0000000000084306
AUTHOR
Diego Ramírez Muñoz
Electronic Energy Meter Based on a Tunnel Magnetoresistive Effect (TMR) Current Sensor
In the present work, the design and microfabrication of a tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) electrical current sensor is presented. After its physical and electrical characterization, a wattmeter is developed to determine the active power delivered to a load from the AC 50/60 Hz mains line. Experimental results are shown up to 1000 W of power load. A relative uncertainty of less than 1.5% with resistive load and less than 1% with capacitive load was obtained. The described application is an example of how TMR sensing technology can play a relevant role in the management and control of electrical energy.
A Non-Invasive Thermal Drift Compensation Technique Applied to a Spin-Valve Magnetoresistive Current Sensor
A compensation method for the sensitivity drift of a magnetoresistive (MR) Wheatstone bridge current sensor is proposed. The technique was carried out by placing a ruthenium temperature sensor and the MR sensor to be compensated inside a generalized impedance converter circuit (GIC). No internal modification of the sensor bridge arms is required so that the circuit is capable of compensating practical industrial sensors. The method is based on the temperature modulation of the current supplied to the bridge, which improves previous solutions based on constant current compensation. Experimental results are shown using a microfabricated spin-valve MR current sensor. The temperature compensati…
An analog electronic interface to measure electrical conductivity in liquids
Abstract Measuring conductivity in aqueous solutions is a problem which is not easy to solve due to the differences in mass and mobility that exist between ions conduction and electrons. Additionally, it is necessary to keep in mind the interaction processes electrode-solution. As a consequence, the electrolytic conductivity cell has to be polarized with alternating voltage of adequate amplitude and frequency in order to extract the correct information. In this paper an electronic conditioning circuit is presented which converts electric conductivity into a value of continuous voltage. A hardware solution is proposed to do the conductivity temperature compensation. Experimental results obta…
Transconductance Converters Based on Current Mirrors Applied to pH Measurement Using ISFET Sensors
New transconductance circuits (V/I converters) are designed based on current mirrors and operational amplifiers. Their input/output characteristics and the influence of DC parameters are obtained. Experimental results were performed, comparing them with the simulated results. An electronic instrumentation circuit is designed based on one of the transconductance converters analyzed. The purpose of this circuit was to condition the response of an ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET) to measure pH. In the proposed application, the V/I converter presented provides the stability and accuracy of the ISFET operating point, making an easy characterization procedure and the design of multic…
Fractional Modeling of the AC Large-Signal Frequency Response in Magnetoresistive Current Sensors
Fractional calculus is considered when derivatives and integrals of non-integer order are applied over a specific function. In the electrical and electronic domain, the transfer function dependence of a fractional filter not only by the filter order n, but additionally, of the fractional order α is an example of a great number of systems where its input-output behavior could be more exactly modeled by a fractional behavior. Following this aim, the present work shows the experimental ac large-signal frequency response of a family of electrical current sensors based in different spintronic conduction mechanisms. Using an ac characterization set-up the sensor transimpedance function is obtain…
A new gas sensor electronic interface with generalized impedance converter
A new gas sensor conditioning circuit that allows a direct resistance-to-frequency conversion, as well as the procedure for the design, is presented. The generalized impedance converter (GIC) proposed is configured as a variable capacitor connected with the capacitor timing terminal of an astable multivibrator implemented by a PSoC (programmable system on chip) microcontroller device. The GIC effective input impedance, which is controlled by the gas sensor resistance, controls the astable output frequency. Good correlation of the experimental output frequency, which depends on the gas concentration, is achieved. The circuit is a simple gas sensor digital interface with frequency output.
Total ionizing dose (TID) evaluation of magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) current sensors
Abstract The paper shows an experimental study to know the behaviour of tunnel magnetoresistive effect-based current sensors configured in a Wheatstone bridge in response to irradiation. In particular the sensitivity, hysteresis, output offset voltage and input resistance are discussed when the sensors are submitted to a total irradiation dose of 43 krad with 36 krad/h dose rate. The same electrical parameters were studied subsequently once the irradiated sensors were submitted to an 80 °C annealing process. The studied TMR sensors are applied in a switched-mode power converter for space application.
ISFET drawbacks minimization using a novel electronic compensation
Ion sensitive field effect transistor (ISFET) and membrane field effect transistor (MEMFET) have some drawbacks related to: long-term drift, hysteresis and thermal drift. These factors limit the accuracy of ISFET/MEMFET based measurements systems, specially for continuous or long period measurements. Due to its accuracy, repeatability and easy-to-use features, electronic instrumentation systems are the best tools to design ISFET/MEMFET based measurement systems. A well-designed hardware and a qualified virtual instrumentation software are the key factors to overcome and compensate hysteresis, thermal and long-term drifts ISFET/MEMFET limitations. The paper is dedicated to show an instrument…
Magnetic Field Sensors Based on Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) Technology: Applications in Electrical Current Sensing
The 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics can be understood as a global recognition to the rapid development of the Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR), from both the physics and engineering points of view. Behind the utilization of GMR structures as read heads for massive storage magnetic hard disks, important applications as solid state magnetic sensors have emerged. Low cost, compatibility with standard CMOS technologies and high sensitivity are common advantages of these sensors. This way, they have been successfully applied in a lot different environments. In this work, we are trying to collect the Spanish contributions to the progress of the research related to the GMR based sensors covering, among o…