by ALAN WINSTANLEY and IAN BELL
Our team of surgeons examine electrical resistivity, a
follow-up on relaxation oscillators, and advise on
phone or power line suppression.
More earthly comments
In your power generation
article (September '99) in which
you describe mains earthing,
cables with armoring usually
have a lead sheath which
provides the earth path. The
lead sheath and armoring are
bonded together. You are no
doubt aware that copper has a
higher conductivity than steel.
L. Hutchinson
London, England
In case readers missed it,
we published a two-part article
describing power generation
and electricity distribution in the
August and September '99
issues (From Pipelines to
Pylons). The armored cable
photographed on Page 656
(September issue) was
assembled before my very eyes
by a helpful National Power
engineer at the Killingholme “A”
power plant.
It seems to be typical of the
underground cable used to
connect modern houses to the
incoming electricity supply. It
was sheathed using what was
assumed to be a steel braid
rather than, say, tinned copper
wire. I haven’t come across lead
sheathed power cables, which
presumably are used
underground, but doubtless any
electrical engineers looking in
will put me right (please).
I can also testify that even
the toughest steel armored
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cable couldn’t withstand the
onslaught of a two-ton fork lift
truck: in a previous
employment I saw one slice
straight through a live steel
braided cable when it collided
with a factory wall!
Let’s examine conductivity
a bit more. Any term which
ends in “-ivity” relates to the
property of a particular
substance. The electrical
conductivity of a material
determines how effectively it
will conduct electric current,
and is represented by the
V
Greek sigma symbol .
Quite often it is the
electrical resistivity of a
substance that is of interest, a
co-efficient which is specified
:
in ohm-meters ( m).
Resistivity has the Greek
symbol U (rho) and the lower a
material’s resistivity, then
obviously the better a
conductor of electric current it
will be. Using this value it is
possible to calculate the
resistance of, say, a copper
conductor if we know its cross-
sectional area.
The electrical resistance
of a sample of material is
given by:
R = ( U x L) / A
where R is the material’s
resistance in ohms; U is its co-
efficient of resistivity in ohm-
meters, L is its length in
meters and A represents the
cross-sectional area of the
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FIg.1. A conductor of length
L and cross-sectional area A
has a resistance which can
be calculated using its coeffi-
cient of resistivity.
material in square meters, see
Fig.1.
As examples, the resistivity
–8
of copper is 1 7 x 10 ohm-
¬
meters at room temperature,
whilst that of Germanium, a
semiconductor, is 0 5 m. ¬ :
Quartz has a resistivity of 5 x
:
16
10 m, which means that it’s a
very good insulator. (You can
learn a lot more about the
basics of electronics starting
this month with our interactive
flagship educational series,
Teach-In 2000, written by John
Becker.)
The conductivity of a V
material is the inverse or
reciprocal of its resistivity: the
lower its resistivity then the
higher its conductivity will be.
Measured in the SI unit of
conductance or siemens (S)
(formerly mhos – ohms spelt
backwards), conductivity is
calculated by 1/U = 1/RA. This
means that copper has a
conductivity of, let’s see, 5 8 x ¬
7 –1
10 S m and quartz has a
–17 –1
conductivity of 2 x 10 S m . I
haven’t been able to confirm a

value for the resistivity of steel
– there are many different
grades of steel after all.
Thermal Conductivity
Overhead power lines are
usually made of aluminum
alloy, which is much lighter than
its alternatives, so fewer pylons
are needed to suspend the
cables overhead. The overhead
cables are also cooled by winds,
which brings me to another
coefficient of interest, that of
O
thermal conductivity, symbol
(Lambda). This indicates the
ability of a material to conduct
heat from a “hot spot” to a
surrounding cooler area, so that
the temperature differences are
ironed out (as it were).
Thermal conductivity
properties are of great interest
to heatsink manufacturers, who
usually extrude aluminum
heatsinks in lengths which are
then cut to size, punched and
anodized. Soldering irons also
rely on the principle of thermal
conduction to transport heat
from the heating element,
through the shaft and to the tip,
from where it passes to the
solder joint. ARW.
Oscillator Feedback
Most of the correspondence
we receive contains questions
for the Circuit Surgery team,
however, we are also pleased to
receive comments and
corrections. It is always
interesting to hear from readers
who have additional insights to
problems we have discussed
and we will publish these where
space permits.
Ian Field from Letchworth,
Herts, UK, wrote at length on
the subject of the “Lighting-Up
Reminder” complimentary
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&LUFXLW 6XUJHU\
oscillator circuit which we
discussed in the August 1999
issue. The deceptively simple-
looking circuit has a complex
operation, which has defeated
many a designer.
Mr. Field has been
producing diverse applications
for this circuit for over 30 years
and therefore knows the circuit
quite well. As a schoolboy he
used the circuit, he says, to
create a motorcycle sound
effect and as a radio jammer
(tut-tut!).
