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Magnetic Probe Amplifier. Final board design.

Magnetic probe amplifier connected to external trigger input

Magnetic probe amplifier connected to external trigger input

I made (hopefully) last iteration of magnetic probe amplifier board. Schematic remains the same. Layout, however, is slightly different. First, I made it more narrow to better fit Tektronix 7000-series time base plugins external trigger input, as can be seen on the title picture. Second, the amplified probe output is made via SMx type connector – PCB-mounted SMA and SMB all have the same footprint. I used straight SMB since I have a surplus of Tektronix P6041 cables. The board layout permits soldering right-angle connector here as well. This arrangement is much handier than previous one.

Since publishing initial design I haven’t seen much interest in it, so instead of ordering a bunch of PCBs I made this board available on BatcPCB Marketplace. Schematic and board layout in Eagle 5.x format are also available. I built one board and haven’t found any errors on copper or silkscreen – if you find any, please let me know.

Oleg.

Magnetic probe amplifier

Magnetic probe amplifier connected

Magnetic probe amplifier connected


Recently, I was researching low-noise DC-DC converters and while reading Linear Technology Application Note 70 found this clever and useful circuit, designed by Jim Williams. The idea is to sense current in power inductor of the converter with another inductor, placed within short distance from the first one. The sensing inductor is connected to a circuit which amplifies and conditions the signal and generates nice clean square wave pulses which can be used to trigger oscilloscope sweep. The probe is isolated from the circuit preventing measurement corruption. As a bonus, analog output of probe amplifier allows observing current waveform through power inductor.

As is often the case with application notes, circuit description and build details are somewhat brief; I’m posting my notes hoping that the information will be helpful for other builders. Also, since BatchPCB doubled my order, I have extra PCBs; if anyone wants to build this circuit on a professionally made PCB with just couple green wires, e-mail me – the PCB can be yours for the price of postage.


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