A coreless current sensor and method of use thereof

Abstract

This application discloses a coreless current sensor and its usage method. The coreless current sensor includes a measuring component, a housing, and a conductive element. The measuring component includes a circuit board and a Hall sensor, with the Hall sensor mounted on the circuit board. The housing has a receiving cavity for housing the Hall sensor. The conductive element is disposed inside and extends through the housing, with both ends protruding from the housing and used to connect to the circuit to be measured. The circuit board also includes a first connecting portion, and the housing also includes a second connecting portion. When measuring current, the circuit board is connected to the second connecting portion of the housing through the first connecting portion, thereby measuring the current flowing through the conductive element. When the current measurement position changes, only a space needs to be reserved at the changed measurement position for placing the housing, or the shape of the housing needs to be adapted, without the need to adjust the measuring component, thus greatly improving the flexibility of the coreless current sensor application.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of current sensor technology, and in particular to a coreless current sensor. Background Technology

[0002] Before the advent of coreless current sensors, current measurement technology mainly relied on traditional Hall sensor designs with magnetic cores. These designs were widely used in power electronic systems, such as inverters, motor drives, and power management. Although their application was mature, they still had some inherent drawbacks, such as large size and high requirements for the installation accuracy of the magnetic core.

[0003] However, in current high-voltage and high-current applications, the industry still mainly uses traditional current sensors with magnetic cores. Although existing coreless current sensors can be integrated into a module, eliminating the need for magnetic cores and installation accuracy considerations, the overall design of the coreless current sensor must be changed and the circuit adjusted accordingly if it needs to be moved to another measurement location. This significantly reduces the flexibility of coreless current sensors and makes them unable to meet the needs of various application conditions, thus providing impetus for the design of future coreless current sensors. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This application aims to address at least one of the technical problems existing in the prior art. To this end, this application proposes a coreless current sensor, which can significantly improve the flexibility of coreless current sensor applications.

[0005] This application also proposes a method for using a coreless current sensor.

[0006] A coreless current sensor according to one embodiment of this application includes: a measuring component including a circuit board and a Hall sensor, the Hall sensor being mounted on the circuit board; a housing having an accommodating cavity for accommodating the Hall sensor; a conductive element disposed within and penetrating the housing, with both ends protruding from the housing and used to connect to a circuit to be measured; wherein the circuit board further includes a first connecting portion, and the housing further includes a second connecting portion, the circuit board being able to connect to the second connecting portion of the housing through the first connecting portion to achieve connection between the circuit board and the housing.

[0007] According to one embodiment of this application, it also includes a shielding member disposed within the housing and forming a shielding area, wherein the conductive member and the accommodating cavity are both located within the shielding area.

[0008] According to one embodiment of this application, the shielding member includes a first shielding plate, a second shielding plate connected to the first shielding plate, and a third shielding plate connected to the first shielding plate. The first shielding plate, the second shielding plate, and the third shielding plate are all arranged along the direction in which the conductive member penetrates the housing. The first shielding plate is farther away from the accommodating cavity than the conductive member, and the second shielding plate and the third shielding plate are both inclined toward the accommodating cavity to surround the conductive member and the accommodating cavity.

[0009] According to one embodiment of this application, the housing, conductive element, and shielding element are integrally formed by injection molding.

[0010] According to one embodiment of this application, at least two positioning holes are provided on the circuit board, and at least two positioning posts are provided on the housing.

[0011] According to one embodiment of this application, at least two first connecting portions and at least two second connecting portions are provided.

[0012] According to one embodiment of this application, the housing is made of silicon carbide material.

[0013] According to another embodiment of this application, the method of using a coreless current sensor includes the following steps: mounting a Hall sensor to a circuit board; connecting both ends of a conductive element to a measurement circuit; placing the Hall sensor in the housing cavity; and the Hall sensor sensing the magnetic field generated by the conductive element and converting it into an electrical signal input to the circuit board.

[0014] According to another embodiment of this application, the Hall sensor is soldered onto a circuit board using a reflow soldering process.

[0015] According to another embodiment of this application, the Hall sensor is calibrated before being placed in the accommodating cavity. The coreless current sensor according to the embodiments of this application has at least the following beneficial effects: The coreless current sensor of this application includes a measuring component and a housing, which are two separately configured parts. When using the coreless current sensor to measure current, the circuit board of the measuring component is connected to the housing. The housing is connected to the circuit to be measured through a conductive element. When the position to be measured changes, it is only necessary to reserve a position for placing the housing at the changed measurement position, or to make an adaptive change to the shape of the housing to adapt to the new circuit to be measured. This allows the circuit to be measured to be smoothly connected to the conductive element inside the housing. Then, the measuring component is connected to the housing, thus fulfilling the requirement of the coreless current sensor to perform the measurement function. Unlike the prior art, there is no need to adjust the entire coreless current sensor. The application flexibility of the coreless current sensor of this application is greatly improved.

