Amplifier systems for measuring a wide range of current are provided herein. In certain embodiments, an amplifier system includes a controllable sensing circuit, a first amplifier including an output configured to drive a device under test (DUT) through the controllable sensing circuit, and a second amplifier including an input coupled to the controllable sensing circuit and operable to generate a measurement signal indicating an amount of measured current of the DUT. The amplifier system further includes a control circuit operable to control a configuration or mode of the controllable sensing circuit suitable for a particular type of DUT.

An amplification device including: a switch including an output that is suitable for being connected to a first or a second input; a first branch that is connected to the first input, which applies a first gain to generate a first amplified signal; a second branch that is connected to the second input, which applies a second gain to generate a second amplified signal; a controller for controlling the switching of the switch to apply the first or the second amplified signal to the output, depending on whether or not the value of a predetermined quantity of the first amplified signal falls within a predetermined range. The first gain and the second gain being non-zero real numbers of opposite sign.

A current detection circuit can include: a detection power switch coupled to a power switch to be detected; a current control circuit configured to control voltages of power terminals of the detection power switch in order to generate a detection current flowing through the detection power switch when the power switch is on; and where a flowing direction of the detection current is consistent with a flowing direction of a current flowing through the power switch.

The invention relates to an apparatus and method for tracking energy consumption. An energy tracking system comprises at least one switching element, at least one inductor and a control block to keep the output voltage at a pre-selected level. The switching elements are configured to apply the source of energy to the inductors. The control block compares the output voltage of the energy tracking system to a reference value and controls the switching of the switched elements in order to transfer energy for the primary voltage into a secondary voltage at the output of the energy tracking system. The electronic device further comprises an ON-time and OFF-time generator and an accumulator wherein the control block is coupled to receive a signal from the ON-time and OFF-time generator and generates switching signals for the at least one switching element in the form of ON-time pulses with a constant width ON-time.

At least two redundant analog input units for a measurement current have analog inputs which are connected in parallel and upon which voltage measuring devices directly lie to convert respectively applied voltages into a digital measurement value, wherein in order to detect errors, in particular in order to detect wire breakage, each analog input unit compares its generated measurement value with a threshold and outputs an error message if a measurement value is detected that falls below the threshold, where if the analog input of the analog input unit is in the low-resistance state, then the at least one other analog input unit is additionally caused to assume a current-measuring function and switch the analog input of the analog input unit to a low-resistance state.

A voltage detector comprises an input, a resistor divider circuit having resistors coupled in series with one another between the input and a reference node, and N intermediate nodes joining adjacent pairs of the resistors. The voltage detector has N switches coupled to the respective intermediate nodes, as well as a comparator with an input coupled to the switches, a state machine having an input coupled to the output of the comparator, and a decoder having N decoder outputs coupled to respective control terminals of the N switches.

Amplifier systems for measuring a wide range of current are provided herein. In certain embodiments, an amplifier system includes a controllable sensing circuit, a first amplifier including an output configured to drive a device under test (DUT) through the controllable sensing circuit, and a second amplifier including an input coupled to the controllable sensing circuit and operable to generate a measurement signal indicating an amount of measured current of the DUT. The amplifier system further includes a control circuit operable to control a configuration or mode of the controllable sensing circuit suitable for a particular type of DUT.

In accordance with an embodiment, a sensor includes: a signal source with a first signal source terminal and a second signal source terminal; a bridge circuit connected to the first and second signal source terminals, the bridge circuit including: a first branch including: a first reference impedance element; and a first sensor impedance element configured to transduce a magnitude to be measured into a first impedance-related parameter; and a second branch including: a second reference impedance element; and a second sensor impedance element configured to transduce the magnitude to be measured into a second sensor impedance-related parameter.

In one example, a method comprises: receiving a voltage from a power converter, and generating a comparison result representing a comparison between the voltage and a voltage threshold. The method further comprises providing one of a first current reference or a second current reference to the power converter responsive to the comparison result, in which the first and second current references represent different current levels.

A voltage sensing device includes: a multiplexer configured to choose either two corresponding voltages at two voltage sensing target nodes or two corresponding voltages at the terminals of a shunt resistor, and output either the two corresponding voltages at the two voltage sensing target nodes or the two corresponding voltages at the terminals of the shunt resistor, which are chosen by the multiplexer, as a first output voltage and a second output voltage; a differential switched capacitor amplifier circuit including a sampling capacitor and a feedback capacitor and configured to sample the first output voltage and the second output voltage through the sampling capacitor, and output sensing voltages corresponding to the first output voltage and the second output voltage by transferring a charge stored in the sampling capacitor through the feedback capacitor; and an operation control unit configured to control the multiplexer and the differential switched capacitor amplifier circuit.