GB2447955A - High side current measurement - Google Patents

High side current measurement Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2447955A
GB2447955A GB0706133A GB0706133A GB2447955A GB 2447955 A GB2447955 A GB 2447955A GB 0706133 A GB0706133 A GB 0706133A GB 0706133 A GB0706133 A GB 0706133A GB 2447955 A GB2447955 A GB 2447955A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
integrated circuit
circuit
voltage
resistor
sense
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
GB0706133A
Other versions
GB0706133D0 (en
Inventor
Michael Joseph Leisten
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
ABSL Power Solutions Ltd
Original Assignee
ABSL Power Solutions Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by ABSL Power Solutions Ltd filed Critical ABSL Power Solutions Ltd
Priority to GB0706133A priority Critical patent/GB2447955A/en
Publication of GB0706133D0 publication Critical patent/GB0706133D0/en
Priority to PCT/GB2008/050229 priority patent/WO2008120017A1/en
Publication of GB2447955A publication Critical patent/GB2447955A/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • GPHYSICS
    • G01MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01RMEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES
    • G01R19/00Arrangements for measuring currents or voltages or for indicating presence or sign thereof
    • G01R19/0092Arrangements for measuring currents or voltages or for indicating presence or sign thereof measuring current only
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H02GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02JCIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
    • H02J7/00Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
    • H02J7/0052
    • GPHYSICS
    • G01MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01RMEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES
    • G01R31/00Arrangements for testing electric properties; Arrangements for locating electric faults; Arrangements for electrical testing characterised by what is being tested not provided for elsewhere
    • G01R31/36Arrangements for testing, measuring or monitoring the electrical condition of accumulators or electric batteries, e.g. capacity or state of charge [SoC]
    • G01R31/382Arrangements for monitoring battery or accumulator variables, e.g. SoC

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Power Engineering (AREA)
  • Charge And Discharge Circuits For Batteries Or The Like (AREA)
  • Measurement Of Current Or Voltage (AREA)

Abstract

A current measurement circuit comprises a positive voltage current sense integrated circuit 8 which is connected between a positive voltage rail 4 and an at least -2.5V negative voltage rail 9 and is connected across a resistor 21 positioned on the positive rail 4. The voltage sense pins 13,14 of the integrated circuit are connected across the resistor 21 in the reverse sense so that the output 16,17 from the integrated circuit is negative. The output can be made positive by inverting operational amplifier 10. The circuit can be used in a battery charger controller 1 where a battery 3 is charged by a DC-DC convener 5 from a power supply 2. The circuit enables current to be measured under short circuit conditions because the supply to current sense integrated circuit 8, at the sense pins 13,14 with respect to the VEE pin 15, is maintained at 2.5V at least. Current sense integrated circuit 8 may be, for example, either an LT1787 or INA193.

