Air-Core Inductive Current Sensor for Fast

Transients Measurements in
Distribution Networks
Lauri Ktt, Muhammad Shafiq, Jaan Jrvik, Matti Lehtonen, and Jako Kilter, Member, IEEE


Abstract--Observation of fast transients in power networks
can provide some of the most valuable information. The
transients from partial discharge can provide the information
about the power line insulation state; fault-produced fast
transients can also provide information about the fault or
problematic section location. For measurement of fast
transients, there would also need to be a very fast sensor, as the
pulsed measurements could require the bandwidth range
reaching in the tens of MHz range.
In this paper, a sensor for fast transients measurements is
presented and tested. While very simple, this sensor can offer
very good performance while being inexpensive and robust.
The results of performance verification measurements show
very good results when testing with high-frequency pulse
source, presenting the potential of such sensor.
Index Terms--Electromagnetic measurements, partial discharge measurements, pulse measurements.

I. INTRODUCTION

HE requirements for the power distribution networks

reliability are growing all the time. Meeting such
requirements can be rather difficult, especially as the power
lines age is becoming older. Ageing of the power cables
insulation materials and insulation damages are one of the
most likely causes for faults in cable lines. Prior to fault,
such locations provide usually intense partial discharge
phenomena, acting over a longer period of time [1]. The
occurrence of partial discharges can be observed on electric
power lines as transients of very short duration (less than
micro-second) and relatively small magnitude.
During the fault event, there will be a very sharp voltage
drop in the location of the actual fault. This will result in a
rather strong fast transient that will travel along the power
network. Observing the time of arrival of such signal could
provide some valuable information about the location of the
fault, if measured accurately. The initial transient has only
very short duration, generally less than microsecond.
The duration of the transient refers to its high frequency
This research was supported by European Social Funds Doctoral
Studies and Internationalisation Programme DoRa and Estonian
Archimedes Foundation (Interdisciplinary project Optimal energy
conversion and control in Smart and Microgrids within the framework of
Doctoral School of Energy and Geotechnology-II).
L.Ktt, J. Jrvik and J. Kilter are with Tallinn University of
Technology, Estonia (e-mail: lauri.kutt@ttu.ee)
M.Shafiq and M. Lehtonen are with Aalto University, School of
Electrical
Engineering,
Espoo,
Finland
(e-mail:
muhammad.shafiq@aalto.fi)

,(((

content, reaching well above MHz range, area where the

conventional power networks transducers cannot be used for
carrying out the measurements. In order to provide
capabilities for fast transients measurements, new sensors
should be implemented. Several wideband sensors have
been discussed in literature already for the fast transients
measurements (especially partial discharge measurements),
for example Hall effect [2], air core inductive sensors [3]
and also ferrite core inductive sensors have been proposed.
One of the most feasible and suggested sensor for use is
the Rogowski type current sensor. This is an air-core
inductive sensor, due to its low inductance this sensor is
referred to reach also bandwidth up to several tens MHz. An
inductive sensor coil presents a simpler form of such sensor,
implementing an air-core coil for capturing the magnetic
field around a wire. Such sensor has also been proposed for
the fast transients measurements [4].
The research on the inductive sensors has not considered
the sensitivity and the bandwidth design. Sensitivity and
operating bandwidth of the sensor are one of the most
important design considerations of an inductive sensor.
These criteria are observed in this paper, with a target of
providing a sensor with a determined sensitivity and
operating bandwidth. The sensor operation is discussed to
provide the insight to the sensor operation and the design
procedure is proposed. A designed sensor is tested and the
operation criteria verified in the end of the paper.
II. INDUCTIVE SENSOR OPERATION
When a current is passing through a path in a conductor,
there is a magnetic field around it, directly proportional to
the current. This field can be used for the measurements of
high-frequency currents, for example using an electric loop
in the same magnetic field, as in Fig. 1.

Figure 1. Loop sensor in magnetic field around the wire being measured.

