PRECISION, TEMPERATURE-COMPENSATED, SHIELDED CURRENT MEASUREMENT DEVICE
A current measurement device using a Rogowski coil having a generally toroidal-shaped core with a first winding in one direction and a second winding forming a return loop. The coil is positioned within a two-piece electrostatic shield. A first piece of the electrostatic shield is a partially donut-shaped member having a U-shaped cross-section. The coil is positioned in the donut-shaped member and covered by an encapsulating material. The first piece includes a slit through the cross-section thereof to prevent an electrical loop around the perimeter thereof. The second piece of the electrostatic shield is flat and has a donut-shaped configuration. The second piece is configured with inside and outside peripheral edges such that only one or none of the inside/outside edges contact the first piece. The second piece also has a cross-sectional slit which is in registry with the slit in the first piece.
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This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/456,007 filed on 6 Jul. 2006.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention concerns a precision current measurement device, typically involving a Rogowski coil.
Rogowski coils are well known electrical devices finding use today for measurement of magnetic fields and electrical currents. They have been researched over the past century and are well known in scientific literature. Their origin traces to the Invention circa 1912 of the Rogowski coil by W. Rogowski and W. Steinhaus. The device is useful for measuring electrical currents and operates on the basis of a magnetic field integration performed across a closed contour being proportional to the current flowing through the contour. The coil provides a voltage output that is proportional to the time derivative of the current (di/dt) rather than a current output like other current transformers.
Rogowski coils are popular because of their dynamic range and linearity. However, though theoretical requirements are known, manufacturers still need ways to provide a high quality coil that is both economical to manufacture and which is satisfactory for precise current measurements. The device (coil) should be insensitive to external influences, insensitive to the measured primary conductor position, and retain high precision (in the order of 0.3% or better) over its lifetime and across a wide temperature range (nominally −40 to 85 degrees Centigrade).
There are several major requirements for implementing successful Rogowski Coil implementations. Return path cancellation, geometric symmetry, and electrostatic shielding are major requirements. A true Rogowski coil implementation must include a return path to eliminate the undesirable magnetic loop area created by the advancement of the coil winding. Many previous “Rogowski coil” implementations either ignore the return path compensation as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,395 or provide a poor approximation of the return path as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,437,555 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,400. In addition, several of these previous attempts at providing return path compensation are more difficult to manufacture, such as, for example, UK Patent Application number 2,259,150 to Frederick.
When the return path is omitted for a “Rogowski coil” device, it is commonly referred to in the art as a linear coupler, not as a Rogowski coil. When the return path is omitted or poorly approximated, the device exhibits excessive measurement sensitivity to the position and angle of the conductor within the device opening and susceptibility to magnetic fields produced by electric currents that are external to the device. Susceptibility to these externally generated magnetic fields will hereafter be referred to as “external magnetic field susceptibility.”
Geometric symmetry of construction is another factor that contributes to positional and angular sensitivity of the placement of the conductor within the device opening and external magnetic field susceptibility. The individual conductor turns that make up the windings must be placed symmetrically, around the perimeter of the coil and concentrically around an imaginary axis in the center of the coil's conductor turns. In addition, the core must be fabricated with a method and material that prevents warpage and that provides for concentric thermal expansion.
With sufficient geometric control and return path cancellation, a Rogowski coil can provide very high accuracy at a specific temperature. Even with the best geometric control, however, the magnitude of the Rogowski coil output still remains sensitive to temperature change due to the coefficients of thermal expansion of the utilized materials. Nevertheless, as a result of sufficient geometric control, it is possible to temperature compensate the device output for a desired level of accuracy across a specific temperature range without incurring undesired positional sensitivity, angular sensitivity, or external magnetic field susceptibility.
Prior art exists that attempts to temperature compensate printed circuit boards; however, the printed circuit board materials have very poor Z-axis expansion and have poor thickness variation control. Common printed circuit boards are not monolithic, but are actually constructed by laminating numerous thin “prepreg” sheets (partially cured, fiber reinforced sheets that are preimpregnated with a resin) together. This construction can cause significant geometric control problems. As a result, temperature compensation is only partially effective without some other process to provide sufficient geometric control. In order to manage the relatively poor tolerances of the printed circuit board materials, a special culling process is required in order to obtain materials that do not have excessive thickness variation in the cross-sectional area.
