part of
engineering.
Electronic devices: made up of active and passive elements
and smaller IC memories.
The ICs, diodes, and transistor are made of semiconductor
materials and their working is dependent on current flow
through them.
What is Electronics?
“Electronics”, as the name implies relating
to electrons. The word electronics
arrived from electron mechanics (Behaviour
of the electron when it is subjected to
externally applied fields).
Electronics is an engineering branch that
concerns with the flow of current through
semiconductor, gas or any form of matter.
Timeline of Electronics From
Early Beginnings to the End of
the 20th Century
HISTORY OF ELECTRONICS
History of Electronics
600 B.C.
Thales of Miletus writes about
amber becoming charged by
rubbing. He was describing what
we now call static electricity.
1660
-Otto von Guericke
invents a machine to
produce static
electricity.
1600
1675
English scientist, William Gilbert first
Robert Boyle
coined the term "electricity" from the
discovers that
Greek word for amber. Gilbert wrote
electric force could
about the electrification of many
be transmitted
substances in his treatise, "De
through a vacuum
Magnete, Magneticisique Corporibus."
and observes
He was also the first to use the terms
forces of electrical
"electric force," "magnetic pole," and
attraction and
"electric attraction."
repulsion.
1729
Stephen Gray discovers
the conductivity of
electricity.
1733
Charles Francois du Fay
discovers that electricity
comes in two forms which
he calls resinous (-) and
vitreous (+). Benjamin
Franklin and Ebenezer
Kinnersley later rename
the two forms as positive
and negative.
History of Electronics
1745
1786
1767
Georg Von Kleist
Italian physician, Luigi Galvani
Joseph Priestley
discovers that electricity
demonstrates what we now
discovers that
was controllable.
understand to be the electrical basis of
electricity follows
Dutch physicist, Pieter van
nerve impulses by making the
Newton's inverseMusschenbroek invented muscles of a frog twitch by jolting them
square law of
the first electrical capacitor,
with a spark from an electrostatic
gravity.
the Leyden Jar, which
machine.
1747
stores static electricity.
Benjamin Franklin experiments with static charges in the air
and theorizes about the existence of an electrical fluid that could
1752
be composed of particles.
Benjamin Franklin
William Watson discharges a Leyden jar through a circuit which
invents the lightning
leads to the comprehension of current and circuit.
rod, demonstrating
Henry Cavendish begins measuring the conductivity of different
that lightning was a
materials.
form of electricity
History of Electronics
1800
The first electric battery is invented by Alessandro
Volta, who proves that electricity can travel over wires.
1816
The first energy utility in the United States is
founded.
1820
The relationship between electricity and
magnetism is confirmed by Hans Christian
Oersted who observes that electrical
currents affect the needle on a compass and
by Marie Ampere, who discovers that a coil
of wires acted like a magnet when a current
is passed through it.
-D. F. Arago invents the electromagnet.
1821
Michael Faraday invents the
first electric motor.
1826
Georg Simon Ohm writes his law which
states that "conduction law that relates
potential, current, and circuit resistance."
1827
Joseph Henry, who built one of the first
electric motors, conducts electromagnetic
experiments that lead to the concept of
electrical inductance.
History of Electronics
1831
Michael Faraday discovers the
principles of electromagnetism
induction, generation, and
transmission.
1837
First industrial electric motors.
1839
The first fuel cell is invented by Welsh
judge, inventor, and physicist, Sir
William Robert Grove.
1841
J. P. Joule's law of electrical heating is
published.
1844
First wireless telegraphic communication (Morse
code via telegraph, later applied to wireless by
Hertz and Marconi
1857
Heinrich Geissler (a German glassblower and
physicist) invented the Geissler tube—a glass
tube with most of the air removed and electrodes
sealed inside. When high voltage was applied,
the rarefied gas inside glowed.
