Here's another section from our new soon-to-printed AoE x-Chapters book: Floating high-voltage current sources.
This one is 12 pages long, and rather detailed. Paul complained that I was going on and on, but agreed, and helped in the end. Here's my defense, from the text, midway though the saga,
"Why all the fuss? At this point the reader can be excused for wondering why they are being dragged through so many circuits? Why not just show the best HV current-source circuit, and leave it at that? Well, as in engineering
applications will be fine with simple circuits, but others require more effort. The story of improving HV current- source performance is the story of adding more and more
enjoy exploring the options (as we did, designing them!) as we continue with higher-voltage, higher-current versions."
That gave us leave to add five more pages of intense detail.
Floating current source circuits are much more complex than ones that operate off a rail, but they have the advantage they can be used from either end, either as a current source, or as a sink. And available HV parts are not well suited for making non-floating circuits, tied to the HV rail.
Our new x-Chapters book is filled with Pearls of Electronics, as our editor likes to say; a wide assortment of detailed discussions of esoteric engineering circuit-design topics. Not everyone will want to read it straight through, but when you are confronted with a tough design problem, we may have already explored it. Others will read it as an idea generator. Some will enjoy the circuit-design exploration. It's filled with detailed advanced material, not available elsewhere. This 12-page section can serve as an example.