Being in the "visualization" stage of a circuit design right now,
I was wondering what the best way to "scale" an AC voltage using an 8-bit
digital word is. I am thinking of using the common method of sending the
word through an ADC and then comparing it with the AC voltage (converted
to a sawtooth wave) to get a duty cycle. However, I am leary of this
method because it a) requires a lot of parts, and, more importantly, b)
creates a lot of interference from the switching on the entire AC line. I
realize that correct filtering could cancel out most of this interference,
but that would require more parts and boost the price further.
	Someone mentioned to me that they had seen an IC which input 8
bits of data and DIRECTLY scaled the AC voltage coming in all on-chip.
Unfortunately, he couldn't remember the chip number or the manufacturer;
if anyone else has heard of this chip, please e-mail me.
	I am building this project as a "dimmer box" for a light
controller circuit and it is important that the cost of each box remains
very low because one dimmer is required for each light that the user
wishes to control (well, each channel, at least). Therefor, if each box
costs $150, I doubt that an end user will want to dish out ($150 x 16 =
$2400) for sixteen channels... This is something I have noticed about
today's dimmer boxes; they are so expensive!
	Anyway, any help which someone could offer on either a method of
easily doing this or info about the chip which will do it for me (always
the preferred method... :) will be greatly appreciated!