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Toubleshooting Buffered Enhanced Howland Current Pump Circuit

Part Number: OPA2388
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: OPA2392

I'm currently designing a bioimpedance measurement device. I needed a constant current source for load excitation for which I chose the buffered enhanced Howland current topology. The output current requirement is under 300 uA. Input voltage is a sine wave of varying frequency with a 1.5 V dc offset. I am using the OPA2388 dual op amp IC with 0.05% resistors to make the current source. The supply voltage is 3 V and the ADG849 switch is used to switch between the load and a calibration resistor. The simulations I ran in LTspice work just fine but when I made the circuit, it does not perform as expected. According to the simulations, the output current should be constant up to 10 kΩ load. The output current is not constant when load resistance is changed (I used several discrete resistors well under 10 kΩ). Regardless of the load resistance, the output of the main opamp is always saturated to Vcc and there is a current flow even when the input pin Vin is left open.

I am afraid I might have overlooked some basic detail which is causing the issues. Can anyone suggest possible reasons why this circuit is not performing as expected or what areas I should investigate further? Any input is appreciated. The schematic (svg) file can be found here: https://ufile.io/vu7snvkj

PS - The PCB is supposed to go on top of a pre-existing device hence the unusual layout. Also I hope posting Ltspice screenshots is not an issue...I've just been used to it.

  • Hi Rakshit,

    Could you please elaborate a bit what exactly do you mean by "it does not perform as expected." Your buffered enhanced Howland current pump circuit should deliver constant 150uA (1.5V/10k) current ONLY for as long as  the output voltage of OPA2388 stays at least 150mV from either rail - see AOL conditions below.

    Thus, in order for the VF1 and VF3 to stay within OPA2388 output linear range (150mV<Vout<2.85V), R6 must be between 1k and 9k for 150uA load - see below.

    Other than that, OPA2388 is a chopper amplifier where input current spikes generated by the internal auto-correction circuitry may get converted across the large input resistors (like 100kohm) into voltage spikes causing settling issues.  For this reason, you may instead consider using for this application a liner op amp like OPA2392, which has no auto-calibration circuitry.