Submitting An Electronics Design to a Magazine

[D from BC]

You might think..."It's all been done before"..But occasionally
I do wonder if I've come up with a nifty circuit.
Also, I thought it would be cool to see my name in print..
There's a prize too $$$
So..I sent this email to EDN magazine.
----
Hello
I'm considering submitting a design for fun....
Do I need to perform a patent search to find out if my design
idea is original ?
Do you accept design ideas from outside the US?
Thanks
D
-------
No response from EDN since Nov. 10, 2006...

My guesses as to no reply are:
1) Mentioning "fun" spoiled it?
2) EDN only takes US originating designs
3) EDN favors engineers from humongous tech companies
4) EDN is biased and favors circuits using devices advertised by
chip companies
5) EDN is overloaded with design submissions
6) The guy I emailed got fired for publishing too much patented
and copyrighted circuits.

I haven't pursued the matter any further. I set a limited "time
expense".
But I will be interested in hearing about any experiences with
submitting circuits to EDN or other magazines.

 

[[email protected]]

You might think..."It's all been done before"..But occasionally
I do wonder if I've come up with a nifty circuit.
Also, I thought it would be cool to see my name in print..
There's a prize too $$$
So..I sent this email to EDN magazine.
----
Hello
I'm considering submitting a design for fun....
Do I need to perform a patent search to find out if my design
idea is original ?
Do you accept design ideas from outside the US?
Thanks
D
-------
No response from EDN since Nov. 10, 2006...

My guesses as to no reply are:
1) Mentioning "fun" spoiled it?
2) EDN only takes US originating designs
3) EDN favors engineers from humongous tech companies
4) EDN is biased and favors circuits using devices advertised by
chip companies
5) EDN is overloaded with design submissions
6) The guy I emailed got fired for publishing too much patented
and copyrighted circuits.

I haven't pursued the matter any further. I set a limited "time
expense".
But I will be interested in hearing about any experiences with
submitting circuits to EDN or other magazines.

I've had maybe a 10 design ideas put in EDN. [My employer required me
to do it since it was damn cheap advertising.] You get $100. [I don't
know the current fee.] If you read what they publish, you will see not
all are from large companies, and many are foreign.

Patents are another story. I wrote a design idea that some company
claimed violated their patent. Now this is pure crap since I didn't
sell the device on the market, but rather built and demonstated it in
the lab. A five minute in the hallway meeting with the director of
engineering, employing phrases like damn lawyers, assholes, and
bullshit, was held. The nasty-gram was filed, but we never dignified it
with a reply.

The key to writing a design idea that will get published is to keep it
simple and to keep it "real." By real, I mean something that a large
marketplace of readers will find interesting, not some obscure nuance
in the dark corners of circuit design. [You want to write like Al
Franken, not Noam Chomskey.]

Sensor interface circuits are good for EDN. Everyone understands light,
temperature, pressure, weight, etc. Not everyone understands how to
convert real life phsyical quantities to electronic signals.

 

[kell]

You might think..."It's all been done before"..But occasionally
I do wonder if I've come up with a nifty circuit.
Also, I thought it would be cool to see my name in print..
There's a prize too $$$
So..I sent this email to EDN magazine.
----
Hello
I'm considering submitting a design for fun....
Do I need to perform a patent search to find out if my design
idea is original ?
Do you accept design ideas from outside the US?
Thanks
D
-------
No response from EDN since Nov. 10, 2006...

My guesses as to no reply are:
1) Mentioning "fun" spoiled it?
2) EDN only takes US originating designs
3) EDN favors engineers from humongous tech companies
4) EDN is biased and favors circuits using devices advertised by
chip companies
5) EDN is overloaded with design submissions
6) The guy I emailed got fired for publishing too much patented
and copyrighted circuits.

My guess as to no reply is:
You didn't submit a design.

 

[BperryB]

You might think..."It's all been done before"..But occasionally
I do wonder if I've come up with a nifty circuit.
Also, I thought it would be cool to see my name in print..
There's a prize too $$$
So..I sent this email to EDN magazine.
----
Hello
I'm considering submitting a design for fun....
Do I need to perform a patent search to find out if my design
idea is original ?
Do you accept design ideas from outside the US?
Thanks
D
-------
No response from EDN since Nov. 10, 2006...

