Sensors: / Detectors: Peak Detectors Electronic Circuits


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Sensors / Detectors: Peak Detectors
Last Updated on: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 03:50 PM

Sensors / Detectors -- Main Page

Circuits Designed by Dave Johnson, P.E. :

AIR TRANSPARENCY MONITOR, XENON FLASH RECEIVER
I designed this circuit many years ago to monitor the quality of a mile long column of air for future optical communications experiments. The transmitter system (circuit 72 below) uses a powerful xenon flash in conjunction with a large 12 inch Fresnel lens at the transmitter end and a matching 12-inch lens with a PIN photo diode at the receiver. The receiver system was connected to a weather station and a computer to collect the changes in intensity of the light flashes under different weather conditions. It has the potential for a 30+-mile range. I have also used this system to conduct cloud bounce experiments.

Audio Signal Detector Switch
This circuit will activate a transistor switch when it detects at least 50mv peak to peak of an audio signal. It could be used to turn on a relay, routing the signal to were it is needed. (added 7/06)

PRECISION AC PEAK DETECTOR
This unique circuit uses a very inexpensive voltage comparator to form a peak detector. The DC voltage produced tracks the positive peak of the input signal. It works from about ten millivolts to about 10 volts peak to peak. The maximum frequency is about 150KHz.

Links to electronic circuits, schematics, or diagrams for engineers, hobbyists, students & inventors:

Analog Switch Cuts Peak Detector Reset Time: 05/25/95 EDN-Design Ideas / (Electronic Circuit diagram added 03/03)

Audio Peak Reading Meters: (Electronic Schematic / circuit added 4/02)

Dual polarity peak detector operates from single supply: 05/12/94 EDN Design Ideas / (added 2/06)

Dual Polarity Peak Detector operates from Single Supply: 05/12/94 EDN-Design Ideas / (Electronic Circuit diagram added 03/03) The circuit inFig 1 can detect the peak of either positive or negative inputs, yet it operates from a single supply. The circuit uses two unity-gain amplifiers to monitor the input signal, one an inverting amplifier and the other a noninverting amplifier. A typical application is driving a VU meter. The design takes advantage of a characteristic of the LMC662, IC1. Although the op amp’s data sheet warns against pulling inputs below ground, the op amp can withstand negative inputs if you limit the input current. In this circuit, R1 limits input current to a very small amount. The op amp does nothing uncivilized, such as latching up or slamming against both rails, in this mode. It just waits patiently with its output at ground potential until the input signal goes positive and then starts following the input again. If you wish to substitute another op amp, check its performance first....

Fast Amplifiers Simplify AC Measurement: 05/09/96 EDN-Design Ideas / (Electronic Circuit diagram added 03/03)

Fast Audio Peak Limiter: (added 8/03)

High Speed Peak Detector uses ECLComparator: 09/26/02 EDN - Design Ideas / (Circuit / schematic design added 6/06) Professional electronics designers often use peak-detector circuit sin such applications as amplitude measurement, automatic gain control, and data regeneration. You can build a simple and fast peak detector from a serial diode and a shunt capacitor, but it suffers from serious inaccuracy that stems from the diode's forward-voltage drop..

Inexpensive peak detector requires few components: 07/07/05 EDN Design Ideas / (added 11/05) All-analog circuit needs no rectifiers.

Peak Detector Lowers Frequency Dependent Errors: 01/18/96 EDN-Design Ideas / (added 09/05) The classic peak detector in Figure 1a lacks the necessary performance to drive an audio-level indicator. Because of the amplifier’s slew-rate limitations, this circuit suffers a reduction in detected output with increasing frequency. The amplifier acts as a comparator. The output is low most of the time but slews up to "catch" the peak of the input signal when the voltage at the positive input exceeds that at the negative input. The amplifier output is, thus, a slew-rate-limited voltage spike. As frequency increases, this catch point occurs after the peak has passed; as a result, the held output demonstrates a frequency-dependent error.

Peak Detector Maximizes CCD Sensor Range: 08/15/96 EDN-Design Ideas / (Electronic Circuit diagram added 03/03)

Peak Detectors Gain in Speed and Performance: DN61 - Design Notes (Linear Technology) (app note added 1/06)

Peak Level Indicator: Dot-mode three-LED display. 9V battery powered portable unit (circuit design added 3/05)

Peak Reading Audio Level Meter: indicates peak audio response on an analogue meter, similar to a tape recorder recording level meter (Electronic circuit added 5/02)

Peak to Peak Monitor uses No OpAmps: 11/23/94 EDN-Design Ideas / (Electronic Circuit diagram added 03/03) The peak-to-peak monitor in Fig 1 uses three identical transistors and three identical resistors rather than a handful of op amps and their associated components. The circuit measures voltages up to ±2V p-p….

Peak-reading meters: (Electronic circuit added 4/05)

Precision Audio Frequency Peak Detection Probe : for use with a digital voltmeter (Circuit / schematic design added 6/06)

Precision peak detector uses no precision components: 06/10/04 EDN Design Ideas / (added 1/05) When you need a precision peak detector, you would usually implement it with one or several op amps and a few other associated components. This technique usually works well unless your design requires operation higher than a few kilohertz.

Sampling peak detector has shutdown feature: 05/16/02 EDN Design Ideas / (added 1/05) You face a serious problem in using a slow ADC with a fast peak detector. The circuit in Figure 1 allows a slow ADC to measure a fast, sampled signal peak. The 100-MHz peak detector for ultrasonic-pulse sampling uses a fast MAX4231 amplifier from Maxim This amplifier has a shutdown feature that facilitates power savings without losing the sampled information....

Sampling peak detector has shutdown feature: 05/16/02 EDN Design Ideas / (added 1/05) You face a serious problem in using a slow ADC with a fast peak detector. The circuit in Figure 1 allows a slow ADC to measure a fast, sampled signal peak. The 100-MHz peak detector for ultrasonic-pulse sampling uses a fast MAX4231 amplifier from Maxim (www.maxim-ic.com). This amplifier has a shutdown feature that facilitates power savings without losing the sampled information....