Electric Motors and Control Techniques Review

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(More customer reviews)Overall I found this to be an excellent book. I enjoyed every page, and in particular tracing out circuit operations of the various schematics. I thought the diversity of circuits was great.
Nowhere in the title did I see "Basics of" or Fundementals of". This is not a book for the novice. The reader must have a good understanding of AC and DC motors, and solid state theory, circiuts, and devices.
I found the concatenation of induction motors, and the Kramer speed control system very interesting. I have many old industrial control books, but none shows these systems.
There are several errors, and examples of such are: Page 44, Para 3 is completely wrong. The proper way to reverse direction of compound motors is to reverse A1 and A2. Page 57, para 2 relates to this proper method. Fig. 5-9 Q102 shows a JFET- should be a UJT. Fig. 5-13 Q1 same thing. Fig. 5-10 has negative 250 VDC lines to emitters of Q532-Q536 and Q552-Q556 missing. Eliminate lead from motor to bottom of C541. Fig. 6-11 motor will never reverse with this scheme. Turning dial in opposite direction FWD biasis Q2 turning on Q1 which energizes RY2. RY1 drops out turning system off. Motor never runs CCW.
I have a comprehensive technical library, and one of my books is by this author entitled "Design and Operation of Regulated Power Supplies". It's an old book, and it's full of solid state circuits. I am indebted to authors like Mr Gottlieb, for it's their writings that enabled me to learn solid state electronics.

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Get greater flexibility, reliability, and reduced energy consumption from household appliances to automobiles. This book will show you how different types of motors operate and how electronic control devices can be used to improve efficiency in a wide range of applications. You'll get in-depth, updated coverage of: Electric motor control applications; dc and ac motors; Digital motors; Commutator-type motors; Noncommutator-types motors; Electric vehicles.

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Extreme NXT: Extending the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT to the Next Level (Technology in Action) Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this book to get a better idea of how to safely interface my own circuits to the Lego Mindstorms NXT. In my opinion, you can't find a better book for this purpose. "Extreme NXT" contains the pinouts and proper usage of the NXT motor and sensor ports. It also provides a large number of the most useful homebrew sensor implementations, right down to parts lists containing part numbers for common component suppliers like Digikey and Radio Shack.
My background is in engineering, with an emphasis in control systems. The first book I read in the field of hobbiest robotics was "Mobile Robots: Inspiration to Implementation" (Jones and Flynn). In those days, the 6811's were king for these sorts of projects. I spent many a happy day with my MIT Handyboard (a simple 6811 robot controller board). Things have come a long way. Nowadays NXT is available, and this book is the modern day equivalent to that excellent text for those who want to dig in and find out what the NXT is capable of. The book is written in a format that is easy to understand for the novice, but also supplies plenty of content to allow the more advanced user to be able to push the NXT envelope. The organization is superb, commonly used charts and tables are easily found. I have been finding myself referring most often to the pinout tables for the NXT connectors, and these are very conveniently found towards the front of the book.
Chapters are broke down into sensor and output types, starting with the more basic and easily contructed passive sensors up to more advanced and expandable I2C sensors. Motor control, h-bridges, etc are also covered in detail. Both the construction of the circuits, and the NXT code to run them, are covered. Code is provided in it's most basic form first, NXT-G, which every NXT user will be familiar with. Examples proceed to more complex compilers, such as NBC, for sensors or circuits that are better suited to those implementations.
The appendix provides complete source code listings, useful websites and links categorized by chapter. There is also a great tutorial on prototyping with breadboards and perfboard for the uninitiated. With this book, any skill level in electronics should be enough to do some cool things with the NXT kit.
This book will become a very useful addition to any hobby robotics library. For me, it will be the goto book for designing circuits to safely interface to the Lego NXT. Highly recommended!

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Extreme NXT: Extending the LEGO MIDSTORMS NXT to the Next Level is for intermediate-level users of NXT who would like to advance their capabilities by learning some of the basics of electronics. Plenty of examples are provided, and easy-to-follow instructions are included for building over 15 different sensors.

This makes a great reference for the NXT hardware interfaces. Examples even come complete with multiple, alternative NXT languages. The book is also abundant with illustrations.

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Extreme NXT: Extending the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT to the Next Level (Technology in Action) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This well organized book on customizing the Lego NXT Robotic System serves several hobbyist and educational goals in an outstanding fashion. It is a full introduction to sensors, actuators, and microcontroller-based robotics in the context of the Lego NXT System. In the process of describing the sensors, customization of NXT parts and support chips and electronics it provides an excellent introduction to hobbyist electronic construction. Finally, together with David Cook's excellent "Robot Building for Beginners", also in the excellent Apress Series, it provides a though introduction to the parts and techniques for constructing and debugging all types of hobbyist robotics and electro-mechanical systems. The differences from the previous excellent edition of "Extreme NXT" are subtle yet important: improved illustrations of construction technique are provided throughout the book; exciting additional projects on GSR (skin resistance measurement) and interfacing the NXT brick with a keyboard interface liven this edition, additonal explanatory material is included in the chapter on I2C interfaces and in Appendix A on electronic construction techniques.
I would recommend this excellently presented and illustrated book as a well organized tutorial in many aspects of robotics and electronic construction.
--Ira Laefsky
MSE/MBA

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Extreme NXT: Extending the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT to the Next Level (Second Edition) is updated for established users of NXT who would like to advance their capabilities by learning the electronics that can open up new possibilities to their NXT projects.Bring all kinds of amazing sensors to your NXT creations! This book introduces you to projects with contact sensors, resistive sensors, potentiometer sensors, voltage sensors, NXT Motor Interfaces and beyond, to I2C Bus Communication and the cool combinations available in your own projects! You'll also learn breadboard construction technique along the way.With more than 15 cool sensor projects that are all explained and well-illustrated with step-by-step instructions, this book also offers a great reference for the NXT hardware interfaces, and examples come complete with multiple, alternative NXT languages.The authors are leading experts in Lego MINDSTORMS hardware who are ready to take your NXT projects to the next level. But you will not need any prior experience with electronics to enjoy this book and create NXT projects with amazing sensors!

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