My guesses as to no reply are:
1) Mentioning "fun" spoiled it?
2) EDN only takes US originating designs
3) EDN favors engineers from humongous tech companies
4) EDN is biased and favors circuits using devices advertised by
chip companies
5) EDN is overloaded with design submissions
6) The guy I emailed got fired for publishing too much patented
and copyrighted circuits.

I haven't pursued the matter any further. I set a limited "time
expense".
But I will be interested in hearing about any experiences with
submitting circuits to EDN or other magazines.

You might try www.designnews.com in the "Gadget Freak" section. They
pay $500 per article and it doesn't have to be complicated, just
interesting and usefull. I got a couple published this year. Read the
article here:

http://www.designnews.com/article/CA6390348.html?industryid=43664

-Bill

 

[Gary Peek]

No response from EDN since Nov. 10, 2006...

My guesses as to no reply are:
[snip]

My guess as to no reply is:
You didn't submit a design.

I would say this is correct, but for the reason that they are
simply too lazy to answer your question. If you sent them the
info they _might_ actually acknowledge you. But maybe not.

Magazines are just ignorant. Their attitude seems to be "Give us
everything, and if we feel like it, we will give you a small scrap."

I submitted an article to a magazine and asked how they liked it.
(If they didn't I would have modified it until they did.) I would
have been satisfied with _any_ response, including "buzz off", but
it sat in someone's InBox for 10 months, then suddenly appeared in
the magazine! No notice, no thank you, (and no check!) I had to
pester them for the article payment.

Gary Peek
Industrologic, Inc.

 

[Ancient_Hacker]

Judging from the designs they publish, they're not very picky.

Most of the circuits are:

(1) Very lightly disguised circuits from the National IC app handbook.

(2) Have major typos in the schematic that make the thing not work.

(3) Are yet another "porch light controller with a 555 chip".

(4) Using some single-sourced high-price obsolete IC to do something
it wasnt designed for.

(5) No mention of the circuit's power drain, voltage-stability, or
temperature stability, all of which are probably really awful.

(6) Uses some $33 Tajikistani thermologicator in place of a 33 cent
LM334.

(7) Has no short-circuit, over-temp, RFI, EMI, or self-oscillation
control circuitry.

(8) Has a 0.022uF capacitor hanging on the output of every op-amp.

(9) Uses a digital IC as an analog op amp.

(10) Uses an op-amp as a logic gate.

(11) The Pc board layout was laid out mirror-imaged, requiring you to
bend all the IC leads over. (Also saw this once on a Jameco Digital
clock kit!)

 

[[email protected]]

Judging from the designs they publish, they're not very picky.

Most of the circuits are:

(1) Very lightly disguised circuits from the National IC app handbook.

(2) Have major typos in the schematic that make the thing not work.

(3) Are yet another "porch light controller with a 555 chip".

(4) Using some single-sourced high-price obsolete IC to do something
it wasnt designed for.

(5) No mention of the circuit's power drain, voltage-stability, or
temperature stability, all of which are probably really awful.

(6) Uses some $33 Tajikistani thermologicator in place of a 33 cent
LM334.

(7) Has no short-circuit, over-temp, RFI, EMI, or self-oscillation
control circuitry.

(8) Has a 0.022uF capacitor hanging on the output of every op-amp.

(9) Uses a digital IC as an analog op amp.

(10) Uses an op-amp as a logic gate.

(11) The Pc board layout was laid out mirror-imaged, requiring you to
bend all the IC leads over. (Also saw this once on a Jameco Digital
clock kit!)

While your comments are hopefully meant to be an exaggeration, the
general theme of your post is correct. Digging through the the EDN
website, this is the first design idea that I thought warranted
publication. I must have rejected 20.
http://www.edn.com/article/CA6347252.html?spacedesc=designideas&industryid=44217

One of my favorite design ideas in EDN was a cheap battery capacity
tester using a Walmart alarm clock.

 

[Ancient_Hacker]

http://www.edn.com/article/CA6347252.html?spacedesc=designideas&industryid=44217

Reading over this best of 20, I just note two things:

The article suggests using a Darlington pair would be one solution. A
teensy bit of reflection leads one to realize that makes no difference,
the base current error is still there and of the same magnitude.
Actually worse, as there's now two base-emitter drops that will vary
with temperature.

