Exploring Current Transformer Applications (Part 1)

For a variety of applications, using current transformers is an efficient way to sense current with minimum insertion loss.

Current transformers can perform circuit control, measure current for power measurement and control, and perform roles for safety protection and current limiting. They can also cause circuit events to occur when the monitored current reaches a specified level. Current monitoring is necessary at frequencies from the 50 Hz/60 Hz power line to the higher frequencies of switchmode transformers that range into the hundreds of kilohertz.

The object with current transformers is to think in terms of current transformation rather than voltage ratios. Current ratios are the inverse of voltage ratios. The thing to remember about transformers is that Pout = (Pin — transformer power losses). With this in mind, let's assume we had an ideal loss-less transformer in which Pout = Pin. Since power is voltage times current, this product must be the same on the output as it is on the input. This implies that a 1:10 step-up transformer with the voltage stepped up by a factor of 10 results in an output current reduced by a factor of 10. This is what happens on a current transformer. If a transformer had a one-turn primary and a ten-turn secondary, each amp in the primary results in 0.1A in the secondary, or a 10:1 current ratio. It's exactly the inverse of the voltage ratio — preserving volt times current product.

How can we use this transformer and knowledge to produce something useful? Normally, an engineer wants to produce an output on the secondary proportional to the primary current. Quite often, this output is in volts output per amp of primary current. The device that monitors this output voltage can be calibrated to produce the desired results when the voltage reaches a specified level.

A burden resistor connected across the secondary produces an output voltage proportional to the resistor value, based on the amount of current flowing through it. With our 1:10 turns ratio transformer that produces a 10:1 current ratio, a burden resistor can be selected to produce the voltage we want. If 1A on the primary produces 0.1A on the secondary, then by Ohm's law, 0.1 times the burden resistor will result in an output voltage per amp.

Many voltage transformers have adjusted ratios that produce the desired output voltage and compensate for losses. The turns-ratios or actual turns aren't the primary concern of the end-user. Only the voltage output and possibly regulation and other loss parameters may be of concern. With current transformers, the user must know the current ratio to use the transformer. The knowledge of amps in per amps out is the basis for use of the current transformer. Quite often, the end users provide the primary with a wire through the center of the transformer. They must know what secondary turns are to determine what their output current will be. Generally, in catalogues, the turns of the transformers are provided as a specification for use.

With this knowledge, the user can choose the burden resistor to produce their desired output voltage. The output current of 0.1A for a 1A primary on the 1:10 turns ratio transformer will produce 0.1 V/A across a 1Ω burden resistor, 1V per amp across a 10Ω burden and 10V per amp across a 100Ω burden resistor.

Fig. 1 shows an ideal transformation ratio. In this analysis, the secondary dc resistance (RDCR) doesn't become part of the calculation. When considering the secondary current, only the actual current affects V. How well that current can be determined controls the accuracy of the prediction of V. The secondary dc resistance is best analyzed by reflecting it to the primary by RDCR/N2.