MULTI-CHANNEL SIGNAL MONITORING CIRCUIT

• US 20080117078A1
• Filed: 12/22/2006
• Published: 05/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: KUO, HENG-CHEN
• Granted Patent: US 7,825,823 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/870.11
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 15/00 Arrangements characterised by the use of multiplexing for the transmission of a plurality of signals over a common path

Abstract

A signal monitoring circuit includes a plurality of sensors, a meter chip, a micro control unit (MCU), and a multiplexer. The sensors are adapted for collecting electrical signals of an electrical system, and each of the sensors correspondingly generates an output signal. The multiplexer is adapted for receiving the output signal of each of the sensors. The MCU controls the multiplexer to selectively output one of the output signals. The meter chip receives the selected one of output signals from the multiplexer and generates corresponding meter signals to the MCU.

Claims

1. A signal monitoring circuit, comprising:

a plurality of sensors adapted for collecting electrical signals of an electrical system, each of the sensors correspondingly generating an output signal;

a meter chip;

a micro control unit (MCU); and

a multiplexer receiving the output signal of each of the sensors, the MCU controlling the multiplexer to selectively output one of the output signals, the meter chip receiving said one of the output signals from the multiplexer and generating corresponding meter signals to the MCU.

2. The signal monitoring circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the multiplexer is a dual 4-channel analog multiplexer.

3. The signal monitoring circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the output signal of each of the sensors is a pair of differential signals.

4. The signal monitoring circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the sensors is one of a potential transformer (PT) and a current transformer (CT).

5. The signal monitoring circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein a plurality of general purpose input/output (GPIO) pins of the MCU are respectively electrically connected to selecting ports of the multiplexer to control the multiplexer to selectively output one of the output signals.

6. The signal monitoring circuit as claimed in claim 5, wherein an amount of the sensors and an amount of the GPIO pins of the MCU satisfy:

2<sup>n−

1</sup><

m≦

2ⁿ

wherein m is greater than 1, m is the amount of the sensors, n is the amount of the GPIO pins of the MCU.

7. A signal monitoring circuit comprising:

a plurality of sensors collecting electrical signals of an electrical system and generating signals;

a multiplexer electrically connected to the sensors for receiving the signals generated by the sensors, the multiplexer comprising;

a plurality of selecting ports for receiving a control signal for selecting one of the sensors to output the corresponding signals generated by the selected sensor via the multiplexer; and

an output for transmitting the signals generated by the selected sensor;

a meter chip electrically connected to the output of the multiplexer for receiving the signals generated by the selected sensor and outputting corresponding meter signals; and

a micro control unit (MCU) receiving the meter signals of the meter chip, and being electrically connected to the selecting ports of the multiplexer for sending the control signal to the multiplexer to select one of the sensors to communicate with the meter chip.

8. The signal monitoring circuit as claimed in claim 7, wherein the multiplexer is a dual 4-channel analog multiplexer.

9. The signal monitoring circuit as claimed in claim 7, wherein the signals generated by each of the sensors are differential signals.

10. The signal monitoring circuit as claimed in claim 7, wherein each of the sensors is one of a potential transformer (PT) and a current transformer (CT).

11. The signal monitoring circuit as claimed in claim 7, wherein a plurality of general purpose input/output (GPIO) pins of the MCU are electrically connected to the selecting ports of the multiplexer to control the multiplexer to select one of the sensors to communicate with the meter chip.

12. The signal monitoring circuit as claimed in claim 11, wherein an amount of the sensors and an amount of the GPIO pins of the MCU satisfy:

2<sup>n−

1</sup><

m≦

2ⁿ

wherein m is greater than 1, m is the amount of the sensors, n is the amount of the GPIO pins of the MCU.

13. A signal monitoring circuit comprising:

a plurality of sensors configured for collecting electrical signals of an electrical system and generating a plurality of pairs of corresponding differential signals;

a meter chip;

a multiplexer comprising a plurality of pairs of inputs respectively electrically connected to the sensors for receiving the differential signals generated by the sensors, a plurality of selecting ports for receiving a control signal for selecting one of the sensors to communicate with the meter chip, and a pair of outputs electrically connected to the meter chip for transmitting the differential signals generated by the selected sensor to the meter chip; and

a micro control unit (MCU) electrically connected to the meter chip for receiving meter signals generated by the meter chip in response to the differential signals of the selected sensor, the MCU being electrically connected to the selecting ports of the multiplexer for sending the control signal to the multiplexer.

14. The signal monitoring circuit as claimed in claim 13, wherein the multiplexer is a dual 4-channel analog multiplexer and comprises a pair of selecting ports, and the MCU comprises a pair of general purpose input/output (GPIO) pins respectively electrically connected to the selecting ports of the multiplexer.