ST AN2167 APPLICATION NOTE

AN2167

Application note

Using the STPM01 with a shunt current sensor

Introduction

This document describes how a shunt current sensor can be used with the STPM01 metering device in single-phase metering applications without tamper detection.

Special considerations must be taken into account when the shunt is designed:

■ The current density must be kept constant

■ The power dissipation must be reduced, as it can influence the ambient temperature

within the meter housing. In the event of large current overloads, this can become an explosion hazard.

Note: Special safety precautions must be followed while the meter is connected to the power line

and opened. The ground plane of the meter is at a high voltage level because the shunt has to measure the current flow through a hot conductor without any galvanic isolation. This is a safety hazard for the operators and can destroy the connected equipment.

For more information on the STPM01, refer to the full datasheet.

October 2008 Rev 2 1/5

www.st.com

Theory of operation AN2167

1 Theory of operation

A shunt is a resistor intended for relatively high current levels. This means that Ohm's law may be applied to it as a first-order approximation model and measure its response to the primary current: (see Equation 1).

Equation 1

uSipRS⋅=

The first problem is that R

is not constant, stable, or perfectly linear. It is affected by

changes in temperature and current density, so a special shape and material must be used to:

1. keep all of the coefficients as low as possible

2. maintain low levels of mechanical expansion

The second problem is self-heating due to power loss in the conductive material: (see

Equation 2)

Equation 2

SuSip

RS⋅=⋅=

The second equation represents the prime limiting factor to the usage of a shunt sensor. For example, if the user wants to use a 500 µΩ shunt sensor to build a class 0.5 direct meter with I

NOM/IMAX

dissipated in the shunt at I

However, this meter must be able to withstand an overcurrent of 5000 A

= 10/80A

, the voltage output level would be 40 mV

RMS

would be 3.2 W.

MAX

, and the power

RMS

for 60 ms,

RMS

which yields 750 J of energy. This would melt the shunt and, consequently, generate an arc and overheat the air in the sealed meter housing, causing the meter to explode.

To keep the shunt from melting, a higher volume of material must be used and power dissipation needs to be reduced. Power dissipation can be reduced by decreasing the resistance of the shunt. For a 210 µΩ shunt, the output voltage would be 16.8 mV

RMS

, the

power dissipated would be 1.344 W, and the energy level would be 315 J.

The third problem is the meter accuracy. For a class 0.5 direct meter, the accuracy of the power and energy values produced by the shunt must be within 1% or better, at 5% of nominal current (I ±1.05 µV

RMS

). For a 210 µΩ shunt, the sensitivity of the meter must be

NOM

This makes it more difficult to deal with electromagnetic interference (EMI) and new error sources (e.g., Kelvin and Peltier effects) which become important, and may include stray capacitances and mutual inductances, as well as noise generated by the preamplifier. The shunt connection to the line and the STPM01 must be assembled very carefully in order to minimize error source contributions.

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AN2167 Examples of sensor shunt usage in energy meters

2 Examples of sensor shunt usage in energy meters

2.1 Single-phase application without tamper

A shunt measures the current flow through the hot conductor of the line, so pin F becomes the local ground of the meter and the larger resistor of the voltage divider is connected to pin N of the meter. The voltage divider drop must be connected to the anti-aliasing filter input for the voltage channel of the STPM01. Both voltage pins of the shunt should be connected to the anti-aliasing filter input for the primary current channel of the STPM01, while the secondary current channel may be connected to local ground.

All of the connections to the anti-aliasing filter inputs should be implemented with the shortest wires possible, and with the smallest area of loop possible (without any other signal in the vicinity), formed by the following:

● source impedance element

● both wires

● input impedance of the filter

The STPM01 device should be configured with PST = 3 and ADDG = 1 (settings for the shunt current sensor, current amplification factor 32, and no tamper detection).

This type of metering application can operate as a standalone with a stepper display or a microcontroller may be implemented in order to access more measured results in the STPM01 using the LCD, automatic meter reading (AMR), or tariffing functions.

2.2 Single-phase application with tamper

It is not possible to connect two shunts to the STPM01 because one would generate its output at the high voltage level. Therefore, a current sensor with integral galvanic isolation must be used for the primary current channel, while another shunt is used for the secondary channel or vice-versa.

Although a shunt produces an output voltage which is proportional to the primary current like a current transformer (CT) does, it is difficult to combine a CT with a shunt in single phase metering applications with tamper detection due to differences in phase error indicators and output voltage levels. These differences must be resolved with components outside of the STPM01.

2.3 Multi-phase application with or without tamper

It would be cost-prohibitive to use three or four shunts with three or four STPM01 devices, plus the necessary three galvanic isolations and additional power supplies, as well as a microcontroller to achieve the objectives of a three-phase meter design. The other problem would be the excessive levels of power dissipation produced by three shunts operating at maximum phase currents.

3/5

Revision history AN2167

3 Revision history

Table 1. Document revision history

Date Revision Changes

15-Feb-2006 1 Initial release

27-Oct-2008 2 Document reformatted. No content change.

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AN2167

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