If you're going to add an op-amp, how about just doing the
straight-forward thing and have the op-amp floating and measure the
collector current?

 

[Jim Thompson]

On 25 Dec 2006 16:18:29 -0800, [email protected] wrote:

[snip]

Digging through the the EDN
website, this is the first design idea that I thought warranted
publication. I must have rejected 20.
http://www.edn.com/article/CA6347252.html?spacedesc=designideas&industryid=44217

Interesting. I used a device level equivalent of Figure 2 around 1970
to accurately measure the current in a HV device (for an automotive
ignition application) which only had a beta of *3* ;-)

...Jim Thompson

 

[Phil Hobbs]

[email protected] wrote:






Reading over this best of 20, I just note two things:

The article suggests using a Darlington pair would be one solution. A
teensy bit of reflection leads one to realize that makes no difference,
the base current error is still there and of the same magnitude.
Actually worse, as there's now two base-emitter drops that will vary
with temperature.

I'm not sure I understand. The collector current of the driver stage of
the Darlington is part of the collector current of the combined device,
so the uncompensated error is 1/(beta1*beta2) instead of just 1/beta1.

The V_BE drops reduce the headroom but shouldn't cause additional error,
since there's an op amp in there compensating for them.

If you're going to add an op-amp, how about just doing the
straight-forward thing and have the op-amp floating and measure the
collector current?

For good accuracy, you have to drop some voltage across the sense
resistor, which costs a bit of headroom, and the big CM swings at the
collector could be a problem, depending on the application.

It looks as though the EDN approach would work pretty well for constant
currents and slowly-varying loads. Its main drawback is that the
compensation has to pass through the main (slow) feedback loop, so that
the beta compensation won't work properly with dynamic loads. If the
reference voltage varies, this could also cause windup problems when
switching from large to small currents.

I'd probably want to measure the base current and use a Howland
connected op amp to pull an identical current out of the emitter
directly, without messing with the main loop. That inner loop could
be extremely fast, because it's doing a small tweak and therefore
wouldn't affect the stability of the main loop--and it also isn't slowed
down by the slow-as-molasses power BJT. The accuracy would be similar
to the original circuit's, and the dynamics significantly better.

Merry Boxing Day, all.

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs

 

[Ancient_Hacker]

I'm not sure I understand. The collector current of the driver stage of
the Darlington is part of the collector current of the combined device,
so the uncompensated error is 1/(beta1*beta2) instead of just 1/beta1.

The way I look at it, adding the extra transistor doesnt help anything,
as the bottom transistor's base current is still contributing to the
emitter voltage being measured. The Darlington hookup only lowers the
input base current, not what's being measured.

 

[[email protected]]

The way I look at it, adding the extra transistor doesnt help anything,
as the bottom transistor's base current is still contributing to the
emitter voltage being measured. The Darlington hookup only lowers the
input base current, not what's being measured.

I'd do the traditional MOS circuit and be done with it.

 

[Rich Grise]

You might think..."It's all been done before"..But occasionally I do
wonder if I've come up with a nifty circuit. Also, I thought it would be
cool to see my name in print.. There's a prize too $$$
So..I sent this email to EDN magazine. ----
Hello
I'm considering submitting a design for fun.... Do I need to perform a
patent search to find out if my design idea is original ?
Do you accept design ideas from outside the US? Thanks
-------
No response from EDN since Nov. 10, 2006...

My guesses as to no reply are:
1) Mentioning "fun" spoiled it?
2) EDN only takes US originating designs 3) EDN favors engineers from
humongous tech companies 4) EDN is biased and favors circuits using
devices advertised by chip companies
5) EDN is overloaded with design submissions 6) The guy I emailed got
fired for publishing too much patented and copyrighted circuits.

I haven't pursued the matter any further. I set a limited "time expense".
But I will be interested in hearing about any experiences with submitting
circuits to EDN or other magazines.

