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Copyright (c) 1990, PC RESOURCES, Hudson, Mass: All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to thank the following vendors, whose data is used in this database with their permission: Fair Rite Products Corp. Ferrite International Ferronics Magnetics Inc MicroMetals Phillips Discrete Products Division Siemens HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS CoreDBMS will run on PC, XT, and AT class machines and close- compatibles running DOS 2.0 or above, with at least 320k of free memory, and one disk drive. A hard-disc drive is highly recommended. A CGA or EGA monitor is required to view or print graphics. Print- ing graphics requires an Epson or Pro-Printer compatible printer. But without graphic-capable devices, the database and all of its' searching tools are still available. LEGALEASE Purchase of this program allows installation on one system OR for use by one person on any number of systems. For multiple-copies at a single site, contact us for prices. The data used by this program is subject to change without notice. This program and database does not warrant or guarantee the suit- ability of any given core, material, or vendor for any given application. In all cases, the user is responsible for verifying the suitability of a core in his application. The information in this database is believed to be correct and the program is believed to display this information properly. PC Resources will correct errors in material or core specifications when found; but will not be liable for consequential damages from use of this database or data within. We offer a money-back guarantee to all users of our software. If you are not completely satisfied, write us and your purchase price will be refunded. INTRODUCTION CoreDBMS is a program for the IBM-PC which simplifies working with ferrite cores by replacing stacks of vendors' databooks with one simple-to-use tool. CoreDBMS can be used as a computerized databook, with smart sort and selection routines allowing you to organize and view data in ways never before possible. But, CoreDBMS is designed as a searching tool to cross-reference cores from different vendors as an aid in finding second-sources. CoreDBMS allows you to: Search for cores by part number, vendor, material, size, form- factor, magnetic path-length, area, volume, inductance factor, or dimension. Sort cores by any of the above fields for easy comparisons. Display data in summary form - BROWSE - for quick viewing, in DETAIL mode with outline drawings and full dimensions, or in COMPARE mode for easy comparisons between cores. Print or file data in a number of formats, including comma- delimited format for use in other programs. View material specifications including graphs of; loss factor vs frequency and temperature, permeability vs frequency and temperature, permeability vs ac flux, dc bias, and temperature, loss vs frequency and temperature, and static magetization curves. CoreDBMS is menu-driven, allowing a novice user to start using the program immediately. Help screens are available in most menus. The Data CoreDBMS provides data on both cores and materials. One advantages of CoreDBMS is that data from all vendors is given in a common format. You, the user, need not translate cgs, mks, and english units while searching. Information in the database is as complete as we can make it, with- in the limitation of disk size and searching speed; we don't want to fill your hard disk with the database, and we don't want to take too long to find information. Vendors - especially in the materials section - differ in what in- formation they provide. Where a vendor does not provide data it is left blank. The Cores CoreDBMS lists standard cores which are in each vendor's databook. Special order cores and any non-standard cores are not listed. For each core the following data is available: part number effective magnetic volume vendor weight form factor inductance factor and tolerance material type 8 dimensions with tolerances material code, or name a reference to a figure effective magnetic path length a reference to available bobbins effective magnetic area a notes field Fields may blank or zero if the vendor does not give the inform- ation, or if for dimensional tolerances the value is 'nominal'. The above data is sufficient for most design with magnetic cores, BUT, the vendor's databook is a valuable source of information which should be consulted. Vendors often include design nomo- graphs, Q-factor curves, and other information which will not fit in this program. The Figures Figures are outline drawings or sketches which are intended to clearly indicate the core shape and mounting features. Eight dimensions are available - assigned letters A through H in the core data fields. If more than eight features are present on a core, the eight most important are given. If the vendor does not dimension a feature, the feature is usually not drawn. For this reason, few wiring channels are shown in pot figures. Similarly, wire break-outs in pots are usually drawn as rectangles, although a variety of - un-dimensioned - shapes are shown in vendor databooks. Channels for mounting hardware - where the user may wish to use his own hardware - are generally shown: slots for specialty hardware such as for RM core clips are generally not shown. A core avail- able both with and without a center-hole usually has figures drawn both with and without the center hole(In some figures a center- hole-dimension of zero implies that there is no center-hole.) As with dimensions and other data, this program provides sufficient information to make a valid comparison between cores - but the vendor's databook should be consulted for exact dimensions where dimensions may be critical, including dimensions which we cannot fit within the database. The Materials The materials section provides quick access to information on vendors' materials, such as: initial permeability specific gravity, or density maximum permeability Curie temperature saturation flux density volume resistivity residual flux density loss factor coercivity or coercive force recommended min and max frequencies of operation plus, up to 10 graphs of functions versus frequency and temperature: 1-loss factor vs frequency 6-permeability vs frequency 2-loss factor vs temperature 7-static magetization curves 3-permeability vs temperature 8-core loss vs flux density 4-permeability vs ac flux 9-core loss vs temperature 5-permeability vs dc bias 10-Flux Density vs temperature Vendors vary widely in the amount of information provided on their materials, and blank fields are quite common. The Bobbins One field of the core database is a bobbin cross-reference. At present this indicates that the vendor does or does not have a bobbin available. In the future, we hope to also catalog bobbins and allow selection and viewing bobbins as in the cores and materials sections. To get started, we suggest you read the sections, 'Installing the program' and 'Running the program'. After that a brief reading of the 'Using CoreDBMS' and the 'Examples' section might be helpful. CoreDBMS is designed to be a 'bullet-proof' program - experiment! The program is menu driven with most of the options always listed on the screen, and help is available by using the F1 key. Chapter 1 - Installing the Program If you have a floppy-based system, copy the distribution disk(s), place the original in a safe place, and use the copy for all work. DO NOT USE THE DISTRIBUTION DISKETTE! With a two-disk copy of CoreDBMS: Insert the PROGRAM floppy in one drive, make that drive the active drive with the DOS command 'A:' (or 'B:') and type the command line as given in Chapter 2. Then; remove the program floppy, insert the DATA floppy, and hit ENTER. The speed of the floppy drive limits the speed of searching and displaying data. With a 5-1/4 inch drive and a large database the speed is about acceptable for occasional use. If you have sufficient memory, a RAM-disk is faster. Move all files ending in .db1, .db2, .db3, and .hlp to the RAM-disk and make the RAM-disk your active disk before running the program. The program itself need not be on the RAM-disk. If you have a hard disk drive create a directory and load all of the files from the distribution disks to that directory. For example, to place the files in a new directory, c:\cores, a set of commands to do this would be: C: mkdir \CORES A: copy *.* C:\cores Before running the program, add the following line to your config.sys file : files=10 and re-boot your system. If files is already greater than 10, you may skip this step. Coredbms keeps a number of files open simultaneously - files=10 (or more) notifies DOS to make provision for these files. Chapter 2 - Running the Program To execute CoreDBMS make its' directory the default with the DOS cd command, and type: COREDBMS {options} Options configure the program for your monitor, printer, and personal preferences; they may be in any order, and need not be separated by spaces. Options are usually not required. HOWEVER, you should read the following section to insure this is true for your system. MONITOR OPTIONS CoreDBMS can recognize most EGA adapters, CGA adapters, and mono- chrome monitors and configure the program properly. CoreDBMS can- not recognize MDA and HGA (Hercules) monitors, and may not success- fully configure for VGA adapters. Options over-ride the recognition functions of the program, so that if you are using an EGA monitor and specify the /CGA option, graph- ics will in CGA mode. This may be required to use image capture programs or the DOS graphics.com program. You can control the monitor settings using the following switches: /EGA specifies your monitor is an Enhanced-Graphics-Adapter type. Use this switch if you have a VGA monitor or if CoreDBMS does not properly configure to your system. /CGA specifies your monitor has CGA-graphics capabilities. /NGT tells the program that the monitor cannot display graphics. This will disable all attempts to write graphics to the screen - attempting to draw graphics to a non-graphics terminal will usually cause a run-time error and halt the program. /BW specifies that the monitor is monochrome - black and white. This will cause the program to output white text or graphics on a black back-ground. High-lighted text will be in bright- white. If you have a mono-chrome monitor you should use this option. COLOR OPTIONS /FG=n, /BG=n, and /HL=n sets the colors used for text screens. The default - FG=3/BG=7/HL=4 - is a good selection for most monitors in most lighting conditions. For use in brightly lit areas, try /FG=1/BG=7/HL=5. Not all monitors follow the standard color definitions. If your monitor appears to be missing data or the colors appear to be a bad choice, adjust the above values. In graphics mode the background color defaults to zero, or black and the line-drawing color to white. The fore-ground and high- light color options affect text drawn on the graphics screen. Specifying a fore-ground or high-light color of zero will render text invisible in graphics mode. A utility program - colors.exe - is included on the distribution diskette to show the color options on your monitor. PRINTER OPTIONS /LPT1, /LPT2, /LPT3 tell Coredbms where your printer is attached. If you have a printer connected to a serial port, you will have to either use re-direction - see your DOS manual - or FILE the output and use COM1 or COM2 as the file name. /IBMPRO tells CoreDBMS that your printer is a ProPrinter or compatible. The graphics format of IBM ProPrinters and Epson-compatible printers is slightly different. Most printers will accept graphics in one of these two formats. /NGP (No-Graphics-Printer) disables all attempts to print graphics. Attempting to print graphics to a printer without graphics capability will result in a confused jumble as output, usually taking up many pages. If you require any of the above options to run CoreDBMS, you might consider creating a batch file to simplify running the program. A batch file is identified by a file name ending in .BAT . When the name of the batch file is typed the contents of the batch file is executed as DOS commands. Batch files can be useful to estab- lish initial conditions for a program and save typing. For example, if CoreDBMS is placed in a directory named CORES, a batch file with the following lines could be used to move to the proper directory, set the colors, set the monitor for CGA-mode, and the line printer for