PRECISION MODULATED CONTROLLER OUTPUT

• US 20060244432A1
• Filed: 04/29/2005
• Published: 11/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Grabinger, Cory L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,492,233 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 323/282
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/08 Circuits specially adapted for the generation of control voltages for semiconductor devices incorporated in static converters

Abstract

A modulating controller for use in providing a precision modulating output is disclosed. An illustrative modulating controller may include a voltage regulator adapted to output a single reference voltage, at least one modulating circuit adapted to convert a pulse-width modulated signal of the controller into a precision-controlled amplitude signal, and a modulating output driver for providing a modulating output to one or more modulating components. Illustrative methods of producing a modulating output are also disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A modulating controller for providing a modulating output to one or more modulating components, the modulating controller comprising:

a voltage regulator adapted to output a reference voltage;

at least one modulating circuit adapted to convert a pulse-width modulated signal of the controller into a precision-controlled amplitude signal, each modulating circuit including a buffer operatively coupled to the reference voltage; and

a modulating output driver for providing a modulating output to the one or more modulating components.

2. The modulating controller of claim 1, wherein said at least one modulating circuit comprises a plurality of modulating circuits each defining a separate channel of the modulating controller.

3. The modulating controller of claim 2, wherein said reference voltage comprises a single reference voltage applied to two or more channels of the modulating controller.

4. The modulating controller of claim 1, wherein said voltage regulator is a CMOS voltage regulator.

5. The modulating controller of claim 1, wherein said voltage regulator has an accuracy of equal to or less than ±

5%.

6. The modulating controller of claim 1, wherein said voltage regulator has an accuracy of equal to or less than ±

2%.

7. The modulating controller of claim 1, wherein said buffer is a voltage level shifting buffer.

8. The modulating controller of claim 1, wherein the precision-controlled amplitude signal outputted from each modulating circuit has an accuracy of about ±

2%.

9. The modulating controller of claim 1, wherein the precision-controlled amplitude signal outputted from each modulating circuit has an accuracy equal to or less than ±

2%.

10. The modulating controller of claim 1, wherein each modulating output driver includes a multi-stage amplifier.

11. The modulating controller of claim 9, wherein said multi-stage amplifier includes a first stage amplifier and a second stage amplifier.

12. The modulating controller of claim 1, wherein said modulating output is a 4-20 mA modulating output.

13. The modulating controller of claim 1, wherein said modulating controller includes a controller sub-base.

14. A modulating controller for providing a modulating output to one or more modulating components, the modulating controller comprising:

a voltage regulator adapted to output a single reference voltage;

a plurality of modulating circuits each defining a separate channel of the modulating controller, each modulating circuit including a buffer adapted to receive the reference voltage from said voltage regulator for converting a pulse-width modulated signal of the controller into a precision-controlled amplitude signal; and

a modulating output driver for providing a modulating output to the one or more modulating components.

15. An apparatus for providing a modulating output, comprising:

a voltage regulator adapted to output a single reference voltage;

one or more buffers operatively coupled to the single reference voltage, each buffer adapted to convert a pulse-width modulated signal into a modulating signal; and

a modulating output driver for providing a modulating output based on each modulating signal.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said voltage regulator is a CMOS voltage regulator.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said buffer is a non-inverting buffer.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said buffer is a voltage level shifting buffer.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein modulating output is a 4-20 mA modulating output.

20. A method of producing a modulating output from a pulse-width modulated signal outputted by a controller, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a modulating circuit including a buffer operatively coupled to a reference voltage;

buffering the pulse-width modulated signal using the buffer and reference voltage to produce a precision-controlled amplitude signal; and

amplifying the precision-controlled amplitude signal and outputting a modulating output to one or more modulating components.