Allegro MicroSystems has introduced a pair of surface-mount current sensors that work from dc to 5MHz. Variants allow six sensitivities between 66mV/A (±20A range) and 20.3mV/A (±65A). Response time is typically 40ns. They are “fast enough for SiC and GaN protection, while also providing low-frequency content for power-conversion control”, said Allegro product manger Matt Hein. ACS37030 and ACS37032 employ dual ...
Tag Archives: Allegro MicroSystems
Isolate GaN gate driver needs no high-side bootstrap
Allegro MicroSystems has created an isolated gate driver IC for GaN power transistors that has no need for high-side bootstrapping nor the provision of a secondary side drive supply voltage. Instead, a dc-dc converter within AHV85111 produces secondary-side dc power rails – one positive and one negative – to provide gate drive power from a 12V supply (10.8 – 13.2V) ...
Battery cooling challenges for safe and reliable electric two-wheelers
The rise in popularity of electric bikes and two-wheelers has brought to focus the need for increased safety requirements. By Vashist Bist and Shashank Wekhande. The choice of battery greatly affects the design of an electric two-wheeler (E2W). Lithium-iron-phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries provide a stable chemical and thermal chemistry, better safety (no thermal runaway) and lower manufacturing cost compared to Li-ion ...
ASIL C safety rated mag-field-based current sensor for EV power trains
Allegro MicroSystems has announced an ASIL C safety rated magnetic field beased current sensor for electric vehicle power trains and automotive battery management systems. The company “has developed the ACS37601 programmable linear Hall-effect current sensor IC with over-current, over-temperature and self-test capabilities,” it said. The part “is Allegro’s highest-accuracy field current sensor for applications requiring measurement capability greater than 200A”. ...
Self-setting crankshaft and camshaft sensors for hybrid vehicles
Allegro MicroSystems has released two automotive magnetic sensors, one for crankshafts and one for camshafts, both using the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect. Although both come in a simple three-pin single in-line package, they are sophisticated digital processing ICs, and system-in-packages as they also incorporate a bias magnet and EMC protection components. Crankshaft The ATS16951 crankshaft sensor is designed to be a ...
‘Smallest’ sine-cosine 3D Hall position sensor
Allegro is claiming a record for its latest Hall-effect position sensor IC, describing it as “the smallest sine/cosine 3D sensor currently available in the market”. Called A33230, it comes in 3 x 2.9 x 1mm 5pin SOT23-W package. Although the die inside is able to sense in three orthogonal dimensions, it has two signal paths and devices are factory programmed ...
U.S. Army turns to ICEYE for SAR mission imagery
ICEYE, the Finnish satellite imagery specialist, has entered into an R&D agreement with the U.S. Army to advance the Earth observation technology supporting army missions. Specifically, the cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) is with the U.S. Army’s Space and Missile Defense Technical Center (SMDTC). They will explore together low-cost, on-orbit, synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) related concepts, says ICEYE. SAR The ...
LED headlight driver has main-dip switching
Allegro MicroSystems has added two LED drivers to its automotive portfolio. A80803 is a boost and buck-boost dc-dc converter for headlights, that includes switching for high-beam and dip-beam strings. It works with inputs over 5 to 37 V (40V abs max for load dump, 4.5V under-voltage lock-out). Output can be up to 70V Drivers are included for external high and low-side dc-dc mosfets ...
Automotive fan motor chip drives quietly for electric vehicles
For an automotive three-phase fan motor driver, Allegro has picked a control algorithm for quiet running in electric vehicles. Called A89307, it uses field-oriented control to drive continuous sinusoidal current to the load. “By design, electric and hybrid vehicles are quieter than traditional models with internal combustion engines, especially when they’re stopped, and drivers are becoming increasingly sensitive to noise created ...
Current and voltage chip takes the hard work out of isolated mains measurements
Allegro MicroSystems has integrated power, voltage and current monitoring into a single chip with reinforced isolation. Only a handful of resistors are needed to complete the high-voltage interface (diagram right). Called ACS37800, it uses a Hall effect scheme to measure current and external resistors to stand-off the voltage measurement – no opto-isolators, Rogowski coils, current transformers, isolated operational amplifiers nor shunt resistors are ...