TIDUF85A August 2024 – December 2024
For the isolated current measurement, there are two input options for each channel.
Using a current transformer has two advantages. First, the current transformer provides the necessary isolation from the high DC link voltages and second, the current transformer filters out the DC component of the current, which is not of interest for the arc detection. An important point is to consider the saturation behavior of the CT for the high DC current. The selected transformer performs well up to 16A DC. To interface the voltage drop on the burden resistor to the voltage level of the filter stage and ADC, a first gain stage with a gain of 10 is implemented, which also introduces a bias to signal to convert the CT output into a unipolar signal.
When using an external current sensor, the designer must remember to account for isolation. The signal must be isolated from any high-voltage potentials, since the rest of the signal chain on the board is non-isolated. Also, the maximum supported input voltage for the external current sensor is 3.3V, but it can be necessary to adjust the gain of the first gain stage to avoid saturation of the signal chain. The gain stage implements a gain of 10 by default and the maximum voltage supported by the signal chain after the gain stage is 3.3V. So if the maximum input voltage of the external current sensor is higher than 300mV, the gain stage must be modified.