port 2: cd c:\CORES Coredbms /hl=3/fg=1/bg=7/lpt2/cga Chapter 3 - Using CoreDBMS - The Main-Menu When CoreDBMS is run, the main menu is displayed. From the main menu a function-key-stroke will take you to any program option. The function keys F1 through F10 perform the following actions: F1 - shows a general help screen F2 - displays material characteristics F3 - enter the core-selection and viewing routine F4 - find alternate sources F5 - displays core outline drawings F6 - displays vendor information F9 - shows statistics F10- Quits the program. The Materials Menu - F2 - is described in detail in Chapter 4. The Core Selection and Viewing Menu - F3 - is described in detail in Chapter 5. The "Find alternate sources" selection - F4 - opens a help window with basic information on using CoreDBMS to find an alternate source for a known core. The "Display Core Outline Drawings" selection opens a graphics window to display the core figures. At the start, a help screen with a listing of figures is given, then figure 1 is shown. Page- Down, Page-up, Up-Arrow, Down-Arrow, and ENTER move forward and back through the cores, and 'R' will prompt you for a figure number and then jump to that figure. Typing P will print the displayed figure. F1 re-displays the help screen, and F10 exits the routine. The Display Vendor Information Option - F6 - will show several screens of information, giving the address and phone number for the vendors in the database and of some major distributors. The Statistics option - F9 - provides two pages of statistics on the cores. The first page is a breakdown of cores by vendor, form- factor, and material type. The second page is a breakdown of cores by figure. Chapter 4 - F2 - Selecting and Viewing Materials The Materials and Cores menus are similar with keys performing roughly the same functions; as there are far fewer materials than cores, the materials section is slightly simpler. When you enter the materials selection menu the screen shows two boxes: on the right a Status box shows total number of materials and the number presently selected for viewing. On the left a box presents the selection options with one option highlighted. At the bottom of the screen, a help line displays additional options. You may view the selected materials using the F3 or F4 keys, or you may reduce the number of materials through selections. The selection routine is similar to that used in library services. You start with ALL records 'selected' or available. You then set selection guidelines to reduce the number of records to a usable number. The selection process is a 'forward-only' one; you can not reverse a selection once made. If the result of a search matches no mat- erials, you must reset to all materials via the F9 key - RESET. Unlike the selection process with many databases, selections may be made in steps. To find all nickel-zinc ferrites torroids made by vendor 'A' you can first request all cores made by vendor 'A' then all torroids then all nickel-zinc cores - the order of searching is not important. To start the selection process, move the high-lighted bar in the selection options box using the cursor keys, then hit the ENTER key to choose a selection option. Or type the number of the selection option. 0 - Selection by Name Selection by Name is the fastest way to view a material when you know a name or part of a name. This selection pops up a small box, prompting for a search-string. Enter a string, ending with the ENTER key. The backspace key allows limited editing. If you decide not to perform a search, strike the ENTER key on a blank search-string. The program then checks all records in the database for materials with names containing the search-string. 1 - Selection by Vendor This selection pops up a list of vendors with an arrow to the left of the vendors selected. At the start, ALL vendors are selected. Move the cursor using the cursor keys or the first letter of the vendor name. If more than one vendor's name starts with the same letter the cursor stops at the first and repeated strikes of that key proceeds down the list. To select a vendor, use the following function keys: F5-drop this - removes the highlighted vendor from the searchlist. F3-add this - adds the highlighted vendor to the searchlist. F7-Only this - makes the highlighted vendor the only vendor on the searchlist. F9-reset ALL - selects ALL vendors. F10 - will begin a search, if a new selection has been made, or abort the operation if no selection has been made. esc will abort the operation and return to the selection menu. Operations can be combined in a single search - to find all mat- erials made by vendor 'A' or 'B', move the cursor to 'A' and type F7, then 'B' and F3. F10 starts the search. The F9-Reset key is an editing key; it allows quickly clearing your selection if you make a mistake and wish to start over, BEFORE a search. After a search, F9 does not UNDO the search; although the arrows will re-appear indicating that the search-criterion has been reset, the selected materials will not change. 2- Selection by Material Type This selection pops up a list of materials types, or classes, with a small arrow to the left of the materials selected. At the start, ALL materials are selected, and thus marked. The materials listed are: MnZn Ferrite - Manganese or Manganese-Zinc Ferrites NiZn Ferrite - Nickel-Zinc Ferrites Powdered-Iron Moly-Permalloy Met-Glass Steel Tape-Wound The following commands allow forming a searchlist: F5-drop this - removes the highlighted material from the searchlist. F3-add this - adds the highlighted material to the searchlist. F7-Only this - makes the highlighted material the only material on the searchlist. F9-reset ALL - selects ALL materials. F10 or ENTER will begin a search, if a new selection has been made, or abort the operation if no selection has been made. esc will abort the operation and return to the selection menu. Use the cursor keys or the first letter of an option to highlight a selection, then one of the above function keys. 3- Selection by Material Code This selection pops up two boxes; the first, a list of vendors, with the first vendor high-lighted and the second, the materials that the high-lighted vendor makes. A prompt at the screen bottom indicates that you may now start a Search or an eXclude searchlist. A Search will find only those materials on your list; an eXclude will find those materials NOT on your list. To begin a Search list, use the cursor keys to highlight a vendor, then type F3; to begin an exclude list type F4. You will be prompted for a material name, which you should enter as given in the vendor's box. A new command now becomes available; typing 'F4' allows you to add another material to the list. To select another vendor move the cursor to the next vendor and hit F4. To begin the search hit the F10 key from the vendor menu; the ESC key will abort the search. This selection is very useful in the Cores Menu. In the Material menu it is mostly useful to show a one page summary of all mat- erials made by any vendor. Selection by Parameter This set of options allows choosing materials by any of the following: 4- Initial Permeability 9- loss factor 5- Maximum Permeability A- disaccommodation 6- Saturation Flux Density B- Hysteresis Constant 7- Residual Flux Density C- Curie Temperature 8- Coercive Force D- Frequency Range When you make one of these selections, a small box opens showing: the parameter, the minimum search value, the maximum search value, and the units of measurement used. The cursor keys move the highlighted bar between the Min and Max fields. When the proper field is highlighted, press ENTER to change the field. A second box opens prompting you for a numerical value. Enter a number and press the ENTER key. For scientific notation, the proper format is, 1.5E-9: no spaces are allowed. You may enter search limits for either min or max or for both. The ESC key exits the procedure without starting a search. F10 begins a search if a search limit has been changed. The Min field must always be less than the Max field; attempting to enter values which would make the Min field greater than the Max field or the Max field less than the Min field sounds a tone and aborts the operation. E - Selection by Notes This selection allows selecting materials by the contents of their note-field. One possible use would be to find a material if you remember a warning was in the note-field. This selection will pop up a small box, prompting for a search- string. Enter a string, ending with the ENTER key. The backspace key allows limited editing. If you decide not to perform a search, strike the ENTER key on a blank search-string. The program then checks all records in the database for materials with note-fields containing the search-string. F - Selecting by Cores Selected This selection will scan the cores selected in the Core Menu and select those materials used in one or more cores. If you have not used the Core Menu to select cores, this option will display all materials which are used by any cores. As vendors often list materials which they do not produce in stock cores, this will drop some materials from the material selection list. This is a quick way to generate reports on alternate sources: use the Core Selection Menu to find cores, move to the Materials Menu, and select all the alternate materials with one keystroke. F2 - Viewing Graphs Much of the information about materials is given in graphs in the vendors' databooks: CoreDBMS allows viewing the same information in a similar graphical format. Up to 10 graphs may be retrieved for each material: 1-loss factor vs frequency 6-permeability vs frequency 2-loss factor vs temperature 7-static magetization curves 3-permeability vs temperature 8-core loss vs flux density 4-permeability vs ac flux 9-core loss vs temperature 5-permeability vs dc bias 10-Flux Density vs temperature Not all graphs are available for every material. The graphs menu is called up by hitting the F2 key from any Mat- rials menu. The graphs menu displays the current selected-material on the top line and several help lines at the screen bottom. In the screen center a menu lists the ten graphs. To the left of each graph a star indicates that the graph is available: if the star is missing, the graph is not available for the current material. To display a material, type the number to the left of the graph or high-light the graph using the cursor keys and hit ENTER. You can- not select a graph which is not starred. The Pg-Up, Pg-Dn, and up- and down-cursor keys allow changing the current material. When displaying a graph, the right- and left-cursor keys display the other graphs available for the current material. The P key will dump the graph to the printer. Note that the printer must be capable of printing graphics. The current material is set by where the graphs menu is called from. If called from the main material menu, the current material is the first on the selection list. If called from the Detail menu, the current material is the material displayed. If called from the Browse menu the current material is the material at the top of the Browse screen, or the high-lighted material if the cursor is active on the Browse screen. F3 - Browse - and F4 - Detail - Viewing the Materials Two display modes are provided in the Materials Menu. BROWSE mode displays the materials across the screen, twenty mat- erials to a page. The TAB, shift-TAB, and 1,2,3 keys move sideways through the screens. Screen 1 shows; the Vendor, Material Type, Material name, initial Permeability, maximum Permeability, Saturation Flux density in Gauss and Oersteads for the measurement, the residual flux density in Gauss, the Coercive force in Oersteads, and the minimum and maximum recommended operating frequency in Hertz. Screen 2 shows; loss factor, the frequency at which it was measur- ed, dissipation factor, the specific gravity, and the Curie temp- erature. Screen 3 gives the notefield for the material. BROWSE mode is a fast way to compare materials. Enter the BROWSE screen by hitting F3, either from the Materials menu or the DETAIL screen. DETAIL mode uses the entire screen to show all of the data on one material. From the Material Menu, F4 will display the first material on the selection list. From the BROWSE screen, F4 will display the top record on the screen. DETAIL and BROWSE are designed to be highly integrated. When in the BROWSE screen, hitting F3 enables a cursor which high-lights a material. With the cursor