In electrical engineering, a current transformer (CT) is used for measurement of electric currents. Current transformers are also known as instrument transformers. When current in a circuit is too high to directly apply to measuring instruments, a current transformer produces a reduced current accurately proportional to the current in the circuit, which can be conveniently connected to measuring and recording instruments. A current transformer also isolates the measuring instruments from what may be very high voltage in the primary circuit. Current transformers are commonly used in metering and protective relays in the electrical power industry.
Like any other transformer, a current transformer has a primary winding, a magnetic core, and a secondary winding. The alternating current flowing in the primary produces a magnetic field in the core, which then induces current flow in the secondary winding circuit. A primary objective of current transformer design is to ensure that the primary and secondary circuits are efficiently coupled, so that the secondary current bears an accurate relationship to the primary current.
The most common design of CT consists of a length of wire wrapped many times around a silicon steel ring passed over the circuit being measured. The CT’s primary circuit therefore consists of a single ‘turn’ of conductor, with a secondary of many hundreds of turns. The primary winding may be a permanent part of the current transformer, with a heavy copper bar to carry current through the magnetic core. Window-type current transformers are also common, which can have circuit cables run through the middle of an opening in the core to provide a single-turn primary winding. When conductors passing through a CT are not centered in the circular (or oval) opening, slight inaccuracies may occur.
Shapes and sizes can vary depending on the end user or switchgear manufacture. Typical examples of low voltage single ratio metering current transformers are either ring type or plastic moulded case. High-voltage current transformers are mounted on porcelain bushings to insulate them from ground. Some CT configurations slip around the bushing of a high-voltage transformer or circuit breaker, which automatically centers the conductor inside the CT window.
The primary circuit is largely unaffected by the insertion of the CT. The rated secondary current is commonly standardized at 1 or 5 amperes. For example, a 4000:5 CT would provide an output current of 5 amperes when the primary was passing 4000 amperes. The secondary winding can be single ratio or multi ratio, with five taps being common for multi ratio CTs. The load, or burden, of the CT should be of low resistance. If the voltage time integral area is higher than the core’s design rating, the core goes into saturation towards the end of each cycle, distorting the waveform and affecting accuracy.
Current transformers are used extensively for measuring current and monitoring the operation of the power grid. Along with voltage leads, revenue-grade CTs drive the electrical utility’s watt-hour meter on virtually every building with three-phase service, and every residence with greater than 200 amp service.
The CT is typically described by its current ratio from primary to secondary. Often, multiple CTs are installed as a “stack” for various uses (for example, protection devices and revenue metering may use separate CTs). Similarly potential transformers are used for measuring voltage and monitoring the operation of the power grid.
Care must be taken that the secondary of a current transformer is not disconnected from its load while current is flowing in the primary, as the transformer secondary will attempt to continue driving current across the effectively infinite impedance. This will produce a high voltage across the open secondary (into the range of several kilovolts in some cases), which may cause arcing. The high voltage produced will compromise operator and equipment safety and permanently affect the accuracy of the transformer.
The accuracy of a CT is directly related to a number of factors including:
- Burden class/saturation class
- Rating factor
- External electromagnetic fields
- Temperature and
- Physical configuration.
- The selected tap, for multi-ratio CT’s
For the IEC standard, accuracy classes for various types of measurement are set out in BSEN /IEC 60044-1, class 0.1, 0.2s, 0.2, 0.5, 0.5s, 1 & 3. It will be seen that the class designation is an approximate measure of the accuracy, e.g., class 1 current transformers have ratio error within 1% of rated current class 0.5 within a ratio error of 0.5% etc. Phase difference is important when power measurements are involved, i.e. when using wattmeters, kilowatt-hour meters, VAr meters and Power Factor meters. For the ANSI/IEEE Standard the accuracy requirements are based upon if the CT will be used for electrical metering, or, if it will be used for protective relaying.
The load, or burden, in a CT metering circuit is the (largely resistive) impedance presented to its secondary winding. Typical burden ratings for IEC CTs are 1.5VA, 3VA, 5VA, 10VA, 15VA, 20VA, 30VA, 45VA & 60VA with ANSI/IEEE B-0.1, B-0.2, B-0.5, B-1.0, B-2.0 and B-4.0. This means a CT with a burden rating of B-0.2 can tolerate up to 0.2 Ω of impedance in the metering circuit before its output current is no longer a fixed ratio to the primary current. Items that contribute to the burden of a current measurement circuit are switch-blocks, meters and intermediate conductors. The most common source of excess burden in a current measurement circuit is the conductor between the meter and the CT. Often, substation meters are located significant distances from the meter cabinets and the excessive length of small gauge conductor creates a large resistance. This problem can be solved by using CT with 1 ampere secondaries which will produce less voltage drop between a CT and its metering devices (used for remote measurement).h SK James:-
This is the voltage at which a CT becomes saturated. When a CT becomes saturated it can no longer transform current. An example of this rating would be C200, C800 etc… This means that the CT will saturate near 200 Volts or 800 Volts respectively.
Rating factor is a factor by which the nominal full load current of a CT can be multiplied to determine its absolute maximum measurable primary current. Conversely, the minimum primary current a CT can accurately measure is “light load,” or 10% of the nominal current (there are, however, special CTs designed to measure accurately currents as small as 2% of the nominal current). The rating factor of a CT is largely dependent upon ambient temperature. Most CTs have rating factors for 35 degrees Celsius and 55 degrees Celsius. It is important to be mindful of ambient temperatures and resultant rating factors when CTs are installed inside pad-mounted transformers or poorly ventilated mechanical rooms. Recently, manufacturers have been moving towards lower nominal primary currents with greater rating factors. This is made possible by the development of more efficient ferrites and their corresponding hysteresis curves. This is a distinct advantage over previous CTs because it increases their range of accuracy, since the CTs are most accurate between their rated current and rating factor.
Specially constructed wideband current transformers are also used (usually with an oscilloscope) to measure waveforms of high frequency or pulsed currents within pulsed power systems. One type of specially constructed wideband transformer provides a voltage output that is proportional to the measured current. Another type (called a Rogowski coil) requires an external integrator in order to provide a voltage output that is proportional to the measured current. Unlike CTs used for power circuitry, wideband CTs are rated in output volts per ampere of primary current.
Depending on the ultimate clients requirement, there are two main standards to which current transformers are designed. IEC 60044-1 (BSEN 60044-1) & IEEE C57.13 (ANSI), although the Canadian & Australian standards are also recognised.