SummaryRecently the designers found a approach to improve speed,cost and linearity of A-D conversion--Using ‘voltage-to-frequency converters’(VFCs) to perform A-D conversions in data acquisition systems that require strict monotonic response,high resolution and reuced noise and moderate speed.The VFC produces a pluse train with frequency proportional to the input voltage.Then a microcontroller or logic converts fre quency into a number by opening a gate for a fixed amount of time and counting how many.However,this approach is not perfect.the main drawback is that to increase speed, designers have to run the VFC at high frequency, which deteriorates linearity. Design Ideathe design idea of this aproach reverses things.A circuit converts input voltage into a proportional time interval;then,the micro uses that interval to count pulses coming from its internal clock.The results are impressive:1.Good linearity as the voltage-to-period converter runs at low frequency2.Faster A-to-D conversion due to the high value of the clock frequency3.Potentially simpler program or logic, as it only has to count clock pulses, gated by the circuit4.Low priceCircuit and Voltage IssueThe key is that increasing the count frequency does not affect linearity of the A-to-D conversion, while increasing the frequency of the VFC always means worse linearity.Just see the following picture: This picture is a circuit about modified VFC,where the input voltage VIN and the reference voltage VREF swap their roles. The R1-R2 network shifts the input voltage so it is always more positive than the reference voltage and maintain proper operating conditions. The circuit uses all switches of the 4066 part: two in parallel build S1 to reduce the effect of imperfect switch flatness on linearity, one switch goes for S2, and the last switch is part of the start-up circuit, paralleling CINT, and controlled by the logic during initialization.As the input voltage changes from 0 to 5V, the output period changes from 78 to 578µs. Integration capacitor CINT and the threshold level of the one-shot’s Schmitt input do not participate in the period vs voltage relation.Filling the period with 10MHz clock pulses generates numbers from 780 to 5780 – one count per millivolt. Linearity is one count or ±0.02%, which is not a surprise when the maximum frequency is only 12.8kHz. The maximum time of the A-to-D conversion is 578µs. This is 8.65 times faster compared to the case of a 1MHz VFC, where it would take 5,000µs to count 5,000 pulses of 1µs. The interface program is short and simple.Calibration involves some back and forth due to the shift of the input voltage: adjust sensitivity to 100µs/V using the trim-pot of the one-shot. The nominal duration of the one-shot pulse is 26µs. Cancel the 780 count offset in the controller.The following table shows that the V-to-P approach is significantly better than the V-to-F one (Refs 3, 4). Surprisingly, no chip-maker offers this type of converter.
kynix On 2017-12-29









