Sensors: / Detectors: Peak Detectors Electronic Circuits

Sensors / Detectors: Peak Detectors
Sensors / Detectors -- Main Page
Last Updated on: Friday, October 16, 2009 03:42 AM

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, electronic schematics, designs for engineers, hobbyists, students & inventors:

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. ….(designed by David A. Johnson)

Analog Switch Cuts Peak Detector Reset Time - 05/25/95 EDN-Design Ideas / (added 3/03)

Audio Peak Reading Meters - (electronic schematic / circuit added 4/02)

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) ….(designed by David A. Johnson)

Digital Lock-in Milliohmmeter - (schematic / circuit added 6/07)

Digital RF Field Strength Indicator - (schematic / circuit added 6/07)

Dual Polarity Peak Detector operates from Single Supply - 05/12/94 EDN-Design Ideas / (added 3/03) 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 ....

Fast Amplifiers Simplify AC Measurement - 05/09/96 EDN-Design Ideas / (added 3/03)

Fast Audio Peak Limiter - This peak limiter is simple and very effective. Uses discrete FET gain control (circuit / design added 8/03)

Field Strength Indicator -Analog only - (circuit schematic added 6/07)

High Speed Peak Detector uses ECLComparator - 09/26/02 EDN Design Ideas / (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.

Lock-in Milliohmmeter - (schematic / circuit added 6/07)

Low Capacitance Scope Probe Adapter - (circuit added 6/07)

LTD - Low Cost Telemetering Device - (circuit added 6/07)

MAX038 Function/Sweep Generator with Markers ATtiny2313, AT90S1200A - (circuit added 6/07)

Microcontroller detects pulses - (Design Ideas - EDN, 7/24/2008 A microcontroller detects output pulses in a device under test. (electronic design idea added 9/2008)

Minimum Mass Waveform Capture and Display - The result was a project that includes a waveform capture circuit, a graphic LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and a control panel with LED indicators. The details of the Graphic LCD display unit, composed of the LCD module, a serial interface, and bias supply were published earlier on this site,...(schematic / circuit added 6/07)

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 ....

Peak Detector Maximizes CCD Sensor Range - 08/15/96 EDN-Design Ideas / (added 3/03)

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 (added 3/05)

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

Peak to Peak Monitor uses No OpAmps - 11/23/94 EDN-Design Ideas / (added 3/03) 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)

Phase Meter Operates to 10 MHz - (07/04/96 EDN-Design Ideas / (added 8/03)

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. ….(designed by David A. Johnson)

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.

RF Field Strength Indicator - (schematic / circuit added 6/07)

RF Field Strength Probe - (circuit schematic added 6/07)

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....

Simple LM335 thermometer - (schematic / circuit added 6/07)

Simple Phase Meter operates to 10 MHz - (07/04/96 EDN-Design Ideas / (added 8/03)