An air-core inductive current sensor is basically relying

on the Faradays law, stating that the electromotive force of
a loop is equal to the magnetic flux variation rate. Magnetic
flux variation rate is directly proportional to the magnetic
field and therefore also the sensor output is directly
proportional to the measured current variation rate. The
relation of sensor output can be described by the factor of
mutual inductance MS

M

u out

di line .
dt

(1)

The exact value of mutual inductance is determined by

two main variables shape of the sensor coil and distance
of the sensor coil from the wire being measured. For power
line measurements, the safety insulation requirements
determine the height of the power line.
III. SENSOR COIL SHAPE DESIGN ASPECTS
The sensor shape selection there are more options
available. One is a rectangular sensor coil form with mutual
inductance of [5]

MS

P 0 n l h  hline ,
ln
2S
hline

(2)

where P0 is the absolute magnetic permeability, l is the

coil side length, h is the coil side height, hline is the height of
the sensor coil from the power line wire being measured and
n is the number of turns of the coil.
Given the small peak magnitudes of the partial discharge
caused transients, the sensor for monitoring the partial
discharge would need to be highly sensitive. The highfrequency transients on the power lines have quite high
losses, so the transient arriving from a far location will see
significant decay, which also presents the requirements for
sensitivity.
Considering the transmission line effects of the inductive
components [6], the wire length of the sensor will become
critical for the high-frequency operation. For the task of
sensor shape design, this presents the condition of
optimizing the sensor to have the shortest wire length for a
specified sensitivity.
The total coil single loop length is

l wire

2(l  h) ,

(3)

by defining the coil side height to side length ratio as

K RLH

l
h

(4)

the analysis can be presented in a more simpler approach, as

the number of variables in the equation is decreased. The
optimal sensor coil shape ratio, presented as dependent of the
ratio of height of the sensor coil from the power line wire
being measured and coil wire length, is shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Selection of the sensor coil shape ratio based in dependence of the
ratio of a loop wire length and of height of the sensor coil from the power
line wire being measured.

Presented in Fig. 2, the smallest wire length per unit of

sensitivity is offered at shape rate of close to one, presumed
that the distance of the sensor from the wire being measured
is comparable to the sensor dimensions. This is referring to
square-shape sensor coil. If the sensor coil is closer, the
more stretched out rectangular shape would be the best.
Total sensitivity of the sensor is determined as [5]

KS

uout
iline

f p1 2 M S

(5)

where iline is the line current being measured, fp1 is the

frequency of the first pole of the sensor coil. The pole of the
system can be found using the electrical model circuit of the
sensor coil [5]. In designing the sensor, location of the first
pole is quite critical for both sensitivity terms as well as
bandwidth terms.
IV. SENSOR OPERATING BANDWIDTH SELECTION
The fast transients on the power lines have pulsed nature,
meaning that the transient does not repeat itself in a periodic
manner. Measurement of the pulsed signals is a difficult
task, as the sensor would need to have stable amplitude
response but also stable phase shift of 0 degrees [5]. This
can be achieved also for the inductive current sensor coil,
when a loading resistor (termination resistor, RT in Fig. 1) is
connected to the coil output terminals and the value of the
resistor is selected carefully.
The poles of the sensor present the limits determining the
sensor operating bandwidth. They provide the frequency
where the phase shift is changing, but also the frequency
where the magnitude transfer trend will change. In order to
guarantee stable phase response, the lowest pole of the
sensor should be at one frequency decade lower than the
operating bandwidth lowest frequency. Similarly, the higher
pole should be one decade higher than the highest operating
bandwidth frequency [5].
Referring to (5), in order to guarantee highest sensitivity

the frequency of the lowest pole should be as high as

possible. The reasonable limit for this would be around
100 kHz, which would mean that the operating bandwidth
would start at 1 MHz, considering the phase plot properties.
Typical fast transients last less than a microsecond, so there
would not be much need to observe the lower frequencies. If
there is a need for lower operating frequency, this also
provides theoretically less sensitivity.

sensor wire RS = 1 :.
In order to determine the necessary loading resistor value
RT, dependence of the lower pole frequency is observed.
The relation is provided in [5] as

V. SENSOR DESIGN

Knowing the values of the sensor parameters and using

the lower sensor pole of 100 kHz, the loading resistor value
can be found as

The sensor design would start from defining the

sensitivity requirements. Following example will observe
the laboratory test scene for measurements of 10 nC partial
discharge transients. The transient peak currents at
60 - 80 mA (from practical measurements, see also Fig. 3),
provide some assumptions about the expected sensor
sensitivity values. Considering the measurement probes
characteristics for measuring the sensor output and the noise
present in the environment, the noise peaks were about at
1 mV. To measure the waveform accurately using such
probes, the expected voltage output of the sensor would
need to reach to level of 10 mV. The sensitivity of the
sensor would need to be 0.167 V/A, in this case the 60 mA
current would produce the output of 10 mV.
The sensor would be mounted at height of hline = 0.12 m
below the power line wire, which will be determining the
sensitivity design conditions. The sensor shape will actually
be predefined, with rectangular coil dimensions l = 0.1 m;
h = 0.05 m (shape ratio 2) and coil loop wire length to
distance from wire length at 0.3. The sensor will be shielded
to keep the capacitive coupling between the power line wire
and sensor coil as low as possible.
For the highest sensitivity, the lowest pole frequency will
be assumed at 100 kHz. Using this and the specified target
sensitivity value, the mutual inductance can be calculated
from (5)

MS

KS
2 f p1

0.167
2 100 103

265 10 9 H .

