Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ment by the author on what he wished interest and value. F. H. JACKSON Harper and Row, 1964. 620 pp. 3 19s.
to contribute, a purpose that might be Elements of plasma physics The introduction of vector methods at an
generally considered as an integral part of early stage in a degree course is to be
an educator's personality. F. GALL S. GARTENHAUS
encouraged, but it is clear that certain
Holt, Rinehart & Winston, London, 1964. difficulties arise if one insists on doing
Taschenbuch der Nachrichten-verarbcitung 198 pp. 3 16s. everything the vector way, as Boast does.
K. STEINBUCH (Editor) In recent years, appreciation of the poten- For example the proof of the formula
tial uses of plasmas in practical devices S>Hdl= I involves a double line integral
Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1962. 1521 pp. has resulted in the publication of a whose value is 477, but this is stated without
DM98 large number of research papers on the proof. This is surely less satisfactory than
This is a co-operative work on data and many aspects of the subject. Prof. Garten- the simple (but in principle rigorous) proof
information processing written by 47 haus's book is written primarily for the of the above equation which can be given
specialists from German industry and edu- research-minded student who wishes to with the help of the magnetic-shell concept.
cation. The declared object of the work is proceed from a degree-level knowledge of The dust cover claims that vector analysis
to provide the engineer, mathematician, plasmas to the deeper insight gained from is given 'full treatment' in an appendix,
physicist and executive with a view of the articles on current research. The subject- but this is difficult to accept when there is
subject as a whole. This it certainly does. matter of the book is limited mainly to the no discussion of the difficult concepts of
In 1500 pages there is a vast amount of description of a plasma given by the line, surface, and volume integrals.
information, ranging over digital and ana- Boltzmann-Vlasov equation. This equation Most of the book is devoted to static
logue computers practical data-processing is essentially the bridge between the micro- fields. Maxwell's equations, the wave
290 Electronics and Power August 1964
equation and retarded potentials are given It would be wrong to suppose, however, switching, and in recent years Boolean
only 11 pages. Retarded potentials are that a naive approach plus plentiful com- algebra has played an increasingly impor-
introduced with no justification, and it is puting capacity solves all problems. We tant part in the development of circuits for
never even stated, let alone proved, that usually need to know the probability of computing, communication and control.
highly improbable occurrences. Estimating The book under review has been written
A good deal of attention is paid to it by simple simulation is like trying the with these engineering applications in mind.
numerical methods in solving static-field measure the failure rate of a very reliable The author has attempted to provide an
problems. Computer flow charts are given component: simple problems could take elementary account of the essential prin-
for a few problems, and the results are years of computing. ciples, assuming no previous specialised
discussed. Flux plotting is also discussed Practical simulation depends on choosing knowledge. He starts with a chapter on
in some detail, and a number of examples the most efficient methods of sampling and binary numbers before proceeding to the
are given to illustrate its application. These estimation. The general principle is to basic operations of the algebra. Having
last two topics occupy 100 pages and a construct a random variate (or set of established the principles, he applies them
special feature of the book. variates) with the minimum variance, by to switching circuits. The first half of the text
There are plenty of problems at the end elimination of any known systematic is well within the capabilities of any intelli-
of each chapter, but no solutions. On the effects; this is the central topic of the gent engineer. Indeed, some of the earlier
whole, the problems are very conservative book. material could well be used in arithmetic
in character and do little to stimulate the The theoretical basis of the methods is courses in schools. There are numerous
students' imagination. admirably stated; so is their realisation as helpful diagrams and worked examples, as
The book will probably be found useful flow diagrams for computation, examples well as graded exercises at the end of the
for occasional reference by undergraduate of both queuing and cyclic problems being chapters. The second half of the book
students; many aspects in static-field theory given. There is also a good critical summary involves some of the concepts of electrical-
are worked out in great detail. It is, how- of methods of generating random and network theory and matrix algebra. This
ever, generally too slow-moving and too pseudorandom numbers. work is to be welcomed and can be
uneven in level to be recommended as an The book is heartily recommended, not thoroughly recommended as a readable and
undergraduate textbook. A. L. CULLEN only to practitioners of the art, but to any authoritative introduction to Boolean alge-
engineer with an interest in statistical bra for engineers. M. R. GAVIN
Magneto-hydrodynamic generation of methods. K. w. CATTERMOLE
electrical power* [Not held in the Institution library.]
