- May 16 Fri 2008 19:55
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眼的紋理
- May 15 Thu 2008 14:39
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四川地震

向四川地震受困苦的同胞致意問候. 進一步讓人擔心事情, 屯積儲水的發電水壩如果有內傷, 該如何處理. 人力渺小, 願上天保佑.
香港中大的網頁, 全部關於這次四川地震的最新資料.
http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/cpr/pressrelease/080515.htm
- May 13 Tue 2008 20:23
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BandGap Reference

永恆不變, 通常描述的事物就是一個以 [常數 CONSTANT] 的形式作賣點存在, 很長很長時間都不會變化, 可能是鑽石恆久遠, 一顆用留存, 又或者是........
雖然是一些廣告用語, 不過還是以 [常數] 做招來, 鼓動人心底裡面的渴望.
通常工程佬所寫的文章都是乏味可陳, 毫無趣味, 但是往往細細閱讀後, 會發現很多人生的哲學在裡面, 因為順應自然而找到世界上存在的 [常數 CONSTANT], 加以利用, 便可無往而不利.
- May 11 Sun 2008 11:53
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HSBC 保安編碼器

早洩夫一早寄左個玩具過來, 吾著, 叫俺幫忙看看...... 看來大家都以為俺是超人, 什麼都可以DIY. 至於這個保安編碼器有什麼用途或是怎樣用, 不得而知, 但聽早洩夫說, 正常的時候是按一下, 就出一串數字, 再按一下, 再出來一串數字, 而且每次按都不同. 現在是怎樣按都沒有顯示. 結果, 真是不環保的產物. 喔彌陀佛......善哉善哉///// 個殼連起碼的回收分類標誌都沒有, 吾使問, 最可能係 DESIGN BY XXX, MADE IN CHINA, 難道惡果早晚都要自嚐?!
查查看, 原來是一家叫 VASCO的產品, http://www.vasco.com/ebanking.html
名稱是 DIGIPASS Go 3, http://www.vasco.com/products/product.html?product=47
- May 04 Sun 2008 18:19
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CHT3000 U121 716 3G手機

電話合約到期, 干脆來個大升級.
合約由 2G 變成 3G, 簽約24個月, 預繳NT3500, 以0元換來這支3G手機, 品牌是中華電信的CHT3000, 不管是說明書還是包裝盒, 完全是中華電信, 可是骨子裡頭, 估計是華為的OEM產品 U121, 因為從外觀看來是一模一樣的東西.
*2580 + DOWN 鍵, broad information test
- May 04 Sun 2008 11:40
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波長 天線 3G 2G WIFI Antenna
GPRS/GSM 800 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
3G UTMS 2100 MHz = 2.1x109 Hz
WIFI 2.425 GHz =2.425x109 Hz
- Apr 26 Sat 2008 16:21
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USB AVR HC08 or HC908 模擬的可能性

http://www.obdev.at/products/avrusb/prjhid.html
http://avrusb.wikidot.com/hardware
http://www.cesko.host.sk/IgorPlugUSB_RS232/IgorPlug-USB%20(AVR)%20RS232_eng.htm
some idea for temp reading
http://www.harbaum.org/till/i2c_tiny_usb/index.shtml
- Apr 21 Mon 2008 17:03
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Sound card used for data capture
The author did not provide any contact information in English page, but a email address is listed in other language (may be Slovakia) page.

- Apr 16 Wed 2008 10:46
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iphone, 關於 Base band IC

今天看到報導說關於 3G iphone 很快就量產. base band IC 依然用 Infineon 的設計, IC 編號 PMB8878, UMC 做晶圓, SPIL 封裝測試, 一年出產 1.4KK 顆 IC.
順便看看 IC 的封裝方法, 應該是沿用 2005 年 Infineon 開發的 LF2BGA, google 以下,
http://www.google.com/search?hl=zh-TW&rls=GGLR%2CGGLR%3A2006-36%2CGGLR%3Aen&q=LF2BGA+JEDEC&lr=
- Apr 15 Tue 2008 14:13
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COLD CALL, 似乎是件簡單的事

