High-Bandwidth Current Sensors Offer High-Performance Power Conversion
What you'll learn:
- Introduction to Allegro MicroSystems’ ACS37030 and ACS37032 current sensors.
- A look under the hood of the sensors.
Allegro MicroSystems' latest high-bandwidth current sensors take advantage of gallium-nitride (GaN) and silicon-carbide (SiC) technologies to tackle high-performance power conversion for electrified vehicles, clean-energy solutions, and data-center applications. The ACS37030 and ACS37032 are designed to mitigate the challenges associated with limited operating ranges, added size and weight, and larger bill-of-materials costs.
The ACS37030 and ACS37032 sense current flowing through the primary conductor utilizing two signal paths: a Hall-effect element path to capture DC and low-frequency current information, and an inductive coil path that captures high-frequency current data. They’re combined to sense wide frequency bands using a single device.
The inductive coil minimizes noise on the output by magnetically coupling the field generated by current flow in the conductor to the fully monolithic Hall and coil IC. The current is sensed differentially by two Hall plates and two coils that filter out interfering common-mode magnetic fields. To that end, the ACS37030 features a zero-current reference, and the ACS37032 offers an overcurrent fault with an internal pull-up.
"Our ACS37030/2 is the first market solution capable of responding fast enough for high-speed SiC and GaN protection while also providing low-frequency content for power-conversion control," stated Matt Hein, product line manager of current sensors at Allegro. "Designers can now minimize their system footprint when using GaN and SiC architectures."
