Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1502091
Current sense resistors in modern electronics Current sensing can be found in various modern devices such as current monitoring and overcurrent detection, battery management systems, digital motor control, and DC-to-DC converters. Different types of current sensing technologies exist, including current sense resistors, Hall effect sensors, and Rogowski coils. To accommodate high power applications, current sense resistors are often designed with a low resistance value and a high power rating. This enables them to handle high currents while minimizing the amount of power that is dissipated as heat. The advantages of current sense resistors Current sense resistors provide several major advantages compared to other methods. First, they are a cost-effective solution for measuring low and middle current up to 2 kA, meaning they can easily be used in precision control applications such as industrial motors hybrids and electric vehicles. Second, they are great for microcontrollers, system-on-a-chip (SoC) devices, and low- watt power converters as the voltage across such resistors is often in the hundreds of millivolts. However, advances in high-power shunts from Bourns can allow for medium-power applications as well. Finally, current sense resistors have good linearity across their entire range, high measurement accuracy, and quick response time, and they are easy to design in. The challenges faced with current sense resistors Despite their advantages, current sense resistors face challenges. One of the main challenges is related to using the lowest possible resistance values to minimize the voltage drop. While minimizing the voltage drop reduces power loss and heat generation in the surrounding area, C h a p t e r 3 | C u r r e n t M e a s u r e m e n t While non-contact current measurement techniques do exist, shunt-based sensor solutions have far better immunity to magnetic interference while providing better accuracy. Often in places where the current sensors' data accuracy is critical, shunt-based sensing offers more value proportion compared to the non-contact sensors." Sabah V.S. Power Electronics Design Engineer, Lilium 17 Passives and Their Emerging Applications