EV.3.2 Energy Meter

"The analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) is operated with a data rate clock of ~500kHz and an over-sample ratio of 4096 to produce a sample rate of ~120Hz. The energy meter internally processes every sample and uses fixed-point 32-bit math for calculations. Each sample is first scaled to physical units using calibration factors that are unique to each Energy Meter, and then processed to monitor for violations of the power or voltage limits as defined in the FSAE rules. 

Whenever the tractive system (TS) is energized, the energy meter logs the measured current and voltage at 10Hz. If a violation of the power or voltage limits is detected, a high-speed buffer of 120Hz data is stored containing 1 second of data centered on the violation."

But what is analog-to-digital conversion (ADC)?

ADC's essentially utilize sensors, which measure a physical parameter and produce a voltage signal proportional to the changing input, to produce a series of discrete values which approximate changing signals. Measured in bits, the ADC's resolution represents the number of discrete amplitude levels available in its digital output. Of the three types of ADC's, the Sigma-Delta type is generally used for high precision measurements (like applications within our Energy Meter).