One example of a Rogowski coil using a printed circuit is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,400 entitled “Rogowski Coil” which discloses a Rogowski coil made on a printed circuit plate provided with a circular cut-out. The coil is implemented by metal deposits on each of the two faces of the plate extending along radii, with electrical connections between the radii on one face and those on the opposite face being achieved via plated-through holes passing through the thickness of the plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,442,280 discloses a method for manufacturing a printed circuit hoard-based Rogowski coil. The disclosed geometry provides very high turn density resulting in very high sensitivity. While high sensitivity is very desirable when measuring low frequency currents (50/60 Hz power system related), the patent fails to provide adequate means for external magnetic held cancellation. This problem is reported in U.S. Pat. No. 6,624,624 and is caused by inadequate handling of the coil return path.
The relatively long conductor of the coil winding is subject to electric field exposure in nearly any real world environment. As a result, electrostatic shielding must be included to prevent the winding from acting as a wideband antenna. Otherwise, the Rogowski coil output signal can be corrupted by surrounding sources of electromagnetic interference appearing as noise. It is known to provide shielding around a coil. For example, Kaczkowski U.S. Pat. No. 6,288,625 entitled “Current Transformer For A Metal-Enclosed Gas-Insulated Hi-Voltage Installation” includes electrically conducting walls that act as a “screen” around a pickup coil that is wound around an annular core and surrounded by an electrically insulating compound. See also EP0889490 (Kaczkowski) and having the same title.
Von Skarezinski et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,265 is directed to a current detection coil for a current transformer. This says that it uses a Rogowski coil with an insulating annular body made of a fiber-reinforced thermosetting plastic mounted in a frame or housing. This patent does not disclose a return path for the coil.
A similar problem applies to the design reported in U.S. Pat. No. 6,313,623 (by one of the present inventors) in which two closely spaced coils with counter rotation are used to perform partial return path compensation.
Further attempts to design precision Rogowski coils are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,624,624. Attempts to provide improved return path cancellation resulted in significantly reduced coil densities, making the design less appropriate for low frequency current measurement applications. In addition, although improved, all reported geometries suffer from Z-axis (board thickness) related sensitivity effects with an error cancellation (return) path normally offset in the direction of the Z-axis (board thickness).
J. D. Ramboz in “Machinable Rogowski Coil, Design and Calibration, ”IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol. 45, No. 2, (April 1996) pp 511-15 reviews traditional designs for Rogowski coils and discusses a “machinable” Rogowski coil constructed using machinable ceramic material to make a toroidal coil with a rectangular cross section. A thin, electrically conductive coating is then applied to the coil, totally encapsulating the ceramic core. Next, thin lines of the conductive material are removed by laser machining methods in a pattern that leaves coils as bands of conductive material located radially around the core. Each turn or band was connected to the next turn by a suitable indexing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,300,857 for “Insulating Toroid Cores and Windings” discloses a configuration to improve the winding of precise conventional transformer coils and includes an insulating jacket around a magnetic core. The insulating jacket includes plural protrusions around the core, the protrusions demarking various segments of the toroid. For example, the toroid may be divided into six evenly spaced sections, each occupying approximately 60°. At the edges of each section, there is a protrusion. The protrusions maintain the placement and spacing of windings within each section.
An object of the present invention is to provide a precision di/dt transducer that addresses various problems of the prior art to provide a precise, practical, and manufacturable electric current measuring device using a Rogowski coil.
A further object is to improve the core structure for a Rogowski or other coil.
Yet another object is to provide an improved shield for Rogowski or other coils.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccording to one embodiment of this invention is an electric current measuring device of the type using a coil, comprising a core, a conductive coil wound about the core, forming a first winding in a first direction and a second winding constituting a return winding, and an electrostatic shield around the core, outside of the coil, wherein the electrostatic shield comprises a cup portion and a lid portion, each portion being of electrically conductive material.
According to another embodiment of this invention is an electrostatic shield for a generally toroidal-shaped coil, comprising a partially donut-shaped lower -member, the lower member comprising an electrically-conducting, non-magnetic material, the lower member having a slit through a cross-section thereof to prevent an electrical loop along a perimeter thereof, and a flat upper lid member comprising an electrically-conductive, non-magnetic material configured to fit on top of and to cooperate with the lower member to provide electrostatic shielding for a cod positioned in a volume there between, the lid member being donut-shaped with an inner peripheral edge and an outer peripheral edge, only one of which or none of winch make physical contact with the lower member, the upper lid member also having a slit through a cross-section thereof, substantially in registry with the in the lower member when the upper member is operationally positioned on the lower member.
