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In electronics, a constant current system is one that varies the voltage across a load to maintain a constant electric current.When a component is indicated to be driven by a constant current, the driver circuit is, in essence, a current regulator and must appear to the component as a current source of suitable reliability.
Motor drive applications can also require power supplies with controlled output current. Super capacitor charger, These new capacitors, which provide impressive capacitance values such as 1F at 5 V in a mere cubic centimeter, can provide high power. The capacitor must first be charged, usually from a battery whose voltage is lower than the ...
The charger provides a constant current, typically the maximum current that the charger is capable of producing. As a result of this current, the battery absorbs a charge and its voltage rises. The charger limits the maximum voltage to U max , a constant or temperature-dependent maximum, typically around 2.4 V per cell.
The charger may have temperature or voltage sensing circuits and a microprocessor controller to safely adjust the charging current and voltage, determine the state of charge, and cut off at the end of charge. Chargers may elevate the output voltage proportionally with current to compensate for impedance in the wires.
Thus, the load current is constant (neglecting the output resistance of the transistor due to the Early effect) and the circuit operates as a constant current source. As long as the temperature remains constant (or doesn't vary much), the load current will be independent of the supply voltage, R1 and the transistor's gain.
The RC time constant, denoted τ (lowercase tau), the time constant (in seconds) of a resistor–capacitor circuit (RC circuit), is equal to the product of the circuit resistance (in ohms) and the circuit capacitance (in farads):
The charging procedure is performed at constant voltage with current-limiting circuitry (i.e., charging with constant current until a voltage of 4.2 V is reached in the cell and continuing with a constant voltage applied until the current drops close to zero). Typically, the charge is terminated at 3% of the initial charge current.
Electric current can be directly measured with a galvanometer, but this method involves breaking the electrical circuit, which is sometimes inconvenient. Current can also be measured without breaking the circuit by detecting the magnetic field associated with the current. Devices, at the circuit level, use various techniques to measure current: