MULTI-PHASE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM WITH SYNCHRONIZED SIGMA DELTA CONVERTERS

• Main Author: FRICK, ROGER L
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 15.06.2011
• Subjects: ARRANGEMENTS FOR MEASURING TWO OR MORE VARIABLES NOT COVEREDIN A SINGLE OTHER SUBCLASS; BASIC ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY; CODE CONVERSION IN GENERAL; CODING; DECODING; ELECTRICITY; MEASURING; MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING FORCE, STRESS, TORQUE, WORK, MECHANICAL POWER,MECHANICAL EFFICIENCY, OR FLUID PRESSURE; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES; MEASURING NOT SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR A SPECIFIC VARIABLE; MEASURING OR TESTING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; PHYSICS; TARIFF METERING APPARATUS; TESTING

A measurement system includes multiple analog sensor elements and multiple sigma-delta modulators for producing digital outputs. Each sigma-delta modulator receives charge packets from one or more sensor element and charge packets from a shared element (which may be a sensor or a reference element). The sigma-delta modulators are operated synchronously in separate phases, so that the shared element either delivers or does not deliver a charge packet of the sign desired by a sigma-delta modulator only during the phase associated with that sigma-delta modulator.