Transimpedance Amplifier Design and Performance Comparison for Photoelectric Cells

In this study, a transimpedance amplifier design is implemented by using a current feedback operational amplifier as an active element for photoelectric cells used for purposes such as particle counters, flow cytometry and smoke detection. The performance of the designed circuit and the commonly used transimpedance amplifier circuit by using a commercially available operational amplifier were experimentally investigated on a measurement setup in accordance with industry accepted standards. In experiments, a reference measurement system and an aerosol generator which is capable of producing aerosol particles in accordance with the requirements of the standards were used. Firstly, the magnitudes of the currents which were generated by the photodiode, were measured by the reference measurement system at different pressure settings of the aerosol generator, thus, the generated currents at different aerosol generator set were determined. The sensor current magnitudes obtained at different gas particle densities were applied to the designed transimpedance amplifier circuits and the obtained results were compared. The relationship between the output voltage values of the transimpedance amplifier circuits and the gain resistance values was examined using simulation results with PSPICE and experimental results obtained with the test circuits carried out for this study.