What would you say if someone asked you to define the general purpose of a sensor? Well, a sensor’s job is to detect an electrical signal and behave according to that signal. Now, the significance of sensors is unbelievable for the efficient performance of the electronics. In fact, some sensors even protect the devices from undergoing potential damage and failure.
These sensors are more feasible to use because of their small sizes, weight, and guarantee of safety at the same time. You can use a single sensor to determine current and voltage if the nature of your project is like this. However, we are going to take a look at voltage sensors and the major aspects of these circuits in detail.
What is a Voltage Sensor Circuit?
The voltage sensor is not a simple circuit to describe. However, we are going to make its definition a lot more perceivable for you so that even if you don’t belong to a physics background, you can understand a voltage circuit quite well. Here we go:
We define a voltage sensor as a setup that is responsible for monitoring the voltage surge and voltage drops. These circuits show accurate readings and voltage traces. Since electronics need precise amounts of voltage to work efficiently, now you know a voltage sensor is a huge deal for such machines.
Some voltage sensors produce pulse waveforms and sine waveforms as well. Now if your project needs a different output, you need some standard voltage dividers to find this output accurately.
Working Principle of Voltage Sensor Circuit
For AC voltage:
When you are working with AC voltage, there are some considerations that you should keep in mind. Don’t worry if you do not know them yet; we are going to discuss these with you for the sake of the quality of your upcoming projects:
- If your voltage sensor uses an AC voltage, then a transformer is important that should consist of sensing elements to make your setup work.
- Other than a transformer, when you want, you should reduce the voltage level to low, which will cause the AC voltage to change into DC voltage. It means you can switch the nature of voltage from AC to DC and vice versa.
For DC voltage:
As you know the considerations of the AC voltage, its time to learn about what you are going to do when you are working with DC voltage in a voltage sensor:
- In this case, a transformer is useless; instead, you need an A/D converter which is an important part of a complex voltage sensor.
- Apart from an A/D converter, you need a resistor that consists of a sensing element that will pair up with the DC voltage.
- However, remember to use more voltage than the sensing elements; otherwise, this setup won’t perform as per your expectations.
- Also, power regulation and control are necessary when you are observing DC voltage.
Characteristics of Voltage Sensor Circuit
It will be just redundant to say that voltage sensors have crucial applications for the well-being of giant industries around us. Isn’t it so obvious to you?? Due to this reason, consumer electronics is no exception. Every type of voltage sensor has a different set of features that make it different from the others. Nevermind, we are going to take a quick look at the general characteristics of voltage sensors for you:
- Excellent wireless nature so that you can connect it with as many external equipment and devices as you want.
- These are able to proactively monitor voltage drops and voltage spikes for the real-time detection of technical problems.
- Microcontrollers also work well with voltage sensors so that the devices can efficiently perform in their natural state.
- Voltage sensors are always accessible from the market, and producers can fully rely on them.
- These are affordable to use for private projects, which helps students with their assignments as well.
Different Types of Voltage Sensor Circuits
The following are two major and common types of voltage sensors:
Resistive Type Voltage Sensor Circuits
- The resistive sensors include two circuits normally. One of them is a voltage divider circuit, and the other is a bridge circuit.
- This circuit also contains a resistor, and it has the simple job of functioning as a sensing element for this circuit.
- The voltage gets divided into both circuit units of this sensor equally.
- When the circuit receives the voltage supply, it allows you to find out the output voltage, and resistance helps you with this purpose.
- Unlike the voltage divider circuit, the bridge circuit has a group of four resistors.
Capacitor Type Voltage Sensor Circuits
- There is a single insulator and two conductors present in this sensor.
- These three components are present in the core of the circuit.
- You need an appropriate supply for this sensor to get the desired results.
- The applied voltage will repel the electrons, which will create a detectable difference.
- If you use a series circuit, you can combine the voltage and capacitance for this type of voltage sensor.
Benefits of Voltage Sensor Circuit
The following benefits will convince you to replace typical measuring techniques with voltage sensors to make your projects stand out from your competitors:
- Small size
- Featherweight
- More safety guaranteed
- Hight accurate results
- Non-saturable nature
- Eco-friendly
- Multipurpose circuit for voltage and current
Applications of Voltage Sensor Circuit
- It is reliable for the purpose of Load sensing in various devices.
- Fault identification with a voltage sensor becomes easy, and you can even save your devices from undergoing irreversible damage.
- Power loss detection makes electronics power-efficient, and all this happens due to a voltage sensor.
- Temperature control and regulation with a voltage sensor seem unusual, but it has a great impact on a device’s overall health.
- Power demand monitoring is also a fantastic use case for a voltage sensor.
- A voltage sensor never compromises on safety which becomes more important than ever for the well-being of devices so that they can perform naturally in the long run.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
What is the meaning of a Voltage Sensor Circuit?
Voltage sensors are important for monitoring and determining the voltage supply of the electronics. You can find out the AC/DC voltage levels as well. It uses voltage as input and switches as its output.
What are the various kinds of Voltage Sensor circuits?
Following are the different types of sensors available in the market:
- Temperature sensors
- Vision/imaging sensors
- Proximity sensors
- Radiation sensors
- Pressure sensors
- Position sensors
- Particle sensors
- Photoelectric sensors
What is the working of the Voltage Sensor Circuit in Arduino?
It acts as a voltage divider in Arduino. Moreover, it works on the ratio of resistance 5:1. It has two resistors of 30kilo-ohms and 7.5kilo-ohms. Besides, It reduces the output voltage to factor 5, no matter the input voltage.
What are the two elements of a Voltage Sensor Circuit?
There are two major parts within a voltage sensor. One is the voltage divider circuit, and the other is the bridge circuit. These two parts play their individual roles in making the sensor perform its role efficiently for the devices, even under unfavorable conditions.