on, hitting F4 will enter the DETAIL screen showing the material high-lighted by the cursor. Hitting F3 returns to the BROWSE screen. While in either display mode, F7 will jump to the print routine and F8 will jump to the SORT routine. F10 will return to the Material Menu. F5 will delete the displayed record when in Detail mode or the high-lighted record when in Browse mode with the cursor on. When in Browse mode, with cursor on, or in Detail mode, the cross- reference feature - activated by typing X - will select cores from the core selection list which use the high-lighted material. This is useful, but can be confusing - it should be used with caution. F7 - Printing and Filing Materials The Print menu allows you to print or file the results of your searches. You can print a list of materials for review away from the comput- er, put results in a file for inclusion in word-processing doc- uments or allow for post-processing of your results by importing into a spreadsheet or other program. The Print menu may be called from the select menu or any viewing menu by hitting the F7 key. A series of prompts then appears on the screen, guiding you through the selections. When the Print menu is called, the first sub-menu selects file or print and the data format: Print in Browse format - this mode puts your printer in com- pressed-mode and prints material data on two lines; the first line contains the vendor name, material type, and material name, the second contains material data. Print in Detail format - prints a report in detail format. Print in Detail format, with Graphics presently defaults to the prior selection. File in Browse format - files the data in the Browse format. The first line contains control characters to set the printer into compressed-mode, and the last line contains control characters to reset the printer. This may be used to file the data for later printing at a remote printer. File in Detail format - files the data in the Detail format. File in Comma-delimited format - files the data for import into other programs. All text data is enclosed in double- quotes, and all data is separated by commas. The file output consists of three lines as follows: On line 1; vendor name, material type, and material, initial perm- eability, max permeability, saturation flux density and Oersteds at the reading point, residual flux, Coecive Force, Relative Loss, and Disaccomodation factor, resis- tivity, density, Curie temperature, minimum frequency, and maximum frequency. If you select a file-operation, you are prompted for a file name. The file name should be a legal DOS name. The program will check if this file exists, and give the option of over-writing the file or appending new data to the file. Where in the Cores menu you are prompted for printing a single core or all cores, in the material menu the choice defaults. If called from the Selection Menu, or the BROWSE display with cursor off, the default is to print all materials. In Browse with the cursor on, and in Detail the default is to print only the high- lighted material. There are two cautions to bear in mind when using file and print. First since CoreDBMS is a LARGE database, attempting to print or file a large number of records will take up a considerable amount of time - and paper or disk space. The program will warn you if the number of records selected seems excessive, but if you answer 'YES' to the 'Are you Sure?' prompt, the program will dutifully attempt to print however many records are selected. TO TERMINATE A PRINTING SESSION hit any key, and respond to the "terminate printing?" question with Y. Second, CoreDBMS relies on DOS BIOS calls for checking printer status. This is fast for detecting no-printer and printer-not- ready states, but extremely slow for detecting when a printer is attached but turned off. Average time appears to be 30 seconds in this case, but will vary - widely! - depending on the author of the BIOS firmware. Turn your printer ON before running CoreDBMS. The print routine assumes that your printer is connected to LPT1 - or printer port 1. If your printer is connected to another port you should use the /LPTn switch when running the program to identify the port, or file the data and print the file later. An alternative to this is to use the FILE options rather than the PRINT options, and when prompted for a file name to use one of the DOS default files; LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, COM1, COM2. This allows using changing printers from within the program and using printers connected to serial ports. F8 - Sorting Materials Sorting materials is a powerful tool for quicker and easier comparisons. When you enter the sort routine, a menu is displayed with all of the sorting criterion. All sorts are in made in ascending order, and may be made by: Vendor residual flux density Material Type coercive force initial permeability loss factor maximum permeability Curie temperature saturation flux density max frequency To select a sort criterion, type the number or letter which precedes the selection in the menu. A repeat of the first menu will appear. You may use up to two sort criterions. The sort commences when you strike the F10 key; you may abort the sort - BEFORE execution ! - by hitting the ESC key. The sort takes place in two steps; first the database is read and the sort fields indexed, then the sort process itself is performed. A brief "Indexing" and "Sorting" message is displayed in each section. F9 - Reseting the Materials Searchlist From the Material Menu, F9 will reset any selections you have made so that all materials are available. Chapter 5 - F3 - Selecting and Viewing Cores When you enter the core selection and viewing routine the screen shows two boxes: on the right a status box shows the database, re- vision, number of cores in the database, and number of cores selected and tagged. On the left a box presents the selection options, with one option highlighted. At the bottom of the screen, a help line displays additional options, which will be described later in this chapter. You may view the selected cores using the F3, F4, or F6 keys, or you may reduce the number of cores by making selections. The search routine is similar to that used in library services. You start with ALL records 'selected' or available. You then set selection guidelines to reduce the number of records to a usable number. The selection process is a 'forward-only' one; you can not reverse a selection once made. If the result of a search matches no cores, you must reset to all cores selected via the F9 key - RESET. Unlike the selection process with many other databases, this selection process may be done in steps. To find all nickel-zinc ferrite torroids made by vendor 'A' you can first request all cores made by vendor 'A' then all torroids then all nickel-zinc cores - the order of searching is not important. Move the highlighted-bar in the selection options box using the cursor keys, then hit the ENTER key to choose a selection option. Or type the number of the selection option. The selection options will now be given in detail, followed by the function-key options within the Core Selection menu. 0 - Selection by Part Number This selection pops-up a box, prompting for a search-string. Enter a string, ending with the ENTER key. The backspace key allows limited editing. If you decide not to perform a search, strike the ENTER key on a blank search-string. The program checks all records in the database for part numbers containing the search-string. Common errors made in this type of search are to provide too many characters, or too few. An example of too many characters: some cores have prefixes or suf- fixes which describe options. These options are not included in the database part number, but intead are described in the note field. If you enter such an option in your search-string, the search will fail. It's always safest to use the minimum root for a search ( "4525" and not A4525-23 ) and risk selecting more than one record. An example of a string with too few characters is, "1", which will retrieve most of the records in the database. 1 - Selection by Vendor This selection pops up a list of vendors with an arrow to the left of the vendors selected. At the start, ALL vendors are selected. Move the cursor using the cursor keys or the first letter of the vendor name. If more than one vendor's name starts with the same letter the cursor stops at the first, and repeated strikes of that key proceeds down the list. To select a vendor, use the following function keys: F5-drop this - removes the highlighted vendor from the searchlist. F3-add this - adds the highlighted vendor to the searchlist. F7-Only this - makes the highlighted vendor the only vendor on the searchlist. F9-reset ALL - selects ALL vendors. F10 - will begin a search, if a new selection has been made, or abort the operation if no selection has been made. esc - will abort the operation. Function keys can be combined in a single search. For example, to find all cores made by either vendor 'A' or 'B', move the cursor to 'A' and type F7, then 'B' and F3. Finally, F10 - or the ENTER key - starts the search. The F9-Reset key is an editing key which allows clearing your selection if you make a mistake and wish to start over, BEFORE a search. After a search, F9 does not UNDO the search; although the arrows will re-appear indicating that the search-criterion has been reset, the selected cores will not change. 2- Selection by Material Type This selection pops up a list of materials types, or classes, with a small arrow to the left of the materials selected. At the start, ALL materials are selected, and thus marked. The materials listed are: MnZn Ferrite - Manganese or Manganese-Zinc based Ferrites NiZn Ferrite - Nickel-Zinc Ferrites Powdered-Iron Moly-Permalloy Met-Glass Steel Tape-Wound From the above list, the following commands allow forming a search- list: F5-drop this - removes the highlighted material from the searchlist. F3-add this - adds the highlighted material to the searchlist. F7-Only this - makes the highlighted material the only material on the searchlist. F9-reset ALL - selects ALL materials. F10 or ENTER will begin a search, if a new selection has been made, or abort the operation if no selection has been made. esc will abort the operation and return to the selection menu. Use the cursor keys or the first letter of an option to highlight a selection, then one of the above function keys. 3- Selection by Material Code Material Code selection is a complicated - but powerful - option. This selection pops up two boxes; the first, a list of vendors with a vendor high-lighted and the second, the materials that the high- lighted vendor makes. A prompt at the screen bottom indicates that you may now start a Search or an eXclude searchlist. A Search will find only those cores matching a material on your list; an eXclude will find all cores NOT matching a material on your list. To begin a Search list, use the cursor keys to highlight a vendor then hit F3; to begin an eXclude list type F4. You will be prompt- ed for a material name, which you should enter as given in the vendor's box. Typing 'F4' then allows you to add additional mat- erials to the list. To select another vendor move the cursor to the next vendor and hit the F4 key again. To begin a search hit the F10 key; the ESC key will abort the search. This search is useful in finding alternate sources; if you know that material A from one vendor and material B from a second vendor will both work in your application, this option will allow select- ing all cores with either material. Or, if you know that your application cannot use a material, this option allows quickly dropping all cores with that material from consideration. 4- Selection by Form Factor Selection by form-factor pops up a list of the various form-factors with an arrow to the left of the form-factors selected. At the start, ALL forms are selected, and marked. From this list, the following commands allow forming a searchlist: F5-drop this - removes the highlighted form from the searchlist. F3-add this - adds the highlighted form to the searchlist. F7-Only this - makes the highlighted form the only form on the searchlist. F9-reset ALL - selects ALL form-factors. F10 or ENTER will begin a search, if a new selection has been made, or abort the operation if no selection has been made. esc will abort the operation and return to the selection menu. Use the cursor keys or the first letter of an option to highlight your selection, then one of the above function keys. Searching for several forms is possible by combining the above keys. For example, to search for either EC or EE cores, type E and F7, and then E and F3. Type F10 to begin the search. 