circuit coll

Remote temperature measurements have to be linked by some sort of cable to the relevant test instrument. Normally, this is a three-core cable: one core for the signal and the other two for the supply lines. If the link is required to be a two-core cable, one of the supply lines and the signal line have to be combined. This is possible with, for instance, temperature sensors LM334 and LM335. However, these devices provide an output that is directly proportional to absolute temperature and this is not always a practical proposition.

Circuit diagram :

Two-Wire Temperature Sensor Circuit Diagram 

If an output signal that is directly proportional to the celsius temperature scale is desired, the present circuit, which uses a Type LM45 sensor, offers a good solution. The LM45 sensor is powered by an alternating voltage, while its out-put is a direct voltage.

The supply to the sensor is provided by a sine-wave generator, based on A 1 and A 2 (see diagram). The alternating volt-age is applied to the signal line in the two-core cable via coupling capacitor C 6 .

The sensor contains a volt-age-doubling rectifier formed by D 1 -D 2 -C 1 -C 2 . This network converts the applied alternating voltage into a direct voltage. Resistor R 2 isolates the output from the load capacitance, while choke L 1 couples the output signal of the sensor to the signal line in the cable. Choke L 1 and capacitor C 2 protect the output against the alternating voltage present on the line.

At the other end of the link, network R 3 -L 2 -C 4 forms a low-pass section that prevents the alternating supply voltage from combining with the sensor out-put. Capacitor C 5 prevents a direct current through R 3 , since this would attenuate the temper-ature-dependent voltage.

The output load should have a high resistance, some 100 kΩ or even higher.  The circuit draws a current of a few mA.

This circuit is a simple form of the commercial UPS, the circuit provides a constant regulated 5 Volt output and an unregulated 12 Volt supply. In the event of electrical supply line failure the battery takes over, with no spikes on the regulated supply.

Notes:

This circuit can be adapted for other regulated and unregulated voltages by using different regulators and batteries. For a 15 Volt regulated supply use two 12 Volt batteries in series and a 7815 regulator. There is a lot of flexibility in this circuit.

TR1 has a primary matched to the local electrical supply which is 240 Volts in the UK. The secondary winding should be rated at least 12 Volts at 2 amp, but can be higher, for example 15 Volts. FS1 is a slow blow type and protects against short circuits on the output, or indeed a faulty cell in a rechargeable battery. LED 1 will light ONLY when the electricity supply is present, with a power failure the LED will go out and output voltage is maintained by the battery. The circuit below simulates a working circuit with mains power applied:

Note that in all cases the 5 Volt regulated supply is maintained constantly, whilst the unregulated supply will vary a few volts.

Standby Capacity

The ability to maintain the regulated supply with no electrical supply depends on the load taken from the UPS and also the Ampere hour capacity of the battery. If you were using a 7A/h 12 Volt battery and load from the 5 Volt regulator was 0.5 Amp (and no load from the unregulated supply) then the regulated supply would be maintained for around 14 hours. Greater A/h capacity batteries would provide a longer standby time, and vice versa.

The circuit described here is mostly aimed at development engineers who are looking for an economical step-down converter which offers a wide input volt- age range. As a rule this type of circuit employs a step-down converter with integrated switching element. However, by using a more discrete solution it is possible to reduce the total cost of the step- down converter, especially when manufacturing in quantity. The TL5001A is a low-cost PWM controller which is ideal for this project.

The input voltage range for the step-down converter described here is from 8 V to 30 V, with an output voltage of 5 V and a maximum output current of 1.5 A.

When the input voltage is applied the PWM output of IC1 is enabled, taking one end of the voltage divider formed by R1 and R2 to ground potential. The cur-rent through the voltage divider will then be at most 25 mA: this value is obtained by dividing the maximum input voltage (30 V) minus the saturation voltage of the output driver (2 V) by the total resistance of the voltage divider (1.1 kΩ ). T1 and T3 together form an NPN/PNP driver stage to charge the gate capacitance of P-channel MOSFET T2 as quickly as possible, and then, at the turn-off point, discharge it again.

The base-emitter junction of T3 goes into a conducting state when the PWM output is active and a voltage is dropped across R2. T3 will then also conduct from collector to emitter and the gate capacitance of T2 will be discharged down to about 800 mV. The P-channel MOSFET will then conduct from drain to source. If the open-collector output of the controller is deactivated, a negligibly small current flows through resistor R2 and the base of T1 will be raised to the input voltage level. The base-emitter junction of T1 will then conduct and the gate capacitance of T2 will be charged up to the input voltage level through the collector and emitter of T1. The P-channel MOSFET will then no longer conduct from drain to source. This driver circuit constructed from discrete components is very fast, giving very quick switch-over times.

Diodes D2 and D3 provide voltage limiting for the P-channel MOSFET, whose maximum gate-source voltage is 20 V. If the Zener voltage of diode D2 is exceeded it starts to conduct; when the forward voltage of diode D3 is also exceeded, the two diodes together clamp the gate-source voltage to approximately 19 V.

The switching frequency is set at approximately 100 kHz, which gives a good compromise between efficiency and component size.

Finally, a few notes on component selection. All resistors are 1/16 W, 1 %. Apart from electrolytic C1 all the capacitors are ceramic types. For the two larger values (C2 and C5) the following are used:

C2 is a Murata type GRM21BR71C105KA01 ceramic capacitor, 1 µF, 16 V, X7R, 10 %;

C5 is a Murata type GRM32ER60J476ME20 ceramic capacitor, 47 µF,  6.3 V, X5R, 10 %.

D1 (Fairchild type MBRS340T3) is a 40 V/3 A Schottky diode. Coil L1 is a Würth WE-PD power choke type 744771147, 47 µH, 2.21 A, 75 mΩ.

T1 (BC846) and T3 (BC856) are 60 V, 200 mA, 310 mW complementary bipolar transistors from Vishay.

The TL5001AID (IC1) is a low-cost PWM controller with an open-collector output from Texas Instruments.

Author : Dirk Gehrke Copyright : Elektor