According to yet another embodiment of this invention is a combination of a coil and an electrostatic shield therefore, for use in an electric current measuring device, comprising a lower electrostatic shield member, generally U-shaped in cross-section, the lower member comprising an electrically-conducting, non-magnetic material, and configured to receive a coil therein, the lower member having a cross-sectional slit therethrough to prevent an electrical loop around a perimeter thereof, an upper, flat electrostatic shield lid member comprising an electrically-conducting, non-magnetic material, configured to fit on top of the lower member, wherein the lid member has an inner peripheral edge and an outer peripheral edge, only one of which or none of which make physical contact with the lower member, the upper lid member also having a cross-sectional slit therethrough, substantially in registry with the slit in the lower member when operatively positioned with the lower member, a coil positioned within the volume defined between the upper and lower members, and encapsulating material at least partially covering the coil within the electrostatic shield.
In describing preferred embodiments of the present invention, reference is made to accompanying drawings wherein like parts bear similar reference numerals and wherein;
A preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in the accompanying figures as a measuring device 10 for measuring the time derivative of alternating current in a conductor passed through an opening in device 10. Measuring device 10 is based upon the basic concept of the Rogowski coil. The electrical output of the coil may be integrated and scaled in order to derive the alternating current signal for a conductor that is passed through an opening within the shape enclosed by the coil winding. This output may then be used in, for example, an intelligent electronic device (IED) such as a relay for determining the health of an electric power system. This is one specific application, and persons skilled in the art could apply this invention to other applications requiring current vector information such as, for example, current magnitude or phase information. Further, the output could be used in conjunction with other measured power system quantities, such as voltage, to calculate Watts, Vars, or apparent power.
As seen in
Measurement device 10 includes a Rogowski coil which in the preferred embodiment comprises a coil of wire, preferably magnet wire, wrapped around a core. The preferred core 16 preferably has the shape of a flattened toroid with a central opening 32 used for the passage of an AC conductor (not shown) whose current (or rate of current change with time) is to be determined. As evident from the preceding discussion of the track in the housing 12, the overall shape of the core and coil may be circular, oval, oblong, or another substantially closed loop.
Device 10 solves the problem of geometric symmetry by the choice of core material, the core design, the method of core fabrication, the method of winding, and the winding encapsulation. A dimensionally stable material is used for the (toroidal or other shaped) core 16. It is fabricated preferably from a moldable, rigid, glass-reinforced,, polymer (insulating plastic). This material is chosen to exhibit a low and relatively linear coefficient of thermal expansion across and beyond the industrial temperature range (−40 to +85 c) for excellent overall dimensional stability of the core 16. Preferably core 16 comprises a non ferro-magnetic, electrical insulator, preferably one with a minimal coefficient of thermal expansion, and more preferably a moldable polymeric material. Illustratively, core 16 may be made of Thermoset Polyester with thermal expansion coefficient in the order of 9 ppm/° c., glass reinforced thermoplastic polyester PET (36 ppm/° c.), glass reinforced epoxy (36 ppm/° c.) or ABS/polycarbonate (67 ppm/° c.). It is understood that other materials can be used to achieve a specific cost/performance target without diverging from the spirit of this invention. Some examples of core materials that may be used include Noryl® SE1GFN3 (available from General Electric Company, Pittsfield, Mass.) which is 30% glass reinforced and has a coefficient of thermal expansion of 25 ppm/° C., and Valoxa® 420 (available front General Electric Company, Pittsfield, Mass.). The core can be molded or may be machined, as convenient.
From
The core 16 has a slightly roughened texture on its outer surfaces in order to prevent wire movement within the first winding layer 20 during manufacturing. The roughened texture is obtained by any of several well-known suitable processes. For example, the roughness may be molded directly into the surface to have a texture such as Mold-Tech 11020 texture. Alternatively, after the core is formed, texturing can be added by a secondary process such as head blasting or electro discharge machining. The degree of roughness or depth of texture should be sufficient to prevent wire slippage but not so great that it encourages or causes misplacement of wire during winding on the core 16 surface or thereafter.