5- Selection by Dimensions The eight core dimensions are indicated by the letters A through G. Selecting by core dimension requires some care; although an effort was made to keep dimensions consistent for all core form-factors, this was not always possible. Dimension G is quite different in an EC core and an EP core. Before attempting a selection by dimension you may wish to make a selection by form factor or figure, or re-view the core outlines. As an aid in this process, function-key F2 will display core outlines. When you make a selection by dimension, a menu appears with the letters; choose a dimension by typing a letter or by moving the high-light bar and typing ENTER. A small box is opened showing: the dimension, the minimum search value, the maximum search value, and the unit of measurement used. The cursor keys move the highlighted bar between the Min and Max fields. When the proper field is highlighted, press ENTER to change the field. A second box opens prompting you for a numerical value. Enter a number and press the ENTER key. For scientific notation, the proper format is, as example, 1.5E-9 . You may enter search limits for both min and max or for either. The ESC key exits the procedure without starting a search. F10 will begin a search if a search limit has been changed. The Min field must always be less than the Max field; attempting to enter values which would make the Min field greater than the Max field or the Max field less than the Min field sounds a tone and aborts the operation. 6- Selection by Notes Selection by Notes opens a box prompting you for a search-string. Type a string, ending with the ENTER key. The backspace key allows limited editing of the string. If you decide not to perform a search, strike the ENTER key on a blank search-string. The program will check all records in the database for notes which contain the search-string. Partial strings are okay - any record which contains the search string will be found. There are several abbreviations used in the note field which are helpful in searching: *G indicates that this core is gapped. *T indicates that a center-hole tuner is available. *GS indicates a core with a stepped-gap center leg, often called a type-3 pot. Rotation of the two core halves changes the inductance over a range of values. *P indicates a 'preferred' core for that vendor. Selection by Notes takes a long time when searching the entire database. If possible try limiting the number of cores with any other search before searching the note-field. 7 through 9, A, and B - Selection by Parameter The above selections set search limits for various core parameters: effective path length inductance factor, Al effective area weight effective volume When you choose one of these selections, a small box is opened showing: the parameter, the minimum search value, the maximum search value, and the unit of measurement used. The cursor keys move the highlighted bar between the Min and Max fields. When the proper field is highlighted, press ENTER to change the field. A second box opens prompting you for a numerical value. Enter a number and press the ENTER key. For scientific notation, the proper format is, 1.5E-9. You may enter search limits for both min and max or for either. This allows, for example, finding all cores with effective area - Ae - between two limits. The ESC key exits the procedure without starting a search. F10 will begin a search if a search limit has been changed. The Min field must always be less than the Max field; attempting to enter values which would make the Min field greater than the Max field or the Max field less than the Min field sounds a tone and aborts the operation. C - Miscellaneous Searches Selection by figure groups cores which look the same. Form factor does this to an extent, but there are variations of design within each form factor. For example, the CC/UU core is available with: two rectangular legs; two rectangular legs, notched; one rectangular and one octogonal leg; one rectangular and one circular leg; two circular legs, two circular legs with center-holes, circular legs with mounting-hardware channels in each leg, and with two octagonal legs. When you make this selection you have the option to select a figure or exclude a figure. Choose either option and a prompt box appears for you to enter the figure number. Selection-by-Unique-Size quickly reduces the number of cores when you are interested only in size. This selection scans the list of selected cores and deletes all but the first of identically sized cores. This eliminates cores in different materials and with different gapping. The selection process insures that cores of the same size from different vendors are kept. Selection by Window Area is handy when you have an idea of how much winding area you require. Selection by Ae*Aw product is an option that allows use of this figure of merit during searches. Selection or Exclusion of gapped cores is similar to the figures option, and allows quick searches according to gaps. Cross-Reference to Materials - or search by selected materials - will read the Material Selection list set from the Material Selection Menu and select those cores with materials on the list. This is faster than manually entering the materials in the Select by Material Code option. D - Tags Tagged cores cannot fail a selection and are not cleared by the F9- Reset key; this allows performing 'ORing' searches. Perform a search, tag the result, reset with the F9 key, and perform a second search. The resulting selection list is the cores matching either the first search OR the second. Tagged cores may be cleared using shift-F9 which also resets the selection list. The Tag Menu allows tagging all selected cores, selecting all tagged cores, and clearing - or resetting - all tagged cores. Tagging all selected cores is the second step in an ORing search as mentioned above. This may also be done by hitting the F2 function key. Note that Tag-all-selected cores will not work if the selected cores is equal to the total cores - that is, if you have not made any selections. Selecting all tagged cores is a fast way to recall tagged cores for viewing. Clear all tagged cores will un-tagged cores. This does not affect selected cores, unlike shift-F9 which clears tagged cores and re- sets the selection list. M - Match a Core - Finding Alternate Sources This option provides a fast way to find all cores of the same form- factor and dimensions as a core you specify. It is therefore very useful when you have to find an alternate or secondary supplier for a core. You must first select a single core, either by limiting the selection list to a single core(perhaps by searching for a known part number), or by pointing to a core in the BROWSE or DETAIL viewing modes and tagging it with the F2 key. After selecting a core you may enter a tolerance for matching dimensions or accept the default of +/-10% . You may also limit the search to the same material type as your selected core, or search through all materials. The result is a selection list of all cores which are of the same form-factor, material type(optional), and with dimensions matching your selected core. This search does not check figures, so if you want a core EXACTLY like the selected core you may have to do a further selection by figure. Other Options within the Core Selection Menu S - Statistics While in the Selection Menu, the 'S' key will display the stat- istics page for all selected cores. This can be a useful tool during searches. Selecting a vendor and then requesting statistics will show you the number of all forms the vendor produces, the number of cores in each form, and the number of cores in each material. Alternately, selecting a form will show you which vendors produce it, and in what materials it is available. F2 - Tag the Selected Records Usually you will search, find a core, clear the search, and stop; or perform another search. But there may be times when you want to keep the results of the first search and add it to the second. The Tag feature allows this: by hitting the F2 key, all selected records are made permanent. Tagged records always pass any test, and so stay in the selection list. Tagged records are not reset by the F9 key. Tagged records are removed from the selection list by hitting, shift-F9, which resets all records including Tagged ones; or may be deleted by the delete- record function in BROWSE or DETAIL mode. Alternately, the Tag option in the selection menu allows control of Tagged records. F3 - Browse, F4 - Detail, and F6 - Compare Viewing the Database Once you have selected a list of cores, CoreDBMS has three ways of viewing the list. BROWSE shows 20 records at a time, each record written across the screen on a single line. There are four screens in Browse - you could think of the core record written across all four screens placed side-by-side. The TAB and shift-TAB keys and 1,2,3,4 move sideways through the screens. The first screen shows part number, vendor, material, form-factor, and magnetic data. The second screen shows the core dimensions, figure and bobbin number, and a tagged field. The third screen shows the minimum area, weight, window area and Ae*Aw product. The fourth screen shows the note field. The cursor keys, Page-up, Page-down, HOME, and END move you up and down through the list of cores, and 'J' prompt you for a relative record number and then 'Jumps' the screen to show that record( if the record has been eliminated in a selection JUMP will move to the nextrecord; if the list has been sorted JUMP moves to the relative record number in the sorted series.) One field of each Browse screen is a record number. This number from 1 to 9999 is the relative position of the core in the data- base. If the database is sorted the record number moves with the cores. The record number allows fast and easy movement through the cores by providing a simple way of identifying a core. The BROWSE format makes extensive use of abbreviations to get the maximum information on a screen. For example, "FORM" for form- factor shows "Tor" for torroid; the vendor field is truncated, and in some cases the part-number field may be truncated as well. To see all the data, you can use DETAIL mode, discussed below. The bottom line of the Browse screen displays the major options: F1 - displays the help screen. F2 - tags all selected records, or the high-lighted record if the cursor is active F3 - toggles the cursor on and off. F4 - jumps to DETAIL mode. With the cursor off you are prompted for a record; with the cursor on, the high-lighted record is used. F5 - deletes a record from the select list. With the cursor off you are prompted for a record; with the cursor on, the high- lighted record is used. F6 - jumps to COMPARE mode. F7 - opens the FILE/PRINT menu. F8 - opens the sort menu. F10- exits the display mode. The F3 key enters the BROWSE screen. Tapping the F3 key while in BROWSE activates a cursor which may be moved using the arrow keys. All of the options available in the normal mode are available with the cursor on, but now affecting only the record high-lighted by the cursor. Tap the F3 key again to turn the cursor off. In Browse Mode with the cursor ON a cross-reference function to the Materials menu is available. By typing X the Detail-Material screen for the material used in the high-lighted core will be shown. The F10 key, ENTER, or X will return to the Core Browse Mode. DETAIL shows one record at a time, using an entire screen - this is a convenient way to see all of the data on the core at a glance. If you have a graphics terminal the detail screen also shows an outline drawing of the core. You can enter the DETAIL screen with the F4 key - which will prompt you for the record number to display - or by holding the shift key and pressing F4, which if you are in the Main Menu will jump to the first record in the selection list, or if you are in the Browse display will jump to the first record on the present Browse screen. The first method is most useful from the BROWSE screen when you have records on the screen and can see the record number, or when you want to see a core for which you have memorized or recorded the number. As with BROWSE, DETAIL displays the major options on the bottom