In the typical current transformer application, the primary winding consists of one to a few turns of wire.

The primary wire size is much larger than the second ary wire size. The number of secondary winding turns is a selected multiple of t he primary turns. Figure 1 gives a circuit schematic of acurrent transformer app lication. The current transformer shown represents an ideal transformer. The ideal transfo rmer has infinite no-load input impedance, 100% magnetic coupling between transf ormer windings ( hence no leakage inductance), zero winding resistance, zero cor e losses, and no capacitance. ( Capacitance, leakage inductance, winding resista nce, and core losses are considered to be parasitic components. ) The output vol tage is exactly proportional to the primary voltage times the turns' ratio. Ther e is no regulation drop. There are no losses. Since there are no parasitic compo nents the ideal current transformer is 100% accurate. The conservation of energy requires that the output power equals the input power, hence Vp x Ip must equal Vs x Is. Since Vs = Vp x Ns / Np, it can be shown that Is = Ip x Np / Ns. Is = Vs / RL, hence Ip = Ns x Vs / ( RL x Np ). With an ideal current transformer the re is no phase shift ( except 180 degrees depending on the choice of output conn ections ). The ideal transformer s secondary resistive load consumes power equal to Is x Is x R L. This same amount of power must be consumed at the primary terminals. The seco ndary load RL can be replaced ( commonly referred to as reflected ) with a resistor ac ross the primary terminals, RLr. By applying the conservation of energy, one can show that RLr equals Np x Np x RL / (Ns x Ns), OR RLr equals RL times the turns ratio squared (where turns ratio = Np / Ns). If Np / Ns is small, then the RLr is very small. The primary voltage drop is Ip x RLr. A very small value for RLr means that the current transformer presents a low insertion loss to the primary current and a low primary voltage drop. The reflected load impedance acts in parallel to the transformers own input impe dance. The ideal current transformer has infinite input impedance. This infinite impedance would correlate to an infinite inductance inserted in series into the path of the primary conductor. Without the load (or burden) the current transfo rmer acts like an inductor and would completely block the primary current flow. Any constant value of alternating current would, in theory, produce an infinite primary voltage drop. In reality the current transformer s input inductance (hence a lso impedance) cannot be infinity. The current transformer has an inductance val ue which acts in parallel to the reflected load. The core has losses that can be represented as a resistor in parallel with the reflected load and the transform er s self-inductance (no load inductance). Without the load resistor the inductance and core loss will place an upper limit on the primary voltage, but this voltage could still be substantial. Core saturation is also a possibility. A turns rati o step-up would result in even higher secondary voltage. Any circuitry beyond th e secondary load resistor could be subjected to high voltage, possibly resulting in circuit damage. Because of this potential high voltage, the load resistor sh ould never be removed from the secondary when the current transformer is being p owered. Figure 2A shows an equivalent circuit schematic for a current transformer with l oad RL. The ideal (induced) secondary voltage is now denoted as Vsi and Vs now d enotes the voltage at the secondary terminals. Notice that the schematic contain s the ideal current transformer and load as before plus transformer mutual induc tance Lm, secondary winding resistance Rs, core loss resistor Rc, secondary leak age inductance Lks, and primary leakage inductance Lkp. Just like for the load r esistor, the other secondary circuit components can be reflected to the primary side of the transformer. This is illustrated in Figure 2C. The parasitic components, Rs, Lkp, and Lks, all act to lower the output voltage across RL, hence the output voltage, Vout, will not equal the induced secondary

voltage Vsi. Rs and Lks act in series with RL and are reflected to the primary s ide along with Rs. Their presence presents added impedance to the primary curren t hence an increase in primary voltage in proportion to the impedance. Consequen tly, RL still has the same voltage drop and current flow as it did without Lks a nd Rs even though Vs does not equal Vout. The phase shift associated with Lks wi ll cause some slight deviation from the ideal current ratio (which equals the tu rns ratio). The current transformer s self (no-load) inductance Lm and the core loss Rc shunt cu rrent away from the reflected load and reflected parasitic components. Their imp edances act in parallel to the reflected impedances, consequently lowering the i mpedance seen by the primary current and the resulting primary voltage. Less pri mary voltage means less output voltage and less secondary current. Consequently Lm and Rc also cause deviation from the ideal current ratio. As long as Rc, Lm, Lkp, Lks, and Rs are constant in value, The actual current ra tio will be some fixed ratio times the ideal (or desired) current ratio. One can compensate for the deviation from the desired current ratio by appropriate choi ce of secondary turns. The number of turns will be a little lower than that for the associated ideal turns ratio. For constant values accuracy could be 100% exc ept for any turn resolution limitations (full turns versus fractional turns). Accuracy concerns arise from non-constant values for Rc, Lm, and to a lesser deg ree from Lkp and Lks. These values usually vary with core induction levels; henc e they vary over the range of primary current being measured. (Air core transfor mers are stable but magnetic coupling is relatively poor hence relatively large leakage inductances.) Since Rc and Lm impedances act in parallel to the reflecte d load, higher Rc and Lm values have a smaller effect and consequently increase accuracy. Cores materials with high permeability and low core loss are preferred for high accuracy applications. At higher frequencies winding capacitance becomes a concern. Figure 3 gives an e quivalent circuit schematic, which includes winding capacitance. Leakage inducta nce and winding capacitance are actually distributed components, but are shown a s lumped approximate equivalent components. Like Lm, winding capacitances shunt current around the reflected load. The inductances and capacitances can interact and consequently may produce spurious oscillations. It is also possible to deve lop parallel resonance . High frequency coil designs seek to minimize winding capacitan ces. If you need assistance with your current transformer design, please contact Butl er Winding and ask for Engineering.