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Digital Multimeter: Handheld

Block Diagram (SBD) for a Handheld Digital Multimeter solution featuring precision analog converters and amplifiers, low-power microcontrollers, and power management to measure current, voltage, and resistance

Block Diagram

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ADC: Precision Amplifier Amplifier: Driver Audio Amp Interface: Isolation Interface: Isolation Interface: Isolation Interface: Isolation Interface: Isolation Interface: Isolation USB Interface Level Shift AC Adapter LCD Backlight Battery Charger In-Pack Gas Gauge Battery Protection Memory and MCU Power Processor Reference

Design Considerations

A Handheld Digital Multimeter (DMM) is a low-cost instrument used to measure AC and DC voltage, AC and DC current, and resistance. Five system level blocks are common to handheld DMM designs: Signal Conditioning and A/D conversion of the input signal, LCD/LED/Keypad, Control and Data Processing, Memory/Peripheral devices, and Power Management. Implementation specifics will obviously vary depending on the feature set of the meter.

The common core subsystems are:

  • Analog Front-End - Signals are initially passed through a signal conditioning subsystem which amplifies or attenuates the analog signal in preparation for further conditioning, depending on whether the measurement is AC volts, DC volts, current, or resistance. Precision amplifiers and analog to digital converters are used to facilitate resolutions up to 4 1/2 digits on modern handheld DMMs.
  • LCD/LED/Keypad - Entry level handheld DMMs offer basic monochrome 7 segment displays while higher end models offer 1/4 VGA OLED displays to accommodate the data logging features that have been recently added to the traditional DMM.
  • Control and Data Processing - Executes measuring processes and controls interface with memory and peripheral devices. It also performs real-time analysis of acquired signals such as min/max, averaging, and conversion to engineering units.
  • Memory/Peripheral Devices - Measurements results are stored in EEPROM or FLASH memory as a data log that can be uploaded to a PC via USB interface.
  • Power Management and Conversion - converts the input battery power to run various functional blocks.

TI has a wide range of products like amplifiers, ADCs, Power, Interface, and Microcontrollers to meet the requirements of handheld Digital Multimeter designers.

Application Notes

Most useful technical documents for Digital Multimeter: Handheld Help

     

Selection and Solution Guides

Most useful technical documents for Digital Multimeter: Handheld Help

Selection Guides

Tools and Software

Name Part # Company Software/Tool Type
MSP430F5438 Experimenter Board MSP-EXP430F5438 Texas Instruments Development Boards/EVMs
TMS320F28335 eZdsp Starter Kit TMDSEZ28335 Texas Instruments Starter Kits

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