Patent ID: 7388354
Filing Date: 2008-06-17
Classification: G05F

Abstract:
1. A method of efficiently dissipating heat in a low noise current source, comprising: providing a current source having a power supply, a voltage regulator which has a heat sink coupled thereto and which is electrically coupled to the power supply and a current regulator which has a heat sink thermally coupled thereto and which is electrically coupled to the voltage regulator; measuring a power supply output voltage; measuring a current regulator output voltage; and adjusting a voltage drop across the voltage regulator to substantially match a voltage drop across the current regulator including adding the power supply output voltage and the current regulator output voltage to generate a voltage sum, dividing the voltage sum by 2 to determine a desired voltage, comparing the desired voltage to a voltage regulator output voltage and computing a voltage error value between these voltages, and using the voltage error value to generate an input signal to the voltage regulator to adjust the voltage regulator output voltage to a value between the value of the power supply output voltage and the current regulator output voltage.