Apparatus and method for in situ current measurement in a conductor
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsMikhail Valeryevich Ivanov, Siva RaghuRam Prasad Chennupati, Viola Schaffer
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Abstract
Improved current sensing methods and apparatus and conductor apparatus are presented for sensing current in a bus bar or other conductor using one or more circular magnetic sensors or multiple magnetic sensors disposed on a substrate in a pattern surrounding a longitudinal path within the outer periphery of the conductor to avoid or mitigate sensed magnetic field crosstalk and to facilitate use of high sensitivity magnetic sensors at locations inside the conductor periphery in which the magnetic field is relatively small.
Claims16
A conductor apparatus, comprising:
- a conductive structure operative to conduct current along a longitudinal direction, the conductive structure comprising an outer periphery extending between first and second longitudinal ends;
- and
- a magnetometer, comprising:
- an array of at least two magnetic sensors located on a single integrated circuit at least partially within the outer periphery of the conductive structure, the array of at least two magnetic sensors including:
- first and second circular magnetic sensors, the first and second circular sensors individually having an associated circular sensing direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the conductive structure and individually surrounding the point along the first side of the magnetometer, wherein the first and second circular sensors are concentric of different diameters,
- a sensor interface circuit operatively coupled to the magnetic sensors to generate at least one output signal or value representing longitudinal current flow in the conductive structure based at least partially on at least one signal from the magnetic sensors, and
- a plurality of wires electrically connected to the sensor interface circuit and extending outside the outer periphery of the conductive structure.
A conductor apparatus, comprising:
- a conductive structure operative to conduct current along a longitudinal direction, the conductive structure comprising an outer periphery extending between first and second longitudinal ends;
- and
- a magnetometer, comprising:
- first and second circular magnetic sensors located on an integrated circuit at least partially within the outer periphery of the conductive structure, the first and second circular sensors individually having an associated circular sensing direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the conductive structure and individually surrounding a point along the first side of the magnetometer, wherein the first and second circular sensors are concentric of different diameters,
- a sensor interface circuit operatively coupled to the magnetic sensor to generate at least one output signal or value representing longitudinal current flow in the conductive structure based at least partially on at least one signal from the magnetic sensor, and
- a plurality of wires electrically connected to the sensor interface circuit and extending outside the outer periphery of the conductive structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.