IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,352,794
Granted Patent B2
US 12,352,794 · App. 18/299,088 · Granted Jul 8, 2025

Capacitance measurement circuit

Inventors: Yanhan Zeng (Guangzhou, CN); Haochang Zhi (Guangzhou, CN); Yongnan Chen (Guangzhou, CN); Junkai Chen (Guangzhou, CN); Jingci Yang (Guangzhou, CN); Tianxian Wu (Guangzhou, CN)
Assignee: Guangzhou University
G01R27/2605
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,352,794
App. No.
18/299,088
Granted
Jul 8, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A capacitance measurement circuit includes an analog front-end (AFE) circuit with current mirror circuits, a parasitic capacitor, an AD converter, an output shift register, and a controller. The controller disconnects a capacitor to be measured and connects one current mirror circuit to record an AFE output voltage V N collected at an inverting input terminal of the AD converter, then connects the capacitor to be measured to collect an AFE output voltage V P at a non-inverting input terminal of the AD converter, and converts a value of (V P −V N ) into a first digital signal; determines, based on the value of the first digital signal, a connection number m of the current mirror circuits, controls the analog front-end circuit to connect m current mirror circuits, and repeat the steps to obtain a second digital signal; and shift the second digital signal based on the connection number m to obtain a capacitance measurement value.

Claims (31)

1. A capacitance measurement circuit, comprising: an analog front-end circuit, a parasitic capacitor, an analog to digital converter (ADC), an output shift register, and a controller;

wherein input terminals of the ADC are connected to an output terminal of the analog front-end circuit, and an output terminal of the ADC is connected to the output shift register;

wherein an input terminal of the analog front-end circuit is connected to the parasitic capacitor and a capacitor to be measured individually; the analog front-end circuit comprises M numbers of current mirror circuits connected in parallel, where M=2 N−1 and N is a positive integer;

wherein the controller is configured to control the analog front-end circuit, the parasitic capacitor, the ADC, and the output shift register to measure the capacitor to be measured, specifically to:

step 1, control one of the current mirror circuits of the analog front-end circuit to be turned on;

step 2, disconnect the capacitor to be measured, and control an inverting input terminal of the ADC to continuously collect analog front end (AFE) output voltages of the analog front-end circuit before connection of the capacitor to be measured;

step 3, control the analog front-end circuit to charge the parasitic capacitor to a first reference voltage, and record an AFE output voltage V N currently collected at the inverting input terminal of the ADC;

step 4, connect the capacitor to be measured, after the analog front-end circuit is stabilized, control a non-inverting input terminal of the ADC to collect an AFE output voltage V P of the analog front-end circuit, and control the ADC to convert a difference value (V P −V N ) of the AFE output voltage V P and the AFE output voltage V N into a first digital signal;

step 5, determine, based on a value of the first digital signal, a connection number m of the current mirror circuits, and control the m numbers of current mirror circuits of the analog front-end circuit to be turned on; where m=2 n−1 and n is a positive integer less than or equal to N; and

step 6, repeat the step 2 to step 4 to obtain a second digital signal, and control, based on the connection number m, the output shift register to shift the second digital signal to obtain a capacitance measurement value of the capacitor to be measured.

2. The capacitance measurement circuit according to claim 1 , wherein after the step 5, the first digital signal is taken as the capacitance measurement value of the capacitor to be measured when a value of the connection number m is 1.

3. The capacitance measurement circuit according to claim 1 , wherein in the step 5, the determine, based on a value of the first digital signal, a connection number m of the current mirror circuits, specifically comprises:

the connection number m is 1 when the value of the first digital signal is greater than D max /2; where D max is a maximum output value of the ADC;

the connection number m is 2 when the value of the first digital signal is less than D max /2 and greater than D max /8;

the connection number m is 2 i−1 when the value of the first digital signal is less than D max /2 i and greater than D max /2 i+1 ; where i is a positive integer greater than or equal to 3.

4. The capacitance measurement circuit according to claim 3 , wherein in the step S 6 , the control, based on the connection number m, the output shift register to shift the second digital signal to obtain a capacitance measurement value of the capacitor to be measured, specifically comprises:

control, in response to the value of the connection number m being 1, the output shift register to not shift the second digital signal to obtain the capacitance measurement value of the capacitor to be measured;

control, in response to the value of the connection number m being 2, the output shift register to shift the second digital signal by one bit to right to obtain the capacitance measurement value of the capacitor to be measured;

control, in response to the value of the connection number m being 2 i−1 , the output shift register to shift the second digital signal to the right by i−1 bits to obtain the capacitance measurement value of the capacitor to be measured.

5. The capacitance measurement circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the analog front-end circuit comprises an operational amplifier, a first capacitor, a second capacitor, a voltage follower, and the M numbers of current mirror circuits connected in parallel;

wherein each of the current mirror circuits comprises two current mirror sub-circuits with a width to length ratio of 1:1 and a reverser arranged between the two current mirror sub-circuits;

wherein a non-inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier is connected to the input terminal of the analog front-end circuit, an inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier is connected to a first end of the first capacitor, and an output terminal of the operational amplifier is connected to the M numbers of current mirror circuits connected in parallel;

wherein an input terminal of the voltage follower is individually connected to a first end of the second capacitor and the M numbers of current mirror circuits connected in parallel, and an output terminal of the voltage follower is connected to the output terminal of the analog front-end circuit; and

wherein a second end of the first capacitor and a second end of the second capacitor each are connected to a signal ground.

6. The capacitance measurement circuit according to claim 5 , wherein the input terminal of the analog front-end circuit is connected to the capacitor to be measured, specifically:

the input terminal of the analog front-end circuit is connected to the capacitor to be measured through a control switch S 3 ;

the controller is further configured to control the control switch S 3 to switch on to thereby control the connection of the capacitor to be measured, or control the control switch S 3 to switch off to thereby control the disconnection of the capacitor to be measured.

7. The capacitance measurement circuit according to claim 5 ,

wherein the input terminals of the ADC are connected to the output terminal of the analog front-end circuit, specifically:

the inverting input terminal of the ADC is connected to the output terminal of the analog front-end circuit through a control switch S 4 , and the non-inverting input terminal of the ADC is connected to the output terminal of the analog front-end circuit;

the controller is further configured to control the control switch S 4 to switch on to thereby control connection of the inverting input terminal of the ADC, or control the control switch S 4 to switch off to thereby control disconnection of the inverting input terminal of the ADC.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 28, 2023
From: ZENG, YANHAN; ZHI, HAOCHANG; CHEN, YONGNAN; CHEN, JUNKAI; YANG, JINGCI; WU, TIANXIAN
To: GUANGZHOU UNIVERSITY
Reel/Frame 064089/0372 →
Priority Claims (1)
CN 202010806476.X · Aug 12, 2020 · national
Continuity (2)
Continuation PCTCN2021111758 · Aug 10, 2021
Related Publication 20230314495A1 · Oct 5, 2023
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Cited By (1)
US 12,584,955