line of the screen: F1 - displays the help screen. F2 - tags the displayed record. F3 - jumps to BROWSE mode. F4 - prompts for a new record to display in DETAIL mode. F5 - deletes the displayed record. F6 - jumps to COMPARE mode. F7 - opens the FILE/PRINT menu. F8 - opens the sort menu. F10- exits the display mode. In Detail Mode, X - the Cross-Reference function - will display the Detail-Material screen for the material used in the displayed core. The F10 key, ENTER, or X will return to the Core Detail Mode. BROWSE and DETAIL are useful for quickly scanning records. But for making detailed comparisons between cores, each have draw-backs. Consider comparing a list of torroids from several vendors in an attempt to find the closest match in both size and inductance, with an Ae value exceeding a given value. BROWSE will easily show the list, but the core dimensions and the Al values are on different screens. This forces you to jump between screens in the com- parison. DETAIL presents all the information on one screen, but for a single core - comparing cores requires jumping screens for- ward and back and relying on memory. You could PRINT the selection list in Browse-format and compare the printed list, but COMPARE allows doing this at your terminal. COMPARE shows seven records at a time on one screen, and shows the majority of information about the cores. To display this amount of data on one screen, COMPARE makes use of fore-ground and back-ground colors in text mode. On a monochrome - Black-and-White - monitor, you will find that COMPARE makes little sense. At the top of the COMPARE screen a status line shows the number of cores in the database, the number of cores selected, and the number of pages required to list the selected cores. Each record consists of three lines. The first line is a header in black on a light-blue background giving record number, part number, vendor, material, and form-factor. The second line shows lm, Ae, Ae-min, Ve, Al, and weight in alternating fields of blue and green. The third line gives mechanical dimensions, figure, and bobbin data in alternating fields of red and white. To compare records, scan down the screen at alike-colored fields. To compare the A-dimension of all the records, scan down the screen at the first red field. This sounds difficult, and perhaps a bit odd, but you'll find that a bit of practice allows for very quick use. At the bottom of the screen is a prompt line in white, showing the major options from this mode, and a multi-color key to identify the data on the screen. F7 - Printing and Filing Cores F7 allows you to print or file the results of your searches. You can print a list of cores for review away from the terminal, put results in a file for inclusion in word-processing documents, print a core specification-sheet, or allow for post-processing of your results by importing into a spreadsheet or other program. The Print menu may be called from the select menu or any viewing menu by hitting the F7 key. A series of prompts then appears, guiding you through the selections. When the Print menu is called, the first sub-menu selects file or print and the data format: Print in Browse format - this mode puts your printer in com- pressed-mode and print data on two lines; the first line contains the vendor name and the part number, the second contains electrical information and dimensions. Print in Detail format - prints a report similar to the detail screen, without figure. Print in Detail format, with Graphics - as above, plus the core outline figure is printed. File in Browse format - files the data in Browse format. The first line contains control characters to set the printer into compressed-mode, and the last line contains control characters to reset the printer. This may be used to file the data for printing later. File in Detail format - files the data in Detail format. File in Comma-delimited format - files the data for import into other programs. All text data is enclosed in double- quotes(""), and all data is separated by commas. The data filed is: the part number, the vendor, the material type, the material, the form-factor, the figure number, the effective area, the minimum area, the effective magnetic length, the inductance factor, the weight, and the eight dimensions, from A through H. If you select a file-operation, you are prompted for a file name. The file name should be a legal DOS name. The program will check if this file exists, and give the option of over-writing the file or appending new data to the file. When called from the Selection Menu, BROWSE, or COMPARE you are prompted for printing all selected records or one single record. If called from DETAIL, the print routine assumes you wish to print the record you are currently viewing. Graphics output to a printer takes approximately one minute per figure and requires a CGA, EGA, or VGA graphics terminal and a graphics printer. There are two cautions to bear in mind when using file and print. First since CoreDBMS is a LARGE database, attempting to print or file a large number of records will take up a considerable amount of time - and paper or disk space. The program will warn you if the number of records selected seems excessive, but if you answer 'YES' to the 'Are you Sure?' prompt, the program will dutifully attempt to print however many records are selected. TO TERMINATE A PRINTING SESSION hit any key, and respond to the "terminate printing?" question with Y. Second, CoreDBMS relies on DOS BIOS calls for checking printer status. This is fast for detecting no-printer and printer-not- ready states, but extremely slow for detecting when a printer is attached but turned off. Average time appears to be 30 seconds in this case, but will vary - widely - depending on the author of the BIOS firmware. The print routine assumes that your printer is connected to LPT1 - or printer port 1. If your printer is connected to another port you must use the /LPTn switch when running the program to identify the port, or file the data and print the file later. An alternative to this is to use the FILE options rather than the PRINT options, and when prompted for a file name to use one of the DOS default files; LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, COM1, COM2. This allows using changing printers from within the program and using printers connected to serial ports. F8 - Sort: Sorting the Cores Sorting your selected cores is a powerful tool for quicker and easier comparisons. When you enter the sort routine, a menu is displayed with all of the sorting criterion. All sorts are in made in ascending order, and may be made by: Part Number Magnetic path length, Lm Vendor Material Type Material Effective Area, Ae Form Factor Al Weight Figure and by dimensions A through H. To select a sort criterion, type the number or letter which precedes the selection in the menu. A repeat of the first menu will appear. You may use up to four sort criterions; the sorting order is set by the order you make your selections, e.g., if you select dimension A, then B, and then C, the cores will be placed in order of ascending A dimension; if two or more cores have the same A dimension those cores will be further sorted by ascending B dimension, etc. The sort commences when you strike the F10 key; you may abort the sort - BEFORE execution ! - by hitting the ESC key. The sort takes place in two steps; first the database is read and the sort fields indexed, then the sort process itself is performed. A brief "Indexing" and "Sorting" message is displayed in each section. Sorting a large number of records can take a large amount of time. To achieve a fast sort, the sort is performed in one 64k block of memory - this limits the maximum number of records which can be sorted to about 1500. A limit of 1000 cores has been set for all sorts. However, for fast sorting you should consider 200 to 500 records as a reasonable maximum. To further speed sorts, sort on the minimum number of fields. Sorting by four criterion will take longer than sorting by one. F9 - Reset the Selection List Use this key to 'reset' your search criterions so that all cores are displayed. The F9-Reset key will not change the status of tagged records - holding down the Shift key while striking F9 will also reset any Tagged records. Chapter 6 - Examples Let's begin with a general browse through the core selection menus. When you execute CoreDBMS you begin in the Main Menu. Press the F9 key and the program will index the database and print two screens of statistics about the cores. Hit any key to clear the statistics screen, then the F3 key to enter the Core Selection & Viewing Menu. First let's make CoreDBMS act as an on-line vendor's catalog by view- ing the cores from Magnetics Inc. Hit 1, for select-by-vendor; then M to jump to the first 'M'-vendor, then F7 to select-only-this vendor, then F10 to search. The program quickly comes back to report that xxxx cores have been selected. Hit S, and the statistics screen is called, now presenting statistics for only the selected cores: showing the material-types the vendor makes, the form-factors, and finally the figures that apply to this vendor. Hit any key to return to the Core Selection Menu and then F3 to enter the Browse display. At the upper right of the screen the number of pages available in Browse is displayed; at present about 52 pages. To reduce this number hit F10 to return to the Selection Menu, then C, for Miscellaneous Selections and 1, for Select-by-Unique sizes. This option selects unique cores by size, resulting in a single core of each size with no repeats due to different materials or gapping. Hit S, and the statistics screen will now show the number of unique core sizes from the vendor. Now hit F3 and the number of pages is only 8; a comfortable number to quickly browse through. At present the cores are roughly sorted by form-factor. Let's sort by effective-Area. Hit F8, to enter the Sort Menu; 7, to select Ae, and F10 to start the sort. The screen is redrawn with the cores sorted by effective-Area. Hit 3, to display window 3 of the Browse screen, then F8 for the Sort Menu, J for window area, and F10 to begin the sort. When the screen is redrawn the cores are now sorted by window area. Hit the END key to show the end of the list, giving the largest window areas. Hit F10 to return to the Selection Menu and F9 to reset the selection list. Now let's find all torroids from all vendors: hit 4, for select by form-factor, T for torroid, F7 for only-torroids, and F10 to perform the search. The program comes back to report that xxxx cores have been selected. Hit C, for Miscellaneous Selections and 1, for Select-by-Unique sizes. Then F8 for the Sort Menu, A for dimension A and H for dimension H, and F10 to perform the sort. You now have a list of torroids from all vendors, sorted by outer-diameter and by height. Hit F9 to reset the list, 1 for vendors, M, and ENTER to select Magnetic Inc's. Hit C for Miscellaneous Selections and 1 for Select- by-Unique sizes. Hold down the SHIFT key and hit F4. You enter the DETAIL display with the first selected core, the screen now showing the core data and an outline drawing of the core. The material displayed is Magnetic's A ferrite. Hit the X key and you jump to the Materials Display section with a full screen of information on Magnetic's A material. Hit X, ENTER, or F10 to return to the DETAIL core display. With these tools powerful searches can be performed. Example; find a torroid core for a pulse transformer, with outer diameter under 0.5 inch and Ae between 0.1 and 0.3 cm^2. Hit 4 for select by form-factor, T for torroid, F7 for only-torroids, and F10 to perform the search. Hit 5 for select by dimensions, then A. Use the cursor keys to high-light MAX and hit ENTER. Type in 12.5 (mm) and ENTER. Hit F10 to perform the search. Hit 8 to select-by Ae; hit ENTER type 0.1 and ENTER; move the cursor to MAX and hit ENTER; type 0.3 and ENTER; then type F10. You have reduced a list of over 4000 cores to less than 200 torroids which meet your requirements. For further reductions you may wish to limit the selection to ferrites or moly-Permalloy cores. Example; you have wound a transformer on a core you found but do not know the part number, or vendor. You measure the Al value as 24 nH per turn^2, and the outer diameter as 0.2 inches. How can you find the core? Hit 4 for select by form-factor, T for torroid, F7 for only-torroids, and F10. Hit A to select-by Al; ENTER; type 18E-09 and ENTER; move the cursor