Per-Load Current Monitoring
Distributed Current Sensors per Load Channel
Per-load current monitoring is an instrumentation network that measures electrical consumption across 200 discrete load channels in a lunar power distribution system. Combining zero-insertion-loss Hall-effect sensors for high currents with copper-nickel precision shunts for lower currents, the system delivers telemetry with one percent accuracy to support energy accounting and load-drift anomaly detection. Operating in the unshielded lunar radiation environment necessitates radiation-hardened analog-to-digital converters and automated calibration drift compensation to maintain measurement stability across a 20-year design lifetime. The distributed 5-kilogram architecture consumes 10 watts of power and provides a mean time between failures of 200,000 hours.
Distributed current sensors (Hall effect + shunt) at every load channel providing per-load consumption telemetry for diagnostics and accounting.
Purpose
Distributed current sensors (Hall effect + shunt) at every load channel providing per-load consumption telemetry for diagnostics and accounting.
Context
Child of L2-PDM-LOAD within the Lunar Ark system
Principles
- ▸Hall-effect sensors for high-current loads (no insertion loss)
- ▸Precision shunts for low-current loads with high accuracy
- ▸Anomaly detection flags load drift
- ▸Per-load energy accounting (Wh totalizer)
- ▸Sensor redundancy via voting
Typical implementations
- ▸ISS per-load current monitoring heritage
- ▸Industrial DCS metering
- ▸Smart-grid metering
Lunar considerations
- ▸Long-life sensor calibration drift compensation
- ▸Rad-tolerant ADCs
- ▸Distributed architecture reduces wiring
Specifications
Functional
| primary function | Distributed current sensors (Hall effect + shunt) at every load channel providing per-load consumption telemetry for diagnostics and accounting. |
| loads monitored | 200 |
| current accuracy percent | 1 |
Physical
| mass kg | 5 |
| materials | Hall-effect sensors, Precision shunts (Cu-Ni), Rad-hard ADCs |
| vacuum compatibility | True |
Operational
| power consumption w | 10 |
| thermal range c | -40, 70 |
| lifetime years | 20 |
| mtbf hours | 200000 |
Interfaces
Provides
- Per-load current telemetry
- Current measurements for balancing
Requires
- Sensor power (~10 W total)
Cite this entry
Lunar Ark Codex. "Per-Load Current Monitoring" (L3-PDM-LOAD-MON). Retrieved 10 September 2026, from https://lunarark.com/entry/L3-PDM-LOAD-MON
Licensed CC-BY-SA 4.0. You may reuse and adapt this entry with attribution, under the same licence.