At Ohio Semitronics, we’re pretty particular about the way we do things. We have all of our manufacturing, engineering, sales and customer service under one roof in Hilliard, Ohio enabling us to be more flexible and responsive to customer needs. We are in the process of obtaining ISO 17025 certification, making OSI the only manufacturer of power measurement products to also provide in-house calibration certification. And, OSI is the only U.S. manufacturer of power measurement products to formulate its own indium arsenide for making Hall probes for non-contact current measurement.
Non-contact current measurement – measuring AC or DC current without connecting to a conductor or wire – is necessary when you cannot break a power line to insert a sensor and for safety reasons to protect from high power surges. A Hall probe is the key device for measuring current flowing through a conductor without connecting to the conductor. Hall probes provide high linearity, low noise and excellent measurement stability for magnetic sensing and electrical current measurement applications. And the making of Hall probes requires indium arsenide – a semiconductor material composed of indium and arsenic.
So, why do we formulate our own indium arsenide and make our own Hall probes at OSI? We do it so we have greater flexibility for making a wide variety of Hall elements. We believe that a “one size fits all” approach is limiting when it comes to making power measurement devices. By formulating our own indium arsenide, OSI can provide Hall probes for both high and low Hall coefficients to match the design of specific transducers.
Power measurement applications continue to expand with new energy and power generation technologies. If we at OSI were to only provide “off-the-shelf” power measurement devices, our customers’ ability to innovate would be limited. At OSI, about half of our business is in the design and manufacturing of modified and custom power measurement devices for unique applications. Often times, when you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. When you need power measurement done right, you need to “ask the experts” at OSI.
Flickr Photo Credit: Morning theft