to MAX and hit ENTER; type 33E-09 and ENTER; F10. Hit 5 for select by dimensions, then A. Use the cursor keys to high-light MIN and hit ENTER. Type in 3 (mm) and ENTER. High-light MAX and hit ENTER. Type in 6 (mm) and ENTER. Hit F10 to perform the search. Over 4000 cores are reduced to under 10; by comparing the remaining dimensions the number can be reduced to one or two. If you know what the material type is or can eliminate several vendors the number of possibilities can be reduced further. Note that selection by dimensions is done after selection by Al. This is because selection by Al is faster that selection by dimensions, and thus performing selection by dimensions last - with fewer cores to now search - takes less time. For this type of search you must enter search values. Some practice is needed to make search values wide enough to bracket the nominal value and its' tolerance, yet tight enough to limit the number of cores selected. Example; you have designed a transformer which requires an Ae of .1 square-cm. You have several ideas of what cores to use, but as a blue-sky problem, what is the smallest possible core? Hit C for Miscellaneous Selections and 1 for Select-by- Unique sizes. Hit 8 to select-by Ae; hit ENTER type 0.09 and ENTER; move the cursor to MAX and hit ENTER; type 0.2 and ENTER; then type F10. Hit F8 for sort and A for dimension-A, then F10. The result is a list of several hundred cores with the proper area sorted by increasing size. By entering search values for Al or lm the number of cores could be reduced. Sorting by dimension A is a good way to roughly sort cores of differ- ent form factors by size. An alternate way is to sort by volume. Searching for Second Sources From the previous examples it can be seen that CoreDBMS provides the searching capabilities needed to find a second - or alternate - source. This section considers some of the problems in finding second sources and how the program can simplify the process. CoreDBMS is intended as a tool to help find second sources. As with and tool, the way it is used affects how useful it is. The Match-a-Core option in the Selection menu will quickly find all cores of a single form-factor which are the same size as a target core you select. This generally means that all of the cores have very similar lm and Ae values. The Match-a-Core option deliberately does not attempt a search by figure or magnetic parameters. That is because only the designer can determine whether these parameters are of importance. As a rough example, if the final application of the core is in a pulse transformer or forward-mode DC-to-DC converter then the Al parameter is not critical - any core with Al exceeding some value is usable. However, if the application is for an inductor where inductance is critical then the Al value is important. The program does not match figures because different figures some- times display subtle differences which may not affect using either figure as a second source. For example, torroid figures 1 and 25 show different rounding on corners and EE figures 2, 50, and 51 show different mounting options. However, figures can also be extremely different within the same family of form-factors. When searching for pots, EE, EI, CC/UU, or CI/UI cores it is a good idea to perform a search by figure number after the Match-a-Core search. If mounting features of the core are important then you may wish to perform a search by figure number. When matching dimensions, a dimension of zero always matches. This insures that if a vendor does not dimension a feature the core will still match. However, if you have a core with a center-hole and one without then they will match as well. Chapter 7 - CoreDBMS in Detail This chapter need not be read to experiment with the program, but should be read after the user has some experience, as the contents can speed searching and help avoid errors. The Cores CoreDBMS allows for long part numbers, so when two parts with dif- ferent part numbers are required for a core set, both part numbers are listed separated by a '/'. But when displayed in BROWSE format, part numbers are truncated at 20 characters. DETAIL mode will display all of a long part number. When a vendor has several suffixes - perhaps to identify coatings - only one will be given in the database, often with a note in the note field mentioning the other suffixes. It is important during searches to avoid suffixes when possible. Including a suffix on a part-number can cause a search to fail. Vendor names and note-fields are subject to truncation in the Browse display also. A list of vendors can be obtained by using the stat- istics option from the main menu or core select menu. Full fields can be seen in detail-mode. Form factors and figures may be used in searches and sorts, but the objectives must be considered carefully. Some form-factors have more than one figure, which can be a source of confusion as you select a form-factor and find several cores with figures you may not recognize and may not want. Equally confusing can be the names used with form-factors. Pot cores and Double-slab cores are interchangeable in many applications, but in this database as well as in many vendors' catalogs the two are kept separate. Similarly, ER cores are listed separately by some vendors, but in this database ER and EE cores are combined. And there are the cores which don't fall neatly in any single form- factor. For example, the pot core with only one slab cut: or the elongated-torroid shape which is not quit a torroid. These shapes are either kept in the category of the shape they are derived from, or are placed in the 'Misc' category of form-factor. The best way to make careful use of form factors is to become fam- iliar with the different form-factors and figures - browsing through the outline drawings and the selection routine. Any number field - dimensions or magnetic data - can be missing if the vendor does not provide it. Most display routines blank such fields rather than display a zero, but in the sorting routine a blank field sorts as a value of zero. This can give misleading results; if two cores from different vendors are identical but one vendor provides a value for a parameter while the other does not, a sort on that parameter will place one core at the beginning of the list - where you may not find it - and the other will take its' proper place in the sorted list. Since most selection parameter use zero for the minimum selection value, if you change the minimum selection value you will drop any core having zero for that parameter. These are not major problems. The best defense is to be aware that it can happen, and to check the list of selected cores for blank fields which you may be working with. When entering search values for minimums and maximums, any format will suffice. The precision used by the program follows the default minimum and maximum values, i.e. if no decimal place is shown and you enter data with a decimal place, data after the decimal is truncated. Data may in entered in scientific notation in the format; 1.3E-06 No spaces are allowed within the number. Window Area - Aw - and window area times effective area - Ae*Aw - are calculated numbers, i.e. they are not stored in the database. If either the effective area or the dimensions required to calculate the window area are zero then Aw or Ae*Aw will be zero. The Figures Figures are sketches and are not drawn to scale. A figure may be drawn with the width and length approximately equal, but a core using this figure could have the width twice the length, or vice-versa. When selecting cores check the dimensions. Due to variations in printers and terminals, circles - as in the torroid figures - may not be displayed as true. Figures are intended to aid in the selection process and new figures are drawn to display differences in core shapes. Figures may be used as a selection criterion when you need a core which looks EXACTLY like a figure, but using figures as a selection criterion has risks - in many cases the differences between figures may be slight. Note as example figures 2, 11, 50, and 51. Figure 2 is an EE-core with squared-corners. Figure 11 is an EE-core with rounded corners, used if the vendor's figure indicates rounded corners but does not provide dimensions. Figures 50 and 51 are squared-corner cores with mounting channels. In most cases cores of figure 2, 11, 50, or 51 are interchangeable. Figures are not grouped by form-factor; the original order was set by the order cores were entered and new figures were required. As ven- dors and cores are added and deleted figure numbers are not changed, to avoid confusion( such as a core being figure 12 in one revision of CoreDBMS and figure 14 in the next). Finally, figures may not be drawn to drafting standards. As mention- ed, figures are intended to be a an aid to the selection process: if hidden-lines make it difficult to understand the figure - especially in low-resolution CGA-mode - then hidden lines are not drawn. The result is a core drawing which primarily shows the outline and little internal detail. Some cores with arcs are rotated between views because CGA-mode does not have sufficient resolution vertically to show a small arc. The Materials Vendor names, material names, and the note-fields are subject to truncation in Browse displays. Full fields can be seen in detail- mode. As with cores, any field may be missing if the vendor does not provide it. Where most display routines will blank such fields rather than display a zero, for the sorting routine, a blank field sorts as a value of zero. Most parameter use zero for the minimum selection value. If you change the minimum selection value you will drop any material with zero for that parameter. These are seldom major problems. Be aware that they can happen and check the list of selected materials for blank fields. The Material Graphs Graphical data given in the Materials section has been obtained from similar graphs in the vendors databooks. In the process of reading the data, scaling, encoding it for the program, and drawing it to the screen an un-avoidable loss of resolution occurs. The graphs are a valuable source of data, and useful for making com- parisons. However, do not attempt to interpolate data too exactly from the graphs; for that purpose use the original graphs in the vendors' databook. Graphical data is very dependent on the measuring conditions. Again, check the vendors' databook for this information. Sorting Data Sorts on materials - in either the material or cores menus - are not alphabetical. The sort routine is actually sorting materials by the order they appear in the database, first by vendor, then by material. This order can be seen in the Select-By-Material menu. Making Searches Faster With a large number of cores, a long time can be used in searching. Here are some tricks to reduce search time. The biggest improvements in search time can be made by varying the order in which you make searches; performing searches that your computer can do quickest first. After the first search additional searches are faster because fewer records are read. Vendor, Form-factor, and Material Type are indexed fields and are searched very rapidly. Where possible search on one of these three fields first. Searches by figure, material, and magnetic data are the next fastest searches, requiring access to only one of the database files. Searches by dimension require reading two of the three database files and are much slower than the above searches. Searches by window area and Ae*Aw product require performing calculations on dimensions which further slows searching. Finally, searches by part number and notes are the slowest of search- es, requiring reading two of three database files then scanning long note fields. It is often faster to make two searches - search by vendor and then search for part number - than it is to simply search the entire database for a part number. Simple searches are faster than complex searches. Searching for one vendor is quicker than searching for two vendors, etc. Coredbms is disk-based - the entire database is maintained on disk and the disk is read for every access to the data. The alternative to this system, of reading data into memory once and then reading memory when data is required uses a lot of memory with a database of this size. A memory-based database is faster, but a disk-based database will run on nearly any machine, regardless of the amount of memory installed. You can speed