CURRENT SENSOR WITH INVERTED SHIELDING ELEMENT

A sensor device may include a substrate within the housing, a sensing element coupled to the substrate, and a shielding element surrounding the sensing element, wherein the shielding element extends through an opening of the substrate. The sensor device may further include a busbar extending through the housing, wherein the shielding element further extends through an indentation along at least one side of the busbar.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO CORRESPONDING APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority to, Chinese Patent Application No. 2022113366326, filed Oct. 28, 2022, entitled “CURRENT SENSOR WITH INVERTED SHIELDING ELEMENT,” which application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The disclosure relates generally to current sensors, more particularly, to a current sensor with inverted shielding.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Current sensors detect the current (voltage or temperature sensing for alternative selection) flowing through various vehicle systems, such as the battery charger system, battery system, power distribution system, inverter system, converter system, and others. Some current sensors use a single Hall IC, which provides an output signal proportional to the flux density applied horizontally. With increasing demands on density and miniaturization, improvements over existing current sensors are desired. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present disclosures is provided.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

In one approach, a sensor device may include a housing, a substrate within the housing, and a sensing element coupled to the substrate. The sensor device may further include a shielding element surrounding the sensing element, wherein the shielding element extends through an opening of the substrate, and a busbar extending through the housing, wherein the shielding element further extends through an indentation along a first side of the busbar.

In another approach, a current sensor may include a printed circuit board (PCB) within a housing, a sensing element coupled to the PCB, and a shielding element surrounding the sensing element, wherein the shielding element extends through an opening of the PCB. The current sensor may further include a busbar extending through the housing, wherein the shielding element further extends through an indentation along a first side of the busbar.

In yet another approach, a current sensing device may include a printed circuit board (PCB) within a housing, a sensing element coupled to the PCB, and a busbar adjacent the PCB, the busbar extending through the housing. The current sensing device may further include a shielding element surrounding the sensing element, wherein the shielding element extends through an opening of the PCB and through an indentation along a first side of the busbar.

The drawings are not necessarily to scale. The drawings are merely representations, not intended to portray specific parameters of the disclosure. The drawings are intended to depict typical embodiments of the disclosure, and therefore should not be considered as limiting in scope. In the drawings, like numbering represents like elements. Furthermore, certain elements in some of the figures may be omitted, or illustrated not-to-scale, for illustrative clarity. Furthermore, for clarity, some reference numbers may be omitted in certain drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. The aspects of the disclosure may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the system and method to those skilled in the art.

As will be described herein, provided are sensing devices including an inverted shielding element and slotted printed circuit board, which reduces an overall size of the sensing device while maintaining or improving sensing accuracy. In some embodiments, a sensing element of the sensing device may be a rotary and linear position ASIC, which supports multi-point calibration to increase sensor accuracy.

Turning now toFIGS.1-4, a sensing device (hereinafter “device”)100according to embodiments of the present disclosure will be described. The device100may include a housing102enclosing a substrate104within an interior cavity105, wherein a sensing element106is coupled to the substrate104. Although non-limiting, the substrate104may be a printed circuit board (PCB) and the sensing element106may be a rotary and linear position Hall application-specific integrated circuit, or a current Hall application-specific integrated circuit. The substrate104may include a first main side108opposite a second main side110. In various embodiments, the sensing element106may be attached to the first or second main sides108,110of the substrate104. Although not shown, the sensing element106may communicate with a processor or controller to determine the current level detected by the device100.

In some embodiments, the housing102may be composed of a non-magnetic, or, more preferably, a non-metallic material, to prevent blocking of magnetic fields from reaching the sensing element106. For example, the housing102could be composed of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) or a plastic (e.g., PA66+30GF). The present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

The housing102may include a main body112coupleable with a bottom cover114, e.g., by a set of loop arms116and tabs118. The main body112of the housing102may include a connector opening120operable to receive a plurality of pins124of a connector122. The plurality of pins124may further extend through the substrate104. It will be appreciated that the housing102may take on alternative shapes, configurations, number of components, etc., in other embodiments.

The main body112of the housing102may include a busbar opening126operable to receive a busbar128therein. The busbar128may include a first end130opposite a second end132, and a first side134opposite a second side136. As shown, the busbar128may be positioned along the first main side108of the substrate102. Although non-limiting, the busbar128may be made from copper or other suitable material. As is common, the first end130and the second end132of the busbar128may extend outside of the housing102.

Advantageously, the busbar128may include a recess or indentation138along the first side134to receive a shielding element140therein. The indentation138may generally be U-shaped or curved. In other embodiments, the indentation138is a slot, notch, or opening through the busbar128. As better shown inFIGS.3-4, the shielding element140may include first and second legs141,142extending from a central portion143in an inverted U-shape configuration. The first leg141extends through the indentation138of the busbar128and through an opening144of the substrate104. As shown, the opening144may extend from a side of the substrate104, and may extend entirely between the first and second main sides108,110. The second leg142of the shielding element140wraps around the second side136of the busbar128and terminates within a slot148provided in the bottom cover114of the housing102. The first leg141may similarly extend into a slot149of the bottom cover114.

Although non-limiting, the shielding element140may be made from a material having a magnetic permeability property. For example, the shielding element140may be made from a magnetic shielding material, such as permalloy material (e.g., Fe—Ni alloy). Use of the magnetic shielding material isolates the interior cavity105proximate the sensing element106from interference that may be caused by external magnetic fields, and from concentrate magnetic fields between first and second legs141,142of the shielding element140. In another example, the shielding element140may be made of a conductive material (e.g., Fe—Si alloy).

By providing the shielding element140through the indentation138of the busbar128and through the opening144of the substrate104, the device100may be made more compact without sacrificing performance of the sensing element106.

The foregoing discussion has been presented for purposes of illustration and description and is not intended to limit the disclosure to the form or forms disclosed herein. For example, various features of the disclosure may be grouped together in one or more aspects, embodiments, or configurations for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. However, it should be understood that various features of the certain aspects, embodiments, or configurations of the disclosure may be combined in alternate aspects, embodiments, or configurations. Moreover, the following claims are hereby incorporated into this Detailed Description by this reference, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of the present disclosure.

The use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. Accordingly, the terms “including,” “comprising,” or “having” and variations thereof are open-ended expressions and can be used interchangeably herein.

Furthermore, identification references (e.g., primary, secondary, first, second, third, fourth, etc.) are not intended to connote importance or priority, but are used to distinguish one feature from another. The drawings are for purposes of illustration only and the dimensions, positions, order and relative sizes reflected in the drawings attached hereto may vary.

Furthermore, the terms “substantial” or “substantially,” as well as the terms “approximate” or “approximately,” can be used interchangeably in some embodiments, and can be described using any relative measures acceptable by one of ordinary skill in the art. For example, these terms can serve as a comparison to a reference parameter, to indicate a deviation capable of providing the intended function. Although non-limiting, the deviation from the reference parameter can be, for example, in an amount of less than 1%, less than 3%, less than 5%, less than 10%, less than 15%, less than 20%, and so on.