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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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Power: AC/DC Supply

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 (3)

Title Abstract Type Size (KB) Date Views
HTM 8 KB 09 Oct 2011 7217
HTM 8 KB 07 Jan 2009 835
HTM 8 KB 09 Oct 2006 1400
    

Selection and Solution Guides

Selection Guides (5)

Title Abstract Type Size (KB) Date Views
PDF 5.55 MB 11 Apr 2013 16201
PDF 8.94 MB 11 Mar 2013 36709
PDF 6.5 MB 24 Feb 2012 34846
PDF 16.33 MB 17 Nov 2011 1498
PDF 4.91 MB 03 Jul 2008 965

Tools and Software

Name Part # Company Software/Tool Type
Code Composer Studio (CCStudio) Integrated Development Environment (IDE) v5 CCSTUDIO Texas Instruments SW Development Tools, IDEs, Compilers
MSP430F5438 Experimenter Board MSP-EXP430F5438 Texas Instruments Evaluation Modules & Boards
TMS320F28335 eZdsp Starter Kit TMDSEZ28335 Texas Instruments Development Kits

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