Core 16 may generally be shaped as a toroid. The term “toroid” often connotes a “doughnut” shape but the present invention does not require a “doughnut” shape for core 16. A cross section cut from the inside to the outside mains of core 16 can be circular, substantially rectangular, or otherwise, e.g., oval, oblong, or some other shape. That is, core 16 may have the geometric shape of a solid formed by revolving (orbiting) a closed form, be it a circle, square, rectangle, oval, oblong, or irregular shaped closed line, substantially 360 degrees around an axis external to the closed form being revolved. The axis may be orthogonal to a centerline of the revolved shape. The distance between the revolved shape and the external axis may be varied to create elliptical, oblong, or other complex core solids. Thus, a Rogowski coil according to certain aspects of the present invention may be used where the core 16 has generally “flattened” faces (like an annulus or washer), which could be formed geometrically by revolving a rectangle with rounded corners a complete 360 degrees around an orthogonal axis that is located a fixed distance from, and external to, the rectangle, as in
Turning now to the coil, in preferred device 10 the coil is implemented by wrapping in a helical fashion the first winding 20 of an insulated conductor, preferably insulated magnet wire, around core 16 of non-magnetic core material. This first winding 20 extends substantially around the full perimeter (i.e., substantially 360 degrees) of the core to make a complete layer of turns. Thus, it has a pitch in a first direction. At the last turn, the winding advancement reverses and returns in a helical fashion to create the return winding 22 winch forms a second layer. Preferably the return winding 22 has a pitch in a second direction opposed to the first direction. More specifically, if the pitch of the first winding 20 is, illustratively positive X degrees from a radios of core 16, then the return winding can have a pitch of approximately negative X degrees from the radius. The second winding 22 is completed when the beginning of the first winding 20 is reached.
The problem of return path cancellation is substantially solved by adding the second winding 22 that closely approximates an ideal return path. The second winding 22 overlaps and crosses the path of the first winding 20 in the reverse direction. The approximation of the return path is improved by the use of small diameter wire, thus allowing a very large number of turns to finely approximate the effective center of the first winding 20 in small steps around the length of the coil. At lower turn densities, the opposite pitch angles between (forward) winding 20 and (reverse) winding 22 are quite pronounced. However, at very high turn densities, the forward winding 20 and reverse winding 22 are almost parallel. There is no absolute requirement for the number of turns per inch or the total number of turns to be the same for each winding 20, 22. In spite of this, it is likely that keeping the same number of turns per winding will prove to be advantageous for manufacturing. In addition, increasing the number of turns on the reverse winding 22 improves the implementation of the coil's return path. Moreover, this second winding 22 not only provides an excellent return path, but is also complementary with existing manufacturing methods. It should be noted that the ideal return path location is in the center of the first winding 20 around the length of the coil and as a result is more complex and difficult to manufacture if implemented directly.
For illustrative purposes, a radial line 64 has been drawn in
The number of turns in the windings can be varied. In the foregoing description and in the preferred embodiment, windings 20 and 22 have the same number of turns. This is not a strict requirement, however. It is preferable that there be either a match (or close match) or a significant disparity in the number of turns. For example, if the first winding 20 has 1,350 turns in the forward direction, the return loop formed by the second winding 22 may nave about 1,350 turns or some much smaller number, e.g., 150 turns, 50 turns, or even 10 turns. When the second winding 22 has a much wider pitch than the first winding 20, each turn of the second winding 22 may traverse several turns of the first winding 20. The number of turns in the second winding 22 might not be critical but will most likely affect the approximation of the ideal return path. If, on the other hand, there is a near match in the number of turns, problems can develop. For example, if the first winding 20 has 500 turns and the second winding 22 has 400 turns, then the radius of the second winding 22 turns will vary due to some of the turns being elevated and others not. The unevenness or inconstancy in radius as between the two windings 20 and 22 is preferably avoided in implementing the present invention.
On the illustrative 6.3-8.2 inch flattened toroidal core 16, one may use approximately 0.039 inch wire placement pitch with 28-AWG heavy build magnet wire to obtain 500 turns for the first winding 20 and another 500 turns for the second (return loop) winding 22. Preferably with an equal or approximately equal number of turns for each layer, one can employ a gapped pitch and lay the two windings evenly between each other so that there is consistency in how the wires cross on the side (i.e., front and back) faces 50 of core 16. The first and second windings 20, 22 should appear as one layer on the inner face 52 and the outer face 54 with regular alternation between the forward direction winding 20 and the reverse direction winding 22. Thus it will be understood that the windings can be applied with fully packed turns (where sequential turns of the same winding substantially touch one another), gapped layers (where sequential turns of the first winding 20 are separated by turns of the second winding 22), or where one winding has a significantly different number of turns than the other winding. The presently preferred arrangement uses turns that are about 1 millimeter apart when wrapped onto the 6.3-8.2 inch core. Coil winding apparatus for applying windings 20, 22 according to any desired pitch and separation is quite well known. According to one aspect of the present invention, the roughened surface of the core assists in retaining the turns of either the lower winding 20 or both windings 20 and 22 in their proper positions.
