The single-chip solution simplifies industrial and home automation applications requiring reduced board space and optimised energy efficiency
Powering single-phase AC and DC solutions in an integrated power monitoring chip is the ACS37800, a Hall-effect power monitoring IC that allows simultaneous measurement of power, voltage and current for AC and DC signals with an isolation rating of up to 1480 Vpk in a small SOIC16W package, reducing the solution BOM size, cost, and complexity.
The new ACS37800 allows devices to easily track power consumption and optimise energy use by detecting reduced power efficiency for predictive maintenance, making it ideal for motor control, building automation and a variety of green industrial applications.
Energy-efficient applications of the device include:
- Smart lighting
- Smart appliances and smart plugs
- Industrial motor control
- Server and telecom power supplies
Extensive integration and simplified complexity
Offered in an efficient SOIC16 footprint, the ACS37800 further reduces PCB size and bill of materials (BOM) cost and complexity by eliminating the need for many components. For example, the integrated 517 Vrms reinforced isolation enables current sensing without expensive optoisolators, Rogowski coils, oversized current transformers, isolated operational amplifiers or shunt resistors.
With the help of an onboard regulator, the ACS37800 can be powered from the same voltage supply as the system microprocessor (5 V or 3.3 V).
The ACS37800 simplifies common power triangle measurements by calculating parameters such as the active, reactive and apparent power as well as instantaneous and RMS values of the current, voltage or power. Furthermore, the ACS37800 can average these parameters within a much less time, avoiding inaccuracies when waveforms are asymmetric. These features reduce the reliance on microcontroller unit (MCU) resources for critical calculations.
Flexibile and configurable
The ACS37800 allows designers to choose from a factory-programmed I2C or SPI interface, depending on whether the user prefers low noise or multiple addressing. In I2C mode, it provides zero-crossing detection pinout, making LED dimming control easy. Users can also program thresholds for under/overvoltage, current/voltage gain and offset, and overcurrent trip point via EEPROM, allowing system optimisation from ±30 A to ±180 A and –40 degrees Celsius to 125 degrees Celsius.
Current sensor family, including the ACS37800, is presently available from Allegro MicroSystems.
