2Block diagrams

A block diagram portrays the general construction of an electronic device or system. A block diagram can also provide a simplified version of a circuit by separating the main parts and showing you how they are interconnected.

A simple example

Figure 2-1 is a block diagram of a device that converts alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC). The terminal at the left accepts the AC input. In sequence going from left to right, the electricity passes through the transformer, the rectifier, and the filter before arriving at the output as DC. In this case, the lines that connect the blocks do not have arrows because readers will naturally assume that the flow goes from left to right. The input terminal resides at the left-hand ...

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