Search results for " Current measurement"
showing 7 items of 7 documents
Improvement of Hall Effect Current Transducer Metrological Performances in the Presence of Harmonic Distortion
2010
The performance of Hall effect current transducers (HECTs), under distorted waveform conditions, is usually characterized by means of a frequency response test. In this paper, it was investigated if frequency response is able to correctly evaluate the ratio and the phase errors under distorted conditions. Two HECTs, with the accuracy class level of 1% and 0.5%, respectively, were experimentally characterized under two conditions: 1) sinusoidal excitation with frequencies ranging from 50 to 750 Hz, which is the well-known frequency response test, and 2) nonsinusoidal excitation using fundamental frequency and one harmonic with adjusted amplitude and phase shift. It was found that ratio and p…
Characterization of clamp-on current transformers under nonsinusoidal conditions
2009
This paper reports the performance of clamp-on current transformers under nonsinusoidal conditions. A set of experimental measurements helped to determine the ratio and the phase errors under two conditions: 1) sinusoidal excitation with frequencies from 45 to 1000 Hz and 2) nonsinusoidal excitation using the fundamental frequency and one harmonic, with adjusted phase shift. It was found that ratio and phase errors are affected by the phase angle between the harmonic and the fundamental and the harmonic amplitude. The effects of conductor location in the current transformer's window and of the air-gap width were also investigated. It was concluded that harmonic phase and ratio errors measur…
A Non-Invasive Thermal Drift Compensation Technique Applied to a Spin-Valve Magnetoresistive Current Sensor
2011
A compensation method for the sensitivity drift of a magnetoresistive (MR) Wheatstone bridge current sensor is proposed. The technique was carried out by placing a ruthenium temperature sensor and the MR sensor to be compensated inside a generalized impedance converter circuit (GIC). No internal modification of the sensor bridge arms is required so that the circuit is capable of compensating practical industrial sensors. The method is based on the temperature modulation of the current supplied to the bridge, which improves previous solutions based on constant current compensation. Experimental results are shown using a microfabricated spin-valve MR current sensor. The temperature compensati…
Fractional Modeling of the AC Large-Signal Frequency Response in Magnetoresistive Current Sensors
2013
Fractional calculus is considered when derivatives and integrals of non-integer order are applied over a specific function. In the electrical and electronic domain, the transfer function dependence of a fractional filter not only by the filter order n, but additionally, of the fractional order α is an example of a great number of systems where its input-output behavior could be more exactly modeled by a fractional behavior. Following this aim, the present work shows the experimental ac large-signal frequency response of a family of electrical current sensors based in different spintronic conduction mechanisms. Using an ac characterization set-up the sensor transimpedance function is obtain…
Current characterisation for ultra low power wireless body area networks
2010
The emerging area of body area networks (BAN) imposes challenging requirements on hardware and software to achieve the desired lifetimes for certain devices such as long term medical implants. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to the measurement and characterisation of the energy consumption of BAN devices. The approach uses a low cost energy auditing circuit and addresses the problem of accurately measuring low-level current consumption. This new technique will allow precise and analytical measurements of systems and components in terms of energy. This will help circuit designers minimise power consumption in BAN devices. Software engineers might use this approach to validate and …
A novel approach to current transformer characterization in the presence of harmonic distortion
2009
The current transformer (CT) performance under distorted waveform conditions is usually characterized by means of the frequency-response test. In this paper, a new way to characterize CTs, closer to real operation conditions, is proposed. The harmonic phase-angle and ratio errors are measured using a nonsinusoidal current composed of fundamental and one harmonic with adjustable phase shift. The new method was tested by determining the performance of two metering class CTs commonly used by the Italian power company. The errors measured using the proposed approach are larger than the ones obtained with the frequency response. This result suggests that the frequency-response approach for the e…
Quasi-digital conversion for resistive devices: application in GMR-based IC current sensors
2013
Resistive devices, including sensors, are used in a huge range of applications within different scenarios. When a complete system is considered, a quasi-digital output is often recommendable. If the conversion is operated at device level, some problems such as noise disturbs, insertion losses and so on, can be reduced. In this work, we describe a resistance-tofrequency (R-f) converter with a suggested application in low current monitoring by means of GiantMagnetoResistance (GMR) sensors. Specific devices have been designed and microfabricated. The system has been tested by means of discrete components with a PCB. The complete microsystem monolithic integration in a standard CMOS technology …