Current Sensor Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 - 2026)

Market Overview

The current sensor market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 8% during the forecast period of 2021 to 2026. The demand for low-cost, accurate, and small-size current sensor solutions has grown rapidly during the last decade, in industrial, automotive, commercial, and communications systems. New design concepts and the systematic utilization of advanced BiCMOS technology have entitled further improvements in the IC performance. It has also opened the path to new product approaches by supporting the integration of additional functions, such as power protection, in the same current sensor IC. If further implemented by the manufacturing players to manufacture current sensors by a focus towards Improving IC Performance, this can become a trend towards the next generation of fully integrated low-cost current sensor devices.

• Increasing the use of battery-powered and renewable energy applications drives the market. Smartphones, tablets, and other portable devices are requiring increasingly smaller form factors and lower rates of power consumption. A highly accurate, ultra-low-power solution for estimating remaining battery life and for protecting the circuitry and Li+ battery from overcurrent conditions, the requirement of current sensors is a necessity. Open-loop sensors are typically used in battery-powered applications. They require less power than closed-loop sensors and are better able to withstand overloads. According to Leftronic Inc., 2.71 billion people in the world own a smartphone in 2019, and by 2020, the number of smartphone users is projected to reach 2.87 billion. This further drives more demand for current sensors.
• Further, with increasing concerns about the global demand for energy and the overall expansion of environmental awareness, designers for power electronics applications are under constant pressure to improve efficiency. The advent of the smart grid, grid-tied photovoltaic (PV), and some other grid-tied renewable energy systems require the growth of high-efficiency power inverters. The signal should be compliant with the utility system’s requirements for which current sensors are needed in the systems’ control loops to ensure proper connection to the grid. The sensors must not only accurately measure both AC and DC current they must have high dynamic performance. Also, the design is also focused on minimizing the cost per watt in an effort to deliver the best possible return on investment in solar energy. This factor drives the demand for the current sensor.
• Large scale commercialization of IoT and IIoT is driving the current sensor market. According to Ericsson, the number of cellular IoT connections is expected to reach 3.5 billion in 2023. Condition-based monitoring (CBM) programs are undergoing an extreme makeover as part of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) concept integrating through the factory automation world. The eddy current indusctive sensors hinder fatal failure by controlling the current flow through CBM in the equipment. Sensors inducing eddy currents operates through high frequency electro-magnetic field, and its applications are found in the nuclear power industry, which uses eddy current sensors in CBM systems that monitor shafts and pumps that are running at high temperatures and high pressure. Other CBM applications include the gas turbine blade gap and turbine blade tip timing measurements. These factors drive the demand for the current sensor market.
• However, due to the COVID-19 situation, shipping and delivery services are highly affected. Most car manufacturers, consumer electronic manufacturers, and tier-1 suppliers have had to suspend operations or are functioning at reduced capacity. This has resulted in a reduction in demand for the semiconductors used in cars and consumer electronics, at least in the short term. Further, considering the backend process of making current sensors, the assembly, and testing being far more labor-intensive than wafer fabrication and the front-end processes, there could potentially be a substantial bottleneck once demand starts to grow. Also, when demand starts picking up, and every link in the supply chain has the required inventory and capacity to support it, there will still be a logistics challenge in transporting parts to their destinations in a timely manner.
• Currently, companies such as Pololu Corporation are further shipping the sensors for critical requirements instead of current sensors, including fighting the coronavirus. Also, as of March 2020, in India, as the COVID-19 virus outbreak disrupts supply chains, automakers and manufacturers of electronic goods in India were paying excessive rates to fly down spares and components from China and South Korea, but now the shipment rate has fallen down currently.

Scope of the Report

The current sensor detects electric current in a wire and generates a signal proportional to that current manufactures sensor such as Hall Effect Sensors, Inductive Current Sensor, etc for various end-users such as automotive, consumer electronics, telecom, and networking, etc.

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Key Market Trends

Hall Effect Sensors in Automotive Sector to Witness a Significant Growth

• With increase advancement technology in automotive, the trends towards electric vehicle production are highly being recommended in various countries. A complex architectural diagram of an electric car generally incorporates 15–20 current sensors. Other than this, 2–3 current sensors are needed for brushless (BLDC) electric motor control. The EVs of companies like BMW, Volkswagen, etc. use this kind of motor-control-current device.
• Typically, current sensors are found battery current monitoring, solar power inverters, and power inverters that drive traction motors in mid and full hybrid electric vehicles. CMOS Hall-effect based magnetic sensors integrate advanced features and provide high-level output signals functionality. Sophisticated magnetic sensors hold programmable memory and even microcontroller logic allowing for a fully custom calibrated output. Also, it is possible to implement standard interfaces that simplify communication with other circuits in EV.
• Further, the hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is quickly becoming the most popular green car and employ complex power electronic circuitry to control the flow of electric energy through the vehicle. In a single motor HEV, the motor acts as a drive motor in parallel with the internal combustion engine, or as a generator to charge the battery during regenerative braking. A typical HEV contains various systems that require electrical current sensors for maximally efficient operation, including AC motor and DC-DC converter applications.
• Players such as Allegro has developed a broad family of Hall-effect current sensor integrated circuits (ICs) that are ideally suited for HEV applications. The features include signal processing and package design innovations enabling 120 kHz output bandwidth, highest current resolution, lowest noise spectral density Hall sensor ICs in the marketplace, reduced power loss through-hole compliant, and low-resistance integrated conductor packages.
• Further, in March 2019, Allegro MicroSystems launched its latest Hall effect current sensor IC, which delivers its highest speed and accuracy in 400A sensing applications to date. It is suited for hybrid and electric vehicle inverter applications that need high accuracy sensing to 1000Amps or more, the ACS70310 offers diagnostic functions that can help improve functional safety and reliability.
• Further, in North America, with a high estimated production of electric vehicles of all power types, the demand for the current sensor will increase significantly. In April 2020, Audi announced to manufacture 30 electrified models for sale till 2025, with 20 of those vehicles will be fully electric. In the United States, Audi has already introduced five production models, which are Audi Q5 TFSI e, A7 TFSI e, and A8 TFSI e plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) as well as the e-tron all-electric SUV and upcoming e-tron Sportback. The instances preferably consider the demand for the current sensor during the present and forecasted future.

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