Hall Effect Current Sensor Toroid Gap Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional Hall Effect current sensors become saturated when measuring large magnetic flux generated by currents over a few hundred Amperes, making it impractical to increase the size of the Hall plate to accommodate these fields.
Innovation Solution
A Hall Effect sensor design featuring a toroid with a gap and two Hall element sensors positioned at specific angles within the gap, along with an amplifier circuit to differentiate between the primary and spurious magnetic fields, allowing accurate measurement of large currents.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the size of the Hall plate is increased to measure large magnetic fields, then the measurement range is improved, but the device becomes impractical due to size constraints
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the measurement task into multiple segments by using three Hall plates arranged in a specific configuration. Instead of using one large Hall plate, three smaller Hall plates are positioned to collectively measure the magnetic field components, allowing the system to achieve the measurement range of a larger sensor while maintaining a compact physical footprint.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from a single-plane measurement approach to a three-dimensional arrangement of Hall plates. By positioning the three Hall plates at different orientations and combining their measurements through mathematical processing, the system effectively captures magnetic field information in multiple dimensions, achieving equivalent performance to a much larger single-plane sensor.
2Device complexity
If conventional Hall sensors are used for large currents, then the device structure is simple, but the sensor becomes saturated and cannot measure large magnetic flux
Solution Approach 1:
The measurement function is segmented across three Hall plates rather than relying on a single Hall plate. This segmentation allows the system to distribute the measurement load and combine the outputs through mathematical processing, preventing any single sensor element from becoming saturated while maintaining overall measurement capability for large currents.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the operational parameters by using three Hall plates with different orientations and combining their measurements through mathematical operations. This parameter change approach allows the system to measure magnetic fields that would individually saturate any single Hall plate, effectively extending the linear measurement range without requiring larger individual sensor elements.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables the measurement of large currents without saturation, effectively handling magnetic fields associated with high current levels while minimizing the impact of spurious fields.
Implementation Method 1
Hall Effect current sensors, such as those disclosed in JP2011017574, JP H07 20218 and US 2016/266172 are frequently employed to measure current in a variety of applications including microelectronics.
Data Source
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AI summary
A Hall Effect sensor, including a toroid including a gap having opposed surfaces, which are substantially planar and substantially parallel to one another. The toroid further includes a central plane bisecting the opposed surfaces. A first Hall element sensor defining a first sensor plane is positioned at least partially within the gap of the toroid at a first angle and a second Hall element sensor is positioned at least partially within the gap of the toroid at a second angle substantially mutually perpendicular to each of the opposed surfaces. The central plane is substantially perpendicular to the opposed surfaces.