Designed to measure currents from 100 A to over 4000 A flowing through a busbar or PCB trace with typical accuracy of 1 percent, without the need for an external concentrator or U-shaped magnetic shield. These innovative solutions enable system designers to achieve greater efficiency and higher power density while reducing system complexity, bill of materials, cost, space, and weight.
“As an innovative leader in current sensing solutions for more than 20 years, Allegro was the first to commercialize coreless differential Hall effect current sensing technology, and our new ACS37610 IC enables our customers to accurately measure hundreds or thousands of amps very cost-effectively and easily,” says Shaun Milano, Director of Current Sensors at Allegro. “Our differential Hall-based sensors provide excellent immunity to stray magnetic fields without the need for shielding, required by competing solutions, which slows down response and adds nonlinearity error to the system.”
The ACS37610 is an optimal choice for high-voltage electric vehicle traction motor inverters, 48V/12V auxiliary inverters, heterogeneous redundant battery monitoring, overcurrent detection, smart fuses, power distribution units (PDUs), and power supplies. The sensor's 250 kHz bandwidth, dedicated overcurrent and overtemperature fault pin, and a suite of built-in diagnostics make it ideal for safety-critical applications.
The device features advanced differential sensing technology, resulting in a 2.5x improvement in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and twice the noise compared to the ACS37612. The lower noise provides the superior resolution needed for precise torque control, while the sensor's 4x greater sensitivity range allows for flexible busbar and PCB designs.
Although not required, a slight groove in the bus bar or copper trace on the printed circuit board can further improve the system's signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The ACS37610 features increased spacing between the Hall elements (2.5 mm vs. 1.8 mm in the ACS37612) to accommodate wider grooves, resulting in virtually no thermal performance degradation and no hot spots. The sensor can be mounted horizontally or vertically on the bus bar, providing superior flexibility in mechanical mounting.
Packaging and Design Support:
The ACS37610 current sensor is now available in a low-profile, lead-free (Pb) 8-pin TSSOP package for surface mounting. The sensor's ultra-compact package makes it ideal for space-constrained applications while enabling simple and cost-effective surface mounting. To help developers accelerate their designs, Allegro offers evaluation kits and reference tools for current flowing through a PCB or busbar.