He also says that the amber
flashing traffic lamps often left
by roadworks make use of this
circuit, adding:
I cannot remember the
exact values. I think that it may
have been 1uF or 1u5 and 2k2
or 4k7 (series resistance with
C1). Resistor R1 was 100k+1M
in series with an LDR from the
tap down to 0V. The load was a
6V 0 09A lamp. The circuit
¬
would oscillate without the use
of the resistor in series with the
capacitor (C1), but the pulse
was so short that the lamp
filament did not get hot enough
to glow with such a short period.
He says that he finds that
oscillation is more stable and
reliable if supply decoupling is
actually omitted (the lighting-up
circuit included it, but we chose
to ignore it in our discussion).
Mr. Field goes on to say:
As TR2 begins to conduct
and switches TR1 into
saturation, the charging current
taken by C1 will also ensure
that the current taken by TR2’s
collector will force TR1’s Vbe
well over 0 7V. This looks pretty
¬
much like an output short circuit
to TR2. For this reason, supply
decoupling is not only
unnecessary, it is unwise.
EPE Online, November 1999 - www.epemag.com - 1070
It is also my
view that the parasitic
inductance is not only helpful
but essential. There are certain
applications in which this circuit
simply will not work until the
supply decoupling capacitor is
removed.
We have not attempted to
investigate the effect of supply
decoupling or parasitic
inductance on this circuit but
would be interested to hear from
any readers who have had
similar (or even contradictory)
experiences.
Simulations
Mr. Field also comments on
our computer simulation results,
in particular he is concerned
about the very large value of
Vbe which occurs for a short
time each cycle. He was
concerned that the transistor
would be destroyed and asks if
the simulator provided a
warning of this.
In fact, large transient
voltages and currents often
occur in switching circuits. The
fact that they are very short in
duration means that they do not
have sufficient energy to
damage the transistors, even
when they apparently exceed
the data sheet limits.
It is also true to say that
simulators may indicate far
larger voltages or currents than
would actually occur in the real
circuit. This can be due to a
situation in which a component
would be destroyed but also due
to use of simplistic models
which do not include all the
limiting mechanisms.
Our simulation was fairly
crude, but it was sufficient for
our purpose. We used a generic
transistor model (not a
particular transistor such as the

BC558), the power supply was
modeled as an ideal voltage
source and no decoupling was
included.
This was in line with the
aims of the article, that of
providing a general
understanding of the circuit’s
operation for people who may
find it difficult to understand at
all. Our objective was not to
analyze the more subtle and
detailed aspects of the circuit’s
behavior, however, we are
extremely grateful to Mr. Field
for writing to us on his detailed
knowledge of this circuit. IMB.
Asta Movistor
Can you think of a circuit
which will divert lightning away
from modems, by shorting such
massive voltages to earth?
Alternatively, is there a circuit
for an optical isolator which I
could use between the phone
socket and modem?
Thanks to regular
correspondent Phil Dodd. I
receive quite a few queries on
phone line suppression or
modification, but the fact that
phone socket modifications are
prohibited unless they are BABT
approved rules out any form of
home-made improvisation. I
commented in September’s Net
Work, our Internet column, that
Zoom modems carry extra
lightning protection together
with a five year guarantee.
Any protection is better than
none, and though it is touch and
go whether anything can
withstand the intense energy of
a lightning strike, you can try to
clamp incoming spikes on
phone lines or the mains supply.
Some modems incorporate
MOV (metal oxide varistor) or
“Movistor” suppression, see the
symbol in Fig.2a.
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1 30 UK Pounds from PC World
E
or Viking Direct.
CI=2?<
One correspondent has
2
even suggested a form of
< < ?ED
“lightning early warning system”
=?F! in the form of an old fluorescent
=?F# tube, one end of which is
connected to a long wire “aerial”
E
5 5?ED
outdoors. The tube starts to
glow, he suggests, when there
is a sufficient electrical charge
E
accumulating in the
=?F"
atmosphere, preceding a
> >?ED possible lightning strike. ARW.
Fig.2. (a) Symbol of a Metal-
Oxide Varistor (MOV) and (b)
a typical application for a
mains-rated varistor.
These voltage-dependent
resistors normally have a very
high impedance but they will
shunt any high energy spikes
away, hopefully preventing
them from reaching sensitive
circuitry. A wide variety is
available including some types,
which are suitable for
connection directly across the
mains, to help avoid spikes
damaging electronic equipment.
The company Furse supply
“telephone line protectors”, and
one model is said to be for
protecting modems and other
equipment with BT jack
connections. It’s sold by Farnell
(Tel. +44 (0) 1132-636311) part
number 188-566 and although it
costs 47 UK Pounds + VAT, it is
somewhat cheaper than a new
motherboard or modem.
For home computer use,
consider a Belkin Surgemaster
Power Strip for susceptible
equipment, which has six
filtered mains outlets together
with a protected BT phone
socket as well. It claims to
handle 18,000 amps surge
current and clamps within one
nanosecond. They cost about
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