Allegro Sets New Standard for Efficiency in High-Power Systems with Ultra-Low-Loss Isolated Current Sensor

Allegro MicroSystems announced the ACS37200, a galvanically isolated current sensor that provides a breakthrough solution to the efficiency and power density challenges in high-current applications. As engineers design increasingly compact and powerful systems for hybrid and battery electric vehicles (HEV/EVs), industrial automation, AI data centers, and solar inverters, the heat and power loss generated by traditional shunt resistors has become a primary design bottleneck. The ACS37200, with its industry-leading 50 µΩ conductor resistance, removes this obstacle, enabling designers to build smaller, more efficient, and more reliable power systems.

In a high-current system, every milliohm of resistance matters. A typical 100A design using a 0.5mΩ shunt resistor can waste up to 5 watts of power as pure heat, requiring costly and space-consuming heatsinks. The ACS37200’s ultra-low 50 µΩ resistance reduces that power loss to just 0.5 watts - a 90% reduction. This means less energy is wasted and more power is available to drive the vehicle or run the server, directly improving HEV/EV range and lowering data center operating costs.

This efficiency gain is a critical enabler for power density. While Allegro’s previous generation of integrated sensors, such as the ACS772, already offered a nearly 7x size reduction over bulky discrete shunt solutions, the new ACS37200, in its compact 100 mm² PSOF package, takes this even further. It is nearly 70% smaller than the ACS772’s CB package, resulting in a total footprint that is 20 times smaller than a traditional shunt solution - a significant 95% reduction in board space (more info).

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