Current transformer

Figure 1. A Current Transformer in a 150kV line

Figure 2. The simplified equivalent diagram of a Current Transformer
Current Transformers or CT's are Instrument Transformers that convert a generally high
primary current I
p
to a k-times lower secondary current I
s
that can be connected to standard
measuring or protection devices. The primary and secondary windings are galvanically separated
and can be on a different potential level. The transformation ratio k of a current transformer is
the number of secondary turns N
s
to the number of primary turns N
p
and is equal to the primary
current I
p
over the secondary current I
s
.



Contents
[hide]
1 Standards for current transformers
o 1.1 According IEC
o 1.2 Other standard organisations
2 Functioning of a Current Transformer
3 General property's of a Current Transformer
o 3.1 The Primary current Ip
o 3.2 The Secondary current Is
o 3.3 Dual or Multi-Ratio CT's
o 3.4 Ratio k
o 3.5 R
CT
The internal copper resistance
o 3.6 Accuracy
o 3.7 Load, Rated load and Burden
4 The use and specification of Current Transformers
o 4.1 Protection CT's
o 4.2 Measurement CT's
Standards for current transformers
According IEC
At the moment TC38 of the IEC is busy converting all the instrument transformers from the
60044-family to the new 61869 family with a general part and specific parts.
IEC 60044-1 Consolidated Edition 1.2 (incl. am1+am2) (2003-02) TC/SC 38 Instrument
transformers - Part 1: Current
transformers
IEC 60044-3 Edition 2.0 (2002-12) TC/SC 38 Instrument transformers - Part 3:
Combined transformers
IEC 60044-6 Edition 1.0 (1992-03) TC/SC 38 Instrument transformers - Part 6:
Requirements for protective current
transformers for transient performance
IEC 60044-8 Edition 1.0 (2002-07) TC/SC 38 Instrument transformers - Part 8:
Electronic current transformers
IEC 61869-1 Edition 1.0 (2007-10) TC/SC 38 Instrument transformers - Part 1: General
requirements
Other standard organisations
IEEE Std C57.13-1993: IEEE Standard requirements for Instrument transformers
Canada CAN3-C13-M83: Instrument transformers
Australia AS 1675 Current transformers - Measurement and protection
British Standard BS3938 Specifications for Current Transformers (Withdrawn and
replaced by IEC 60044-1)
Functioning of a Current Transformer


Figure 3. The functioning principle of a current transformer
Just like a normal voltage transformer, a CT has a primary winding, a secondary winding and a
magnetic core. In the window-type and bushing-type CT's, the primary winding is reduced to one
wire passing trough the round or square shaped core, accounting for 1 turn. The primary current
I
p
will produce a magnetic field with induction B round the conductor. The magnetic induction B
is amplified by the core material with very high magnetic permeability and will produce a
primary flux that will magnetise the core with cross section A and induces a secondary voltage
V
s
in the secondary winding with N turns.

At the same time, a N times smaller voltage, opposed to the primary current will be induced in
the primary wire creating a small extra resistance in the primary circuit. The induced secondary
voltage will drive the secondary current I
s
that will flow for the mayor part trough the connected
load R
b
and for a small part (the error current) I
e
trough the internal resistance and induction. The
internal resistance and induction represent the part of the current that is used to magnetise the
core (Inductive part) and to heat-up the core material as iron-losses. Actually the magnetising
current is taken from the primary side but that will only make the calculation model more
difficult and does not form any additional value. The secondary current I
s
will also produce a
secondary flux, opposite to the primary flux. The resulting flux in the CT core is a very small
magnetising flux so that the core does not saturate at normal operation currents. The secondary
current I
s
will be N times smaller than the primary current I
p
.