1873
James Clerk Maxwell's equations describe the
electromagnetic field and predict
the existence of electromagnetic waves traveling
at the speed of light.
History
of
Electronics
1878
Edison Electric Light Co. (U.S.A.) and
American Electric and Illuminating
(Canada) are founded.
1880
Charles Brush waterdriven turbine arc light
dynamo is used to
1879
The first commercial power station opens in provide theater
San Francisco using a Charles Brush
and storefront
generator and arc lights.
illumination In Grand
The world's first commercial arc lighting
Rapids Michigan.
system is installed in Cleveland, Ohio.
Thomas Edison demonstrates his
incandescent lamp at Menlo Park, New
Jersey.
William Crookes improved Geissler’s tube
into what’s called the Crookes tube (a
more highly evacuated tube, showed
current behaved like particles (cathode
rays).
1882
The Edison Company
opens Pearl Street
power station.
The first hydroelectric
power station opens
in Wisconsin.
1883
1881
-The electric
In Niagra Falls, New
transformer is
York, a Charles Brush
invented.
dynamo is connected to -Thomas Edison
the turbine in Quigley's introduces the "threeflour mill to light city
wire" transmission
street lamps.
system.
History of Electronics
1883
-Thomas Edison experimented with carbon filament bulbs
1884
with plates and discovered that there was a current from
Parsons
the
steam plate.
turbine.
theCharles
hot filament
to a invents
positively
charged
He
patented the idea but never used it known as Edison
effect (thermionic effect)
1886
-William Stanley develops a transformer and alternating
current (AC) electric
system.
-Frank Sprague builds the first American transformer and
demonstrates the use of step-up and step-down
transformers for long-distance AC power transmission in
Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
-The Westinghouse Electric Company is organized.
-Between 40 and 50 water-powered electric plants are
reported online or under
1887
-The High Grove Station, the first
hydroelectric plant in the western
United States, opens in San
Bernadino, California.
J. J. Thomson: discovered the
electron in cathode rays
1888
-Nikola Tesla invents the rotating
field AC alternator.
1889
-The first AC hydroelectric plant,
Willamette Falls station, opens in
Oregon City,Oregon. Singlephase power is transmitted 13
miles to Portland at 4,000 volts,
stepped-down to 50 volts for
History of Electronics
1891
-The 60-cycle AC
system is
introduced in
America.
1892
-The General Electric Company is
formed by the merger of ThomsonHouston and Edison General
Electric.
1900
A new record is set for the highest voltage
transmission line—60 Kilovolts.
Believing gas-driven cars were too noisy and emitted
noxious fumes, Viennese coachbuilder Jacob Lohner
taps 21-year-old Austrian engineer Ferdinand Porsche
to install the in-wheel motors he'd invented into one of
Lohner’s coaches. The result, the Lohner-Porsche
Elektromobil, the world's first hybrid car, debuts at the
Paris Exposition of 1900.
1893
Westinghouse demonstrates
a "universal system" of
generation and distribution
at the Chicago Exposition.
Traversing the Colorado
River, the first dam designed
specifically for
hydroelectric power is
completed in Austin, Texas.
1897
J. J. Thomson discovers
the electron.
History of Electronics
1902
A 5-Megawatt turbine is installed at the
Fisk Street Station in Chicago, Illinois.
1903
The first successful gas turbine debuts in
France.
World’s first all turbine station debuts in
Chicago.
Shawinigan Water & Power installs the
world's largest generator (5,000 Watts)
and the world’s largest and highest voltage
line—136 Km and 50 Kilovolts—to
Montreal.
The advent of the electric vacuum cleaner
and the electric washing machine.
1904
John Ambrose Fleming invents the diode
rectifier vacuum tube or Fleming valve.
1905
The first low-head hydro plant with directly
connected vertical shaft turbines and
generators opens in Sault Ste. Marie,
Michigan.
1906
Lee De Forest improved the idea and
invented the Audion (triode), which could
not only rectify but also amplify signals
— making modern radio, telephony, and
early computers possible.
