Current Measurement Techniques in Battery Packs

Current sensor is fundamental component within battery packs, serving two primary functions. Firstly,
provide valuable insights into energy consumption by allowing us to monitor usage levels. Secondly,
play a crucial role in preventing overcurrent situations. As such, current sensor represents essential
subsystems in battery design.
This sensor can incorporate either resistive or magnetic elements, depending on its design. This
element facilitates the measurement of current being monitored. Consequently, current sensor
manufacturers typically engineer these devices with two distinct electrical pathways: one for
measuring the current and the other for signal conditioning.

1-Direct current sensing (shunts resistor)

This method is based on Ohm's law, where load currents generate a voltage across the sense elements,
typically a shunts resistor. This shunts voltage, or sense voltage, is measured to determine the current
level. It is an invasive measurement method, where power is dissipated by the shunt resistor. The sense
voltage across the shunt resistor is small, typically in the millivolt range. So, it must be amplified and
signal conditioned to be processed by systems downstream of the current sensing circuits. I will
review the pros and cons of various implementations and I need to introduce some basic concepts that
will help you better understand the application.

1.1 input common mode voltage range Vcm

Common mode voltage is defined as the average voltage of the two input pins of a differential
amplifier, as shown in the figure. Depending on your measurement technique and application
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requirements, your amplifier may be required to either handle very low or very high common mode
voltage.

1.2 low-side sensing

A low-side implementation has the shunts resistor or shunt placed between the system load and the
ground. This results in the common mode voltage being essentially 0 volts. This type of configuration
is usually simple and inexpensive to design. However, there are two disadvantages. First, it disturbs
the ground seen by the load. And second, it prevents the ability to detect load shorts to ground.

1.2 Heigh-side sensing

A high-side implementation has the shunts resistor placed between the supply voltage and the load,
resulting in the common mode voltage being essentially equal to the bus voltage. This allows for the
system to not have any ground disturbance and to identify ground shorts. But depending on the system
voltage, the system may require an amplifier with very high common mode voltage capability.

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  Direct current sensing typically uses a differential input amplifier to gain up the small
sense voltage.
1.3 Amplifier Types
There are four main types of differential amplifiers that are used for current measurements--
operational amplifiers, or opamps for short, instrumentation amplifiers, difference amplifiers, and
current sense amplifiers, also known as current shunt monitors. Each of these has their own pros and
cons, which we will now discuss.

 Opamps
offer the most basic implementation and typically are used in lower accuracy low-cost applications.
However, the cost savings are offset if high accuracy or external components are used to increase
precision. Because the common mode voltage of an opamp is limited to its supply voltage, these are
best suited for low-side measurements. If implemented with a single-ended input to the opamp, any
parasitic impedances on the printed circuit board, PCB, between our shunts and ground will create
errors due to additional voltage drop.

 Difference amplifiers
are designed to convert small differential signals to large single-ended signals. The typical voltage
drop across our shunt is small, so as not add to the overall system load. Therefore, the difference
amplifier architecture is well suited to most current sensing applications. Because the input voltage
differential, errors due to PCB parasitic are removed. These devices have a resistor divided network at
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the inputs, which allows large common mode voltages and enables high-side or low-side
measurements. However, the resistor network can also load the system, introducing errors if not
handled carefully.

 Instrumentation amplifiers
are a combination of a difference amplifier with a buffer stage on each of the inputs. This very large
input impedance enables the measuring of very small currents. However, the architecture limits the use
to the application, where the common mode voltage is within the supply voltage range. Like a
difference amplifier, the differential input voltage removes errors due to PCB parasitics.

 Current sense amplifiers

also called current shunts amplifiers or current shunts monitors, are specialized amplifiers with a
unique input stage that enables the common mode voltage to be much higher than the supply voltage.
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In addition, they integrate a high precision low drift-gain network that maximizes measurement
accuracy. The input structure is such that limits the use cases, where the I shunt is greater than tens of
microamps.

conclusion
Direct current sensing is a simpler to implement and lower cost method of current sensing than
indirect magnetic methods. And current sense amplifiers offer the most comprehensive set of features
to maximize currents' measurement performance for the widest range of applications.

2-Hall-effect current sensing

Let's briefly review the different types of magnetic current sensing, or MCS. First, module-based
sensing typically utilizes a magnetic toroid or other geometry to concentrate the magnetic field
generated by the current carrying conductor. These systems are typically sold by a third-party
manufacturer as there is a high degree of magnetic design required.

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Next, ambient magnetic current sensing utilizes the ambient in airfield generated by a PCB trace, bus
bar, or their conductor to sense current. This is accomplished using a linear hall or other magnetic
sensor at some fixed mechanical distance from the conductor. This type of solution can also utilize a
magnetic concentrator or shield to improve signal levels or reduce the impact of stray fields.

Finally, the third type is hall-effect magnetic current sensing which we will focus on today. In this
technology, the current to be measured passes through the device package and the magnetic field
generated by the current flow through the lead frame is measured internally with an isolated sensor IC.

In this link more detail about this technique

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