AC Direct Sensing in Silicon Chip Architecture

With the ability to modernize the current, out-of-date electrical infrastructure as we know it, AmberSemi’s AC Direct Sensing is a predictive analysis and sensing software engine in semiconductor architecture for the delivery of real-time, continuous sensing and analysis of AC mains energy.

The third pillar of Amber Semiconductor fundamental technologies, the AC Direct Sensing engine, was unveiled. With the ability to modernize the current, out-of-date electrical infrastructure as we know it, AmberSemi’s AC Direct Sensing is a predictive analysis and sensing software engine in semiconductor architecture for the delivery of real-time, continuous sensing and analysis of AC mains energy.

The design of AmberSemi accomplishes sampling 64× each sine-wave cycle, or 4,000× per second. The AC power grid’s normal and abnormal states may be thoroughly surveyed by Amber, allowing for quick decisions to be made to safeguard devices on the order of microseconds. Because of its predictive nature, AC Direct Sensing can almost avoid events like false tripping, which can block the flow of power in crucial situations, as well as false events.

Fault events

Inductance is one of them. Inductance here refers to the energy returning from the load to the switch rather than the load itself. Arc fault is still another. For instance, it can twist on a wire improperly and cause an arc problem. The sine wave is disturbed by the arc, which slightly modifies the sine wave and increases the risk of a fire starting on the wire. Therefore, arcing is primarily to blame when you read about building fires started by electricity.

“To fully comprehend the massive, potentially life-saving impact of AC Direct Sensing, let’s look at a very common example: a ground fault. Ground faults require a ground-fault circuit interrupter as a life safety requirement, which allows you to sense if there is leakage between the load and the mains. In this case, the goal is to see if any of that leakage is going through a human body—because if it’s going through the human body, it’s killing someone,” said Thar Casey, CEO of AmberSemi. “Then you have overcurrent, then you have an over-voltage, then a short-circuit. All of those things are essential to assess. However, the industry standard of old-world electromechanical technology has yet to be unseated. At AmberSemi, we have found a way to monitor all these events in real-time, and the first one we are focusing on is our AC Direct Sensing engine’s Ground Fault Sensor. We have this specific transient event programmed into an evaluation platform, and are now going to start evaluating with customers—representing an enormous opportunity to overhaul the ineffective industry standard and save lives.”

Thar Casey, CEO at Amber Semiconductor

Sampling is a predictive analysis, awareness, and knowledge of electricity. Sampling 4,000× per second provides continuous knowledge of the electricity grid.

“Amber Semi’s core technology for digitally sensing the sine wave can be programmed to detect a range of anomalies from the smallest increment like a ground fault to a significant event like an inductive kickback,” added Thar Casey. “In reality, the number matters less, because of the programmability of the architecture, The device is tuned to the specific task at hand, scanning the sine wave in real-time looking for events that it has been programmed to detect. The monitoring and fault detection data can be fed into a microcontroller as an analysis subsystem for offline evaluation of solutions, combining different mosfet and gate driver options from AmberSemi,” said Casey.

The monitoring and fault-detection data can be fed into a microcontroller as an analysis subsystem for offline evaluation of solutions, combining different MOSFET and gate driver options from Amber.

“The beauty of our technology is that it’s in silicon, embedded directly within the offline architecture of the building’s electrical where we deliver our sensing advantages within the grid itself,” said Thar Casey. ”Because our AC Direct Sensing engine digitizes electricity, when these electrical grid end points are cloud-connected, all of this data can be stored in the cloud for a range of additional analyses, including industrial Internet of Things implications for fault detection and predictive maintenance in aging load from appliances to equipment,” Casey added.

Digital Electricity Control

AmberSemi’s proprietary digital electricity control technology has basically been separated at the hardware and software level. The basic software for sensing and analysis could be separated and produced in a silicon chip. The AC Direct Sensing engine of AmberSemi can be integrated as an independent solution in a silicon chip. It leverages AmberSemi’s AC Direct DC Enabler for extracting DC power directly from the power grid, and together it offers advantages in terms of small form factor for AC sensing and power supply.

 AmberSemi Devices

“Think of a line with a 6 A and a 5.9 A return that crosses the human body. In actuality, that is a fatal crossing. Safety protections will be triggered after the time of detection in an electromechanical solution – essentially after the event has started. With AmberSemi’s technology, the lockout is triggered instantly upon the occurrence of a ground fault, because we are sampling thousands of times. Alternatively, because of our native intelligence, it can decide to wait for the length of the fault event so as to analyze and determine whether we need to open or not. What this means, because of this intelligent sampling, we do have the choice to do nothing and still save a person from dying as we wait to see if the event repeats in our sampling,” said Casey.

Additionally, AmberSemi’s AC Direct Sensing is programmable and includes native intelligence to reduced nuisance trips, along with other advantages. It is also integrated into AmberSemi’s AC Direct AC Switch Controller for robust self and downstream transient protections and switching thousands of times faster than conventional switches. This totally programmable architecture allows for programmable trip thresholds, warning levels, data logging, remote resets, and much more.

According to Casey, AmberSemi’s AC Direct Sensing technology will be physically demonstratable in three forms, beginning now into this summer:

• Within AmberSemi’s lighting control platform, an Indestructible AC Switch Controller derivative currently in evaluation by key customers
• Within AmberSemi’s Indestructible AC Switch controller evaluation platform, slated for availability to select customers
• As a standalone evaluation platform for showcasing one specific transient Ground Fault sensing, also slated for select customers

The AmberSemi AC Direct Sensing engine is showcased operating within the Indestructible AC Switch Controller in this video demonstration of an oscilloscope test. This demo video shows the Amber Indestructible AC switch with Infineon silicon MOSFETs successfully suppressing 450 inductive load surges over 15 minutes to just 260 V each.

Silicon architectures additionally create options for expanded functionality while extending building intelligence now used for security, access, and fire control along with other forms of building automation. Proponents also stress that silicon modernization of traditional electrical infrastructure allows for incorporating intelligence into emerging IoT deployments. Amber’s patented technologies also comply with the UL 489I standard for solid-state circuit breakers and will align with the IEC specification for circuit breakers to be released in 2025.

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AC Direct Sensing in Silicon Chip Architecture

Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio 

Maurizio holds a Ph.D. in Physics and is a telecommunication engineer and journalist. He has worked on various international projects in the field of gravitational wave research. He collaborates with research institutions to design data acquisition and control systems for space applications. He is the author of several books published by Springer, as well as numerous scientific and technical publications on electronics design.