I need a circuit to limit the voltage across some dissipation limited devices. It must: limit the voltage to a maximum of 1.5 V, have symmetrical limiting, be capable of accepting a current of 2 A, and leak less than 100 µA at 1 V. Two Zener ...
Three-phase VCOs (voltage-controlled oscillators) see service in many applications, including power inverters and in electronic-music synthesis as control and modulation sources. A previous Design Idea describes a basis for a simple, three-phase ...
CMOS devices have large input impedance with input currents on the order of 0.01 nA. Adding feedback circuitry can result in a latch-like device that can be used to store bits, and also operate in a more analog mode as shown in this Design Idea, ...
This Design Idea involves a low-power motion-detector circuit that operates from battery power for extended times. Part of the design includes a solenoid-operated trip mechanism that triggers whenever it detects motion. The drive circuit for the ...
The autoreferencing circuit in Figure 1 nulls out the error of a sensor, such as a pressure transducer, at its reference level for example, at ambient pressure. The circuit is an analog-digital-feedback control system that uses a digitally ...
Piezoelectric transducers find use in NDE (nondestructive-evaluation) applications. The PVDF (polyvinylidene-fluoride) transducer has many advantages, including a wide bandwidth and high sensitivity. These transducers require high-voltage and ...
Mechanical bounce often occurs while trying to measure current or resistance on experimental materials or from routine switch-contact action. It can be a problem if you are trying to preserve the bounce or noise phenomenon within the measurement ...
Several years ago, I published a design idea [ 1 ] (See Figure 1: “Cancel PWM DAC ripple with analog subtraction,) showing a simple trick for the cancellation of PWM output ripple. It employs passive summation of the usual PWM signal with its ...
Testing and measuring an IC’s or circuit’s performance with regard to power transients is a tricky task to accomplish without some specialized equipment. Not only does the input voltage source need to change in a controlled manner, but ...
This Design Idea describes a method by which you can detect and assess air or liquid fluid flow using an externally heated semiconductor diode. Airflow across the heated diode reduces its temperature, causing a variation in the diode's voltage ...