Through-hole board mount hall-effect current sensor (or say magnetic current sensor) has been widely used in solar inverter system for a dozen years. This process is convenient for wiring and installation, no need to cut off the cable. However, open-loop through-hole hall-effect current sensor usually can't achieve high accuracy over both lifetime and temperature. Meanwhile, this is easy to fail during the installation and transportation processes due to the brittle magnetic core damage, which reduces the system reliability. On the contrary, in-package hall-effect current sensor can provide high accuracy combined with low drift, enabling accurate current measurements over both lifetime and temperature. Additionally, the in-package design also provides a compact design without sacrificing isolation performance, while reducing system complexity and cost. So, in recent years, there has a trend in solar inverter system to use in-package hall-effect current sensor to replace the traditional thorough-hole one, that benefits solar system performance, power efficiency and reliability.

This application note summarizes common solar application scenarios where in-package hall-effect current sensors, such as TI’s portfolios TMCS112x and TMCS113x, can be used. This document helps engineers to understand the basic requirements of current sensing in solar end equipment and how current sensors are used accordingly.