CMOS Circuit Latches Relays

Control applications often require that you set a relay latch in position until you need it to change state. Latching relays accomplish that task. When you send them a pulse, they either remain in the current state or change states, depending on the polarity of the pulse and the current state of the relay. The circuit in Figure 1 switches the state of a DPDT (double-pole/double-throw) latching relay based on a pulse. It comprises a momentary-switch-to-step-voltage-signal generator, a differential-pulse converter, a relay driver, and a relay coil.


Figure 1

A momentary switch produces a step-voltage signal that drives the circuit. The circuit uses a simple pulldown switching action (push-on/release-off), such as the one comprising RS, CS, and S2, or a flip-flop latching action (pushon/ push-off), such as the one comprising IC1A, IC1B, R1, R2, C1, and S1. In the simple pulldown case, you can also add a debounce circuit. The pushbutton switches let you test the circuit before connecting it to another input source.

The differential-pulse converter comprises IC1C, IC1D, IC1E, and IC1F. The last two stages of the CD4069 hex inverter are self-biased in linear mode around VDD/2, where VDD is the drain-to-drain voltage and corresponds to Pin 14 of IC1. The circuit takes a rise or a fall at IC1C and converts it to opposing pulses of equal length at the outputs of IC1E and IC1F. The order of the pulses is synchronous with the edge direction at the input of IC1C.

The output-driver stage buffers the voltage outputs of IC1E and IC1F to drive the relay coil. The op amps provide differential current dumping through the load without incurring substantial waste in idle mode. An LED-indicator circuit comprising R4 and D1 shows the orientation of the relay switch.

Assuming that the circuit powers up with C1 uncharged, IC1A and IC1B always start off in a state in which R1 sees VDD on both sides. All inverter stages operate in digital mode except for IC1E and IC1F.

When you apply power to the circuit, these two stages self-bias around VDD/2 and operate in linear mode. The op amps, wired as followers, also bias their outputs near VDD/2. That action leaves the relay coil with a negligible offset/error voltage thanks to the matching of the devices in the hex-inverter IC and the op amps’ high open-loop gain.

Stages IC1E and IC1F ac-couple through capacitors C5 and C3, respectively. The capacitors produce an impulse at the inputs of IC1E and IC1F from the step outputs of IC1C and IC1D. Lossy integrators IC1E and IC1F lengthen the inverted pulses at the outputs. Following these events, the outputs of IC1E and IC1F gradually return to their equilibrium state, which helps prevent a bucking field from forming in the relay coil and toggling back. Figure 2 shows the shape and timing of the pulses.


Figure 2


R3/C3 and R4/C4 establish time constants, which roughly set the total length of these pulse tails at 500ms. This time is more than enough to satisfy the relay coil’s hold requirements, which, for the Panasonic TQ2-L-5V, are 3ms or less. If the relay coil at first finds itself in an asynchronous position, it can reorient itself after a single push of the switch if necessary.

Dropping IC1’s VDD through series-supply resistor R5 limits the idling currents in linear-biased stages IC1E and IC1F. This resistor represents a compromise between the power these two stages dissipate and the available voltage swing to toggle the relay through the op amps.

The circuit operates from a 9V source, and, with the component values in Figure 1, IC1’s VDD lies at approximately 5.5V. The overall current draw between toggles is approximately 8mA.