Current sense amplifier ICs reduce mounting area in industrial use
To reduce mounting area required in industrial applications, current sense amplifier ICs by Rohm is designed in a space saving package.
The current sense amplifier ICs in the BD1421x-LA series are intended for industrial applications, including wireless base stations, PLCs and inverters, as well as consumer applications, such as home appliances.
Rohm developed the design in response to demands for smaller mounting areas in high accuracy current sensing applications, such as motor rotation where it is used for efficiency and to detect abnormalities. Conventional configurations (operational amplifier and discrete components) generally face challenges such as deterioration of current sensing accuracy due to variations in component accuracy and temperature characteristics. Rohm said it has leveraged its analogue technology to develop the BD1421x-LA current sense amplifier ICs. They incorporate all required peripheral components which simplifies current sensing by connecting a shunt resistor and a bypass capacitor. This reduces the number of components from 11 to just three in comparison with conventional configurations. It also reduces the mounting area by 46 per cent, by virtue of its SSOP6 package.
Current detection rate is ± one per cent, achieved over the entire temperature range (-40 to +125 degrees C). The internal circuitry prevents current detection accuracy to decrease even when an external RC filter circuit for noise suppression is added. That minimises the number of man-hours required for design, said Rohm. The wide input voltage range (-0.2 to +26V) makes the BD14210G-LA suitable for current sensing applications operating from 12V / 24V power supplies.
The current sense amplifier ICs can be combined with the company’s shunt resistors. Supporting materials, such as reference designs, are available and Spice models can be downloaded from the company’s website.
The BD14210G-LA is in mass production and Rohm has announced that a total of eight models are scheduled to be released, including one- and two-channel variants in gain settings of 20, 50, 100 and 200V/V.