Description

Current Measurement The present invention relates to a current
measurement circuit for measuring the current flowing in a circuit and particularly the current flowing into a battery during charging.
It is important to be able to measure the current flowing in electric/electronic circuits in many circumstances. For example, it may be desirable to measure the current flowing into a battery on charging or in linear regulator circuits.
There are a variety of battery chargers in use.
Smart chargers are chargers that can charge smart batteries. A smart charger is a charger that complies with the Smart Battery Charger Specification Revision 1.1, December 11, 1998. A smart charger is able to accept information from a smart battery and provide the required current and voltage to charge the battery.
A battery charger incorporates a current sensing circuit in order to measure the current flowing into a secondary battery during charging.
A simple way of measuring the current flowing into a battery during charging is to add a resistor to the OV line of the charger output and measure the voltage drop across that resistor as a representation of the current flowing through it.
However, in some applications the charger OV line, the power supply OV line and the battery OV line are each connected to their conductive cases. This is done to minimise the radio frequency emissions from the charging system. Unfortunately, this means that any contact between the conductive case of the battery and the conductive case of the charger could therefore result in a short circuit across the resistor in the OV line of the charger and this results in an error in the measurement of the charging current.
Therefore, in order to be able to measure the charging current even in the event of a short circuit, the current sensing resistor is positioned in line with the positive charging terminal of the battery and an integrated circuit is connected across the resistor in order to measure the current flowing in the resistor.
This is done by separating out the small voltage drop across the resistor. The drawback to measuring the current in this way is that the integrated circuits typically available for use in current measurement do not operate correctly if the battery voltage is less than about 2.5V. Thus it cannot measure the current supplied to a low voltage battery or limit the current that flows when the charger output terminals are shorted together.
The present invention aims to provide a solution to this problem by providing a current measurement circuit that provides the correct output signal for all battery voltage levels including zero.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a current measurement circuit comprising a positive voltage current sense integrated circuit which is connected between a positive voltage rail and a negative voltage rail of at least -2.5V and is connected across a resistor positioned in the positive rail wherein the voltage sense pins of the integrated circuit are connected across the resistor in the reverse sense and the output from the integrated circuit is inverted.
The negative voltage rail is at at least -2.5V.
Thus, there is always a difference in voltage between the two rails even when the output terminals (of the battery) are shorted together. When the output terminals are shorted together the positive voltage rail is at zero.
The negative voltage is typically from -2.5V to -1OV, preferably from -2.5V to -7.5V, for example, -4, -5 or -6V.
The high side current sense integrated circuit is an integrated circuit that can be used to sense the current flowing in a circuit and can be positioned on the high side rail. For example a LT1787 or 1NA193.
The output from the integrated circuit may be inverted using an operational amplifier, for example, a LT2 055.
The present invention also provides a method of measuring the current flowing in a circuit comprising a) measuring the voltage drop across a high side resistor using an integrated circuit connected so as to produce a negative signal, and b) inverting the signal wherein the integrated circuit is connected between a positive voltage and a negative voltage.
The expression a high side resistor' refers to a resistor in the positive rail, that is to say the high voltage rail.
The present invention also provides the use of a high side current sense integrated circuit which is connected between a positive and a negative voltage and is connected across a resistor positioned in the high side rail wherein the voltage sense pins of the integrated circuit are connected across the resistor in the reverse sense and the output from the integrated circuit is inverted to measure the current flowing in a circuit.
The size of the resistor is chosen so as to be suitable for the current sense integrated circuit.
A capacitor may be connected across the integrated circuit in order to filter out any high frequency components in the voltage across the resistor.
The present invention also provides a battery charger comprising a circuit of the present invention.
The present invention also provides a linear regulator circuit comprising a current sense circuit of the present invention.
Specific construction of a current measurement circuit embodying the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the drawing filed herewith, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a current measurement circuit according to the present invention.
Figure 1 shows a charger 1 connected between a DC power supply 2 and a secondary battery 3. A high voltage rail 4 connects the power supply 2 to the charger 1 and the charger 1 to the battery 3, via the positive voltage terminals of a DC-DC converter 5. A zero voltage rail 6 is also connected from the power supply 2 through the DC-DC converter 5 to the charger 1 and the battery 3. In each of the power supply 2, the charger 1 and the battery 3 the zero voltage rail 6 is connected to the casing of the object as shown at the positions marked 7.
The charger 1 contains a circuit according to the present invention for measuring the current flowing in the high voltage rail 4. The circuit comprises a resistor 21 which is positioned in the high voltage rail 4. An integrated circuit (LT1787) 8 is connected across the resistor 21. A capacitor 25 is connected across the integrated circuit 8 to the filter terminals 11 and 12 in order to filter out any high frequency components in the voltage across the resistor 21. The voltage sensing pins 14 (+ve) and 13 (-ye) are connected across the resistor 21 in the reverse sense which results in the integrated circuit 8 producing a negative signal. The voltage sensing pins 14 and 13 also provide the power supply to the chip and the chip draws some current through these pins with respect to VEE pin 15. The integrated circuit 8 is connected between the high voltage rail 4 and a -5V voltage source, connected to VEE pin 15, which is provided by a power supply unit 9. The size of the resistor 21 and the capacitor 25 is chosen to be suitable for the specific integrated circuit 8.
Output pins 16 (Vbias) and 17 (Vout) from the integrated circuit 8 are connected together and passed through an operational amplifier 10. Connecting the output pins 16 and 17 together has the effect that no offset is added to the output signal. There is a resistor 22 in the signal lead to the amplifier 10, a resistor 23 connecting the output of the amplifier 10 to the signal input, and a resistor 24 connecting the other input of the amplifier 10 to the zero voltage rail 6. By use of resistors 22, 23 and 24, the operational amplifier 10 amplifies the signal from the integrated circuit 8. In this embodiment the resistors 22 and 23 are the same size and the operational amplifier 10 therefore does not change the resistance of the signal. Resistor 24 is half the resistance of resistors 22 arid 23. The signal from the integrated circuit 8 is inverted by the operational amplifier 10 thus producing a positive signal 26 which indicates the current sensed by the circuit.