[0016] Additional aspects and advantages of this application will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of this application. Attached Figure Description

[0017] The present application will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments, wherein: Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the coreless current sensor in the embodiments of this application; Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the housing portion of the coreless current sensor in this application embodiment; Figure 3 for Figure 1 A top view of a coreless current sensor; Figure 4 for Figure 1 A front view of a coreless current sensor; Figure 5 for Figure 3 A cross-sectional view of the coreless current sensor obtained by section line AA; Figure 6 for Figure 4 A cross-sectional view of the coreless current sensor obtained by the BB section line.

[0018] Figure label: 100. Measuring component; 110. Circuit board; 111. Positioning hole; 112. First connecting part; 120. Hall sensor; 200. Housing; 210. Receiving cavity; 220. Positioning post; 230. Second connecting part; 300. Conductive component; 400. Shielding component; 410. First shielding plate; 420. Second shielding plate; 430. Third shielding plate. Detailed Implementation

[0019] The embodiments of this application are described in detail below. Examples of these embodiments are shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein the same or similar reference numerals denote the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions throughout. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary and are only used to explain this application, and should not be construed as limiting this application.

[0020] In the description of this application, it should be understood that the orientation descriptions, such as up, down, front, back, left, right, etc., indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings. They are only for the convenience of describing this application and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, they should not be construed as limitations on this application.

[0021] In the description of this application, "several" means one or more, "multiple" means two or more, "greater than," "less than," and "exceeding" are understood to exclude the stated number, while "above," "below," and "within" are understood to include the stated number. The use of "first" and "second" in the description is merely for distinguishing technical features and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance, or implicitly indicating the number of indicated technical features, or implicitly indicating the order of the indicated technical features.

[0022] In the description of this application, unless otherwise expressly defined, terms such as "setup," "installation," and "connection" should be interpreted broadly, and those skilled in the art can reasonably determine the specific meaning of the above terms in this application in conjunction with the specific content of the technical solution.

[0023] In the description of this application, the terms "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "illustrative embodiment," "example," "specific example," "some examples," etc., refer to specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described in connection with that embodiment or example, which are included in at least one embodiment or example of this application. In this specification, the illustrative expressions of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments or examples.

[0024] Please see Figure 1 This application discloses a coreless current sensor, which includes a housing 200 and a measuring component 100 for measuring current. A conductive element 300 is disposed within the housing 200. Please refer to further details... Figure 4 and Figure 6 As shown, the conductive element 300 penetrates the housing 200 and protrudes from opposite sides of the housing 200 to be connected to the circuit to be measured. Thus, the current connected flows through the conductive element 300 through the housing 200, and the measuring component 100 measures the current in real time.

[0025] Understandably, the housing 200 is made of plastic.

[0026] In some embodiments, the housing 200 is made of silicon carbide material.

[0027] Furthermore, such as Figure 4 and Figure 6As shown, the measuring component 100 includes a circuit board 110 and a Hall sensor 120. The Hall sensor 120 is mounted on the circuit board 110. Correspondingly, a receiving cavity 210 is provided on the housing 200. The receiving cavity 210 has an opening on the side facing the outer surface of the housing 200. The size of the receiving cavity 210 is adapted to the size of the Hall sensor 120. The Hall sensor 120 is disposed in the receiving cavity 210 and can measure the magnetic field strength of the surrounding area of ​​the conductive element 300 through the Hall effect, thereby measuring the current magnitude in the conductive element 300.

[0028] Understandably, the pins of the Hall sensor 120 are mounted onto the circuit board 110 via a reflow soldering process.

[0029] It is worth noting that the Hall sensor 120 is disposed inside the accommodating cavity 210, and the circuit board 110 and the housing 200 surround the Hall sensor 120, isolating it from external influences of the coreless current sensor and improving the detection accuracy of the Hall sensor 120 in detecting the magnetic field strength in the housing 200.

[0030] To ensure that the Hall sensor 120 can be securely mounted within the receiving cavity 210 of the housing 200, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 1 and Figure 2 The circuit board 110 also includes a first connecting portion 112, which is formed as a through hole. The housing 200 also includes a second connecting portion 230, which is formed as a screw hole. It can be understood that the first connecting portion 112 and the second connecting portion 230 are correspondingly arranged. The positional relationship between the first connecting portion 112 and the Hall sensor 120 is the same as the positional relationship between the second connecting portion 230 and the receiving cavity 210. When the Hall sensor 120 is placed into the receiving cavity 210, the through hole of the first connecting portion 112 is aligned with the screw hole of the second connecting portion 230.