0. You didn't include their check.

Cheers!
Rich

 

[[email protected]]

On 25 Dec 2006 16:18:29 -0800, [email protected] wrote:

[snip]

Digging through the the EDN
website, this is the first design idea that I thought warranted
publication. I must have rejected 20.
http://www.edn.com/article/CA6347252.html?spacedesc=designideas&industryid=44217

Interesting. I used a device level equivalent of Figure 2 around 1970
to accurately measure the current in a HV device (for an automotive
ignition application) which only had a beta of *3* ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Wait, they had transistors in 1970? ;-)

 

[Jim Thompson]

On 25 Dec 2006 16:18:29 -0800, [email protected] wrote:

[snip]

Digging through the the EDN
website, this is the first design idea that I thought warranted
publication. I must have rejected 20.
http://www.edn.com/article/CA6347252.html?spacedesc=designideas&industryid=44217

Interesting. I used a device level equivalent of Figure 2 around 1970
to accurately measure the current in a HV device (for an automotive
ignition application) which only had a beta of *3* ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Wait, they had transistors in 1970? ;-)

I first held a transistor in my hand in 1956 ;-)

...Jim Thompson

 

[Don Lancaster]

On 25 Dec 2006 16:18:29 -0800, [email protected] wrote:

[snip]

Digging through the the EDN
website, this is the first design idea that I thought warranted
publication. I must have rejected 20.
http://www.edn.com/article/CA6347252.html?spacedesc=designideas&industryid=44217


Interesting. I used a device level equivalent of Figure 2 around 1970
to accurately measure the current in a HV device (for an automotive
ignition application) which only had a beta of *3* ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Wait, they had transistors in 1970? ;-)

I first held a transistor in my hand in 1956 ;-)

...Jim Thompson

It was a CK722 and cost $35 each. About $500 in today's dollars.

The really nice thing about germanium transistors is that you did not
have to bias them. They self-biased at room temperature.

--
Many thanks,

Don Lancaster voice phone: (928)428-4073
Synergetics 3860 West First Street Box 809 Thatcher, AZ 85552
rss: http://www.tinaja.com/whtnu.xml email: [email protected]

Please visit my GURU's LAIR web site at http://www.tinaja.com

 

[Dennis]

The really nice thing about germanium transistors is that you did not
have to bias them. They self-biased at room temperature.

Does anyone remember a thermometer circuit that used the germanium
leakage as the sensor. I built one in the early 60's. As I recall is was
very simple with a coil, capacitor and maybe a couple of resistors. I
think it was some kind of blocking osc. The temperature dependent
leakage charged the cap and at some point the transistor turned on and
discharged thru the coil giving a pulse with lots of harmonics that you
could pick up as a click on an AM radio. The time between clicks was
temperature dependent due to the increased leakage with temperature.

 

[Jim Thompson]

Jim Thompson wrote:

On 25 Dec 2006 16:18:29 -0800, [email protected] wrote:

[snip]

Digging through the the EDN
website, this is the first design idea that I thought warranted
publication. I must have rejected 20.
http://www.edn.com/article/CA6347252.html?spacedesc=designideas&industryid=44217


Interesting. I used a device level equivalent of Figure 2 around 1970
to accurately measure the current in a HV device (for an automotive
ignition application) which only had a beta of *3* ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Wait, they had transistors in 1970? ;-)

I first held a transistor in my hand in 1956 ;-)

...Jim Thompson

It was a CK722 and cost $35 each. About $500 in today's dollars.

The really nice thing about germanium transistors is that you did not
have to bias them. They self-biased at room temperature.

Actually my first was a CK760... my father was a Raytheon wholesaler,
so stocked the parts for their AM radios.

...Jim Thompson

 

[Ancient_Hacker]

I first held a transistor in my hand in 1956 ;-)

I first held an LSI chip in 1976. It was the 1K ram chip, the 2102,
for Don's TV Typewriter.

I can still remember staring at the thing-- dumbfounded that there
could be 1024 flip-flops in that thing!

Nowadays I buy RAM sticks with 8 billion bits of memory and arent half
as amazed. Humans can get used to anything.

 

[Jim Thompson]

I first held an LSI chip in 1976. It was the 1K ram chip, the 2102,
for Don's TV Typewriter.

I can still remember staring at the thing-- dumbfounded that there
could be 1024 flip-flops in that thing!

Nowadays I buy RAM sticks with 8 billion bits of memory and arent half
as amazed. Humans can get used to anything.

I designed my first analog IC in 1963, the MC1530/31 OpAmp.

...Jim Thompson