How long will it take for the integrator to reach zero?

Long enough to exactly

give the same magnitude but opposite sign integral we just computed above.
Leaving out the signs, V
in
T/RC = V
ref
T
down
/RC. How convenient -- the RC
values cancel. T
down
=V
in
T/V
ref
. Since T and V
ref
are fixed, the time that the
down count takes is proportional to the input voltage. f we're clever (and why
wouldn't we be?), we can get the down-count time to read out as if the units
were volts. f the magnitude of V
ref
is 5 V, and the input voltage that we're
trying to measure is 1.000 V, then we want something that will count to 1000
time units. Suppose we have a clock that puts out one pulse every 10 s.
Then if T
down
is 1000 10 s, we have it. But that makes T
down
=10 ms, so T
(the integration time) must be set to 10 ms * 5.000 V/1.000 V = 50 ms. But
once we set the initial integration time to 50 ms, the time that it takes to return
to 0 will read out in voltage directly. For example, if we integrate 2.345 V for
that same 50 ms, then the discharge back to zero will take 2345 ticks of the
10 s clock, and we have the readout as we wanted it. Here's a sketch of
what we just said:
//wwwasdllborg/onllneArLlcles/elabware/Scheellne_AuC/AuC_AuC_uual_SlopehLml hLLp
ml hLLp//wwwasdllborg/onllneArLlcles/elabware/Scheellne_AuC/AuC_vlsual/slope4hL