今天在SKYPE, 又收到類似的 [查詢], 不知道最近為什麼那麼多? 難道小喇叭真的味力(吾知係咪狐狸味) 不減, 人家可能是謀生.
只是俺力有不第, 愛莫能助...善哉善哉.......
[12:42:08] 隱藏哒幸福● 說 : (h) 安安
[13:54:08] 真系小喇叭 說 : :D
[13:54:46] 隱藏哒幸福● 說 : 我叫欣欣
[13:54:49] 隱藏哒幸福● 說 : 你怎麼稱呼
[13:55:43] 真系小喇叭 說 : 叫我小喇叭
[13:55:52] 真系小喇叭 說 : 啥事
[13:56:02] 真系小喇叭 說 : 你 ..誰?
[13:58:15] 隱藏哒幸福● 說 : 我有在兼援
[13:58:18] 隱藏哒幸福● 說 : 2小時4000
[13:58:22] 隱藏哒幸福● 說 : 你想約我嗎
[13:58:42] 真系小喇叭 說 : 噢....
[13:58:58] 真系小喇叭 說 : 我們不認識的?
[13:59:16] 隱藏哒幸福● 說 : 這有關係嗎
[13:59:20] 隱藏哒幸福● 說 : 你想不想約我
[13:59:57] 真系小喇叭 說 : 如果約你...然後呢 ?
[14:03:50] 隱藏哒幸福● 說 : 先見面
[14:03:54] 隱藏哒幸福● 說 : 見面
[14:04:02] 隱藏哒幸福● 說 : OK我們再做
[14:04:05] 隱藏哒幸福● 說 : 不滿意你可以不要
[14:05:59] 真系小喇叭 說 : 見面後做什麼 ?
[14:07:47] 隱藏哒幸福● 說 : 愛愛
[14:08:06] 真系小喇叭 說 : ...........
[14:08:17] 真系小喇叭 說 : 喔....我明白啦.............
[14:08:25] 隱藏哒幸福● 說 : 你要約嗎
[14:08:42] 真系小喇叭 說 : 原來是警察............
- Apr 14 Mon 2008 11:14
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computer controlled transimitter
http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/computers/radio/computer_controlled_transmitter.html
more others,
http://www.eehome.cn/read.php?tid=2697
- Apr 12 Sat 2008 17:29
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A single channel printer port temperature logger
Can you see how is the temperature & the change inside a chamfer with your temperature controller?
The heat chamber, a closed environment with heat element inside, it is used to convert the electrical power into heat, a means to elevates the temperature within the chamber. More or less, these heat chambers may be used for MOCVD or similar process in semiconductor or LCD manufacturing or some others, one of your kitchen oven.
To control the temperature as precise as possible for the heat chamber, it aims to yield a more reasonable temperature consistency, a temperature controller could be equipped with control algorithm as PI, PD or PID in more advance model. Except your controller brand name, how well do you know about your chamber and the temperature inside? and how do you see if any overshoot of temperature from the whole system ?
A well known technique, the thermometer could be used to probe the chamber for temperature, and notepad & technician could be helpful to record the reading from time to time. The log chart can then be plotted later on to visual the temperature change against the time domain, or a mechanical log chart recorder is always provided, this is what a traditional experimental approach. Now a day, the mid of 90's, computer is more powerful for daily computational task, and some advance model of heat chamber has been built-in electronics temperature logger for daily operation. This is a given of another interesting question, what to do if you had your stone age heat chamber ? throw it away then buy a modern new one, or something can be done for those old dogs ?
This project represent low cost approach, more or less, an experimental task to equip PC based temperature logger for your stone age oven in your kitchen, a bread baker, or the industry oven in the manufacturing plant. A simple block diagram is completely draft the idea of design.
Note :
1) Thermal sensing element, K-type thermal couple or P-N junction of an ordinary Transistor or Diode, available widely;
2) Conditioning circuitry, special design of Integrated Circuit (IC) or discrete component circuit, convert thermal current to temperature data;
3) Data Link, industry standard for data communication, RS485 or RS422 or RF Transcevier, send / receive temperature data to the host;
4) Host, computer (PC) used for recording and display;
A diode used as thermal sensing element, see the reference for further discussion, according to it says, a Diode for temperature measurement can be used up to 150*C or 200*C momentary, but we did not have any experimental data to confirm this,
Transistor or Diode to be used as temperature probe
http://schematics.blogspot.com/2006/10/diode-thermometer.html
http://hbd.org/mtippin/thermometer.html
description of what is a current mirror by bi-polar transistor,
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_3/chpt_4/12.html
Simple lab experiment of a Diode is used for temperature sensing,
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Elec_p033.shtml
CPU temperature monitoring with Diode and DMM
http://www.overclockers.com/tips12/
PC com port (RS232), control charing time with NTC to measure temperature
http://www.electronics-lab.com/projects/pc/013/
why is it possible to measure temperature with a Diode
http://www.hobby-elec.org/e_ckt26_3.htm
simple and cheap thermometer by uses of transistor or diode
http://www.micro-examples.com/public/microex-navig/doc/098-temperature-sensor
sensor design with thermocouple or diode
http://extenv.jpl.nasa.gov/presentations/Sensor_Design_and_Operation.pdf
K-type thermocouple used as thermal sensing element,