searches with a RAM-disk, which uses system memory to pretend to be a disk drive. Load the *.db? files and CoreDBMS.hlp to the RAM-disk and execute CoreDBMS from there; searches take place at the speed of the memory rather than the much slower speed of a disk. The problem with a RAM-disk is if - for example - the database re- quires a 360 k RAM-disk and the program requires 300 k of memory then you need more than the 640k of memory found on many PC's. A disk caching program can speed searches. A cache is a portion of memory which retains information read from a disk, assuming that you may need it again. A cache program notes when the database requests data which is already in memory and supplys it without accessing the disk drive. An important step for fast searches is to avoid fragmentation of the data files. DOS starts writing files at the first free disk block; if the entire file will not fit in the space, DOS splits the file and continues writing at the next free disk block. If your disk has been very active, then you've deleted files and enlarged files, creating empty disk blocks. When you copy the database to your disk, DOS 'fills the holes', and when you try to read the data your disk drive is forced to jump around, slowing your search. To avoid this, consider using a disk de-fragmenter to rewrite the files on your hard disk so that they are all in one piece. Such programs are available from several vendors. With all steps to improve the speed of searching, the time required for a search is still proportional to the number of records searched. It takes a considerable period of time to scan a large database. To speed searches make smart searches. Eliminate the maximum number of cores each time so that your next search has far fewer cores to scan. Caveats There are many things that the user or person specifying cores must be aware of. We present some of them here. First, vendors specify that their data is subject to change without notice. We - of course - pass this warning on. When a vendor makes a change we update our data as quickly as possible. Second, typographical errors abound. We find several in each re- vision of a catalog. When we identify a typo, we try to confirm the problem with the vendor and correct it in this database. Third, all core data has tolerances. The designer must note and compensate for such tolerances. Fourth, the existence of a core in this database - or in the vendor's catalog - does not guarantee that you can quickly obtain the core. Vendors usually keep a reasonable stock on hand, but may run out. Check on availability. Also check for possible distributors who might have the core in stock. Fifth, there are aspects of magnetics design which are not an exact science. IEC Publication 401 states: "It should be recognized that there is no direct relation between material characteristics as measured on test pieces and corresponding parameters measured on other cores, made of the same material, because of difference in geometry, etc. Also the extrapolation of material characteristics to other flux densities and other frequencies will not permit a valid comparison of cores of different materials under these new conditions of operation." In brief, always TRY a core in your application before specifying it. Other points to consider: Does a part number indicate a set of two cores or a single core? Generally, we note if the part number is a set. If a vendor lists cores both as sets and singles, then both are noted. When two dif- ferent parts are required to achieve a form, both part numbers are given separated by a slash (/). When a vendor lists gapped cores, is the gap in one core of the set or in both cores? If the gap is in one core half, you probably must buy the cores by two different part numbers - if the gap is in both cores then one part number suffices. Note that cores need not have the same gap. Two cores with different gaps can be used for inductances between the two listed values. What are the conditions for which the magnetic characteristics of the core were measured? This can make a difference in Al values, when vendors give Al at different magnetic field strengths. Field strength will often vary with material. Check the vendors databooks for measurement conditions. With a vendor's databook there are areas of confusion, due to missing information(which may simply be elsewhere in the databook), or due to assumptions that you - or the vendor - make. With CoreDBMS these points of confusion may not go away, but by being familiar with different vendors formats, converting them into our own format, and explaining our assumptions, we try to clear up the areas of confusion. Glossary Al Inductance Factor, or the inductance, L, per square turn. Al = L / N^2. In this database Al is in Henries per square-turn. Ampere-Turn The product of the current flowing in a winding in amperes, times the number of turns. Amplitude The permeability of a core when excited by an AC Permeability flux with no DC flux present, given in graphical form as graph 4 - permeability vs ac flux. Coercive Force The magnetizing field strength required to reduce the magnetic field in a material to zero. CC Core In this database CC and UU are used interchangeably for a core-half shaped like the letter 'C' or 'U'. An alternate use for the term "CC" is for a deep pot form with no wire break-outs, which this database refers to as a cup core( CC for Cup, Cap?) Core-Loss The power absorbed by a core and dissipated as heat when the core is subjected to a time-varying mag- netic field Cube-Core alternate name for Q-core. Cup Core A pot core shape typically very deep and with no slots, designed to be used alone or with a simple slab as a cap. Lead breakout is through slots or holes in the cap or holes in the pot bottom. Curie The temperature at which a magnetic core changes Temperature from the ferro-magnetic to para-magnetic state, i.e. shows a sudden and rapid drop in permeability. The change is reversible. Cut-Core alternate name for RS, DS, or touch-tone pot core. Disaccommodation The time rate of change of initial permeability of a core which has just been demagnetised. Disaccommodation The disaccommodation of a material per unit of Factor permeability. Double-slab Core A pot core with a section cut off on either side of DS Core the center post: provides a large opening for wire breakout and allows use of larger wire sizes and PC Bobbins. EC Cores EC cores provide the wide breakout of EE cores with a round center leg for a short winding-path length. EE Cores EE cores are less expensive than pot cores(being a less complex form), allow simple bobbin winding and easy assembly, and provide a large area for wire breakout; allowing the use of larger wire sizes. But EE cores lack the shielding of pot cores. Effective Area or, Effective Magnetic Cross-Sectional Area. The cross-sectional area of an ideal torroid that yields the equivalent magnetic properties of a core. There is no guaranteed correlation between effective area and any mechanical dimension of a core. Effective The magnetic path length of an ideal torroid Magnetic that yields the equivalent magnetic properties of a Path Length core. There is no guaranteed correlation between path length and any mechanical dimension of a core. Effective The volume of an ideal torroid that yields the Magnetic equivalent magnetic properties of a core. There is Volume no guaranteed correlation between effective magnetic volume and geometrical volume. Effective For a component made up of different materials, Permeability e.g. a magnetic material with an airgap, the perm- ability of a hypothetical homogeneous material with the same shape, dimensions, and total reluctance. Effective Retentivity See Retentivity. EP Cores EP cores have a round center-post and a cubical shape which encloses the coil except for the print- ed-circuit terminals. EP cores provide a large volume-to-mounting-space ratio, minimize air gaps at the mounting surface, and provide excellent shielding. Mating surfaces are polished and should be cleaned before assembly. ETD Cores ETD cores are optimized for off-line, forward-mode switching converters; are designed for low-loss in the 20 to 200kHz range, and features a near-uniform cross-sectional area with a round center-post. Ferrite A class of ceramic materials with a spinel crystal- line structure; a combination of iron oxide with one or more divalent metal oxides, such as man- ganese (Mn), nickel(Ni), magnesium(Mg), zinc(Zn), and Copper (Cu), of which the most popular are MnZn and NiZn. Ferrite features high magnetic permeability and high resistivity. The high resistivity limits eddy-current losses, permitting the use of ferrite at frequencies into the mega-Hertz range. Ferrite cores are produced by mixing ingredients, forming into pellets, and pre-firing at a temp- erature of 850 to 1100 deg-C; milling the pellets to a uniform particle size, and pressing to shape at high-pressure. Finally the core is sintered - fired - in a 1000 to 1500 deg-C kiln. Sintering results in a reduction in volume, to almost 63% of original. Due to this, tolerances of parts are typically 2 percent or more, unless machining is performed. Incremental The permeability of a core at a given DC magnetic Permeability field, in Oersteds. Provided in graphical form as graph 5 - permeability vs dc bias. Inductance Factor the inductance, L, per unit turn. Al = L / N^2 Initial the limiting value of permeability at the origin Permeability of the magnetization curve, i.e. at very low field strengths Iron Powder A material of finely divided iron powder, insulat- ed, mixed with a binder, formed in high-pressure presses, and baked to set the binder and form the finished core. The resulting core provides the magnetic properties of iron with much lower losses than iron laminations - as the insulated particles limit eddy losses - and at lower cost. Usually available only as torroids and EE cores. Loss Factor the quotient of the tangent of the loss angle and theta the permeability. Magnetic Path Length see Effective Magnetic Path Length Magnetostriction Relative change in length of a magnetic core under the influence of a magnetic field. Magneto- strictive effects can produce audible whistling in ferrite power transformers. Molypermalloy A magnetic material similar to powdered iron in composition and manufacturing, but with addition of nickel and molybdenum. More expensive than iron powder, with greater flux density and better stability. Parylene C An insulating material for cores, generally vapor- deposited as a film approximately .0005 inches thick. Properties: Dielectric Strength: 4700 volts per mil Surface Resistivity: 1e14 Ohms Dielectric Constant: 3 Dissipation Factor: 0.02 Coefficient of Friction: 0.29 Operating Temperature: -55 to 130 degrees Celcius Trademark of Union Carbide. Permeability By definition, B/H, where B is the flux density in Gauss and H is the magnetizing force in oersteds. Post Center leg of pot core, RS, DS, etc. also called Slug by some vendors. Pot Core Pot cores surround the wound bobbin when assembled, aiding in shielding. The pot core is not readily available in large sizes, and is often more expensive than other shapes of comparable size. PQ Core PQ cores are designed for switching power supplies from 20 to 100kHz, and provide an optimized ratio of volume to winding area and to surface area; providing maximum power output with minimum weight and volume. Cross-sectional area is very uniform, eliminating hot spots. Residual Flux The amount of magnetic flux density retained by a Density, core after a magnetic field of effective saturation Retentivity flux density is removed. Ring Core alternate name for torroid, primarily European. RM Core RM or Square cores offer the shielding advantage and round center post of pot cores but; provide a more compact package, save on mounting area, and offer larger windows for bobbins. Rod Core Typically a single-piece cylindrical core with length much greater than the diameter. RS Core 'Round-slab' cores are modified pot cores with sides removed from one core-half. RS core offer the shielding, high Q, and compact design of pot cores plus the easy wire breakout and use of bobbins of EE cores. Touch-Tone cores are in this class. Slug 1) Center leg of pot core, RS, DS, etc. 2) A short, cylindrical core Square Core alternate name for RM-core; due because the core plus bobbin forms a square footprint. Teflon S An insulating material for cores, generally sprayed Properties: Dielectric