The error current I
e
exists for the major part of a purely inductive part; the magnetising current
I
m
that can be seen on the magnetising curve of the CT and a small resistive part I
g
that represent
the iron losses. The magnetising current I
m
is proportional to the field strength H

The copper losses are represented in the series resistor R
CT

General property's of a Current Transformer
The Primary current Ip
According to IEC 60044-1, the primary current I_p is standadise of the decadic series 1 - 1,25 -
1,5 - 2 - 2,5 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7,5. When selecting a CT; the primary current of the CT must be at
least the maximum current of the line in which the CT will operate. When the current is bigger
than the rated primary current of the CT, the windings will overheat, age faster and finally the
insulation will fail. According ANSI, the primary currents are fixed values; for single Ratio CT's
Ip = 10; 15; 25; 40; 50; 75; 100; 200; 300; 400; 600; 800; 1200; 1500; 2000; 3000; 4000; 5000;
6000; 8000; 12000A.
The Secondary current Is
According IEC the secondary current can be 0.5, 1 , 2 or 5A. According ANSI the secondary
current is allways 5A.
Dual or Multi-Ratio CT's
Dual ratio CT's exist in all standards but only according the ANSI standard, the ratio's are
standardised. Note the for multi ratio CT's, many primary currents are mentionned and only one
secondary current but in reality there is only one primary connection and 5 secondary terminals
that allow 10 different ratings.
Ratio k
As already mentionned, the most important property of the current transformer is the ratio k that
is both the ratio of secundary turns to primary turns and the ratio of primary current to secondary
current. Note the often the primary is only one turn and practically it's just the conductor passing
trough the core. Since a small amount of energy is necessary to magnetising the core and to
produce heat as iron loss in the core, the secondary output Ampere-turns is a bit less than the
primary Ampere-turns. The difference in current is the error current or magnetising current. In
case of very critical CT's, ratio-turn-correction is applied; remove some secondary turns so that
the ratio is a bit higher and the output is thus a bit higher at rated current. Of course this can only
be applied when the CT meets all accuracy requirements after ratio-turn correction.
R
CT
The internal copper resistance
R
CT
is often called the secondary DC resistance at 75C. It's value depends on the length en cross
section of the secondary winding wire Pouillet's law. So R
CT
also depends on the core
dimensions; bigger core cross section implies a longer wire length per turn. The smaller R
CT
; the
more the current transformer approaches the ideal current source.
Accuracy


Figure 4. The current vectors Ip and k.Is and the error current vector Ic


Figure 5. The current error of a measuring class CT; here class 0.5 and class 1 are represented
The accuracy of a CT is given by it's "class". The division into accuracy classes depends on the
type of CT; we mainly distinguish measuring class CT's and Protection class CT's who are
defined quite differently. We will discuss accuracy for both types further. Of course they both
have a primary current I_p, a secondary current I_s and a ratio k. From these 3 parameters we
can define some important property's related to accuracy.
The primary current vector Ip.
The secondary current vector Is that is here represented k times larger to be able to
compare them and to have an idea of the error current. In case the error would be 0, both
vectors I_p and k.I_s would be identical.
The total error vector (composite error) can be seen as the composition of:
o an amplitude error (ratio error), expressed in % and
o an angle error, expressed in radians or seconds.
Note that for protection CT's, the angle error is disregarded and only the total composite error is
given in %. When examining the equivalent diagram, one would easily conclude that the error
current can only be the magnetising current of the CT. Indeed, normally the magnetising current
is very low but at the saturation point of the core, 50% increase in magnetising current produces
only 10% extra secondary voltage so at saturation the error current rises quickly. Therefore, the
property's accuracy and saturation of the core are closely linked. Hense the error vector is
allways a reducion in secondary output current; negative error. Positive error is only possible by
ratio-turn correction.
Load, Rated load and Burden
A Voltage transformer is unloaded when the secondary terminals are open; it behaves like a
normal voltage source. A current transformer is just the opposite and is unloaded with the
secondary terminals short-circuited. Stonger even, when the secondary terminals of a CT are
open, there is no secondary flux to oppose the primary flux and the core goes to positive
saturation on the positive current-sine and to negative saturation on the negative current sine.
The induced seconday voltage is proportional to - N.d / dt and from -Vsat to +Vsat is a huge
voltage. One might also conclude that the current transformen is raising the voltage in trying to
drive the secondary current trough the open terminals. The insulation of the CT is not calculated
for this situation and it will distroy the CT secondary winding and may cause fire at the terminals
& high voltage injury. The nominal load of a CT is the rated resistive burden R
B
; expressed in
VA. The correct resistance can be calculated with below formula


