CURRENT TRANSFORMER

BY
J.SHIRLEY GRACE 16E152
D.SREVIDHYA 16E155
A.SUBASHREE 16E156
R.SUJITHA 16E157
 INTRODUCTION
It is a type of instrument transformer that is designed to
produce an alternating current in secondary windings which is
proportional to the current being measured in its primary.

Primary winding may be a single flat turn or a coil of heavy

duty wire wrapped around a core or conductor or bus bar placed
through a central hole .

Secondary windings has large no. of coils turns wound on a

laminated core of low loss magnetic material.
 It is used where the current is too high to measure directly, or
the voltage in the primary winding is too high ,so the galvanic
isolation b/w primary and secondary is important for safety .
WHY CURRENT TRANSFORMER IS UESD?

It is used with its primary winding connected in series with line

carrying the current to be measured .
Primary current is dependent on load connected to the system
and is determined by load connected to secondary winding.
It is used to obtain reduced current signal for purpose of
measurement ,control and protection and operating relays.
With the help of CT, a 5A ammeter can be used to measure a
high current like 200A.
Why secondary winding should not be kept open?
During normal operation , both the windings produces mmf
which by lenz law its opposes each other.
Secondary mmf is slightly less than the primary mmf ,so net
mmf is small.
Secondary winding is kept open then secondary current will
be zero while primary current remains same .So secondary
mmf will no longer be there.
Hence net mmf is only due to primary current(very large
current).Large mmf will produce large flux in core that links
with secondary winding which in turn produce large voltage
in that winding.
 The large voltage across the secondary terminals will be very
dangerous and will lead to insulation failure.
There is a good chance that the person who is opening the CT
secondary while primary is energized will die due to shock.
And also because of large core flux , the hysteresis and the
eddy current loss will be overheated.
CT is oil filled, because of overheating the oil of CT will get
boil and start to vaporize.
Because of the vaporization of oil, CT house will get
pressurized and blast. This blast will lead to fire and smoke.
 It is not a end , due to smoke, the nearby lines will trip due to
earth fault which may the power generating station.
Thus , opening a secondary can cause series of dangerous
consequences.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CURRENT
TRANSFORMERS
Effect of power factor of secondary winding burden on
errors-ratio error
Effect of change of primary winding current
Effect of change in secondary winding circuit burden
Effect of change of frequency
EFFECT OF POWER FACTOR OF SECONDARY
WINDING BURDEN ON ERRORS-RATIO ERROR

If there is inductive burden in a current transformer,

the secondary winding current lags behind the
secondary induced voltage Es so that is positive.
Under such conditions, the actual transformation ratio
will be greater than the turns ratio.
If capacitive burden, then Is leads Es , then is negative.
For inductive burdens, the phase angle is positive for
small values of but becomes negative as the
secondary burden becomes more inductive.
EFFECT OF CHANGE OF PRIMARY WINDING
CURRENT

In a current transformer, if the primary winding

current changes proportionately.
At low values of current Ip or Is , the magnetising
current Im and loss component are a greater proportion
of primary winding current . So the errors are greater.
As the current Ip increases, there is a increase in Is
and there is a decrease in ratio error and phase angle.
EFFECT OF CHANGE IN SECONDARY WINDING
CIRCUIT BURDEN

An increase in secondary winding circuit burden

impedance means an increase in volt ampere rating.
This causes an increase in the secondary winding
induced voltage which can be generated by an
increased flux and flux density.
So both the magnetising component and loss
component are increased.
So the errors will increase with increase in secondary
winding burden.
 Because of this increase in burden , there will be increase
in transformation ratio and shift in the phase angle
between Ip and Is.

EFFECT OF CHANGE OF FREQUENCY

When frequency increases, there will be proportionate

change in flux density.
Generally, the effect of increase in frequency is similar to
that produced by decrease in impedance of secondary
winding burden.
But a current transformer is not used at the frequency at
which it is designed and so the consideration of this effect is
not so important.