IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. Im-27, NO.

3, SEPTEMBER 1978

302

Active Foldback Resistive Circuits

LOUIS A. ROSENTHAL, SENIOR MEMBER, IEEE

Abstract-A two-terminal circuit provides a low resistance until

the current exceeds a designed leveL At this point, it switches to a high
resistance limiting the current. The circuit can be restored to its low
resistance state only by returning the current to near zero.

-1 MCTS (MONSANTO

22 K

MOTOR
SHAFT

DC

Fig. 1.

I
Fig. 2.

the pulsetrain obtained on an oscilloscope screen. Referring to

Fig. 1, feedback pulses from the controlled shaft are optically
generated, amplified by the first amplifier, and applied to a resettable ramp generator so that each ramp now has an amplitude
proportional to the interpulse time duration. The third amplifier
is used to level shift the envelope of the waveform to near ground
potential so that high magnification can be effected without overloading the oscilloscope. Very high resolution can thus be
obtained.
The photograph in Fig. 2 illustrates the application of the
method. It was taken from a miniature synchronous-hysteresistype motor with a low inertia load. The upper trace is the sawtooth waveform which is approximately 7 V peak to peak. The
lower trace is a magnified portion of the waveform. It clearly
shows that the apparently smooth speed is, in fact, slightly irregular; the main ripple component is approximately seven times
the rotation duration. This "hunting" is typical in this type of
motor. In comparison, a typical PLL-stabilized induction motor
with approximately similar dimensions showed an order of magnitude lower than instantaneous speed variations, whereas a
brushless dc motor was found to have a practically smooth angular velocity. It should be emphasized that similar readings could
not be taken from the output of the loop filter because of the
comparatively slow loop response.

There is often a need for a fast-acting current limiting circuit

breaker that will protect a circuit from excessive current flow [1],
[2]. A novel simple circuit has been developed for this purpose
where the circuit provides a low resistance up to a fixed current
level. Upon exceeding this current, the circuit becomes a high
resistance limiting the current flow to some low level. By returning
the current to near zero, it is possible to restore the circuit to its
low resistance state. There is a small insertion loss that must be
tolerated corresponding to the current passing and sensing
mechanism.
Fig. 1 is the circuit arrangement. Transistors T1 and T2, as a
Darlington pair, pass the load current in the active state since
resistor R2 will bias the circuit into conduction. Load current
through the resistor RI produces a voltage drop which, at a critical current, will break down the T3 - T4 circuit. The base of T2 is
thereupon pulled down to the low forward drop of the T3 - T4
circuit and the Darlington conduction path is opened. Breakdown
of the T3 - T4 circuit changes the conduction state. As shown, this
circuit can be replaced by a typical four-layer breakdown diode
(e.g., SUS 2N 4987) except that the trigger voltage level would be
fixed at about 8 V. As shown, the three diodes (D.) hold off conduction in T4 until 1.8 V appears at the emitter of T4. At the onset
of conduction, T3 in a regenerative manner pulls the entire circuit
drop down to one diode drop (VBE). For each additional silicon
diode in the D. string, the threshold (Vf) is increased 0.45 V. Since
the voltage at the base of T2 must be at least two diode drops (i.e.,
2VBE) to start conduction; no current flows through RI, and R2
essentially limits the current flow.
Fig. 2 shows the circuit states and the foldback resistance paths.
Starting from the origin and ignoring an offset of two diode drops
(due to T1 - T2), current increases along conductance line G,
according to

G, = 1/(R1 + R2/01#2)

(1)

where PI #2 are the respective current gains for T1 and T2. At the
foldback or breakdown point corresponding to "A," the current is
IA = (Vf - 2VBE)/RI
(2)
and
where Vf is the breakdown voltage of the T3 T4 circuit
VBE
is a typical active base-emitter voltage drop (i.e., 0.6 V). The voltage drop at the foldback point is IA/GI and greater than Vf by
IA R2/fil f2. A typical value for P1I#2 would be 2500.

Upon breakdown, the circuit jumps to point "B" corresponding

to a conductance G2 where

G2 = 1/(R2).

(3)

Increasing or decreasing the voltage produces movement along

the line 0-C. To restore the circuit to the G, state, the current has
Manuscript received October 7,1977.
The author is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854.

0018-9456/78/0900-0302$00.75 (D 1978 IEEE

303

SHORT PAPERS

77

Fig. 1. The circuit diagram is shown. Transistors are T2, T3 = 2N718, T, = 2N3585,
T,(PNP) = 2N2862. D. is a series string of three general-purpose silicon diodes.

Va_r
V

Fig. 2. The resistance paths are shown. Low resistance region (G,) will change to a
high resistance region (G2) at a trip point "A." Retuming to the origin will reset the
resistance back to the original low level.

to be dropped below the holding current for the T3

T4 circuit

and this practically corresponds to the origin "O" region.

Fig 3. A curve-tracer portrait of the circuit of Fig. I with R, = 0.9 ohms displays
the two resistance regions. The insertion voltage drop is 4 V.

Fig. 3 is a "curve tracer" presentation of a typical circuit for

which R 1 is 0.9 LI The current trip point is 500 mA, GI = 0.2 mho,
and the insertion voltage drop is 4 V including a 2-VBE offset.
During the off state, the G2 conductance (10-4) is not discernible.
The circuit is sufficiently simple so that scaling and design variations are obvious.
Since the resistance change can produce inductive energy
effects, a reverse conduction diode or equivalent can be placed
across T1. By placing the circuit in a full-wave rectifier bridge, it is
possible to obtain ac current trip performance.
REFERENCES
[1] SCR Manual, 5th ed., General Electric Semiconductor Products Dept., Syracuse,
NY, 1972, p. 210.

[2] "ISO-Switch," Ohmic Instruments, St. Michaels, MD.