CROCUS TECHNOLOGY ENHANCES ACCURACY OF ENERGY METERING SOLUTIONS

TMR Sensor Reference Design with Digital Output Simplifies Implementation

MILPITAS, Calif., May 25 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Crocus Technology Inc., developer of XtremeSense® TMR sensors, today announced the release of a high accuracy energy metering solution with isolated current sensing and a digital output. The solution is capable of measuring power, voltage and current while providing 1,820 V_PK isolation in AC or DC applications. The result is a smaller and more efficient design without the use of large current transformers. The solution is ideal for a range of smart devices such as power supply monitors, electric vehicle chargers, household appliances, motor control and smart lighting.

The solution consists of the Crocus’ CT430 TMR isolated current sensor, Microchip’s ATtiny426 microcontroller, Printed Circuit Board (PCB), design files, microcontroller firmware, Bill of Materials (BoM) list, user guide and relevant support for designing a fully functional power monitoring solution. The design solution has been verified to accurately read and quantize the voltage and current values prior to calculating the instantaneous and Root Mean Square (RMS) power components, active and reactive power, as well as power factor. These power values are stored in registers which can be accessed by an external microcontroller via the SPI interface. By offloading the design effort of measuring and calculating power, the Crocus metering solution simplifies the addition of metering capabilities to any smart device.

The key to precise power measurements is the CT430 current sensor which provides better than 1% current measurement accuracy over the -40°C to +125°C operating range. It is available in a small 16-lead SOIC-Wide package, eliminating the need for bulky current transformers and allowing for more compact designs. The CT430 solution can also be customized with different bus interfaces such as I2C, SENT and CAN. By leveraging the solution, manufacturers and designers can quickly develop accurate and compact power monitoring capabilities for their products. See the figure below for the system diagram of the Crocus reference design kit for power measurements. 

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