You’ve probably heard that it’s possible to shatter glass by screaming at a high-pitched tone, but have you heard of cleaning glass by screaming? With precisely controlled, high-frequency vibrations, ultrasonic cleaning technology can clean glass surfaces. On a rainy day this technology could automatically detect and clear raindrops from a car’s rear camera lens without requiring action from the driver…
Semiconductor packaging techniques have evolved in order to adapt to the smaller chip sizes made possible by technological advances, as well as increased power dissipation and growing demands for power density. Flip chip on leadframe (FCOL) packaging technologies have become increasingly popular given their technical benefits and efficient use of printed circuit board (PCB) area. In this article, I’ll give a short overview…
Previously published on Electronic Design
Hall-effect sensors are commonly used in automotive and industrial systems for applications including proximity detection, linear displacement measurement and rotary encoding. Currently, the high system performance requirements of modern applications have led to IC manufacturers increasing sensitivity accuracy, integrating…
A brushed DC motor’s simplicity of control, low cost and wide range of capability makes it a good fit for automotive loads that need integrated, high-powered and reliable motor drivers such as window lifts, sunroof controls, locks, latches and engine valves.
If you’re designing an automotive system, you’ll likely encounter both device- and system-level…
Co-authored by Matthias Thoma
Every day, consumers interact with systems that assess their surroundings and act accordingly. In a vehicle, when pressing the accelerator, the vehicle speeds up almost instantaneously – there is no noticeable delay between pressing the pedal to acceleration.
To apply this example to the topic of this article, if the vehicle were a system, the surroundings pressing the accelerator and…
Fault-detection mechanisms are a necessity in high-power industrial systems such as motor drives and solar inverters, as well as automotive systems including electric vehicle (EV) chargers, traction inverters, onboard chargers and DC/DC converters.
Fault detection involves current, voltage and temperature measurements to diagnose any AC power-line fluctuations, mechanical or electrical…
The first three installments of this technical article series focused on the benefits of designing with low-power amplifiers and how to maximize their efficiency. Unfortunately, low-power amplifiers also come with their share of trade-offs. In this fourth installment, I will consider one of the most common challenges with low-power amplifier designs…
Whether it excites or bores you, continued learning is a necessary part of life. Semiconductors and electronics invite constant learning; I personally enjoy exposure to new material and ideas. The field of electronics contains an abundance of textbooks, research and experiences, and choosing among them can be difficult and time-consuming. My TI journey began with a resource created to guide this learning process: TI Precision…
Everyone agrees that seeing clearly on the road is essential while driving a car. This truth becomes even more critical when implementing technologies such as autonomous driving. The “eyes” of an autonomous vehicle are called light detection and ranging (lidar) technology, which provides precise images of what surrounds the vehicle. Lidar systems use a light source and…
Incorrect output behavior can occur when large negative input voltages in comparators violate the input common-mode voltage range. In cases where it’s not possible to avoid a negative input voltage, it’s important to protect the input pins of the comparator and prevent a phenomenon called phase reversal, also known as phase inversion, from occurring.
In this article…
To reliably capture high-frequency signals and fast transient pulses, wide-bandwidth data acquisition systems like oscilloscopes and active probes require high-performance analog front-end (AFE) signal chains that must be able to:
Andrew Wallace contributed to this article
In a previous article, “What is a smart AFE?,” I discussed smart analog front ends (AFEs) and how they represent the most recent advancement in closed-loop control. Many of the applications discussed in the previous article covered broader applications in the automotive and industrial markets. In this article, I’ll explore one industrial…
Thermopiles are useful noncontact sensors for measuring not only temperature but also detecting select gases. Since thermopiles may have relatively high series impedance, they present numerous challenges to circuit designers trying to obtain absolute precision across a wide temperature range while meeting required minimum resolutions. The low output voltage…
Recent trends to miniaturize industrial products have created new challenges for precision data-acquisition systems. Designers must balance solution size and power consumption of the overall system while enabling more precise signal measurements at higher bandwidths – while making trade-offs along the way.
In this article, I’ll discuss these challenges in…
The input common-mode voltage range (commonly abbreviated as VCM or VICR) is a term that’s widely recognized in the analog world but misunderstood in the comparators world. For an amplifier, VCM is defined as the average voltage applied to both inputs. But for a comparator, it has an entirely different meaning.
The normal operation of a comparator implies two inputs…
The classic analog signal chain comprises inputs, processing and outputs. The inputs are received by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) or comparators. A microcontroller (MCU) with control software handles the processing. Finally, the analog outputs are produced by digital-to-analog converters (DACs) or pulse-width modulation (PWM).
In this article, I’ll introduce a new type of…
Comparators are fundamental analog components found in nearly every application. One way to describe comparators is that they are 1-bit ADCs: They have two inputs, with one typically used as a voltage reference and the other an input voltage signal. Depending on which input is the reference and what the input voltages are, the comparator output will toggle…
(This article was originally published on Planet Analog.)
I last left you hanging with a fancy-looking diagram and table in the first installment of this series, very likely lost, dazed and confused. Let me go into some more detail on the three motor types: speed, torque and position.
Speed
A motor system falls under the speed category when its primary function is to operate at a constant or variable speed. These systems…
(This article was originally published on Planet Analog.)
Quick – what are the three motor types? The most common answer that I hear is “brushed-DC motors, stepper motors and brushless-DC motors,” which is basically a knee-jerk reaction to the question. Some of the more intrepid motor-drive experts I know might say “single-phase AC input, multiphase AC input or DC input,” categorizing each motor by its input…
Today’s space race isn’t just about landing on new worlds; it’s a race to better connect our own, through global broadband connectivity powered by mega constellations known as low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Just like terrestrial applications, LEO satellites require signal and power isolation to enhance system integrity and performance by preventing ground potential…
The transimpedance amplifier (TIA) is one of the most common circuits in the world of precision analog circuits. The dynamic range required of a single TIA can be quite a challenge, often spanning many decades, such as picoamperes to microamperes.
Selecting a single resistor to accommodate such a wide dynamic range is a lose-lose situation, so circuit designers will often turn…
As Industry 4.0 spreads advanced manufacturing processes across global markets, demand for highly automated systems that operate with an integrated manufacturing flow and constantly collect process control data is increasing drastically. Most of these systems – including magnetic encoders in robotic arms, proximity sensors, actuators, pressure transmitters, linear motors and autonomous…
In applications measuring high current levels through a resistive shunt, the differential voltage developed across a tiny shunt is typically very small in order to minimize the power dissipation inside the sensing resistor – in the range of just a few millivolts. Contrary to popular belief, the slew rate of the op amp has little bearing on its performance due to the small signal…
Global efforts to reduce power consumption are only increasing, with many countries requiring that home appliances, like those shown in Figure 1, meet efficiency standards set by organizations such as the China Institute of Standards (CNIS), Energy Star in the United States and Blue Angel in Germany. To meet these standards, system designers are increasingly moving away…
Reducing the size of integrated circuits (ICs) is often viewed as little more than a path to more compact printed circuit boards (PCBs) or the ability to add functionality without increasing the form factor of a system. And while systems from wearable electronics to automotive cameras continue pushing the limits of physical form factors, integrating the…
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