R. A. COOMBE (Editor)
Books received
Boolean algebra and its application Nuclear electronics. Paris, OECD, Euro-
Chapman and Hall, 1964. 207 pp. 30s. H. G. FLEGG pean Nuclear Energy Agency, 1964.
M.H.D. generation has, understandably, Blackie, 1964. 261 pp. 2 10s. 860 pp. 3 3s. (Proceedings of the inter-
attracted the attention of research teams Ordinary algebra deals with generalised national symposium on nuclear electronics,
in many countries, but unfortunately arithmetic; Boolean algebra deals with held in Paris, 25th-27th November 1963.
results can be obtained only by the expendi- classes or groups within a larger population. Papers in French and English. French
ture of large sums, sponsored at national It was first introduced by Prof. Boole in papers have summaries in English)
levels. 1847 under the title of 'The mathematical Directory of opportunities for qualified men,
It is therefore refreshing that the editor analysis of logic', tn modern electrical 1964-65 edited by C. Labovitch. Corn-
of this book took the initiative to compile terms it might be called the algebra of market Press, 1964. 158 pp. 12s. 6d.
a series of lectures to cover very adequately
for engineers the principles, characteristics,
and possibilities of an application of one of
Faraday's discoveries. These lectures, given
in 1962, form the basis of the present text,
which is quite up to date for the engineer Midlands Electricity Board to use ripple control
who requires good background information The Midlands Electricity Board have recently street lightingand individual industrial loads.
on the subject. ordered ripple-control equipment, which is This gives great flexibility in control: it
Tn view of the wide range of scientific to be installed at the 275/66kV Grid supply allows engineers to continue to maintain
principles involved with this form of point at Feckenham, Worcestershire. The off-peak tariffs right up to the time that
generation, including the seeding of an initial installation will give a control signal normal demand increases, thus giving the
ionising gas, the use of superconducting over several hundred square miles of the consumer a better service and enabling the
materials, temperatures ranging up to surrounding area and is a pilot scheme to board to sell more electricity.
4000C etc., the group of scientists who enable theoretical and practical studies of The Feckenham scheme, which is the
contributed to this book provide an this method of control to be investigated, first of its kind and size in Britain, will
excellent combination for dealing with the when associated with an extensive 66 kV comprise audio-frequency injection at
subject. An adequate list of references is distribution network. The results of these 300 c/s, using parallel injection into the
included. F. BARRELL studies will be used as a basis for consider- 66 kV system. At the present time, the
ing the application of similar schemes to system has a maximum load of 230 MW.
The art of simulation the 132kV system, so that coverage For controlling off-peak loads, relays will
K. D . TOCHER
can be obtained of larger areas and be installed in place of spring reserve time
loads with the minimum number of in- switches on consumers' premises and, for test
English Universities Press, 1964. jection points. purposes, on individual pieces of equipment.
184 pp. 25s. Basically, ripple control comprises a It is intended that experiments will be
Until about 15 years ago, statisticians transmitter at an appropriate point in the carried out on the control of off-peak loads
and indeed scientists generallyusually electricity network and receivers that are and in analysing the load characteristics of
tried to obtain an analytical solution to fitted to individual items of equipment various domestic appliances. This can be
any problem that seemed likely to have throughout the supply system. The trans- done using theflexibilityof operation which
one. With the coming of electronic digital mitter injects signals into the network, and the telecontrol system provides.
computers, an easily calculable solution these pass through the system. Each receiver The equipment is capable of sending
became less important. One of the new is set to act on a particular signal. A large out 254 different command signals, and a
possibilities was statistical simulation, i.e. number of separate signals can be injected number of these have high-security codes
the numerical computation of many specific into the mains network, and these can be so that they can be used for system switch-
solutions, randomised as far as possible, used for such different purposes as switching ing, such as the control of transformer
in order to discover their distribution. on and off storage heaters, water heaters, tap changers for load reduction.
Electronics and Power August 1964 291