Abstract
In the last decade, we observed a noticeable increase in direct-current systems (DC), particularly in solar power generation, grid storage systems, and electric mobility. Some of these systems may require high-voltage isolation and peak currents in excess of kA. The existing standard compact and lower cost current sensing solutions hardly ever achieve an overall measurement uncertainty below 1% mainly due to offsets and hysteresis; their typical bandwidth is about 250 kHz, and they may also be noisy. This article presents a new method of isolated DC and AC current measurement based on a single gapless core and the innovative Platiše Flux Sensor. After verification in a mixed-signal simulator, the method was implemented in a functional prototype of a DC current transducer (CT) and thoroughly tested in a reference setup. The performance tests showed a low offset and hysteresis, a bandwidth in the MHz range, low power consumption, and low noise operation. Furthermore, the low current transducer achieved a typical uncertainty of less than 0.2% and a linearity of less than 200 ppm, which indicates an overall superior performance compared to representative comparable CTs based on alternative technologies. In addition to the areas of application mentioned above, the new type of DC-CT can be used for general purpose metering, measurement instrumentation, and high power DC and AC systems.
Highlights
The demand for high-precision current sensors has seen a dramatic increase in the past decade due to recent developments in a number of application areas
In order to design an improved direct-current systems (DC) current sensor, the research was based on a zero-flux gapless core design with a compensation winding, which eventually led to the invention of a patented original magnetic flux sensor named after its inventor, Uroš Platiše [10]
This article presents a novel type of magnetic flux sensor named after the inventor Platiše, proposes its use in a DC current transducer, and provides the results of a thorough testing and performance evaluation of the first direct-current current transformer (DC-CT) prototype
Summary
The demand for high-precision current sensors has seen a dramatic increase in the past decade due to recent developments in a number of application areas. These utilize different underlying physical principles, from ohmic resistance (e.g., shunt) and induction (e.g., Rogowski transformer, current transformer), to the magnetic field (e.g., Hall-effect sensors, fluxgate transformer, magneto resistance materials), and the Faraday effect (e.g., fiber-optic current sensors) [9], each with its particular advantages and drawbacks Applications such as massive solar power plants, battery storage systems, and e-mobility require compact and cost-effective wide bandwidth current sensors with a large nominal measurement range from a few A up to several kA, a wide dynamic range with temporary currents of several orders of magnitude above the nominal average (e.g., e-vehicle acceleration, in-rush currents in battery storage, etc.), and a measurement uncertainty 3σ ranging from 0.01% to 0.1%.
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