[0031] When connecting the first connecting part 112 and the second connecting part 230, a screw is inserted from the through hole of the first connecting part 112 and into the threaded hole. The screw is screwed in so that the thread of the screw is connected to the internal thread of the threaded hole, and the head of the screw is pressed on the surface of the circuit board 110, thereby connecting the circuit board 110 and the housing 200.

[0032] That is, by setting the accommodating cavity 210 adapted to the size of the Hall sensor 120, the first connecting part 112 and the second connecting part 230 for interconnecting the circuit board 110 and the housing 200, the position of the Hall sensor 120 relative to the conductive element 300 can be kept unchanged during the measurement process, thereby avoiding the situation where the measurement accuracy is affected by the change in relative position.

[0033] Therefore, the coreless current sensor of this application includes a measuring component 100 and a housing 200, which are two separate parts. When using the coreless current sensor to measure current, the circuit board 110 of the measuring component 100 is connected to the housing 200. The housing 200 is placed in the circuit to be measured. When the position to be measured changes, it is only necessary to reserve a position for the housing 200 at the changed measurement position, or to make an adaptive change to the shape of the housing 200 to adapt to the new circuit to be measured. This allows the circuit to be measured to be smoothly connected to the conductive part 300 inside the housing 200. Then, the measuring component 100 is connected to the housing 200, which can realize the measurement function of the coreless current sensor. Unlike the prior art, there is no need to adjust the entire coreless current sensor. The flexibility of the coreless current sensor of this application is greatly improved.

[0034] In some embodiments, such as Figure 3 and Figure 5 As shown, a shielding member 400 is also embedded inside the housing 200. The shielding member 400 includes a first shielding plate 410, a second shielding plate 420, and a third shielding plate 430. The second shielding plate 420 is connected to one end of the first shielding plate 410, and the third shielding plate 430 is connected to the other end of the first shielding plate 410. The first shielding plate 410, the second shielding plate 420, and the third shielding plate 430 are all arranged along the direction in which the conductive member 300 penetrates the housing 200. The first shielding plate 410 is more prominent than the conductive member 300. The first shielding plate 410 is far from the accommodating cavity 210, while the second shielding plate 420 and the third shielding plate 430 are both inclined towards the accommodating cavity 210. Thus, the first shielding plate 410, the second shielding plate 420 and the third shielding plate 430 together form a shielding area facing the accommodating cavity 210, so as to surround the conductive element 300 and the accommodating cavity 210, thereby achieving phase-to-phase shielding between the Hall sensor 120, the conductive element 300 and the external circuit, and avoiding the influence of the magnetic field generated by the external circuit on the conductive element 300.

[0035] In some embodiments, the housing 200, the conductive component 300, and the shielding component 400 are integrally formed by injection molding. That is, the housing 200 is made of plastic. When molding the housing 200 using an injection mold, the manufactured conductive component 300 and shielding component 400 are first placed in their corresponding positions on the mold, then the mold is closed for injection molding. After injection molding is completed, the mold is opened to obtain the desired result. Figure 2 The housing 200 shown.

[0036] In some embodiments, such as Figure 1 and Figure 2As shown, the housing 200 is provided with two positioning posts 220, which are located on the side of the housing 200 where the receiving cavity 210 is located, i.e., the side where the housing 200 is connected to the circuit board 110. The positioning posts 220 are symmetrically distributed about the receiving cavity 210. Correspondingly, the circuit board 110 has two positioning holes 111, which are through holes. When it is necessary to place the Hall sensor 120 on the circuit board 110 into the receiving cavity 210 of the housing 200, the Hall sensor 120 can be quickly fitted into the receiving cavity 210 simply by aligning the positioning holes 111 on the circuit board 110 with the positioning posts 220 on the housing 200.

[0037] Understandably, this configuration allows the Hall sensor 120 to fall directly into the accommodating cavity 210 under the guidance of the positioning post 220, preventing the Hall sensor 120 from directly contacting the housing 200 during the alignment process with the accommodating cavity 210, thereby preventing the Hall sensor 120 from being damaged by impacts.

[0038] In some embodiments, such as Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, the circuit board 110 has two first connecting portions 112, which are threaded holes. The housing 200 has two corresponding second connecting portions 230 on the side containing the cavity 210. These second connecting portions 230 are also threaded holes, and their specifications are the same as the first connecting portions 112. In other words, after the circuit board 110 is placed on the housing 200 via the positioning pins 220, screws are then sequentially screwed into the first connecting portions 112 and the second connecting portions 230 from the surface of the circuit board 110. This fixes the circuit board 110 and the housing 200, ensuring that the relative positional relationship between the Hall sensor 120 and the housing 200 remains unchanged, and consequently, ensuring the measurement accuracy of the Hall sensor 120.

