Patent · US Active

Wide range charge balancing capacitive-to-digital converter

US8410969B2 · kind B2 · utility

3Cited by
9References
9Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJan 12, 2010
Grant dateApr 2, 2013
Priority date
Expiry dateFeb 23, 2030

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH03M1/60
  • WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A capacitive-to-digital converter is provided which includes: sensor, offset and reference capacitors, an integrator circuit and a demodulation circuit. The sensor capacitor is switched according to a first clock and the offset capacitor according to a second clock, which has a higher switching frequency. The reference capacitor is switched according to a return signal from the converter's output. The integrator circuit includes an integrator capacitor, and has first and second nodes, with the sensor, offset and reference capacitors each being switched to the first and second nodes based on the respective first clock, second clock or return signal. The demodulation circuit receives and converts output of the integrator circuit into a digital output. The higher frequency clocking of the offset capacitor allows for a reduction in capacitance of the offset, reference or integrator capacitor, and the multiclocking of the converter allows for use of a multireferencing to the sensor capacitor.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.