____________________________________________________

Extending Beyond the Max Common-Mode Range of

Discrete Current-Sense Amplifiers
Arjun Prakash, Current Sensing Products

For high-side power supply current sensing needs, it is

Power Supply
critical to understand the maximum voltage rating of
the power supply. The maximum power supply voltage R1
R2
will drive the selection of a current sense amplifier. IN+

Rshun
The common mode voltage of the current sense Vout = G x (V(IN+) t V(IN-))

t
R3 G = R2/R1
amplifier should exceed the maximum voltage on the IN-
power supply. For example, if a current is measured
on the 48V power supply with a transient voltage not Load R4
exceeding 96V a current sense amplifier with a
maximum common mode voltage supporting 96V
needs to be designed. Likewise for a 400V supply a Power Supply
common mode voltage of current sense amplifier
R1
supporting 400V needs to be chosen. V+
RD1 R2
IN+ Vout = G x (VCMP - VCMN)
The system cost solution of high voltage, high-side RD2
Rshun

G = (R2/R1)
t

current sensing can be expensive considering a goal R3 VCMP = V(+) x (RD2/(RD2 +RD1))
RD3 IN- VCMN = V(-) x (RD4/(RD4 +RD3))
of <1% accuracy needs to be achieved. For common V-
RD4
mode voltages higher than 90V often the selection of
Load R4
current sense amplifiers are limited to isolation
technology which can be expensive and BOM
extensive. Below are some of the techniques that
illustrates the extension of low voltage common mode Figure 1. Extending Common Mode Range using
Resistor Dividers
current sense amplifiers beyond its maximum rating by
adding a few inexpensive external components like
resistors, diodes and PMOS FETs. Extending Common Mode Range for Current
Output Amplifiers
Common Mode Voltage Divider Using Resistors.
As voltage dividers has serious consequences with
The simplest approach to monitor high voltage high- output error and degradation in performance, another
side current sensing is a design with a low voltage alternative approach is to shift the ground reference of
current sensing amplifier with external input voltage the current output amplifier to the high voltage
dividers, for example, if a 40V common mode voltage common mode node as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2
amplifier is selected for a 80V application, the 80V enables current sensing at higher voltages beyond
input common mode needs to be divided down to 40V rated common mode voltage of INA168 is 60V. This
common mode voltage. This voltage division can be technique can be extended to any voltage beyond 60V
accomplished using external resistor dividers as by designing an appropriate PMOS FET (Q1).
shown in the Figure 1. This is a simple design
approach and the tradeoffs are significant. The gain In Figure 2 Zener diode DZ1 regulates the supply
error and CMRR of the amplifier are dependent on the voltage that the current shunt monitor operates within,
accuracy and the matching of the external input divider and this voltage floats relative to the supply voltage.
resistors. Apart from gain error and CMRR errors, the DZ1 is chosen to provide sufficient operating voltage
tolerance of the external resistors will contribute to for the combination of IC1 and Q1 over the expected
imbalance in input voltage causing additional output power-supply range (typically from 5.1 V to 56 V).
error. This error does increase over temperature Select R1 to set the bias current for DZ1 at some
depending on the drift specifications of the resistors. value greater than the maximum quiescent current of
One technique to minimize output error is to use IC1. The INA168 shown in Figure 2 is specified at 90
precision 0.1% matched low temperature drift external µA maximum at 400V. The bias current in DZ1 is
resistor dividers. approximately 1 mA at 400 V, well in excess of IC1’s
maximum current (the bias current value was selected
to limit dissipation in R1 to less than 0.1 W). Connect a

SBOA198 – July 2017 Extending Beyond the Max Common-Mode Range of Discrete Current-Sense 1
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P-channel MOSFET, Q1, as shown to cascode the the drain of the FET to be equal to R1, VSENSE
output current of IC1 down to or below ground level. voltage is developed across R2 (VR2). Inputs of the
Transistor Q1’s voltage rating should exceed the current monitor INA226 are connected across R2 for
difference between the total supply and DZ1 by current sensing. Hence the current monitor does not
several volts because of the upward voltage swing on need the high common mode capability as it will only
Q1’s source. Select RL, IC1’s load resistor, as if IC1 see common mode voltages around VSENSE which is
were used alone. The cascode connection of Q1 usually less than 100mV. INA226 was chosen for
enables using IC1 well in excess of its normal 60-V current, voltage and power monitoring as it is a high
rating. The example circuit shown in Figure 2 was accuracy current/voltage/power monitor with an I2C
specifically designed to operate at 400V. interface. The INA226 can also sense bus voltages
less than 36 V. Since the bus voltage employed here
is 400 V, a divider is employed to scale down the high
400V
voltage bus to a voltage within the common mode
5k range of INA226. In this case a ratio of 64 is chosen
INA168
IN+ and hence the bus voltage LSB can be scaled
200uA/V
+ accordingly to obtain the actual bus voltage reading. In
Rshunt

DZ1 this case the a modified LSB of 80 mV could be used.

5k
Precision resistors are chosen for the divider to
- maintain accuracy of the bus measurement.
IN-
Q1
VOUT 400V
Load
R1
RL Vsense
50K + 10 5.1V
Zener
Vsense

-
-
Rshunt

+
OPA333
IN+ VBUS

Vsense
+ SCL

210 R
Figure 2. High-Side DC current measurements for 10 K SDA
-
400V systems IN- GND
RZ

Load
Extending Common Mode Voltage Range for
Power Monitors
System optimization and power monitoring for high
voltage systems (40V to 400V), if implemented Figure 3. High Voltage Power Monitoring
accurately can result in improvement of overall system
power management and efficiency. Current, voltage
and system power information can be beneficial in Table 1. Alternate Device Recommendations
taking preventive steps to diagnose faults or calculate Performance Trade-
total power consumption of the system. Monitoring Device Optimized Parameter
Off
faults and power optimization will assist high voltage Bandwidth : 900kHz,
system in premature failures and significantly lower LMP8645HV Slew rate: 0.5V/uS
Package: SOT-23-6
power savings by optimizing system shut down and MSOP-8 Package, I2C
wake up. Gain Error (1%), Shunt
INA220 interface, Selectable
Offset Voltage: 100uV
I2C address
Figure 3 illustrates a methodology by using INA226 a
36V common mode voltage power monitoring device Package: SOT-23,
INA139 Bandwidth: 4400 kHz, Offset voltage: 1mV
to be used in applications supporting 40V to 400V cost
systems. Shown in Figure 2 is the precision, rail-to-rail
opamp OPA333 used to mirror the sense voltage
across the shunt resistor on to a precision resistor R1. Table 2. Related TI TechNotes
OPA333 is floated up to 400 V using a 5.1 V zener SBOA174 Current Sensing in an H-Bridge
diode between its supply pins. The opamp drives the Switching Power Supply Current
gate of the 600 V P-FET in a current follower SBOA176
Measurements
configuration. A low leakage P-FET is chosen to obtain
High-Side Drive, High-Side Solenoid
accurate readings even at the low end of the SBOA166
Monitor With PWM Rejection
measurement. The voltage across R1 sets the drain
current of the FET and by matching the resistor R2 in

2 Extending Beyond the Max Common-Mode Range of Discrete Current-Sense SBOA198 – July 2017
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