100-V-Capable Current-Sense Amp Ushers in High-Precision Measurements
The TSC240 high-precision current-sense amplifier offers elevated voltage tolerance and 120-dB pulse-width-modulation (PWM) rejection for accurate and reliable monitoring. Applications include automotive traction inverters, factory automation and robotics, and servers.
Developed by STMicroelectronics, the amplifier handles common-mode voltages from −4 to 100 V and is AEC-Q100 qualified, enabling it to be used with industrial DC buses and established automotive board-net standards including 12, 24, and 48 V. The device’s tolerance for high voltages reduces dependence on external components to provide protection.
In addition, the gain is internally fixed at 20 V/V thereby ensuring precision and repeatability while also saving external resistors. Thus, designers can ensure a compact circuit footprint and minimize the bill of materials.
Capable of bidirectional current sensing, the TSC240 offers high precision with maximum gain error of 0.2% and drift of 2.5 ppm/°C, offset voltage of just ±20 µV, and drift of 150 nV/°C. Its high common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) ensures accurate current sensing even when the common-mode voltage is changing, such as in motor-control applications, and ensures consistent measurement immunity in electrically noisy environments.
Operating over a broad supply-voltage range of 2.7 to 5.5 V, and in ambient temperatures from −40 to 125°C, the TSC240 is easy to design-in and can withstand harsh operating conditions. It’s in production now and available in SO8 and TSSOP8 packages, in industrial and automotive grades. Pricing is from $0.85.
About the Author
Lee Goldberg
Contributing Editor
Lee Goldberg is a self-identified “Recovering Engineer,” Maker/Hacker, Green-Tech Maven, Aviator, Gadfly, and Geek Dad. He spent the first 18 years of his career helping design microprocessors, embedded systems, renewable energy applications, and the occasional interplanetary spacecraft. After trading his ‘scope and soldering iron for a keyboard and a second career as a tech journalist, he’s spent the next two decades at several print and online engineering publications.
Lee’s current focus is power electronics, especially the technologies involved with energy efficiency, energy management, and renewable energy. This dovetails with his coverage of sustainable technologies and various environmental and social issues within the engineering community that he began in 1996. Lee also covers 3D printers, open-source hardware, and other Maker/Hacker technologies.
Lee holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Thomas Edison College, and participated in a colloquium on technology, society, and the environment at Goddard College’s Institute for Social Ecology. His book, “Green Electronics/Green Bottom Line - A Commonsense Guide To Environmentally Responsible Engineering and Management,” was published by Newnes Press.
Lee, his wife Catherine, and his daughter Anwyn currently reside in the outskirts of Princeton N.J., where they masquerade as a typical suburban family.
Lee also writes the regular PowerBites series.