K-type thermocouples (chomel-alumel) are used mostly, because they are useful up to over 1200 degrees Celsius. It is also much more linear in its response than T-type with respect to temperature. This is a well known element for industry purpose of any temperature measurement. They are facts where thermocouples are possible the best choice as temperature sensors, in terms of cost-effective. The output is standardized, determined only by the bi-metal junction that form the thermocouple, no effect of the size or shape of the junction, no change in calibration, the metals can be formed into a variety of sizes or shapes suited to different applications.
In biology, thermocouples are used to construct thin & tiny probes with improved response time by lower thermal mass or thermal inertia. It is also true any other measurement event. Low thermal inertia is necessary to gain shorter response time. Rapid response is always expected as in system dynamic to the temperature, pressure or force. T-type thermocouples are often used for biological studies, because the ease of construction, and resistance to oxidation by aqueous environments at temperatures typical in biology. of interest in biological work. Range from -200°C to +350°C for measurement. Out of all the thermocouple types, T-type has the lowest "limit of error", which means that the level of purity attainable in the metals allows them to adhere to the standard type T curve most closely. J-type (iron constantan) thermocouple is also used for its low cost, but the iron is problematic in oxidizing situations.
Consider other unique properties of thermocouples, such as high temperature performance, it is only importance in industrial applications, as well as the ordinary appliances such as the kitchen oven. There are many more types of thermocouples useful for special purposes and up to much higher temperatures. The OMEGA Engineering site has a great technical reference if you are eager to see profound technical detail of thermocouples, http://www.omega.com/temperature/z/pdf/z021-032.pdf
Anyway, the difficulty in using thermocouples is another consideration,
a) the thermal voltage signal produced by theromocouple is so small and has to be amplified,
b) the thermal voltage signal is produced to a relative of a reference temperature or cold-junction temperature which must be known or measured independently
MAX6674 or MAX6675, thermocouple conditioner
Maxim (http://www.maxim-ic.com) has manufactured couple IC chips that provide a bridge for digital interface & K-type thermocouple. The chip is available as an 8 pin SOIC, and cost about $7.8 each in small quantities. According to Maxim,
MAX6674, it covers the range from 0 to 128 degrees Celsius, 10 bit resolution (0.125 degree)
MAX6675, it covers a range from 0 to 1024 degrees Celsius, 12 bit resolution (0.25 degree)
These chips make the interface to a thermocouple never than easy before. Simply attach the thermocouple, read the digital output by SPI interface. From the pass, signal produced by thermocouples require sophisticated analog circuitry and adjustment. A high gain amplifier boots microvolt up to a certain level, and cold-junction compensation is a must, With this IC chips, it measures its own temperature and subtracts the appropriate offset internally, included the necessary voltage references, and auto-zeroing, to offsets the temperature effect for amplifier itself. The last stuff, there is a 10 or 12 bit analog to digital converter and SPI serial interface.
These MAX6675 is designed to work with the popular K-type thermocouple. It is made of a nickel-chromium / nickel-aluminum junction, called Chromel / Alumel, the other end, + in yellow shield & - in red shield, produce 12.2 millivolts at 300°C, sensitivity is about 41uV/°C. The AMX6675 is possible be useful with the T-type (copper-constantan), because the two types have very similar sensitivities around room temperature, where the cold junction compensation is concerned. The basic accuracy for type K is no greater than 3 degrees Celsius. The IC has no any linearity correction, but software interpolation can be done additional corrections in your own software. Namely, the thermocouple itself generates a microvolt that is very subject to noise pickup by a variety of error sources, the human body induced AC hum, or inductive loading emitted strong electric field. One must aware to the apply engineering practices for use of thermocouples, including the use of shielding, thermo wells, and appropriate grounding or insulation of the thermocouple tip. The MAXIM data sheet gave recommendations, as any standard references on thermocouples application.