(6)

As the coil geometry is determined, the mutual inductance

of a single turn can be calculated and this will be

M loop

P0 l
2

ln

hline  h
hline

P 0 0,1
2

ln

0,17
0,12

(7)

9

6.98 10 H.
The suitable number of turns, to obtain the requested
sensitivity, is n = 37. The coil prepared for the
measurements is made also with 37 turns.
The inductance of the sensor as well as self-capacitance
of the designed sensor is measured after completion of the
sensor construction. The self-capacitance value is observed
at 4.3 pF while the total capacitance when connected to the
measurement probe was CE = 6.7 pF. Inductance of such
coil is measured as L = 174 PH. Self-resonant frequency of
the coil is determined to be 4.66 MHz, using the
configuration present during measurements. Resistance of

f p1

RT

RS  RT
1

2S L  RS RT C E

2 f p1 LS  RS
1  RS C E 2 f p1

108  .

(8)

(9)

The closest value of resistor available for use is 100 :

and this provides the lower pole frequency by (8)
fp1 = 92.8 kHz. Using this, the sensitivity of the coil is still
close to target, having a value of

KS

f p1 2 M

0.154 V/A ,

(10)

which can actually be considered sufficient.

The higher pole of the sensor will be located at
237 MHz, which presents that the higher operating
bandwidth of the sensor should be considered at 23.7 MHz.
This is below the limit frequency where the transmission
line effects become critical [6]. The frequency components
above this limit should be filtered in the results.
VI. VERIFICATION OF THE DESIGNED SENSOR
For verification of the designed inductive sensor coil for
fast transients measurements, a test setup was prepared with
similar configuration as the later tests.
The verificaton test set-up is presented in Fig. 3. As a
transient source, a partial discharge calibrator was used,
providing PD pulses equivalent to particular PD intensity
value. The PD calibrator CAL1E from Power Diagnostix
was used, with the charge setting at 10 nC. The PD
calibrator was connected to the power line wire and this
presented it a matched load. Actual current pulse present in
the wire was measured using Tektronix TCP0030 fast
current probe, which has 120 MHz bandwidth. The sensor
coil was connected to terminating resistor with 100 :
resistance, and Hameg HM009 differential probe was used
for the sensor output signal measurement.
The waveforms obtained during the measurement are
presented in Fig. 4. The waveform of the actual current on
the power line, measured with fast current probe and the
sensor output show a very good match. This is the most
direct example of the capabilities of the sensor, as the
waveform of current on the wire and sensor output in this
case are measured at the same location. The sensor output
presented here is not filtered, but nevertheless does not
show any significant oscillations or high noise levels. The
waveform captured by the inductive sensor presents
transients edge timing and slope exactly the same as the

current probe output. From these results it can be concluded

that the sensor designed is suitable for the measurements of
fast transients and it is also fast enough to capture the PD
calibrator output accurately.

Fig. 3. Testing set-up for the verification of the inductive sensor.

VII. CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION

In this paper an inductive current sensor for measurement
of fast transients on power lines was discussed, with an
approach on design considering the sensitivity of the sensor.
In this approach the initial upper bandwidth was not
considered in the design. The sensor design can also begin
from the considerations of actual bandwidth, but in such
case the sensitivity of the designed sensor will be lower. A
good practice for increasing the absolute sensitivity of the
sensor would be to use a wideband amplifier at output of the
sensor.
The results of the practical verification tests present that
the inductive sensor designed is functionally matching
alternative to more expensive solutions. In present case, the
waveform provided in the sensor output very nicely matches
the output of the precise commercial current probe. With
some signal acquisition and processing units added, the
measurement system implementing inductive current sensor
such as presented here would be thus excellent for the
power line fast transients measurements.
VIII. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Special thanks to Perti Hyvnen and Tatu Nieminen from
Aalto University High Voltage Laboratory for assistance in
measurement and set-up.
IX. REFERENCES
[1]

Fig. 4. Waveforms measured during sensor verification testing.

[2]

It has to be pointed out that the waveform of the sensor

output is provided in Fig. 4 as it was measured, without
implementing additional external integration circuitry. The
calibration pulse in this case did not involve very high
frequencies, so in this case the upper bandwidth limit of
23 MHz does not produce significant distortions of the
waveform in the sensor output.

[3]

[4]

[5]

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