After the first and second (forward and return loop) windings 20, 22 are applied, an encapsulating sealant is applied to varnish the coil in order to provide a second layer of insulation beyond that of the conductor and moreover, for the purpose of locking the coil winding turns in place. An example of an encapsulating sealant for this purpose is a urethane, varnish, or silicon base material. One may use a vacuum impregnation process for this sealant, as used customarily for transformer windings. Further, the coil winding turns may be locked into place by means of a coating applied to the coil wires prior to their being placed on the core. For example, the wire used for the winding turns may include a bondcoat such as a polymer, epoxy, polyamide, butvar, or the like. The bondcoat may be solvent or heat activated such that after the wire used for the winding turns are placed on the core, the bondcoat may be activated to hold the turns in place or provide a layer of insulation beyond that of the conductor. In one embodiment, the bondcoat is a polyamide, which is heat activated after the winding turns have been placed on the core. Satisfactory results have been obtained using a conformal coating such as acrylated urethane applied to the coil after the windings have been applied on the core.
After the sealant is applied, an overlapping Faraday shield is applied to the insulated coil before fixing it within insulated case 12. While any form of shielding may be employed, according to another aspect of the present invention, the preferred shield is referred to as a “serpentine” shield 24 which has a central region and staggered tabs or lateral extensions which extend therefrom and wrap around portions of the core not covered by the central region. A portion of the shield 24 wrapped around core 16 is visible in
The spaces 75 and 76 allow the smooth wrapping of the shield 24 around a partially flattened torus such as core 16, wrapped with windings 20, 22, in the preferred embodiment. Thus, it will be understood that when shield 24 is affixed to the wound core (that is, core 16 having windings 20, 22 applied thereto), the central region 70 of shield 24 generally covers the wire on the outside annular face 54 of the core. The lateral extensions 72, 74 wrap over the wire on the annular rounded corners 56 and side faces 50 of core 16. The converging edges of the spaces 75, 76 allow extensions 72, 74 to fit substantially without a gap around the sides of the wound core, and the outer portions of extensions 72, 74 in the preferred embodiment overlap on the inside face 52 and substantially cover the wire thereon. The lateral extensions 72 and 74 may overlap or abut each other on the inside face 52.
The metallic layer 84 is exposed at one end of one serpentine shield 24 so that an electrical connection can be made to it with a spring, threaded fastener, solder joint, or any other effective electrical or mechanical connection apparatus or method. Preferably, this exposed portion is at the end tab 78. This exposed tab 78 of the shield 24 extends beyond the coil and is adhered to the bottom of housing 12 with the conductive area of layer 84 facing out.
The compensation and scaling network 26 on circuit board 13 within housing 12 includes electrical circuitry for managing scaling, over-voltage protection, and temperature compensation. Network 26 is coupled electrically to the coil beginning 60 and ending 62. Preferably, the output of network 26 is carried on cable 28. Preferably, cable 28 is a shielded, twisted-pair cable that passes through a small hole 34 in housing 12 and is terminated with an industrial-grade connector shown in
The temperature compensation is helpful because of the physical expansion of the coil materials and the resulting change in signal gain. The output signal sealing is included primarily for calibration and attenuation. Since the output of a Rogowski coil is proportional to the magnitude of di/dt and the total cross-sectional area of the windings, signal sealing is implemented in order to calibrate the signal output against a specific known input reference, in this implementation, a known AC current. In addition, signal attenuation is required in order to accommodate the dynamic range of any downstream microelectronic processing circuitry and possibly to prevent the output voltage front exceeding accepted human safety levels. At sufficiently nigh current levels, the total cross-sectional area of the turns around the coil is high enough to create voltages that are beyond the human safe-to-touch level as defined by IEC and UL standards. As a result, the illustrative device 10 includes voltage clamping and an optional ground connection 30 to supplement the attenuation of the output signal scaling. It should be noted that device 10 takes advantage of the high gain of the coil prior to attenuation by using this excessive coil gain, or sensitivity, to substantially overwhelm any external sources of error.