You can also make K-type thermocouple yourself, buy thermocouple wire, NOT thermocouple extension wire. They will know what you are asking for if Chromel wire or Alumel wire. Argon inert gas and the arc welding (Gas tungsten arc welding, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_tungsten_arc_welding or http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/md8168/article?mid=38&prev=776&next=9&l=f&fid=5) will bring very good result to make the thermocouple junction for you to form tiny dot, see the picture below for this junction. If you want longer thermocouple, uses the K-type thermocouple extension wires and connector & plug, do not use copper wire, because the copper wire will create another juncton to form another theromocouple, it affect the measurement.
thermocouple junction, fromed a dot by Argon welding
The photo below shows the MAX6675 soldered with DIY PCB (just a thicker card paper) other than any FR-4 etched PCB for electronics, and some copper wires striped off from salvaged LAN cable, a quick & cheap solution with a immediately available platform for evaluation.
The circuit is simple enough, a direct connection to the printer port (LPT), it should be available for those PC or notebook shipped before 2005. This is no any battery or external power supply for the circuit, only draw a little power from the printer port itself. 
No use any DB-25 Male connector or ribbon cable when connection is made by some panel pins, can be found in shops for stationery. The design is completely base on the schematic of Max6675 evaluation kit, but ommited any unnecessary, retain the Max6675 itself. Of course, the location for those panel pin, it must be the match to an exact location for pin assignment of DB-25. The left behind, plug this paper made PCB with circuit in assembly to LPT, yes, plug those panel pin into the DB-25 connector right with your PC, it will be just fine as charm.
The complete assembly of the DIY evaluation kit for Max6675
We have no attemp to design software for PC side at this moment, but a course to use the software provided by Maxim. In our DIY design, Pin-3 LPT port is used to supply the power to this DIY logger, so it must tick this setup for Pins, this will enable the Pin-3 output 5V to the logger. For further application need, design the software with calibration feature is possible, also own preference for user interface is not a big deal.
with no thermocouple connected to the logger, it detected as Thermocouple OPEN.
In case you are not comfortable with this DIY stuff, MAXIM is offering a commercial evaluation kid, see the following ULR if you want more detail,
http://www.maxim-ic.com/tools/evkit/index.cfm?EVKit=480
The data sheet of MAX6675 is avalialbe here,
http://datasheets.maxim-ic.com/en/ds/MAX6674.pdf
http://datasheets.maxim-ic.com/en/ds/MAX6675.pdf
Read the recommendations in the MAXIM data sheet, try to maximize the isothermal for IC & connection to the thermocouple, in order to minimizes the effect of cold-junction error & improve the accuracy. In our LPT powered design, the whole assembly has no any other active component such as voltage regulator and power transistor, the IC should be no way to close any sources of heat or thermal gradients of any kind, except the PC itself. A more better way to do this, use a extension cable for LTP port and put this circuit inside an enclosure. Be a simple test to proof if you want to see what is cold-junction error, put your finger over the IC, you will observe changes in the temperature reading, because body temperature offsets the cold junction temperature measured by the IC itself.
Uses thermocouple with epoxy coated for an isolated tip only to cut the noise sources. In contrast, if you hold a bare thermocouple junction with your fingers, you may induce a huge 50Hz hum signal into the circuit but it can not be compensated, the temperature reading may be fluctuations as long as your finger there. The fluctuations will be much less if use an insulated thermocouple tip. More other means, uses thermocouple with grounded & shielded type, a much more robustness design, BUT DO NOT CONNECT THIS GROUND TO YOUR PC GROUND IN INDUSTRY ENVIRONMENT, BECAUSE INDUSTRY POWER GROUND MAY BE A FLOATING GROUND OF WHICH HAS UNSPECIFIED POTENTIAL VOLTAGE, IT CAN BURN YOUR LPT PORT OR YOUR PC / NOTEBOOK.
For use with T-type thermocouples, the connection is (T+) blue copper, and (T-) red constantan. Remember though that the T-type thermocouple is not nearly as linear as the K-type, cold-junction compensation is not exactly the same, within certain range about room temperature, you can use software technique to lookup the cross referrence table, and the thermocouples other than K-type are possible to be useful with this IC.
To Do List :
1) 4-channel logger for a standard LPT port,
2) MCU based channel relay for distributed sensing network, i.e. one host computer for logging via RS485 or RF.
3) MCU + SD memory for hand held logger with huge memory storage.