History of Electronics
1907
Lee De Forest invents the
electric amplifier.
added a grid to the vacuum tube.
The new device, called the
audiotron, could amplify a weak
signal.
By adding the control element,
DeForest ushered in the
electronics revolution.
It was an improved version of his
device that made transcontinental
telephone service and radios
possible.
1909
The first pumped storage plant
is opened in Switzerland.
1911
1910
Willis Haviland Carrier discloses
Ernest R.
his basic Rational Psychrometric
Rutherford
Formulae to the American Society
measures the
of Mechanical Engineers. The
distribution of an
formula still stands today as the
electric charge
basis of all fundamental
within the
atom. calculations for the air conditioning
industry.
1912
R. D. Johnson invents the
a radio amateur in
differential surge tank and the
San Jose,
hydrostatic penstock valve.
California, was
1913
regularly
The electric refrigerator is
broadcasting
invented.
music!
Robert Millikan measures the
. electric charge on a single electron.
History of Electronics
1918
The superheterodyne radio
receiver was invented by Edwin
Howard Armstrong in 1918. It
became the standard design for
nearly all radios, televisions, and
radar systems.
1920
The First U.S. station powered by
burning pulverized coal is opened.
The Federal Power Commission
(FPC) is established.
1921
the secretary of commerce, Herbe
rt Hoover, issued the first license to a
broadcast radio station; within two
years over 600 licenses were issued.
1923
1930’s
Vladimir Zworykin, an
Also started in this decade was
American researcher,
the development of the first
invented the first
electronic computers. Modern
television picture tube, computers trace their origins to
the work of John Atanasoff at
and in 1927 Philo T.
Farnsworth applied for a Iowa State University.
Beginning in 1937, he envisioned
patent for a complete
a binary machine that could do
television system.
1930’s
The 1930s saw many
developments in radio,
including metal tubes,
automatic gain control.
"midget" radios, and
directional antennas.
complex mathematical work. By
1939, he and graduate student
Clifford Berry had constructed a
binary machine called ABC, (for
Atanasoff-Berry Computer) that
used vacuum tubes for logic and
condensers (capacitors) for
memory.
History of Electronics
1939
1947
the magnetron, a microwave oscillator, was
The transistor is invented by Walter Brattain,
invented in Britain by Henry Boot and John Randall.
John Bardeen. and William Shockley.
the klystron microwave tube was invented in
PCB’s were introduced
America by Russell and Sigurd Varian.
The decade of the I 940s opened with World 1950
War II. The war spurred rapid advancements
• Commercial manufacturing of transistors
in electronics.
didn't begin until 1951
Radar and very high-frequency
• The most important invention in1950’s
communication were made possible by the
was the integrated circuit. On September
magnetron and klystron.
12, 1958, Jack Kilby, at Texas
Cathode ray tubes were improved for use in
Instruments made the first integrated
radar.
circuit for which he was awarded Nobel
Computer work continued during the war. By
prize in the fall of 2000.
1946, John von Neumann had developed the
•
first stored program computer, the ENIAC, at
the University of Pennsylvania.
History of Electronics
1977
1980
The New York City blackout
The first U.S. wind farm is opened.
occurs.
The Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning
The Department of Energy (DOE)
and Conservation Act establishes
is formed.
regional regulation and planning.
1978
1981
The Public Utilities Regulatory
PURPA is ruled unconstitutional by a federal
Policies Act (PURPA) is passed and
judge.
ends utility monopoly.
1982
The Power Plant and Industrial
The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the legality of
Fuel Use Act limits the use of natural
PURPA in FERC v. Mississippi
gas in electric generation (repealed
(456 US 742).
1987).
1984
1979
Canada's Annapolis, N.S., a tidal power plant, is first of its
The Three Mile Island
kind in North America opens.
nuclear accident occurs
History of Electronics
1985
1997
Citizens Power, the first
ISO New England Inc., an independent, non-profit
power marketer, goes into
Regional Transmission
business.