The temperature sensitivity of the completed coil can be modeled as a temperature dependent AC voltage source. The temperature coefficient of gain, G, is approximately linear and based upon the change in the effective cross-sectional area of the completed coil assembly versus the temperature of the coil assembly. The gain coefficient is affected by the coil materials, winding conductor, and winding encapsulated portions of the coil assembly. In addition, the resistance of the coil winding, Rcoil, increases with temperature based on the temperature resistivity coefficient, Rcoil, of the winding conductor. The temperature compensation and signal scaling electrical network can be used to null the positive gain coefficient of the AC voltage source against the positive resistivity coefficient while simultaneously calibrating and attenuating the signal output.
In order to model the electrical network, the requirement for the coil's temperature compensation must be determined. With reference to
-
- G=temperature dependant voltage gain of the completed coil assembly
- ycu=temperature resistivity coefficient of Copper
- Rcoil=resistance of the coil windings
- V1=AC voltage from the coil
- Req=equivalent resistance of compensation and scaling network seen by the coil
- T=temperature
- Vo=AC voltage output after compensation and scaling
- K=scaling constant representing the calibration and attenuation produced by Req
Including the temperature dependency of Vt and Rcoil, the transfer function for this circuit can be written as;
Setting the temperature dependent gain equal to the non-temperature dependent gain and solving, yields an equation of the necessary ratio of Req to Rcoil to nullify the temperature dependency:
The equivalent resistance, Req, is the burden that must he placed on the coil by the compensation and scaling network. A balanced resistive network is illustrated in
The equivalent resistance seen by the coil as a result of the compensation and scaling can be written as:
The transfer function representing the effects of the scaling resistors can be equated to a scaling constant, K, and written as:
One of the possible solutions to determine the correct values for the scaling network is to simplify the expressions by letting:
R1=R3
R2=R4
This is represented in
Since the Req, K, and Rcoil values are easily determined or measured, the equations for Req and K may be combined and solved for the 2 unknowns, R1 and R2:
The resulting resistance values are incorporated into the compensation and scaling network along with the over-voltage clamping circuit (bidirectional zener diode, MOV or similar clamping element) and placed inside the coil assembly on a small printed circuit, 13.
In addition to the resistors and clamp, the electrical circuit includes terminating connections for the coil electrostatic shield (Faraday shield 24), the coil winding wires (20, 22), the interface cable signal wires 28, and the interface cable drain wire. The connection of the coil electrostatic shield 24 to the electrical circuit can be simplified by the use of a conductive spring 100 shown in
The housing 12 isolates all internal components except for the ground lug. The exit 34 of interface cable 28 from the case is sealed, and the end of cable 28 is terminated with an industrial connector 90.
The embodiment of
The cup portion 114 is in the form of a partial donut, i.e. a partial toroid, with a generally U-shaped cross-section, conforming to the configuration of the track. If the track has a different configuration, the cup portion will be similarly configured. The inner and outer peripheral walls 116 and 118 of cup portion 114 extend upwardly a sufficient distance that they extend above coil 120 (which includes core 16 and windings 20, 22) when it is positioned in the cup portion 114. In one illustrative embodiment the outer wall 118 has a diameter of approximately 8.3 inches, while the diameter of the inner wall is approximately 6.2 inches. These dimensions can of course vary, depending upon the particular device. The U-shaped cup portion 114 is made from an electrically conductive material, such as aluminum or copper, and is approximately 2-5 mils thick. The electrically conductive material may be in the form of a sheet, a mesh, woven, or the like. In one example, the electrically conductive material is in the form of a copper sheet. In another example, the electrically conductive material may be in the form of a copper mesh that may be expanded and formed into the appropriate shape. In a further example, the electrically conductive material may be woven from copper strands, and may be expanded and formed into the appropriate shape. The choice of electrically conductive material may be affected by the desired shielding effectiveness at the frequencies of interest. In one example, a mesh shielding may be used because the shielding effectiveness of the mesh is sufficient for the frequencies of the monitored power system being less than about 10 MHz. The material is non-ferromagnetic, as the shield 112 is intended to protect the coil from electric fields, but not from magnetic fields.
The cup portion 114 has a slit 122 therethrough, in the cross-sectional dimension. The slit 122 is sufficiently wide to prevent an electrical loop along the perimeters of the cup portion. Typically, the slit is 50 mils wide, but should be as small as possible to maintain the desired electrostatic protection. A small opening 140 is positioned in cup portion 114 in order to accommodate the passage of wires, flexible circuits and the like for the coil 120. The opening 140 can also be combined with the slit 122. If the opening 140 is combined with slit 122, then the slit should be large enough for the wires, flexible circuits and the like from coil 120 to pass therethrough. The cup portion 114 can be covered with an insulating material, such as polyester, approximately 2 mils thick, although insulation is not essential.
