SLOA044A March 2000 – June 2021 TL2842 , TL2842B , TL2843 , TL2844 , TL2845 , TL3842 , TL3842B , TL3843 , TL3844 , TL3845 , TLC081 , TLC2201 , TLV2231 , TLV2361 , TLV2362 , TLV2470 , TLV2471 , TLV2770 , TLV2771 , TLV341 , TLV342 , UC1842 , UC1843 , UC1844 , UC1845 , UC2842 , UC2842A , UC2843 , UC2843A , UC2844 , UC2844A , UC2845 , UC2845A , UC3841 , UC3842 , UC3842A , UC3842M , UC3843 , UC3843A , UC3844 , UC3844A , UC3845 , UC3845A , UC3845AM , UCC1800 , UCC1801 , UCC1802 , UCC1803 , UCC1804 , UCC1805 , UCC2800 , UCC2801 , UCC2802 , UCC2802M , UCC2803 , UCC2804 , UCC2805 , UCC2813-0 , UCC2813-1 , UCC2813-2 , UCC2813-3 , UCC2813-4 , UCC2813-5 , UCC28C40 , UCC28C41 , UCC28C42 , UCC28C43 , UCC28C44 , UCC28C45 , UCC3801 , UCC3802 , UCC3803 , UCC3804 , UCC3805 , UCC3813-0 , UCC3813-1 , UCC3813-2 , UCC3813-3 , UCC3813-4 , UCC3813-5 , UCC38C40 , UCC38C41 , UCC38C42 , UCC38C43 , UCC38C44 , UCC38C45
1 Introduction
Switch-mode power supplies almost always require knowledge of the switching current, often sensed on the primary side of the power transformer. Current Sensing Solutions for Power Supply Designers(1) reviews many methods for sensing the switched current. In lower-power switch-mode power supplies, the method most often used employs a sense resistor. The type of sense resistor used is often a high power, low inductance resistor that can add significant cost and power dissipation to the power supply design. This circuit is shown in Figure 1-1 (a).
Figure 1-1 Typical RSense Method and Proposed Op-Amp Method for Sensing Primary
Side Switch CurrentTo overcome the cost and power dissipation of such power resistors, the circuit of Figure 1-1 (b) is proposed. Using a differential amplifier made up of a low-power op amp and discrete resistors can result in several advantages including lower power dissipation (efficiency), noise immunity, cost, and programmability.