Communications, metrology, security and power are the four primary considerations when designing next-generation smart meters. Those topics discussed by authors from Allegro MicroSystems, Fairchild Semiconductor, Pulse Electronics, Maxim Integrated Products and Texas Instruments during the Smart Meters and Energy Measurement session at this week’s Smart Grid Electronics Forum.
The session started with Andreas Friedrich, Technical Director with Allegro Microsystems’ Sensor Technical Centre in Europe discussing, “Improving Efficiency in Smart Grid Applications with Fully Integrated Current Sensing ICs.” He presented a series of design solutions for applications ranging from under 50A to over 200A. These sensors combine the company’s BiCMOS process technology with Hall sensor technology in new packages to enable greater than 120-kHz output bandwidth and fast output response time and a 20 to 40X reduction in output noise for high-accuracy and resolution.