Before coil 120 is positioned in cup portion 114, the cup portion can be partially filled with an encapsulating (potting) material 124. This material could be, for instance, silicon, but it could be other material, such as an epoxy. Coil 120 is then positioned in the partially filled cup portion 114; additional encapsulating material can then be added to just cover coil 120. In some situations, there could be no encapsulating or potting material in the cup portion. The encapsulating material 124 can be used to fix the position of the wires of the coil and keep them into position so that they do not slip on the core of the coil. The encapsulating material may also otter some protection to the windings 20, 22 of coil 20, such as protection from environmental factors such as water, corrosives, sunlight and the like. Further, a mesh or woven electrically conductive material may be beneficial for an encapsulated system in that as long as the aperatures in the electrically conductive material are sufficiently large, trapped gasses can escape the encapsulating material through these aperatures.
A lid portion 130 Is then positioned on top of cup portion 114. Lid portion 130 is also made from an electrically conductive material and is approximately 2-5 mils thick. Lid portion 130 is also in the shape of a flat toroid, configured so that only the outer peripheral edge 132 or the inner peripheral edge 134 contacts the corresponding edges of cup portion 114, but not both. Alternatively, neither the outer peripheral edge 132 nor the inner peripheral edge 134 of lid 130 contact the cup portion 114. The lid portion 130 is thus supported by the cup portion and/or the encapsulating material therein, or it could be secured to the lid of the insulated ease. The arrangement of the lid 130 portion relative to the cup portion 114, however, must be such as to prevent the formation of an electrical loop around the cross-section of the coil. The lid portion 130 can also be insulated, although it is not necessary.
In an alternate embodiment, lid portion 130 may have a substantially U-shaped cross-section. In this embodiment, portions of the outer diameter 132 and inner diameter 134 of the lid portion 130 may fit within, without, or in alignment with portions of the outer diameter 118 and inner diameter 116 of the cup portion 114.
The lid portion 130 also has a radial slit 136 therethrough, in alignment with slit 122 through the cup portion 114. The radial slit 136 in the lid portion 130 prevents the formation of an electrical loop around its perimeters. In an embodiment where neither inner nor outer peripheral edges 134, 132 of the lid portion 130 contact the entire inner or outer diameter 116, 118 of the cup portion 114, the slits 136, 122 of the lid portion 130 and the cup portion 114 need not be in alignment or registry, so long as no part of the lid portion 130 electrically bridges the slit 122 of the cup portion, and no part of the cup portion 114 electrically bridges the slit 136 of the lid portion. This is because an electrical path cannot be formed around a circumference of the shield 112 in this embodiment even if the slits 136, 122 are not in registry.
The cup portion 114 and the lid portion 130 are made electrically common by being electrically connected to each other and then electrically connected to an electrical reference. The electrical reference may be ground or earth, or it may be another electrical reference such as a driven potential, a shield drain potential, or the like.
The connection to the electrical reference may be made individually or with one connection to the electrical reference, with the lid and the cup then being connected together. The connection to the electrical reference can be accomplished by various means, such as springs, fasteners, wires, straps, adhesives, solder and the like. In one particular embodiment, as illustrated in
The completed Rogowski Coil constructed according to the preferred embodiments has the following attributes. It has a wire wound construction instead of being a printed circuit type. It has an optimized return path approximation and a wide frequency response. It uses no magnetic core and has no stored energy danger. Its metering precision can surpass 0.3%. It has a temperature compensated output and an integrated calibration network. It is electrostatically shielded and is provided in an insulated package. It has wide temperature performance from minus 45 to (positive) 85 degrees Centigrade. It has an integrated twisted-pair, shielded cable and uses an industrial connector interface.
It will be evident that other modifications or variations can be made Within the scope and spirit of the present invention. While the invention has been described in conjunction with specific illustrative embodiments, those embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, the scope of which is set forth in the accompanying claims which are intended to embrace alternatives, modifications, and variations which fail within the spirit and scope of the invention.
