LTC1968
U
U
U
PI FU CTIO S
GND (Pin 1): Ground. The power return pin.
OUT RTN (Pin 6): Output Return. The output voltage is
created relative to this pin. The VOUT and OUT RTN pins
are not balanced and this pin should be tied to a low
impedance, both AC and DC. Although Pin 6 is often tied
to GND, it can also be tied to any arbitrary voltage:
GND < OUT RTN < (V+ – Max Output)
V+ (Pin 7): Positive Voltage Supply. 4.5V to 5.5V.
IN1 (Pin 2): Differential Input. DC coupled (polarity is
irrelevant).
IN2 (Pin 3): Differential Input. DC coupled (polarity is
irrelevant).
V
OUT (Pin5):OutputVoltage. Pin5ishighimpedance. The
RMS averaging is accomplished with a single shunt ca-
pacitor from Pin 5 to OUT RTN. The transfer function is
given by:
ENABLE (Pin 8): An Active-Low Enable Input. LTC1968 is
debiased if open circuited or driven to V+. For normal
operation, pull to GND.
2
⎡
⎣
⎤
V
OUT
– OUT RTN = Average IN2 –IN1
(
)
(
)
⎥
⎦
⎢
W U U
U
APPLICATIO S I FOR ATIO
RMS-TO-DC CONVERSION
Alternatives to RMS
Other ways to quantify dynamic waveforms include peak
detection and average rectification. In both cases, an
average (DC) value results, but the value is only accurate
at the one chosen waveform type for which it is calibrated,
typically sine waves. The errors with average rectification
are shown in Table 1. Peak detection is worse in all cases
and is rarely used.
Definition of RMS
RMS amplitude is the consistent, fair and standard way to
measure and compare dynamic signals of all shapes and
sizes. Simply stated, the RMS amplitude is the heating
potential of a dynamic waveform. A 1VRMS AC waveform
willgeneratethesameheatinaresistiveloadaswill1VDC.
Mathematically, RMS is the “Root of the Mean of the
Square”:
Table 1. Errors with Average Rectification vs True RMS
AVERAGE
RECTIFIED
WAVEFORM
Square Wave
Sine Wave
V
(V)
ERROR*
RMS = V2
RMS
V
1.000
1.000
1.000
1.000
1.000
0.900
0.866
0.637
11%
*Calibrate for 0% Error
–3.8%
Triangle Wave
+
1V DC
R
R
R
–
SCR at 1/2 Power,
–29.3%
Θ = 90°
SCR at 1/4 Power,
Θ = 114°
1.000
0.536
–40.4%
SAME
HEAT
1V AC
RMS
The last two entries of Table 1 are chopped sine waves as
is commonly created with thyristors such as SCRs and
Triacs. Figure 2a shows a typical circuit and Figure 2b
shows the resulting load voltage, switch voltage and load
1V (AC + DC) RMS
1968 F01
Figure 1
1968f
7