Analog front ends claim industry's lowest-power, highest-precision for smart e-metering

July 19, 2012 // Paul Buckley

Texas Instruments Incorporated has introduced a new line of analog front ends (AFEs) for power monitoring and control of smart e-meters. The new ADS131E08 family is available with 8, 6 or 4 channels and in 16- or 24-bit resolution.

The devices offer high integration and performance, along with the industry’s lowest power consumption per channel and widest upgrade/downgrade path.  

When combined with the AMC1100 isolation amplifier, quad-channel ISO7241C digital isolator and 32-bit C2000 TMS320F2812 high-performance microcontroller (MCU), the new ADS131E08 family provides a three-phase class 1.0 and 0.5 smart e-metering solution that minimizes power consumption while providing high linearity for accurate power measurement. The solution also delivers the high-voltage isolation required to meet industry standards for power and communications in high-end industrial meters and Smart Grid infrastructure. A free sample kit of the smart metering solution is available now.

 The ADS131E08 e-metering AFE family features the highest all-around precision performance enabled by the best combination of AC/DC specifications: best-in-class signal-to-noise ratio of 107 dB, ENOB of up to 20.4 bits, input signal range of +/-2.4 V and common mode rejection ratio of -110 dB. The high level of performance allows the AFEs to exceed 0.1 e-metering performance with less than 0.1 percent error for 1 to 1,000 dynamic range.
 
The device offers the lowest power consumption available at 2 mW per channel with an operating temperature range of -40 to 105°C.

 The family offers the widest upgrade/downgrade path, with options ranging from 4 to 8 channels and 16 to 24 bits of resolution, to support a variety of smart e-metering applications, from two-phase systems to three-phase with tamper detection.

The device reduces board space and overall solution size by integrating a delta-sigma analog-to-digital converter (ADC), FET-input programmable gain amplifier (PGA) with multi-gain options, operational amplifier (op amp), internal reference, fault detection and alarm comparators.

The ADS131E08EVM-PDK demonstration kit is available to speed hardware evaluation and system development, along with an IBIS model. The kit can be ordered for $199.     

Availability and Pricing

All devices in the ADS131E08 family are available in a 9-mm x 9-mm TQFP package. Suggested retail pricing for 1,000-unit quantities is as follows:

8-channel, 24-bit ADS131E08: $5.95
6-channel, 24-bit ADS131E06: $4.95
4-channel, 24-bit ADS131E04: $3.95
8-channel, 16-bit ADS130E08: $3.95

More information about the ADS131E08 e-metering AFE family at
www.ti.com/ads131e08-preu

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December 15, 2011 | Texas instruments | 222901974

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