Example: A 50VA CT with rated secondary current of 5A is designed for a connected load of
50VA/5 = 2 Ohm. Measuring transformers are tested at rated load and at 1/4 of the rated load so
this CT should be loaded within these limits to be sure the accuracy is within specification.
The use and specification of Current Transformers
Current transformers are used to measure high currents; higher than 5A. So the most important
parameter in defining a CT is indeed the Ratio that gives us the Magnetude of primary current
and the secondary current. But for the following specifications of the current transformer, the
purpose of the CT is needed since measuring CT's and Protection CT's require different
specifications. Indeed, there will be two mayor groups of Current Transformers:
Protection current transformers
Measurement current transformers
Regarding specification, different standards have different ways in specifying CT's but it all
comes down to specifying core property's (saturation point or knee-point) and secondary wire
property's (R
CT
) although it may look a totally different.
Protection CT's


Figure 6. The ratio of a protection CT as a function of the current
Protection CT's:
are meant to protect an elektrical installation in case of overcurrent or short circuit and
their operating current range is above nominal current I
n
or more specific from I
n
to ALF
times I
n
. It is important for the good functionning of the protection relays that the CT's
are NOT saturated at ALF times rated current. Where ALF is the ratio of the expected
maximum fault current over the rated current. It is thus important that the core material
has a high saturation induction.
their accuracy is not very high but most important is that the accuracy in fault conditions
is high enough. This can only be the case when the core is not saturated in case of a fault
current. Therefore their accuracy is best described with an Accuracy Limit and an
Accuracy Limit Factor (ALF).E.g. a 5P20 CT has an Accuracy limit of 5% at 20 times
rated current (Accuracy Limit Factor). The accuracy of this CT at rated current is 1%.
They will be connected to one or more protection relays
according the application, they can be defined in a few ways:
o The standard IEC protection class CT's are of class "P" that only takes the AC
behaviour into account in IEC 60044-1
o Class PX CT's are defined by the position of the knee-point (saturation point or
knee-point voltage and magnetising current) and the secondary wire resistance
R
CT
.
o Class PR CT's are defined like the PX CT's but they have a low remanence; less
than 10%. Note that remanence in CT's can be 60-80% that may cause quick
saturation in case of a fault-current DC offset in the remanent direction. A class
PX CT can't have that problem.
o CT's for transient response class "TP" are defined by their connected load R
B
,
time constant T
S
and their overcurrent figure K
SSC
. These linearised CT's have air-
gaps in the core to obtain extreme high saturation voltage and current.


Figure 7. The error limits of a protection CT per IEC 60044-1


Ex. A 5P10 CT at 10 times rated current has a maximum error of 5% and only 1% at nominal
current. A 10P15 CT at 15 times rated current has a maximum error of 10% and 3% at nominal
current.
Measurement CT's


Figure 8. The ratio of a measurement CT as a function of the current
Are aimed to measure accurately within their normal operating range of 0 to I
n
.
Therefore, the core material must have a high permeability (-metal) so that the
magnetising current is low.
Measurement CT's are often being used for billing of electrical power consumption and
their accuracy is determinent for a lot of money.
For the protection of the measuring instruments in case of a fault current, it is favorable
that for currents far above rated current I
n
, the core is saturated and the output lowers so
that the fault-current trough the meter is only a part of the expected current trough the
meter. This is expressed by the Instrument Security Factor SF. Of course, the dilemma
is that the CT must be accurate at I
n
(and 1,2 x I
n
) but at f.i. 5 times rated current ( FS 5)
the CT may be saturated for at least 10%.
The accuracy of a measurement CT is given by it's accuracy class that corresponds to the
error% at rated current and at 1.2 times rated current I
n
. The standard accuracy classes
according IEC are class 0.2, 0.5, 1, 3 en 5. For classes 3 and 5, no angle error is specified.
The classes 0.2S and 0.5S have their accuracy shifted toward the lower currents. This
means that they have 5 measuring points instead of 4 (or 2 for class 3 & 5).


Figure 9. The error for measurment CT's according IEC 60044-1


The accuracy of the CT must be within these limits at the given currents and with rated
load and at 1/4 of the rated load. A measurement CT that is not loaded is therefore not
necessary accurate! Ratio turn correction may have been applied to get the CT ratings
witthin spec and then not loading gives a higher error.