Hall-effect sensors are popular in OBC and DCDC applications to sense the current, and can also be used to detect the short-circuit current i_SC. The hall-effect sensor detects short-circuit currents by sensing the magnetic field generated by current flowing through the sensing element [18]. Figure 3-5 shows the simplified circuit for hall-effect sensor-based method.

As hall-effect based current sensor, a TMCS1126-Q1 with integrated comparator is used. The Short circuit Detection (OCD) circuit provides a comparator output that can be used to trigger a warning or system shutdown to prevent damage from excessive current flow caused by short circuits, motor stalls, or other system conditions. This digital response can be configured on both bidirectional and unidirectional devices to trip anywhere between half and over twice the analog measurement range.

The trigger threshold is set using external passive elements. Similar to the shunt-based design, the sensor is placed between the two capacitors C_C and C_B. As soon as the current i_SC reaches the defined threshold current set in the hall-effect sensor, the over-current output pin is used to disable the gate driver and turn-off the SiC MOSFET.