Hall effect current transducer characterization under nonsinusoidal conditions

The performance of Hall effect current transducers (HECT), under distorted waveform conditions, are usually characterized by means of the frequency response test. In this paper it was investigated if the frequency response is able to correctly evaluate the ratio and the phase errors under distorted conditions. A set of experimental measurements were carried out by comparing the frequency response with test conditions closer to real operation conditions. Two HECTs were characterized under two conditions: 1. sinusoidal excitation with frequencies from 30 to 800 Hz; 2. nonsinusoidal excitation using fundamental frequency and one harmonic, with adjusted phase shift. It was found that ratio and phase errors are weakly affected by the phase angle between the harmonic and the fundamental. Moreover, the effect of conductor location in the HECT window was also investigated. Harmonic phase and ratio errors depend on the position of the primary conductor in the window. These results suggest that the frequency response approach for the evaluation of HECT performance, under distorted waveform conditions, can be used for a error compensation method only if the position of the primary conductor is known. © 2009 IEEE.