[0039] This application also discloses a method for manufacturing the aforementioned coreless current sensor; please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figures 1 to 6 The manufacturing method includes the following steps: A positioning hole 111 and a first connecting portion 112 formed as a threaded hole are opened at a predetermined position on the circuit board 110 by a drilling process of the printed circuit board 110. The pins of the Hall sensor 120 are fixed to the circuit board 110 by reflow soldering. The conductive component 300 and the shielding component 400 are placed into the injection mold for molding the housing 200, and the specific placement position is the preset position reserved in the injection mold; To close the injection mold and perform injection molding; The mold is opened to obtain a housing 200 with a shield 400 and a conductive part 300. The housing 200 has a positioning post 220 and a second connecting part 230 formed as a threaded hole.

[0040] It is understandable that the second connecting part 230 formed as a threaded hole in the housing 200 can be formed by a core with external threads in the injection mold, or by drilling a hole in the housing 200 after the mold is opened without setting the core.

[0041] Therefore, the coreless current sensor fabricated above includes a housing 200 and a circuit board 110. During use, the conductive element 300 of the housing 200 needs to be connected to the circuit to be measured. Then, the circuit board 110 and the Hall sensor 120 mounted on the circuit board 110 are placed in the accommodating cavity 210 of the housing 200, and the first connecting part 112 and the second connecting part 230 are fastened together with screws to ensure that the relative position of the Hall sensor 120 and the conductive element 300 remains unchanged.

[0042] Another embodiment of this application discloses a method for using the above-mentioned coreless current sensor. Please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figures 1 to 6 This includes the following steps: Mount the Hall sensor 120 onto the circuit board 110; Connect both ends of the conductive component 300 to the measuring circuit; Place the Hall sensor 120 into the receiving cavity 210 of the housing 200; The Hall sensor 120 senses the magnetic field generated by the conductive element 300 and converts it into an electrical signal, which is then input to the circuit board 110.

[0043] The Hall sensor 120 is calibrated before being placed in the accommodating cavity 210.

[0044] The embodiments of this application have been described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, this application is not limited to the above embodiments. Within the scope of knowledge possessed by those skilled in the art, various changes can be made without departing from the spirit of this application. Furthermore, unless otherwise specified, the embodiments and features described in the embodiments of this application can be combined with each other.

Claims

1. A coreless current sensor, characterized in that, include: The measurement assembly (100) includes a circuit board (110) and a Hall sensor (120) mounted on the circuit board (110); The housing (200) has a receiving cavity (210) for accommodating the Hall sensor (120); A conductive element (300) is disposed inside and through the housing (200). Both ends of the conductive element (300) protrude from the housing (200) and are used to connect to the circuit to be measured. The circuit board (110) further includes a first connecting part (112), and the housing (200) further includes a second connecting part (230). The circuit board (110) can be connected to the second connecting part (230) of the housing (200) through the first connecting part (112) to realize the connection between the circuit board (110) and the housing (200).

2. The coreless current sensor according to claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes a shielding element (400), which is disposed within the housing (200) and forms a shielding area, wherein the conductive element (300) and the accommodating cavity (210) are both located within the shielding area.

3. The coreless current sensor according to claim 2, characterized in that, The shielding member (400) includes a first shielding plate (410), a second shielding plate (420) connected to the first shielding plate (410), and a third shielding plate (430) connected to the first shielding plate (410). The first shielding plate (410), the second shielding plate (420), and the third shielding plate (430) are all arranged along the direction in which the conductive member (300) penetrates the housing (200). The first shielding plate (410) is farther away from the accommodating cavity (210) than the conductive member (300). The second shielding plate (420) and the third shielding plate (430) are both inclined toward the accommodating cavity (210) to surround the conductive member (300) and the accommodating cavity (210).

4. The coreless current sensor according to claim 2, characterized in that, The housing (200), the conductive component (300), and the shielding component (400) are integrally formed by injection molding.

5. The coreless current sensor according to claim 1, characterized in that, The circuit board (110) has at least two positioning holes (111), and the housing (200) has at least two positioning posts (220).

6. The coreless current sensor according to claim 1, characterized in that, At least two first connecting parts (112) and at least two second connecting parts (230) are provided.

7. The coreless current sensor according to claim 1, characterized in that, The housing (200) is made of silicon carbide material.

8. A method of using a coreless current sensor, characterized in that, Using the coreless current sensor as described in any one of claims 1-7 includes the following steps: The Hall sensor (120) is mounted to the circuit board (110); Connect both ends of the conductive element (300) to the measuring circuit; Place the Hall sensor (120) into the receiving cavity (210) of the housing (200); The Hall sensor (120) senses the magnetic field generated by the conductive element (300) and converts it into an electrical signal, which is then input to the circuit board (110).

9. The method of using the coreless current sensor according to claim 8, characterized in that, The Hall sensor (120) is soldered onto the circuit board (110) by a reflow soldering process.

10. The method of using the coreless current sensor according to claim 8, characterized in that, The Hall sensor (120) is calibrated before being placed in the accommodating cavity (210).

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