Can you
translate that to a size? I can imagine the size of a #4 nut
(I have several). I can't clearly picture how big the O.D. of a #2 would be.
Roughly .1375 across the hex faces.
...A good
material for this is hypersil commonly used for transformers.
Used for the windings or the core laminations?
Hypersil is a silicon steel alloy and is used for laminations. Copper, is
the wire.
I seem to have lost the attributions of much of the above, but...
I would have thought that transformer steel is _not_ a good material for cores.
Transformer steel is designed for making the hysteresis as small as possible, so
as to minimise core losses, etc. Whereas for core memory, you need a good sized
hysteresis because this corresponds to stored energy, which will drive the pulse
on the sense line.
(As I understand it, when you _don't_ flip a bit, the pulse on the sense line is
roughly that from the transformer effect in the core. If you _do_ flip a bit,
you get the transformer effect, plus a pulse of stored energy from the core.)
Rather than using steel nuts - which may be very inconsistent in their magnetic
properties - would ferrite beads, as used for interference suppression, work?
Or to they have too small a hysteresis like transformer steel?
That is only part of the picture. Core size affects
switching speed and
current needed to switch. Compounding this is more wire means
resistance, heat and inductance all influencing how fast you can switch.
Core is where magnetics, analog and digital intersect.
Nice Description, Allison. I like it.
Philip.