Strength: 2000 volts per mil Surface Resistivity: 6e12 Ohms Dielectric Constant: 3.35 Coefficient of Friction: 0.095 Operating Temperature: -45 to 145 degrees Celcius Trademark of DuPont. Torroids Torroids are economical to produce, thus low in cost. Bobbins are not required and machines are available for winding. Torroids may be gapped, although this can significantly increase cost. Shielding is good. To allow automatic winding, the amount of window area used for the windings must be limited, usually to around 70%. This can require hand labor and increase costs for complicated windings. Touch-Tone Core a double-slab core half and a pot core half with- out openings, as in figure 28. Called an RS core in this database, and identified as 'Touch-Tone' in the note field. Named for its' use in touch-tone phone dial-ing systems. Turns Factor, c defined as number of turns divided by the square root of the inductance, c=N/Sqrt(L). c is sometimes given as K or alpha. See also Inductance factor. Type 1 Pot Core a pot core with no air gap. Type 2 Pot Core a pot core with a uniform air gap in the center leg. Type 3 Pot Core a pot core with a stepped-gap in the center leg. By rotating the two core halves a range of inductance values can be acheived. Type 5 Pot Core a pot core allowing adjustment of inductance via a tuner assembly in the center hole. May be provided with or without an air gap. Appendix 1. - Conversions & Miscellaneous Data Conversions 1 Tesla = 1Vs/m^2 = 10^-4 Vs/cm^2 = 10^4 Gauss 1 mT = 10 Gauss 1 A/m = 10^-2 A/cm = 1.257E-2 Oersteds 1 Oersted = 79.6 A/m = .796 A/cm Ferrite Characteristics Tensile strength 20 N/mm^2 Resistance to compression 100 Vickers Hardness 8000 N/mm^2 Modulus of elasticity 150000 Heat Conductivity 4 x10^-3 J/mm/s/K Linear Expansion coefficient 7x10^-6 / K Specific Heat 0.7 J / gram/ deg-Kelvin Radiation Resistance Gamma Quanta 10E9 rad Quick Neutrons 2E20 neutrons/m^2 Thermal Neutrons 2E22 neutrons/m^2 Applicable Core Standards Din 41280(1983) Soft magnetic Cores; Material properties Din 41290(1972) Calculation of Effective Parameters IEC 205(1966) Calculation of Effective Parameters of Magnetic Piece Parts IEC 367-1(1962) Cores for inductors and transformers for Communications JIS C2560 Japan Industrial Standards, General Rules for Cores made of ferro-magnetic oxides Appendix 2. - Error Messages and Problem Solving There are only a few errors which CoreDBMS is subject to: Error 6 at pgm-ctr: nnnnn This is an 'Insufficient Memory' error, and occurs when there is not enough memory to load the error-checking code. CoreDBMS requires 320k of free memory to load and run. This error may be caused by running the program from a shell or from within another program - terminate your first program and try again. Possibly you are using memory running 'Terminate-and- stay-resident' programs. Eliminating some TSRs and re-run. Error 5 at pgm-ctr: nnnnn Error 5 is a 'catch-all' error message, but one common cause is attempting to run in graphics-mode on a non-graphics terminal. Try running with the /NGT switch. Any error other than 5 or 6 typically involves a corrupted database that the error-checking code could not detect. Try reloading the program and all files from the distribution diskette. "File Core.db1 Not Found" "File Core.db2 Not Found" "File Core.db3 Not Found" "File Index.db Not Found" These errors usually occur when you are not in the same direc- tory as CoreDBMS.exe. The DOS path command may allow you to find and run the exe file but does not find the support files. Before running the program, use the dos cd command to move to the directory containing the DBMS files. "File Figures.db1 Not Found" "File Mats.db1 Not Found" "Help File Not Available" These errors result in a warning message when the program attempts to access the files. The cause is usually the same as in the previous error. If using a RAM-disk the above six files should be on the RAM-disk when running the program. "File Core.db1 Found Damaged" "File Core.db2 Found Damaged" "Data file does not match expected format" These are fatal errors and indicate that the database files have been corrupted OR are of a different revision than the program file. Try copying the data files and CoreDBMS.exe from the distribution diskette to your working diskette or direct- ory. Make sure to use your latest distribution diskette if you have received an update. "No Printer or Printer not Ready" This is a non-fatal error. Make sure your printer is on-line with paper loaded and retry. CoreDBMS assumes your printer is LPT1; if your printer uses another printer port use the /LPTn switch to print to another port. You may have to file the output and then use the DOS print command to print the file. Problem Solving As with error messages, there are only a few problems that you might encounter with CoresDBMS; most quickly solved. You can't find a core you know exists. The database only contains standard, catalog cores. If the core you're searching for is a custom core it will not be in the database. If searching by part number use caution to search for the base part number; prefixes and suffixes which identify coat- ing options may not be present in the database. Figures do not agree with description. Figure 1 - the torroid - may draw as an EE core. This is caused by a mismatch in revision of figure database and program or by a corrupted file. Reload the Figure.db1 file and the program file from the latest database. The screens flash past the screen you want. If you type slower than the program can read data the program waits for you; if you type faster, extra keystrokes are kept by DOS in a buffer until the program 'catches-up.' If you type a key while CoreDBMS is searching or sorting, the key is stored in the buffer and CoreDBMS acts on it as soon as the search or sort ends. This can seem as if the program is skipping steps or screens. Also, most keyboard keys will repeat if held down. The period that the key must be held down varies with different machines. Perhaps when you strike a key you are holding it long enough to generate two characters, instead of one. As CoreDBMS executes the second character it again looks like the program is skipping screens. The Printer does not respond after or while running the program. If you terminate a printing session the printer may not be properly reset. This usually results in characters printing in compressed mode. If you take the printer off-line while printing graphics or if you print graphics with the mode set incorrectly (i.e. EPSON vs IBM PROPRINTER) the printer may remain in graphics mode. Manually set the printer paper to the top-of-form and reset the printer, either by a reset switch or by turning the printer off. If your problem is not solved with the suggestions in this chapter, please get in touch with us. We want our program to work for you and will make every effort to solve your problem. Appendix 3. - KeyMap Main Menu F1 - Help F2 - Materials menu F3 - Core-selection menu F4 - Display Help page on finding alternate sources F5 - display core outline drawings F6 - display vendor information F9 - show system statistics F10- To Quit this program. Core Selection Menu F1 - Help F2 - Tag; make all selected cores permanent F3 - Display in BROWSE mode F4 - Display in DETAIL Mode F6 - Display in COMPARE mode F7 - File or print one core or all selected cores F8 - Sort Cores F9 - Reset Selection list shift-F9 - Reset selection list including Tagged cores F10-Exit P - File or print one core or all selected cores S - shows statistics for selected cores Core Selection Menu - Browse Display Mode F1 - Help F2 - Tag all records (if cursor on, tag only highlighted record) F3 - Toggle cursor on/off F4 - Switch to DETAIL Display mode F5 - Delete Record (if cursor on, delete highlighted record) F6 - Switch to COMPARE Display mode F7 - File or Print one core or all selected cores F8 - Sort F10- Exit sh-F4 show first selected record in DETAIL 1,2,3,4 - moves sideways to display additional screens J - 'jump' to prompted record P - File or Print one core or all selected cores R - Detail X - with cursor active will display the material used in the high- lighted core. TAB, sh-TAB cycles through data screens HOME move detail screen to display first record in database END move detail screen to include last record in database UP Arrow scroll screen up(decreases record number) one record. DOWN Arrow scroll screen down one record. Core Selection Menu - Detail Display Mode F1 - Help F2 - Make displayed core permanent. F3 - Jump to BROWSE mode F4 - Display new record F5 - Delete displayed record F6 - Jump to COMPARE mode F7 - File or Print the Displayed core F10- Exit P - File or Print the displayed core R,J - Display new record X - Display the material used in this core ENTER, Page-Down, Down-arrow - display next record in list Page-Up, Up-arrow - display previous record in list Core Selection Menu - COMPARE Display Mode F1 - Help F2 - Make all selected records permanent F3 - Switch to DETAIL mode F4 - Switch to BROWSE Mode F5 - Delete a record F7 - File or Print one core or all cores F10- Exit J - 'Jump' display to begin at new record. P - File or Print one core or all cores R - Browse Mode D - Drop this record Materials Selection Menu F1 - Help F3 - Display in BROWSE mode F4 - Display in DETAIL Mode F7 - File or print all selected materials F8 - Sort Materials F9 - Reset Selection list F10-Exit Materials Selection Menu - Browse Display Mode F1 - Help F4 - Display in DETAIL Mode F5 - Delete - Drop - the high-lighted material (Cursor mode only) F7 - File or print all selected materials F8 - Sort Materials F10-Exit TAB, shift TAB - jump right/left through screens 1,2,3 - jump sideways to indicated screen D - if cursor is active, will delete the high-lighted material X - if cursor is active, will select cores with the high-lighted material Materials Selection Menu - Detail Display Mode F1 - Help F3 - Display in Browse Mode F5 - Delete - Drop - this material F7 - File or print displayed material F8 - Sort Materials F10-Exit D - delete the displayed material X - will select cores with the displayed material. Appendix 4. - Figures Figures by Number 1 Torroid, squared-wall 2 EE, squared-wall 3 EI, squared-wall 4 CI,UI, squared-wall 5 CC,UU, squared-wall 6 DS - Double-Slab - with center-hole 7 Pot, 2-slot, with center hole 8 EC 9 ETD 10 ETD, alternate 11 EE, with rounded outer corners 12 EI, with rounded outer corners 13 EE, with octogon center leg 14 CC,UU, half-round wall 15 CI,UI, half-round wall 16 DS, no center hole 17 Pot, 2-slot no center hole 18 Pot, 4-slot, with center hole 19 CC,UU, half-round; alternate 20 CI,UI, half-round; alternate 21 CC,UU, with one rectangular, one octal leg 22 CC,UU, round wall 23 CC,UU, squared corners, notched 24 X 25 Torroid, rounded-wall 26 Pot 2-slot no hole; 27 Pot 2-slot, with hole; alt 28 RS core 29 RS core; touch-tone core 30 RM core 31 1-opening Q core 32 2-opening Q core 33 PQ core 34 EP core 35 PM core 36 CC, UU, one rectangular, one round leg 37 1-opening Pot core 38 1-opening Pot core, alt 39 CC,UU, with octagonal legs 40 Pot 2 slots in one half, no slots in other 41 Pot 4 slot & none, alt 42 Pot 4 slot & none, step-gap 43 Pot 2 slot & none, step-gap 44 FQ Core 45 EPC Core 46 Oval Bead 47 Rectangular Bead 48 'Single-Slab' Core 49 CC, UU with circular legs, alt 50 EE core with semi-circular notch in base 51 EE core with rectangular notch in base 52 CC, UU core with rounded outer corners 53 CC, UU core; one round, one rectangular leg, mounting slot 3 sides 54 CC, UU core; one round, one rectangular leg, alternate 55 CC, UU core; one round, one rectangular leg, alternate 56 CC, UU core; one round with slab cut, one rectangular, mounting channel in two sides 57 CC, UU core; one round, one rectangular leg, mounting slot in two sides 58 ETD-style core with rounded outer-legs 59 CC, UU core, rounded; cut-core Breakdown of Figures by Form-Factor Beads: 46, 47 Bobbins: CC-Cores: 5, 14, 19, 21, 22, 23, 36, 39, 49, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59 CI-Cores: 4, 15, 20 Cup-Cores: Double-Slab Cores: 6, 16 EC-Core: 8 EE-Cores: 2, 11, 13, 50, 51 EI-Cores: 3, 12 EPC-Core: 45 ETD-Core: 9, 10, (58) FQ-Core: 44 PM-Core: 35 Pot Cores: 7, 17, 18, 26, 27, 28, 29, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, (48) PQ-Core: 33 Q-Cores: 31, 32 RM-Core: 30 Torroids: 1, 25 X-Core: 24 Figures in () represent cores which are similar to the form-factor listed but which may not qualify as a member of that form-factor.