An electronic circuit for detecting a change in a property of interest, the circuit comprising a voltage detector having an input and a device for providing a bias current to the input of the voltage detector, wherein the circuit is arranged such that a change in the property of interest modifies the current received at the input of the voltage detector. A change in the property of interest may modify the current by adding or subtracting a current to the bias current. The property of interest may be a signal which is combined with the bias current thereby to alter the current at the input of the voltage detector. The signal may be capacitively coupled into the bias current. The signal may be provided by a sensor, which may be a voltage generating sensor and could be an antenna, rectenna, microphone or any other suitable sensor.

A sensor system for a battery module, includes: a shunt resistor including: a first current clamp and a second current clamp, each of the first and second current clamps to be connected to a current path of the battery module; a first voltage clamp and a second voltage clamp; and a measurement resistance between the first voltage clamp and the second voltage clamp, and electrically connected to the first current clamp and the second current clamp; a first landing pad electrically connected to the first voltage clamp; a second landing pad electrically connected to the second voltage clamp; a first temperature sensor connected to the first landing pad; and a second temperature sensor connected to the second landing pad.

A power supply control apparatus controls power supply from a DC power source to a load by switching on or off a power supply FET. The current adjustment circuit adjusts the current flowing through the resistor circuit to a value obtained by dividing the voltage between the drain and the source of the power supply FET by the resistance value of the resistor circuit. A drive circuit switches off the power supply FET when a voltage across the detection resistor exceeds a predetermined voltage. The on-resistance value of the power supply FET fluctuates according on the ambient temperature of the power supply FET. The resistance value of the resistor circuit fluctuates in the same direction as the on-resistance value according to the ambient temperature of the power supply FET.

A current supervisory device includes current sensing means for sensing a current; a circuit arranged to convert a signal received from the current sensing means into a signal indicative of the sensed current; a processing circuit arranged to receive the signal indicative of the sensed current, to detect an event based on the received signal such that the detecting yields an outcome corresponding to one of at least two different states, and to generate an event signal in accordance with the outcome, such that the processing circuit has modulation means for performing modulation based on the event signal; and an output terminal arranged to output a reporting signal received from said processing circuit, whereby at least one of at least two different states gives rise to the reporting signal being a modulated signal.

A current supervisory device includes current sensing means for sensing a current; a circuit arranged to convert a signal received from the current sensing means into a signal indicative of the sensed current; a processing circuit arranged to receive the signal indicative of the sensed current, to detect an event based on the received signal such that the detecting yields an outcome corresponding to one of at least two different states, and to generate an event signal in accordance with the outcome, such that the processing circuit has modulation means for performing modulation based on the event signal; and an output terminal arranged to output a reporting signal received from said processing circuit, whereby at least one of at least two different states gives rise to the reporting signal being a modulated signal.

A method for monitoring optical fiber temperature includes heating an optical fiber using a heat source, and measuring an infrared radiation level emitted by an optical fiber during heating of the optical fiber. The method further includes comparing the infrared radiation level to a radiation level setpoint for the optical fiber to determine a radiation level error value. The method further includes adjusting a power level setpoint of the heat source based on the radiation level error value.

A method for monitoring optical fiber temperature includes heating an optical fiber using a heat source, and measuring an infrared radiation level emitted by an optical fiber during heating of the optical fiber. The method further includes comparing the infrared radiation level to a radiation level setpoint for the optical fiber to determine a radiation level error value. The method further includes adjusting a power level setpoint of the heat source based on the radiation level error value.

A semiconductor device with the highly precise current detecting function is provided. Current detection is performed using a semiconductor device in which two semiconductor chips are mounted in one package. The first semiconductor chip is provided with an electric power supply transistor to supply power to a load via a load driving terminal, and a current detection circuit to detect a current flowing through the load driving terminal. In the inspection process of the semiconductor device, the electrical property of the current detection circuit in the first semiconductor chip is inspected, and the information on a correction equation obtained as the inspection result is written in a memory circuit of the second semiconductor chip. The second semiconductor chip corrects the detection result obtained by the current detection circuit based on the information on the correction equation written in the memory circuit concerned.

A semiconductor device with the highly precise current detecting function is provided. Current detection is performed using a semiconductor device in which two semiconductor chips are mounted in one package. The first semiconductor chip is provided with an electric power supply transistor to supply power to a load via a load driving terminal, and a current detection circuit to detect a current flowing through the load driving terminal. In the inspection process of the semiconductor device, the electrical property of the current detection circuit in the first semiconductor chip is inspected, and the information on a correction equation obtained as the inspection result is written in a memory circuit of the second semiconductor chip. The second semiconductor chip corrects the detection result obtained by the current detection circuit based on the information on the correction equation written in the memory circuit concerned.

A system current sensor module can accurately sense or measure system current flowing through a sense current resistor by shunting current through a gain-setting resistor and using an amplifier to measure a resulting voltage, with an output transistor controlled by the amplifier controlling current through the gain setting resistor in a manner that tends to keep the amplifier inputs at the same voltage. The resistors can be thermally coupled to maintain similar temperatures when a system current is flowing. The thermal coupling can include conducting heat from a first resistor layer carrying the current sense resistor to a thermal cage layer located beyond a second resistor layer carrying the gain-setting resistor. This preserves accuracy, including during aging.