Challenges in High Current Measurements Using Magnetic Flux Concentrator and Hall Effect Current Sensor

Accurate and safe current measurement in electric and hybrid electric vehicles impose several challenges in conventional shunt-based measurement technique due to presence of high voltages coupled with very high currents. In this paper, we have proposed a low cost and practical contactless current sensing method based upon Hall effect using magnetic flux concentrators and Hall effect sensor for DC current sensing. We aimed at developing a low power sensor having high sensitivity, and flexibility to accommodate in small size for DC currents ranging from ±100 amperes. In this paper, we have modelled the vital properties of the magnetic flux concentrator such as core dimension, air gap, core material and hysteresis. We achieved simulation results showing performance of sensor with respect to varying core material, air-gap, dimensions and temperature. Four different core materials with two geometries were created for benchmarking against simulations results. The modelling was performed in finite element method (FEM) and ANSYS Maxwell 3D Design (Magneto-static) software. The simulation and experimental results were compared for influence of above parameters for accurate and optimum sensor design.