Claims (6)

  1. Claims 1. A current measurement circuit comprising a positive voltage
    current sense integrated circuit which is connected between a positive voltage rail and a negative voltage rail of at least -2.5V and is connected across a resistor positioned on the positive rail wherein the voltage sense pins of the integrated circuit are connected across the resistor in the reverse sense and the output from the integrated circuit is inverted.
  2. 2. A circuit according to claim 1 wherein the negative voltage is -5V.
  3. 3. A circuit according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the output is inverted through an operational amplifier.
  4. 4. A battery charger comprising a circuit according to any one of the preceding claims.
  5. 5. A method of measuring the current flowing in a circuit comprising a) measuring the voltage drop across a high side resistor using an integrated circuit connected so as to produce a negative signal, and b) inverting the signal wherein the integrated circuit is connected between a positive voltage and a negative voltage.
  6. 6. Use of a high side current sense integrated circuit which is connected between a positive and a negative voltage and is connected across a resistor positioned on the high side rail wherein the voltage sense pins of the integrated circuit are connected across the resistor in the reverse sense and the output from the integrated circuit is inverted to measure the current flowing in a circuit.
    16047 TpCm C.J. Talbot-Ponsonby Chartered Patent Attorney Agent for the Applicants
GB0706133A 2007-03-29 2007-03-29 High side current measurement Withdrawn GB2447955A (en)

Priority Applications (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB0706133A GB2447955A (en) 2007-03-29 2007-03-29 High side current measurement
PCT/GB2008/050229 WO2008120017A1 (en) 2007-03-29 2008-03-31 Current measurement

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB0706133A GB2447955A (en) 2007-03-29 2007-03-29 High side current measurement

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB0706133D0 GB0706133D0 (en) 2007-05-09
GB2447955A true GB2447955A (en) 2008-10-01

Family

ID=38050465

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
GB0706133A Withdrawn GB2447955A (en) 2007-03-29 2007-03-29 High side current measurement

Country Status (2)

Country Link
GB (1) GB2447955A (en)
WO (1) WO2008120017A1 (en)

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN108957338B (en) * 2018-06-25 2019-11-22 清华大学 The extracting method of power battery internal short-circuit electric current

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5498984A (en) * 1994-09-30 1996-03-12 Maxim Integrated Products High side, current sense amplifier using a symmetric amplifier
EP0827266A2 (en) * 1996-08-29 1998-03-04 Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha High-side type motor current detecting circuit
EP1557679A2 (en) * 2004-01-21 2005-07-27 Analog Devices, Inc. High side current monitor

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5498984A (en) * 1994-09-30 1996-03-12 Maxim Integrated Products High side, current sense amplifier using a symmetric amplifier
EP0827266A2 (en) * 1996-08-29 1998-03-04 Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha High-side type motor current detecting circuit
EP1557679A2 (en) * 2004-01-21 2005-07-27 Analog Devices, Inc. High side current monitor

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB0706133D0 (en) 2007-05-09
WO2008120017A1 (en) 2008-10-09

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