ACS37800 from Allegro MicroSystems is an integrated power monitoring chip that allows simultaneous measurement of power, voltage, and current for single-phase AC and DC solutions. Offered in an efficient SOIC16 footprint, this single-chip solution with reinforced isolation significantly reduces PCB size, bill of materials (BOM) cost, and complexity in various IoT devices, industrial and home automation applications.
The ACS37800 IC helps in easily tracking power consumption and optimizing energy use by detecting reduced power efficiency for predictive maintenance. The Hall-effect power monitoring IC comes with an onboard regulator which enables it to be powered from the same voltage supply as the system microprocessor (5 V or 3.3 V). The IC also calculates parameters such as the active, reactive, and apparent power as well as instantaneous and RMS values of the current, voltage, or power, thereby simplifying common power triangle measurements. The ACS37800 can average these parameters with many instantaneous measurements over one minute, avoiding inaccuracies when waveforms are asymmetric. These features help in reducing the reliance on microcontroller unit (MCU) resources for critical calculations.
The high levels of flexibility and configurability enable users to program the ACS37800 in a way that fits a variety of unique application needs. The device allows designers to choose from a factory-programmed I2C or SPI interface, depending on whether the user prefers low noise or multiple addressing, and in I2C mode; it provides zero-crossing detection pinout, making LED dimming control easy. Additionally, the users can also program thresholds for under/overvoltage, current/voltage gain and offset, and overcurrent trip point via EEPROM, allowing them to optimize their system from ±30 A to ±180 A and from –40°C to 125°C.
Allegro's factory programming of sensitivity and offset combined with vast user programmability enables designers to balance between time-to-market and customization in the increasingly competitive energy-efficient applications like smart lighting, smart appliances and smart plugs, industrial motor control, server, and telecom power supplies.