Organization (RTO) serving Connecticut, Maine,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and
1986
Vermont opens in Holyoke, Massachusetts to oversee
Chernobyl nuclear
New England's bulk electric power system.
accident occurs in the USSR.
1999
1998
1990
Electricity is marketed
When California opens its market
Amendments to the
on the Internet.
Clean Air Act mandate and ISO, Scottish Power buys
The Federal Energy
PacifiCorp in the
additional pollution
first foreign takeover of a U.S. utility, Regulatory Commission
controls.
followed by National Grid announcing (FERC) issues Order
1992
2000,
its
The National
promoting regional
purchase of New England Electric
Energy Policy Act is
transmission.
System.
passed.
ECE1: ELECTRONICS
DEVICES AND CIRCUITS
HISTORY
Applications of Electronics
1. Consumer Electronics
2. Industrial Electronics
3. Medical applications
4. Meteorological and Oceanographic
5. Defense and Aerospace
6. Automotive (Automobiles)
1. Consumer Electronics
This industry is most applicable to the
common people. Consumer Electronics are
devices and equipment meant for everyday
use. This is again categorized as:
Office Gadgets such as
calculators, Personal
computers, Scanners and
Printers, FAX machine, Front
Projector etc.
Audio and Video Systems
such as Headphone, VCRs,
DVD players, Color TVs,
Microphone and Loudspeaker,
Video game consoles.
Home appliances such as Washing Machine,
Refrigerator, Air Conditioner, Microwave Oven,
Vacuum Cleaner etc.
Advanced Consumer Devices such as Setup
Box, ATM, Dishwasher, Smart Phones, PDA
(personal digital assistant), Barcode Scanners,
POS terminals.
Storage Devices for optical playback and taping,
and portable infotainment. Examples
are DVDs, HDD jukebox, Portable MP3 player.
2. Industrial Electronics
This industry is powerful in making realtime automation. This include:
▪ Industrial automation and
motion control
▪ Machine learning
▪ Motor drive control,
▪ Mechatronics and robotics
▪ Power converting technologies
▪ Photo voltaic systems,
▪ Renewable energy applications
▪ Power electronics
▪ Biomechanics.
Smart grid systems
Smart electric systems collect information
from the communication technology and
react accordingly based on power
consumption.
It is an application of intelligence,
computing, and networked electricity
systems.
3. Medical applications
Some of the medical devices and equipment used are:
Stethoscope to listen inner sounds happening inside
the human or animal body
Advanced sophisticated
instruments are being
developed for data
recording and physiological
analysis.
They are proven to be more
useful in diagnosing
diseases and for
healing purpose.
Respiration Monitors for knowing the patient
condition due to change in body temperature, pulse,
respiration and blood flow.
Defibrillator causes electrical shock to heart
muscles and brings backs the heart to the normal
working condition.
Glucose meter for measuring sugar levels in the
blood.
Pace Maker for reducing and increasing the count of
the heartbeat.
4. Meteorological and Oceanographic
Environmental monitoring is done through various sensors
and Automatic weather stations. Some of them are:
Anemometer measures the wind speed and wind direction
Barometer for predicting the weather is good or bad. It
gives atmospheric pressure level as an indication. If
pressure level is high weather is good and if pressure is low
it means the weather is bad.
Hygrometer measuring Humidity
Drifter Buoy measures current, temperature, and pressure levels in
the ocean
Tipping Bucket Rain gauge for measuring the rainfall
periodically stored in the Automatic weather station such as Data
logger.
5. Defense and Aerospace
Defense and Aeronautical applications include:
Missile Launching systems
Rocket Launchers for space
Aircraft systems
Cockpit controllers
Military Radars
Boom barrier for military applications
ENGR. GLENDA A. DE MESA