Current Sense Circuit Collection

Sensing and/or controlling current flow is a fundamental requirement in many electronics systems, and the techniques to do so are as diverse as the applications themselves. A new Application Note compiles solutions to current sensing problems and organizes the solutions by general application type. These circuits have been culled from a variety of Linear Technology documents.

Circuits Organized by General Application
Each chapter collects together applications that tend to solve a similar general problem, such as high side current sensing, or negative supply sensing. The chapters are titled accordingly (see “Circuit Collection Index” below). In this way, the reader has access to many possible solutions to a particular problem in one place.

It is unlikely that any particular circuit shown will exactly meet the requirements for a specific design, but the suggestion of many circuit techniques and devices should prove useful. Specific circuits may appear in several chapters if they have broad application.

This Application Note Will Change
This Application Note is a growing and changing document. Many of the chapters listed below are placeholders for material that will be filled in soon. As the chapters are added, their links will be enabled.

Using the Application Note
Click the name of a chapter in the “Circuit Collection Index” below to open the PDF version of that chapter.

• Introduction

• Current Sense Basics

• High Side

• Low Side

• Negative Voltage

• Unidirectional

• Bidirectional

• AC

• DC

• Level Shifting

• High Voltage

• Low Voltage

• High Current (100mA to Amps)

• Low Current (Picoamps to Milliamps)

• Motors and Inductive Loads

• Batteries

• High Speed

• Fault Sensing

• Digitizing

• Current Control

• Precision

• Wide Range

Click here to download the entire app note.