AN-TA001

R&D Department
Current measurement in the 1 to 5 Arms range @ 50Hz, by using TA150800 and TA150830
Introduction. Current transformers, our family “TA”, are used to measure the current flowing in a line
conductor. They are designed and manufactured to reach high level of accuracy and this feature has to be
assured also by the electronic circuits, that treat the signal, without compromising the final result accuracy.
If we need to measure current levels significantly lower than the TA’s rated current, we will have problems
in terms of precision and in terms of signal/noise ratio too.
Using TA 150800 and 150830. This is just to give you an example about TA150800. The intent is to measure
the 50 Hz line current in the 1 to 5 Arms range, trying to obtain the maximum precision in the relations
either of phase angle and amplitude. The precision, shown on datasheet, is 0,2% at 12 Arms with 7 Ohm
load resistance. If we maintained the same resistance at 1 Arms, we would keep the accuracy, but we would
just have an available signal of 7 mV. In order to amplify this signal, by using Operational Amplifiers, it is
necessary to consider their related offset and bias current characteristics and to make also some thermal drift
considerations. This way does not generally lead to fully satisfying results. If we increased the signal, by
increasing the resistance up to 47 Ohm, we would obtain a voltage signal of 47 mV. In this way, offset
problems would be improved, but the accuracy would decrease to about 0,5% at 5 Arms and 2,5% at 1 Arms.
Below circuit offers the best solution to obtain the rated accuracy and the best result in terms of signal/noise
ratio. Sometime it allows to obtain accuracy performances higher than the rated value of 0,2%.

figure n°1
General description. The circuit includes the current transformer TA150800 and two operational amplifiers,
supplied by balanced dual voltage. In order to avoid output saturation problems, the supply voltage value
has to be 2,5 V higher than the maximum output signal Vo.
The TA secondary signal is proportional to the primary current Ip divided by a fixed factor of 1000, as it can
be defined from the turns ratio of 150800. The secondary current can be transformed into an output voltage
signal, according to the relation showed at figure n°1. OP1 is an I/V converter and the output signal is
available between pin1 and ground. However, it is necessary to fix the working-point of this circuit. OP2 is
connected to the circuit in an inverting buffer configuration and its output signal is applied to the
integrating net R4-C1. At pin 3 we will find the medium value of the output signal, referred to ground; so
OP1 will operate with the pin 3 practically ground connected, when a steady state condition occurs. If we
look at TA150800, it works virtually in short circuit, that is the best working condition for every current
transformer.
Many different regulations can be introduced into the shown circuit, for example, the most important one
could be an offset-regulation on pin 5, according to the commonly used circuit solutions.

Note: SIRIO ELETTRONICA s.r.l. does not assume any liability arising from the use of any device and circuit described herein.

Rev.: Data: 21-06-2011