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Instruction cycle counter

A project log for YGREC8

A byte-wide stripped-down version of the YGREC16 architecture

yann-guidon-ygdesYann Guidon / YGDES 11/25/2017 at 09:250 Comments

I couldn't resist and bought a cheap 24V electromechanical pulse counter.

The device seems to be able to count at the expected speed, I might reach about 8 pulses per second with a manual signal. I have to hook the signal generator and see how fast it can really go but it's not designed for high speed...

To increase speed, some electrical measures could be used to collapse the magnetic field faster. The mechanical structure can't be changed but driving the coils at the rated voltage (24V) instead of the minimal functioning voltage (15V) will help. But where do I get 24V ?

Now I have a crazy idea, borrowed from the bell system : maybe a charge pump will work ?

The main issue is to empty the magnetic field fast enough, and still keep enough field to restart quickly with the next pulse so a "prebias" is great (and the counter's coil is significantly larger than the RES15's)

Tuning the size of the flywheel capacitor will help providing just enough energy to register a pulse and the energy will be quickly dissipated through the coil down to the ground...

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