dc Millivoltmeter F igure 1 1.25 shows a 741 op-amp used as the basic amplifier in a dc millivoltmeter. The amplifier provides a meter with high input impedance and scale factors dependent only on resistor value and accuracy. Notice that the meter reading represents millivolts of sig- nal at the circuit input. An analysis of the op-amp circuit provides the circuit transfer function
`
Io V1
` =
Rf R1
a
1 RS
b = a
100 k 100 k
ba
1 10
b =
1 mA 10 mV
FIG. 11.25 Op-amp dc millivoltmeter.
T hus, an input of 10 mV will result in a current through the meter of 1 mA. If the input is 5 mV, the current through the meter will be 0.5 mA, which is half-scale deflection. Changing R f to 200 k, for example, would result in a circuit scale factor of
`
Io V1
` = a
200 k 100 k
ba
1 10
b =
1 mA 5 mV
s howing that the meter now reads 5 mV, full scale. It should be kept in mind that building such a millivoltmeter requires purchasing an op-amp, a few resistors, diodes, capacitors, and a meter movement.
ac Millivoltmeter Another example of an instrumentation circuit is the ac millivoltmeter shown in Fig. 11.26 . The circuit transfer function is
`
Io V1
` =
Rf R1
a
1 RS
b = a
100 k 100 k
ba
1 10
b =
1 mA 10 mV
w hich appears the same as the dc millivoltmeter, except that in this case the signal handled is an ac signal. The meter indication provides a full-scale deflection for an ac input voltage of 10 mV, whereas an ac input of 5 mV will result in half-scale deflection with the meter reading interpreted in millivolt units.
Display Driver Figure 11.27 shows op-amp circuits that can be used to drive a lamp display or LED dis- play. When the noninverting input to the circuit in Fig. 11.27 a goes above the inverting input, the output at terminal 1 goes to the positive saturation level (near 5 V in this example) and the lamp is driven “on” when transistor Q 1 conducts. As shown in the cir- cuit, the output of the op-amp provides 30 mA of current to the base of transistor Q 1 ,