Looking for opinions on operation of 4 FET Wheatstone bridge

Hello, this is my first post here.

I am currently working with a Wheatstone bridge containing 1 JFET to sense atmospheric static fields, and the circuit is working. However, having 4 sensors in a bridge gives a signal 4 times as big. I think I have found a way to connect 4 JFETs so they are all operated by a single antenna wire and their resistances will (hopefully) rise and fall appropriately to give me a larger voltage drop across the bridge.

I don't expect all the FETs to react to the same extent, but I thought there would be some changes in the right directions. I know the circuit is not perfect, but I don't care. Just looking for a varying DC voltage across the bridge proportionate to the voltage sensed by the antenna.

[​IMG]

You'll notice that there are no bias resistors in the circuit. This is common in many static sensing circuits so I kept up the tradition. The FETs are simply acting as voltage controlled resistors anyway, passing DC only. There is no AC signals involved.

Brief explanation of operation:
The gate of T1 senses a positive voltage, for example, so it becomes more conductive. The drain side of T1 becomes more negative so the gates of T3 and T4 become negative and they conduct less. Meanwhile, T2 gate is more positive than T3 and T4 so it conducts more, just like T1. And vice-versa.
The result is 4 changing resistances instead of one so more signal output.
T1 and T2 work together and T3 and T4 must work together but opposite to T1 and T2.

The purpose of this circuit is to get away from using resistors. I have a working circuit now with just T1 as the only FET and 3 resistors. But if the resistors can vary, like T1, the bridge output will be greater.
One reason I don't have bias resistors is that the extra resistance will increase the total resistance of the bridge, and it is most sensitive to small signals picked up by the antenna when the bridge has a small resistance.

I've checked this using the Wheatstone Bridge calculator I found online at:
Wheatstone Bridge Calculator

The FET connected to the antenna is outdoors with only the source and drain wires coming indoors. The rest of the circuit can be built indoors and connected to my current circuit.

I would like some opinions about whether or not you think this circuit would work. If not, where did I go wrong?
Please keep the explanations simple, this is just a hobby and I'm not familiar with using transistors.

Thanks

Replies

  • Trent
    Trent
    Here is my first attempt at adding some bias to the FETs. I was told I needed some but to tell you the truth, I don't know if this is correct or even how I should adjust the trimpots.

    [​IMG]

    Thanks

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