Tutorial: Current-Sensing Techniques

Current-sensing is an essential part of a wide range of applications from hand-held products to the electro-mobility drivetrains. The state of charge in a battery and the control of an electromotor or a power converter have specific demands for dynamic-range, precision, speed, isolation, size, and cost. This tutorial provides an overview of the principles of operation and readout techniques for the two current-sensing approaches: Contacted (shunt-based) and contactless (Hall, fluxgate, transformer, AMR/GMR based).