Lets Talk About Constant Current

Thread Starter

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
This is part of a series of articles "Let’s talk about series that can be found in my index." Since as a moderator I can insert my post to make them contiguous. If you comment before I am finished I will wait until It is convenient, to reply.


Wendy's Index.

What is constant current?

It uses a regulator similar to a voltage regulator, except as the name suggests, it will vary the voltage to create a fixed current in a load. As with voltage regulators it breaks down when power supply limits are reached. I will use the cc symbol to show a trace where the cc condition exist, it might also be used to show the circuit and its function.

The standard symbols for a constant current circuits have some variation (similar to the EU and USA symbols for resistors) so I will use this one.


F1,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, F1.png

I have picked 20ma because that is my standard personal default value for 5mm LEDs. That will be my goal for all the circuits I will show hereafter.

Because I am planning on introducing another design that has been forming in my head I am going to create a new symbol. I will explain why later.


F2,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, F2.png
I will add these symbols to my PD schematic drawing tool called PaintCAD which can be found here.


Conventional current Flow vs. Electron Current Flow


The arrow shows the direction of current. Most CC circuits only regulate current in one direction. There are exceptions, which is why I made the dual facing arrow symbol. In this case I went with the Conventional Current flow standard.

The built in Constant Current in Op Amps


Figure 3 shows a typical classic op amp circuit. Virtual ground is a key concept in these circuits because the + input is forced by the output of the op amp to match the - input. An interesting thing happens with this circuit as the current in R feedback is forced to match the current in R Input, to the limits of the op amps ability.


F3,,,,,,,,,,,, F3.png




Using Constant Current to Charge Capacitors

Something interesting happens when you charge a capacitor with a Constant Current Source. The charge becomes linear, instead of the classic log function of an RC circuit. It does something similar when used on inductors. Anyone who is interested in the math can review this thread.This means we can create sweep functions as was used in older TVs and oscilloscopes. It also, when used with Op Amps becomes a true calculus derivative function. This can be quite handy if you are making an analog computer. This was used before digital computers overtook analog computers for math calculations. Figure 4 shows an example of such a circuit.


F4,,,,,,,,,,,, F4.png



It still is very useful in electronics today. For example, turning a triangle wave into a sine wave is fairly straight forward. Many analog to digital conversion methods rely on translating a fixed analog voltage into a digital pulse whose duration is directly equivalent to an input voltage. This is called a dual slope to digital convertor, and is the heart of most digital voltmeters. It can do a similar conversion. In measuring the value of a capacitance or inductance by converting these values into a pulse whose duration is directly proportional to these values. I will show examples later in this article. Figure 5 shows a Square/triangle wave generator.


F5,,,,,,,,,,,, F5.png


Note the phase relationships shown in the drawing. This is accurate. The 7555 changes state when the output of the op amp integrator reaches 1/3 or 2/3 of Vcc.


Examples of Constant Current Sources


I will show some examples of constant current sinks and sources. Whether a constant current regulator is a sink or source is a matter of perspective. The voltage that all the other voltages are referenced to is called ground. My personal preference is the negative side of the power source, this bias is reflected in many of my schematics. A current source limits the current from the voltage source to the load. A current sink limits the current going to ground. Polarity of the power supply is fairly irrelevant.


BJT Constant Current Regulators


Figure 6 show the Classic Current Mirror, it uses a little used theory for biasing a Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT), that of the BE responding to a fixed voltage. In this case the voltage set by a fixed current in Q1 cause a mirror current in Q2.


This concept will work, but I would advise against using it. It is frequently used by IC (integrated circuit) designers because two transistors on the same die are very close to being the same electrically and are very close to being the same temperature. Both being very critical to the concept. The variation in temperature can lead to thermal runaway. Getting two matched transistors can also be a problem. Typically transistors can have significant variations, even within the same part number family.

F6,,,,,,,,,,,,,,F6.png


Common Emitter Current Regulators


Though the circuit shown in Figure 7 may resembles a Common Collector design the fact that the load will be on the collector puts it firmly in the Common Emitter configuration. A stable fixed voltage on the base will create a very stable constant current regulator. It has the distinct advantage of being able to handle very large currents if the transistor is rated for the loads. I have used a variation of this circuit to create an electronic load to test power supplies.

F7,,,,,,,,,,,,, F7.png
 
Last edited:

Thread Starter

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
Show and Tell

This chapter will give an example how the various measurement techniques, mentioned in the previous chapter. First we will show an op amp integrator. Take the integrator shown in Figure 8. If the frequency of the square wave is too slow the op amp output will clip on the power supplies (Output 3). At the frequency where R Input equals the capacitive reactance you will get a perfect triangle wave (Output 2).As the frequency increases the peak to peak value will shrink until it would be very hard to measure(Output3). It is important to note the slope of the output while changing does not change in all 3 cases.

..........F8.png

Why is this important? It can be used as an important component in analog to digital conversion. Figure 9 shows how a voltage can be converted to digital information which can now be used by DVMs. This is the technique that most DVMs use. The pulse width out is a direct reflection of the voltage in. This technique is called dual slope D/A conversion, and is quite accurate.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,F9.png

IC Current Regulators

Now we get to my favorite current regulators. The LM317 (positive voltage) and LM337 (negative voltage) three terminal voltage regulators also make excellent current regulators. The new LD (Low Dropout) regulators are even better for this application. These voltage regulators work by maintaining 1.25V across the output and adjustment pins. This creates voltage across R1 that will stay at 1.25V. This is a current through R1 that will be a constant current. Instead of going to ground, takes the other side of R1 and use it as a Constant current source or sink. Figure 10 shows how this arrangement would work. Unlike for voltage regulation, constant current regulators require no capacitors.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,F10.GIF


Op Amp Current Regulators

This is not my favorite circuit. Basically done by modifying voltage regulator similar to the one shown in Figure 10. Figure 11 shows how this might be done. The extra complexity is not worth the effort in my opinion. It will allow the regulation of much higher currents than the previous examples. The extra complexity isn’t worth it. I = 2 VDC / 100Ω = 20ma.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,F11.png
 
Last edited:
Top