Claims
1. An electric current measuring device of the type using a coil, comprising;
- a core;
- a conductive coil wound about the core, forming a first winding in a first direction and a second winding constituting a return winding; and
- an electrostatic shield around the core, outside of the coil, wherein the electrostatic shield comprises a cup portion and a lid portion, each portion being of electrically conductive material.
2. The electric current measuring device of claim 1, wherein the electrostatic shield is configured to prevent the formation of an electrical loop around a perimeter of the coil and around a cross-section of the coil.
3. The electric current measuring device of claim 1, wherein the cup portion and the lid portion have slits through cross-sections thereof, to prevent forming an electrical loop along perimeters thereof.
4. The electric current measuring device of claim 3, wherein the slits in the cup portion and the lid portion are substantially in registry.
5. The electric current measuring device of claim 1, wherein the cup portion and the lid portion are electrically connected to an electrical reference.
6. The electric current measuring device of claim 5, wherein the electrical reference is selected from the group consisting of ground, a driven potential, a shield drain potential and combinations thereof.
7. The electric current measuring device of claim 1, including encapsulating material substantially surrounding the coil between the coil and the electrostatic shield.
8. The electric current measuring device of claim 1, wherein the cup portion and the lid potion are substantially covered by insulating material.
9. The electric current measuring device of claim 1, wherein the cap portion is donut-shaped in configuration, having a U-shaped cross-section and the lid portion is flat, with a donut-shape configuration similar to the cup portion, with inner and outer peripheral edges arranged such that only one or none thereof come into contact with the cup portion.
10. The electric current measuring device of claim 1, wherein the electrically conducting material is non-magnetic.
11. The electric current measuring device of claim 1, wherein the electrically conducting material comprises a woven electrically conducting material.
12. The electric current measuring device of claim 1, wherein the electrically conducting material comprises a mesh.
13. The electric current measuring device of claim 1, wherein the electrostatic shield includes an opening in the cup portion permitting wires from the coil to pass therethrough.
14. An electrostatic shield for a generally toroidal-shaped coil comprising:
- a partially donut-shaped lower member, the lower member comprising an electrically-conducting, non-magnetic material, the lower member having a slit through a cross-section thereof to prevent an electrical loop along a perimeter thereof; and
- a flat upper lid member comprising an electrically-conductive, non-magnetic material configured to fit on top of and to cooperate with the lower member to provide electrostatic shielding for a coil positioned in a volume therebetween, the lid member being donut-shaped with an inner peripheral edge and an outer peripheral edge, only one of which or none of which make physical contact with the lower member, the upper lid member also having a slit through a cross-section thereof, substantially in registry with the slit in the lower member when the upper member is operationally positioned on the lower member.
15. The electrostatic shield of claim 14, wherein the upper and lower members are both substantially covered with electrically insulating material.
16. The electrostatic shield of claim 14, including an opening in the lower member permitting wires from the coil to pass therethrough.
17. A combination of a coil and an electrostatic shield therefor, for use in on electric current measuring device, comprising:
- a lower electrostatic shield member, generally U-shaped in cross-section, the lower member comprising an electrically-conducting,, non-magnetic material, and configured to receive a coil therein, the lower member having a cross-sectional slit therethrough to prevent an electrical loop around a perimeter thereof;
- an upper, flat electrostatic shield lid member comprising an electrically-conducting, non-magnetic material, configured to fit on top of the lower member, wherein the lid member has an inner peripheral edge and an outer peripheral edge, only one of which or none of which make physical contact with the lower member, the upper lid member also having a cross-sectional slit therethrough, substantially in registry with the slit in the lower member when operatively positioned with the lower member;
- a coil positioned within the volume defined between the upper and lower members; and
- encapsulating material substantially covering the coil within the electrostatic shield.
18. The combination of claim 17, including a connection between the upper and lower members and an electrical reference.
19. The combination of claim 18, wherein the electrical reference is selected from the group consisting of ground, a driven potential, a shield drain potential, and combinations thereof.
20. The combination of claim 17, wherein the coil is in the shape of a toroid and the lower and upper members are correspondingly toroidal-shaped.
21. The combination of claim 17, including an opening in the lower member of the electrostatic shield, permitting wires from the coil to pass therethrough.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 2, 2007
Publication Date: Feb 28, 2008
Applicant: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. (Pullman, WA)
Inventors: Donovan E. Wilkerson (Pullman, WA), Veselin Skendzic (Pullman, WA), James R. Kesler (Pullman, WA)
Application Number: 11/681,620
International Classification: G01R 15/18 (20060101); H05K 9/00 (20060101);